Odyssey Italian Restaurant reopens this week, expanding to Uptown

Odyssey Italian Restaurant, which has been closed since February after a fire tore through the converted three-story mansion at 603 East Sixth Ave., is finally reopening tomorrow, July 21. 

And no, it wasn’t scheduled for this week’s release of director Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” although the coincidence speaks volumes.

“Perfect timing!” says general manager Ned Nichols. “It’s certainly been a journey.”

When the fire first occurred, owner Jason Alfonso hoped he’d reopen the home of one of Denver’s best pasta deals within a month. That didn’t happen, as the team had to navigate a far greater repair and reconstruction project than originally expected, not to mention the trials of dealing with two different insurance policies along the way: one for owning the building and one for running the business. 

What’s more, the backup plan of sending customers to sister restaurant Ollie & Park’s on 17th Street fell through when that establishment suffered its own catastrophe when a moving truck smashed through the side of the building, forcing it to close as well. 

But not only is Odyssey back, now it will have an even larger footprint in the city. According to Nichols, once the repairs are completed at Ollie & Park’s, that restaurant will reopen as Odyssey Uptown, becoming the second outpost of the Sicilian-themed eatery. The Ollie & Park’s name and menu will be retired.

“It was just such a death blow,” says Nichols. “The first two years are so important to a restaurant’s growth, and being closed in month 15 for three to six months … we just don’t know how we’re going to come back from it.”

That expansion probably won’t happen until September or October, he says, as the repairs require new frames for the 22-foot floor-to-ceiling windows to be manufactured in Baltimore. Once the building’s landlord rebuilds those, the rest of the reconstruction effort can begin. 

The original Odyssey reopens this week with the same full menu and weekly specials before it closed. The restaurant will be capping reservations to 50 guests a night from Tuesday through Thursday to give staff time for a rolling start; roughly 80% have returned, Nichols says. By the weekend it’ll resume business as usual, but with one exception.

While most of the restaurant will look largely the same as it has since opening in 2011 — apart from new tables, chairs, and a slightly updated bar — the kitchen has been updated with a grill, giving the chefs the ability to add pork chops, filet mignon and other grilled meats to the menu. The wine list will also be completely redone, which is rolling out in phases as the inventory arrives.

Odyssey is housed in a building that’s over 100 years old, which tempered any thoughts of making major structural changes to the restaurant. Instead, the repair job focused on replacing everything else damaged by the fire and the water used to put it out.

“Everything down to the studs had to dry out for a month,” Nichols says. “New drywall. New electrical, new plumbing, all the way through. It’s an old building. We just freshened things up rather than reopening and changing something that’s become a Denver staple.”

And soon, that staple will extend into Uptown as well. 

Odyssey Italian Restaurant is located at 603 E. 6th Ave. and is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and 3 to 10 p.m. on Monday. For more information, visit odysseyitalian.com.