Ti amo, Postino!

Sometimes, we visit a restaurant and everything just falls into place in a wonderful way – the atmosphere, service, food, prices and location. Of course, every restaurateur aims for this combination when they open a restaurant but it doesn’t always happen, not by a long shot. Sometimes you get some combination of those important things but not all of them together, which is why I’m feeling very passionate about Postino WineCafe.

The restaurant (based in Arizona) recently opened in LoHi, in what was the Denver Bookbinding Company building (see the paintings of books along the side of the building and the fabu wall of books inside – not in your usual library arrangement!). The owners, who are friends with the folks from Snooze, really loved Colorado and Denver, specifically, and the LoHi area even more specifically and set out to make their fourth location here. The atmosphere is fun with pop-culture accents, comfortable seating, conversation pits and a large patio directly off the restaurant’s long, rectangular space which fluidly blends the indoors and outdoors.

The service is friendly, prompt and attentive with servers who aren’t even assigned to your table offering a smile and a greeting. Together, the atmosphere and service provide the perfect foundation for the food, all of which makes for an overall great experience whether you go for brunch, lunch, happy hour or dinner.

Somewhere between a tapas bar and a full-on dinner menu, Postino offers just what you need with a well-curated selection. In addition to made-from-scratch soups, salads and panini sandwiches, Postino’s main claim-to-fame is their menu of bruschetta boards. Topping combinations are innovative including: brie/apples/fig spread; burrata/bacon/tomato and ricotta/dates/pistachios. They have a fantastic deal after 8pm on Mondays and Tuesdays when you can get any house bottle of wine and a tray of bruschetta for $20! On their own, a Bruschetta Board is just $14 and includes your choice of four different bruschettas, each sliced for sharing. Two people could easily make this a dinner or it would be great for a larger group.

After sampling the bruschettas and other beautiful starter boards, we returned for weekend brunch and fell in love with the place all over again. The Farm Scramble ($9.75) had roasted yukon gold potatoes scrambled with eggs, herbs, onions, gruyere and white cheddar. It was served with a lovely mixed green salad and a mixture of heirloom cherry tomatoes mixed in a pesto sauce. Fantastic! The B.E.L.T. ($9.75) was far more than a BLT with just egg added. It was a breakfast panini on beautiful ciabatta with applewood smoked bacon, scrambled eggs, dijonnaise, lettuce and tomato served with a fresh fruit cup.

Even though this was more than enough food, and just because we couldn’t resist it, we also ordered the Walnut Toast ($4) from the Small Plate menu with triple crème brie and house-made berry preserves. I felt very European eating that.

To quench our thirst, we had a White Peach Bellini and a Postino Mimosa, both $5, both delicious.

When I find myself thinking of all the people I want to take to a restaurant and all the occasions it would be perfect for, I know I’ve hit on a favorite. Postino has quickly become one of those places for me. It has its act together.

Postino WineCafe is located at 2715 17th Street, Denver, in LoHi. It’s open daily and also serves $5 wines by the glass and pitchers of beer from 11am-5pm, every day. Now those are happy hours!