Denver's five best neighborhood Italian restaurants
Denver has a strong Italian heritage, and the northern part of the city, in particular, once played host to dozens of red-sauce joints offering competing versions of spaghetti and meatballs to loyal patrons who made the bars their neighborhood hangouts. Those original restaurants are dwindling in number, but Denver still has a few holdouts -- as well as a handful of newer spots that have moved in to fill the gaps. 
Locanda del Borgo
When we think of neighborhood Italian, we think of comfort food in an unpretentious atmosphere. And if that's what you're craving, here are Denver's five best spots.
5. Mama Sanninos
Mark Manger
Once you inventory the wall-to-wall kitsch, the menu of classic red-sauce Italian and the friendly lunchtime crowd at Mama Sanninos, you may very well conclude that the restaurant has been around forever. It hasn't -- the joint has only been at this address for six years -- but Jimmy Sannino's family owned another iconic Denver Italian restaurant, 3 Sons, for four decades, and he's brought that heritage, as well as 3 Sons's original recipes, to this charming spot in an Arvada strip mall.
4. Patsy's
Stepping into Patsy's is like stepping into the past: The dining room and the saloon, with its giant wooden bar, are bathed in shadows -- which cover some, but not all, of the spot's weathered shininess on the walls and tables and wooden booths. The original dining room has been a regular spot for north Denver neighbors since the 1920s, and it's still the best place to sit and enjoy a classic plate of spaghetti and meatballs: a tangle of fat, chewy homemade noodles and fat, juicy meatballs, infused with parmesan, smothered in a thick, savory marinara that reeks of garlic and basil. If you dare, order it spicy, with red-pepper flakes adding a tingling lift to the rib-sticking heartiness of the pasta.
3. Il Posto
Chef Andrea Frizzi keeps things simple at his breezy trattoria on 17th Avenue. A chalkboard menu changes daily, incorporating seasonal finds and imported ingredients from his native Italy into stunning risotti, tagliatelle with housemade noodles, osso bucco and beautiful displays of meat and cheese. Meals start with lambrusco, end with grappa and everything in between progresses at a leisurely, Italian pace. As a result, Il Posto feels like a neighborhood joint, but it pulls crowds from across the city.
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