Sazza Hits the Stanley Marketplace with Salads, Pizza and Sustainability

When Sazza owner Jeff Rogoff first heard about the Stanley Marketplace’s focus on community and sustainability, he knew that he had found a perfect match for the second home of his Greenwood Village eatery that derives its name from SAlad and piZZA.

Sazza’s new location, at 2501 Dallas Street, opens for business at 11 a.m. today, June 26. Over the past eleven years, Sazza’s original restaurant has built a name for itself by offering food prepared with local, organic ingredients and vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. The sequel at Stanley will continue this theme, all with an eye toward sustainability.

A close look at the new Sazza reveals that nothing is quite what it initially seems. The wood for the tables is sourced from the recycled flatbeds of eighteen-wheelers, drinking glasses are made from old wine bottles, and the mismatched forks and knives come from Sazza’s periodic silverware drives, when customers can turn in unwanted flatware in exchange for discounts on pizza.

The key to Sazza’s fresh flavors is the restaurant’s focus on local, organic and sustainable ingredients. Juliet Noory, Sazza’s marketing director, notes that Sazza sources as many ingredients as possible locally or through local vendors.

“It’s incredibly important to us that the food that we serve you is as fresh and farm-to-table as you can possibly get," Noory explains. "Our biggest tagline is, ‘We don’t just make pizzas and salads. We make the planet a better place.’”

New menu items for the Stanley pizzeria include three shareables, fresh sandwich flavors and all-new Sazzones — Sazza’s take on calzones. Also in the works is a new pizza made in collaboration with Cheluna Brewery, featuring a crust made from Cheluna’s grain mash.

Rogoff wasn't satisfied just using brewery ingredients, or even serving local beer. Everything poured at the bar, with the exception of a few non-native wines, comes from Colorado makers, whether breweries or distilleries.

In the coming months, Sazza’s beehives outside of the Stanley will provide honey for the restaurant, and next year the kitchen will be able to reap the harvest from the half-acre of donated Stanley land, where Sazza is planting its own all-organic herb and vegetable garden. “We’ll be sourcing our food from our farm, right onto the table in our restaurant,” explains Noory.

Sazza’s commitment to sustainability runs deep — down to the very shirts on the employees’ backs, which are also donated by customers and reprinted with botanical inks here in Denver. To-go containers are 100 percent green and biodegradable. “The only utensil that we have to-go that is not made out of corn is actually made out of potato," Noory notes, "because the spoon that is made out of corn will melt in our organic soup from the heat.”

A community room run by Sazza’s "Director of Fun Stuff" will soon offer classes on topics including canning vegetables, jarring preserves and growing herbs. “We’re incredibly excited about that because it’s going to be an opportunity for us to really educate the community about sustainability,” says Noory.

Until then, customers can expect the same variety of rotating, seasonal flavors from Sazza, including a Colorado peach dessert pizza with brown-sugar butter and streusel, set to hit the menu in late July.

Hours for the new location are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.