Veteran restaurateurs team to improve menu at Rezzo

LAFAYETTE ? When Chad Sholders, owner of Rezzo restaurant in Lafayette, lost his original partner in the venture, he got help from two unlikely sources.

He enlisted James Mazzio, a chef who gained national recognition in 1999 when he was named one of Food and Wine magazine?s Best New Chefs for his work at Boulder?s now-defunct 15 Degrees, and Eric Lee, the former owner of Sweet Tomato, the restaurant that previously occupied Rezzo?s space.

Sholders opened Rezzo in June 2003 with a partner who was also his chef. In the fall of 2004, his partner left Colorado to pursue an opportunity on the East Coast. Sholders, who owns a construction company, Sholders Company Inc., in addition to Rezzo, knew he needed help.
He ran into a friend who suggested he call Mazzio, who has just wrapped up a consulting project and might be available.

Sholders and Mazzio actually had met years before when Sholders was working for the construction company that built Trianna, Mazzio?s critically acclaimed restaurant in Boulder. And Sholders had been following Mazzio?s career since 15 Degrees. As luck would have it, Mazzio agreed to help Sholders out. He came on board as a full-time consultant.

He and Sholders decided that the menu and the wine list both needed an overhaul. The menu was too fussy, the wine list too expensive.

Mazzio reworked the menu to simplify it and make it appealing to families as well as couples. He added half, whole and family-size portions to the soup, salad and pasta menus.

Appetizers include a salad of house-made mozzarella, tomato and basil with balsamic vinaigrette for $6.95 and baked artichoke and spinach casserole with rosemary crostini for $5.95.

Soups include minestrone with cheese tortellini for $2.85 a cup, $4.50 a bowl and $8.95 for a family portion. There is a classic hearts of romaine salad with Caesar dressing, garlic croutons and wide sheets of shaved parmesan for $4.95 for a half portion, $6.95 for a whole and $12.95 for a family.

Pastas, such as spaghetti with handmade beef and pork meatballs and Italian sausage, and conchiglie with gorgonzola cream and toasted walnuts, are available in half portions starting at $4.95, whole portions starting at $8.95 and family-size portions starting at $17.95.

There are pizzas and calzones ranging from $7.50 to $13.50, as well as entrees including eggplant and zucchini parmesan topped with house-made mozzarella and marinara for $11.95, chicken piccata for with linguine for $13.95 and pork loin over polenta with red wine, sage and mushrooms for $15.95.

The new menu, Mazzio says, is pure comfort food, food that reminds him of his grandmother, who was perhaps the greatest influence in his decision to become a chef.

?The kitchen (at Rezzo),? he says, ?is filled with the smells of my childhood.?

The wine list got an overhaul as well. It now contains bargains such as the 2002 Camelot Pinot Noir for $15 a bottle and the 2003 Anselmi Pinot Grigio for $21. Mazzio wants people to be able to come in often, and enjoy a ?great, inexpensive experience.?

Mazzio, who plans to continue as a full-time consultant in the short term and as the creative force behind the menu in the long term, ultimately plans to turn his attention to his next project and is seeking investors for a new restaurant.

With the menu and wine list on the right track, Sholders began to look for someone to help run the restaurant in the long term.

Again, he got lucky.

One day he was speaking with his landlord, Axel Bishop of Bishop Layton Holdings, when Bishop made an unusual request. ?Just do me one favor,? Bishop said. ?I want you to call Eric Lee.?
While hiring the previous owner of the space seemed like a strange idea, Sholders gave Lee a call and the two had a series of interviews, each several hours long. In the end, they found themselves on common ground, and Lee agreed to come on as operator of the restaurant.

Going from owner to employee is a change that Lee is looking forward to. ?It will allow me work on what I do best ? customer service and marketing,? he says.

Lee is excited to return to Lafayette. Although he lives in Niwot, he feels a deep connection with Lafayette, having run his restaurant, Sweet Tomato, there for seven years. He also has a small personal training business that he runs out of the Lafayette Recreation Center that he plans to continue.

He intends to make sure that what Rezzo offers ?matches what the community wants.? Lee also plans to get involved in volunteer work in the community.

For those who have been wondering, the word ?rezzo? (pronounced ree-zoe) is a meaningless word that only sounds Italian, Sholders says. He chose it because none of the people who own the restaurant are actually Italian, and he didn?t want to mislead anyone. The fact that most people mispronounce the name is ?just part of the charm,? he says.

According to Sholders, Rezzo?s revenues to date have been ?consistent with the previous establishment,? but he predicts that a restaurant Rezzo?s size could generate $2.5 million per year.
Mazzio shares Sholders? optimism for the restaurant?s future.

?I have high expectations for this place,? Mazzio says.

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