Parisi owner reflects on the restaurant’s destructive fire…and its future

On May 12, an electrical fire tore through the crawlspace of Parisi, a 28-year-old Italian mainstay in the Berkeley neighborhood.

To get at the blaze, firefighters had to break a hole in the ceiling, scattering wood and plaster throughout the space, with water blasted from high-pressure hoses soaking the walls, floors, rafters and more. The century-old building was saved.

But the future of the restaurant remains less certain. 

We reached out to owner Christine Parisi for an update on the repair effort and her thoughts on how things were progressing. Her written response provides a raw and unfiltered look into both the physical and emotional toll of a tragic fire: 

“I’m so gutted from this fire,” Parisi writes. “It’s my life’s work and my career… my ‘firstborn.’  I own the building and both restaurants housed in the building. We just had a lovely Mother’s Day luncheon in the downstairs restaurant, Sotto.”

And then the fire broke out, putting a halt to almost three decades of serving the Denver dining scene.

“I was just a ‘kid’ when I started it with my ex,” she recalls. “We had just moved to Denver from Italy (he was born and raised in Firenze), and back in the ’90s, there weren’t very many ways to experience home. Lots of great Italian American places throughout north Denver, but not a whole lot of ‘modern’ Italian cuisine.”

The couple decided to recreate the cuisine they missed, and in 1998 opened a market on Lowell Boulevard that sold a taste of Italy.

“Opening Parisi allowed us to not be as homesick (I’m American, but definitely fell in love with the culture and cuisine while living there a few years),” Parisi writes. “I always called it ‘edible nostalgia.’  We made panini, pasta and sold a ton of deli products and imported dry goods. It was not necessarily a restaurant in the beginning. But we had a full kitchen with a big hood in our space, so we figured we would make good use of it. Got a stone (recommended by Denver Bread Co., the king of boule) to put in our old-ass and cheap giant deck oven and started making pizza. Literally, my ex’s aunt would send handwritten letters with recipes and tips from Italy… a little before emailing took off.”

After four years, Parisi moved to a century-old building at the intersection of Tennyson and 44th. The structure had formerly housed a clothing store, a grocery and a flower shop.

“Fast forward to 2002, finding our Tennyson building and beginning the renovation of turning an old 1904 grocer/1990s resale clothing shop into a full-scale Italian quick-serve restaurant,” Parisi continues. “We finally reopened in 2004 and then opened Firenze a Tavola in the basement in 2006 … and kept growing until the pandemic had us screeching to a major slowdown.  Firenze closed due to the pandemic and only reopened in the holiday season of 2024.”

Like so many businesses, Parisi was hit hard by the pandemic.

“The pandemic created a complete shift in public consumption, and our take-out quadrupled, so we were unable to reopen downstairs until we could get this new to-go volume dialed in, which we finally did with a rebrand to Parisi Sotto, a more easily pronounced name, but otherwise very similar to the previous Firenze a Tavola,” Parisi recalls.

“I bought out my partner in 2019 with the intention of a major remodel, but the pandemic slowed that down. And up until a month ago, I was still reeling from the effects of running a restaurant during a pandemic, with the constant unknowns, pivots, open for dining, closed for dining, curbside, etc. It honestly created a healthy dose of PTSD. So ever since, I’ve been ‘frozen’ … unable to make the move towards the next step and very aware of my own limitations caused by this PTSD.” 

And then came the fire, which closed Parisi indefinitely. The water and structural damage from the fire and the efforts to quell it are substantial, but not insurmountable. But with a building this old, the question becomes whether to rebuild, renovate or move to a new location completely. Insurance can cover much of the repair work, but not all.

“So now I’m faced with some huge decisions. Since the water dousing to put out the fire permeated every crevice of my building, the damage is extensive … so I can either rebuild or do the full renovation I’ve been envisioning for many years. But I won’t do both,” she says.

“So I’m stuck in analysis paralysis for now. On one hand, I owe it to my employees and community to reinvest once again and take Parisi to the next step I had been envisioning for so long, but I’m also facing the very real reality of overwhelm. It is truly just me. And sometimes I feel like I just don’t have it in me … to reinvent, pivot, lead, create and dive into debt again.  So maybe a simple rebuild back to the previous form with the insurance money will have to suffice.  

“It’s an incredibly emotional ride. I’ve been blown away by the community support and even our purveyors, especially Performance Food, who lent us a refrigerated truck for a couple of days to save some of our product. I feel a strong need to reciprocate the amazing generosity of all the people who support us. But I’m also incredibly scared,” Parisi admits.

“So only time will tell, but I do know that whatever decision will be made, it will be deliberated and considered from every angle, and I hope to find peace with whatever direction we go. The important thing is that Parisi will be back, but I’m just not sure yet exactly how that will look.”