I dropped by Gaetano's last night for a Tasty Treat (a sausage and green chili strips baked in a pizza crust) and a taste of history. Wynkoop Holdings bought this classic joint back in 2005, taking over a restaurant that started as Ralph and Mamie Smaldone's Tejon Street Cafe back in 1934, then moved to 3760 Tejon Street and became Gaetano's.
The Smaldones soon became known for more than their marinara sauce, of course; the Gaetano's menu notes that the family's "history is rife with tales of g
Dick Kreck will be reading from his book Smaldone: The Untold Story of an American Crime Family tonight at the Tattered Cover in LoDo, with Chuck and Gene, the sons of Clyde Smaldone, on hand to answer questions about their infamous relatives.
But for a real taste of what the Smaldone family meant to Denver, you have to head to Gaetano's, the Italian restaurant at 3760 Tejon Street that the Smaldones ran from 1947 (it replaced the Tejon Cafe that Ralph and Mamie Smaldone had started down the bl
