“The law of the small belt line should always contain an extra loop hole.”
Michael Floorwax
VALENTE’S
6995 W. 38 Ave, 303/421-5115
www.valentesitalianrestaurant.com
www.menusfirst.com/denver/valentes.htm
THE YEAR WAS 1964. Martin Luther King was named as the youngest recipient ever of the Nobel Peace Prize. President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison. Harold Wilson was elected prime minister of Great Britain. The Winter Olympic Games was held in Innsbruck. The summer Olympics took place in Tokyo. The “Addams family” was hot on TV. “The 7 faces of Dr. Lao” was playing at the box office. Northern Dancer won the Kentucky Derby. U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry declared smoking to be a health hazard. “My Fair Lady” won Best Picture of the year. The Beatles arrived in New York to appear on the Ed Sullivan show. And Ray Valente, Sr. opened Valente’s Italian Restaurant.
Martin Luther King, Harold Wilson, Luther Terry, Ed Sullivan, Dr. Lao, Northern Dancer and Lyndon Johnson have long departed this earth. But Ray Valente, Sr. is still working every day at the restaurant he founded forty years ago. He ain’t working that hard, mind you, but he’s there day in and day out. Mostly he walks slowly, does a lot of kibitzing with the customers, answers the telephone if he can get to it before one of the long-time staffers, and portrays the perfect host of a family owned and operated restaurant. Forget the fact that he’s 80 years young. He does it better than anyone else in town.
Forty years ago Ray Valente, Sr. was in the auto reconditioning business when he and his old friend Pat Aiello got together. Pat had recently sold Patsy’s Restaurant, an old Denver landmark eatery, still in existence today (3651 Navajo St, 303/477-8910) and was looking for something to invest in. Ray was tired of the auto business. So Ray and Pat got together and found an old Sinclair Service Station at West 38th Avenue and Reed Street. The neighborhood was pretty much the same then as it is today; mixed residential and small businesses. But not many places to eat. So he and Ray partnered up and opened a small Italian restaurant and called it Valente’s. In 1971 Pat decided to retire and sold his interest to Ray, Sr. And the man hasn’t been outside the doors since.
In the forty years that have passed, the restaurant has been remodeled three times. In addition, Ray and son Marc purchased the property across the street in 1983 and founded Marc’s Restaurant. That restaurant closed in 2002 so that Marc could pursue other interests. Son Ray, Jr. found himself working in the restaurant after he graduated from college and had started his master’s program at the University of Denver. But things got in the way of the advanced teaching degree. He’s still at Valente’s albeit now he’s there full time. Even son Marc takes a shift or two during the week to keep his hand in the family business.
But you wanna hear about the food.
I’ve dined at Valente’s many times over the thirty years I’ve been in Colorful Colorado, altho not very often the past ten or so years. It’s one of those places you kinda take for granted. I probably drive by it a half dozen times each month and every time I promise myself to stop in and have some old fashioned Eye-talian cuisine. It was about three months ago that I finally got in there for lunch and have been back six times since. Because the food is that good. And the service is that good.
Now I’m hooked on Ray’s bugger. The last time I was in, Ray, Sr. came and sat with us. Knowing that I’m a buggerdict, and that I like ‘em big and rare, he suggested having the chef do a double bugger into one giant (full pound) patty and have it served open faced. Oh my! Not only was it cooked perfectly, but also it was seasoned perfectly, with the right Italian herbs and spices and the meat had plenty of natural fat to make it juicy and flavorful. If you’re into lean, this ain’t the place to get it. While I had fresh veggies with muh bugger to try to appease Dr. Stan, Ray brought over a large basket of their famous house-made potato chips for munching while waiting for lunch to get cooked.
Melanie had the house special flat iron steak, a thick 10 oz cut of wonderful beef, char-grilled to perfection, served with french fries rather than the menu-suggested mashies (MD is an FFF (french fries freak)) and a demi glace. For $10.95, this is deal city.
Of course no Italian meal is complete without dessert, so I had the yummy homemade spumoni and MD had the Chocolate Sin – no, I ain’t gonna tell you about it, you gotta go and find out. But it sure were good!
This is the kind of place that you can have anything you want. I don’t mean as in on the menu; I mean anything in the kitchen. The menu is huge; you name it, if it’s Italian, they serve it. Maybe you want something special, maybe a giant salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, olive oil and fresh basil, ask Ray. If he’s got the stuff, you got the dish.
Probably the single dish that Valente’s does more of and better than anyone else in town is their old fashioned pizza. Made with garlic oil, fresh-diced tomatoes, Italian sausage, Mozzarella, herbs and spices, and NO pizza sauce. While the menu has everything in the (Italian) world on it, I’ll tellya about the popular items.
The stuffed rigatoni is a big winner. The homemade spaghetti, while a dish we all make at home, is so good that it’s probably the restaurant’s number one entree. Cuz maybe it’s the housemade meataballs or sausage from North Denver’s famous Carbone’s that makes it extra special. When’s the last time you had lasagna the way mama made it? Good, cuz she didn’t cook worth a darn. This is the real stuff.
Chef Robert Baldwin, in addition to turning out all the fab dishes mentioned above, turns out specials every day.
Monday is sausage and cabbage day. Yeah, Ray is part Irish. I found out he once sang Danny Boy in a tavern in Chicago. That makes him Irish. Tuesday’s deal is chicken potpie, a popular dish in Rome. Rome, New York that is. Wednesday the special is Mama Valente’s Italian Meat Loaf, served with spaghetti and smothered with red sauce. It don’t get any more Italian than that. Thursday will find you dining on a boneless pork chop cacciatore and Friday brings a slooo-roasted prime rib sangie, onion straws, and all the fixin’s on an Italian roll. But these are just some of the specials. New to the menu and available every day is the flat iron steak, a tender 10 oz hunk of meat char-grilled to your liking, and I like it rare. This chef is so good he even does fab fried chicken. Yeah, It’s called Chicken d’Italia a la Robert (I just made the name up; ain’t I good?).
There are just a few HUNDRED other items on the ambitious menu. A half dozen munchies, some salads, about ten sangies, several pizzas, and all the traditional entrees. And that’s just for lunch. Dinner is even more expansive, but without me going through the menu, log on to one of the two websites noted above.
Takeout. Lots of takeout. The entire menu (ceptin’ for half orders) can go. Takeout specials include a 4-pack dinner for 4: housemade spaghetti with meataballs, sausage and house Italian salad and fresh Italian bread. There’s also a lasagna 4 pack and a very popular Pizza, Pasta & Chicken Bucket special. Awe, just go to the website. And desserts. Tiramisu. Elaine’s Cheesecake (yummy). Chocolate Sin. Cannolis. Ice Cream.
Valente’s is winner of the Silver Medal Award for Best Pizza in Town by the Rocky Mountain News, so I ain’t the only dude in town that think the grub’s good. Valente’s is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week.
If you ain’t been in a while. Go. Cuz it will bring back great memories of Italian fare that you can’t find anymore. Or go just cuz you hanker for a pizza like you had in the old days. Them “old days” are still here at Valente’s.
Cya.