Eat Up Havana: This Year-Old Italian Joint Serves East Coast Favorites and More

Over a decade ago, former Westword food editor Mark Antonation began his food-writing career by eating his way up Federal Boulevard. Now, we’re turning our attention to another vibrant culinary corridor.

The four-plus-mile stretch of Havana Street between Dartmouth and Sixth Avenue in Aurora is home to the most diverse array of international cuisine available in the metro area. From restaurants and markets to take-and-go shops and stands, food lovers of nearly any ethnicity or interest can find a place that will remind them of home or open new culinary doors. In Eat Up Havana, Antony Bruno will visit them all, one by one, week by week. Check out his previous stops.

This week, Bruno visits Il Forno di Tutti.

Chef Scott Burnham caught the culinary bug early in life. At thirteen, he began washing dishes at the former Tivoli Deer restaurant in Kittredge. At fourteen, while still in high school, he took on an apprenticeship at the Danish-themed establishment, graduating from salad-making to saute to grill. 

But over the course of his now 27-year culinary career, he never owned his own place…until about a year ago. That’s when the doors opened to Il Forno di Tutti on Aurora’s Havana Street. 

“I kind of wish I’d done this fifteen years ago, but you never know when your time is going to be,” Burnham says. “So this is my time.”

Squeezed between a Great Clips and an insurance office in a Safeway parking lot, barely visible from the busy road, this 25-seat restaurant is part Italian trattoria, part marketplace, and entirely a family affair. Burnham’s wife and daughter work the floor, and during the lunch hours, Burnham himself is often both taking orders and preparing the food. 

The menu is a blend of northern Italian and East Coast Italian American, focused on fresh pastas, homemade sandwiches and Burnham’s signature lasagna –which he made and delivered to homes during the pandemic because of the lack of restaurant work at the time.

“It’s kind of my play on the Italian immigrant, East Coast vibe, as well as northern Italian, like Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont, Trentino,” he says. “Those are the areas I enjoy most.”

That includes seasonal ravioli (currently featuring squash), Bolognese ragu and a lasagna made with the traditional besciamella instead of ricotta. All the pasta is made fresh in-house daily (between six and fifteen pounds at a time), including fettuccine, pappardelle, gnocchi and ravioli. 

“I’m not trying to rewrite the book here at all,” Burnham says. “We’re just trying to play on authenticity as much as possible. There’s a thousand years of Italian traditions. You don’t need to throw microgreens on a plate of spaghetti.”

While the lunch menu includes the dinner pastas, it also features a lineup of sandwiches not available to evening diners. Those who grew up on New Jersey grinders will find much to recognize here — prosciutto with eggplant and arugula; ham and scamorza cheese with olives and peppers; mortadella with stracciatella cheese and pistachios. And, of course, meatballs with “gabagool” (Jersey slang for capicola). 

“We bake the bread daily, so that’s the time to have our grinder roll,” Burnham says. “Living on the East Coast, you have a totally different sandwich experience. I was kind of longing for that the entire time I’ve lived in Denver. So that’s where we can have a lot of fun doing some different New York-style sandwiches.”

But lunch and dinner are not your only options. The wooden shelves here are filled with take-home items, like canned tomatoes, dried pastas, oils, vinegars, and a fridge filled with cheeses, deli meat and more. It also includes housemade meals meant to be cooked at home, including a soup of the day, bone broth, sauces (both pomodoro and bolognese), marmalades and mostardas, cannoli, sausages and fresh pasta by the pound. 

The stock stems from Burnham’s time at Parisi on Tennyson, where he worked the “gastronomia”-style deli counter for over two years. 

“That’s where I really learned cheeses and imported meats, and back then they had a full-service deli,” Burnham says. “I really enjoyed that experience, so we brought that vibe here a bit. … Il Forno di Tutti means ‘everyone’s oven,’ so I have baked items that you can take home, as well as some off-the-wall items you couldn’t see at your random King Soopers.”

It might be everyone’s oven, but it’s fully Burnham’s restaurant. It’s small, but not crowded. The online reservation system may make it seem like it’s easy to walk in, but reserve a table if you have a group — the space fills up fast. And in true Italian dining tradition, guests are welcome to linger, enjoy another glass of wine, and savor dolce (dessert) or a nice affogato (espresso willed with gelato). 

“We’re just a very small restaurant, and that’s what I wanted,” Burnham says. “I don’t have any personal desire to have a large restaurant. This is what I wanted…a small restaurant where a chef can really control the environment and the quality, and that’s what we are and that’s what we intend to stay.”

Il Forno di Tutti is located at 1627 South Havana Street in Aurora and is open from 11 a.m to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and closed Sunday. For more information, visit ilfornoditutti.com 

All the previous Eat Up Havana stops:

• Old Town Hot Pot
• Leezakaya
• Chutney Indian Cuisine
• El Tequileno
• Milkroll
• Shin Myung Gwan Korean BBQ
• Watan Restaurant & Bakery
• Las Fajitas
• Mr. Tang
• Nana’s Dim Sum & Dumplings
• Yemen Grill
• Tofu House
• Sushi Katsu
• Coco Loco
• Ali Restaurant & Bakery
• Thank Sool Pocha
• Taqueria Corona
• Hanyang Wang Jokbal
• Coffee Story
• Tofu Story
• Havana Street Night Markets
• Seoul BBQ & Hot Pot (the Hot Pot)
• Seoul BBQ & Hot Pot (the BBQ)
• Pho 75
• Yong Gung
• Chopsticks A GoGo
• Angry Chicken
• L Cafe & Food Court
• Gangnam GT Lounge & Karaoke
• Katsu Ramen
• Dae Gee
• Snowl
• Chef Liu’s Kitchen
• Piramides Mexican Restaurant
• +57 Bar & Restaurante