The Greenwich Denver Revamps Menu With Italian Flair

Greenwich owner Delores Tronco, right, gave executive chef Luke Miller, left, free rein to her creativity for the new Italian menu. (Provided by Behind the Apron Media)

Delores Tronco grew up in New Jersey and ate a big Italian dinner on Sundays with her family. Her grandparents had emigrated from Palermo and Naples to New York, where they ran a produce stand and a bakery that also sold eels.

Inspired by her heritage, Tronco recently revamped the menu at her Denver restaurant, The Greenwich, at 3258 Larimer St., to focus primarily on Italian dishes. “It’s not so much a 180-degree shift as it is a 90-degree shift,” she said.

“We could add our own eel pond in the front,” she joked.

Tronco’s restaurant roots began in Denver when she co-founded Work & Class in 2016. After that, she moved to New York to open The Banty Rooster, a Southwest restaurant. She returned to Denver during the pandemic and opened The Greenwich in November 2021.

It started out as a chic, New York-inspired spot with a New American vibe. When executive chef Justin Freeman left The Greenwich last summer to start his own pizzeria, chef de cuisine Luke Miller stepped in, “ready for Greenwich 2.0,” Tronco said.

Tronco knew she wanted to keep the restaurant’s beloved sourdough pizzas and New York Basque cheesecake, but she let Miller take creative control of most of the menu changes, including the new Calabrese pizza and the hot honey pizza. “It allowed Luke to turn over a new leaf, establish himself as executive chef … and chart his own course,” she said.

There was one non-negotiable, though. “The only thing I asked was that we could have meatballs on the menu, and that they could be inspired by the way my family made them,” Tronco said. And Miller delivered. Jersey Ernie’s pork, beef and bacon meatballs are braised in a spicy arrabbiata sauce over browned-butter polenta (4 for $24 or 6 for $34). They cut easily with the side of a fork.

“The first time he made them, I was blown away by how quickly he got them, and I didn’t even give him a recipe card or anything,” Tronco said.

The Greenwich also lightened up its entrees, removing the short ribs and transforming the semi-roasted chicken into piccata style. Since it’s located next door to Dio Mio, which primarily serves pasta, Tronco and Miller decided to serve just one pasta dish, Sardinian fregola with clams.

“It was important to me that we were good neighbors to them, so we were very careful not to overemphasize pasta on our menu when we pivoted to Italian and instead continued to embrace the sourdough pizzas we’ve always had and then built the rest in a more Italian direction,” Tronco said.