Milestones Icon: Blue Parrot

Some families have cooking in their DNA.

That’s the case with the Colacci family, which has been running the Blue Parrot restaurant in Louisville since 1919.

Five generations have worked at the landmark restaurant at 640 Main St.

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According to family legend, the Blue Parrot’s origin begins with Colacci family matriarch Mary Colacci, who, like her husband, Mike, was a first generation immigrant. Mary regularly cooked large family meals, and she soon welcomed everyone in Louisville to her regular Sunday Italians feasts.

The meals were a hit with Louisville’s sizable Italian community, but their popularity crossed the borders of the growing mining town’s ethnic neighborhoods.

The Colaccis eventually realized that, given Mary’s talents and popular demand, they had the makings of a successful restaurant. It also made sense, given the amount of time, effort and money the family spent preparing each meal.

The family started the Blue Parrot, with Mary taking the name from a Denver restaurant she liked. Mike kept his job working in the local coal mines for a few years until the restaurant became successful enough to support the family. 

The menu originally featured items such as hot tamales, chili and hamburgers, but it has evolved over time. One thing that has not changed is the recipe for the spaghetti sauce.

The restaurant became a hub in Louisville and soon began attracting out-of-towners. One draw was the Blue Parrot’s ability to serve alcohol, as Boulder enacted a prohibition ordinance in 1907 and did not lift it until 1967. Trips to the Blue Parrot and other Louisville establishments became rites of passage for University of Colorado students and helped build a loyal following that kept Buffs coming back well after graduation.

Mary and Mike were active at the restaurant for the rest of their lives. Mary passed away in 1949 at the young age of 48. Mike lived to be 83, dying in 1970.

By then a new generation of Colaccis had taken up the reins. Brothers Joseph and Anthony were trained in the family business, although Anthony left the Blue Parrot in 1955 to start another restaurant, named Colacci’s, in downtown Louisville. Colaccis was sold in the 1990s.

The Blue Parrot has survived several recessions, but it did have one close call. A fire gutted the restaurant in 1988, causing it to close for a year.

The restaurant reopened and expanded to include a large banquet room. It now serves up to 2,000 dinners a week.

Joan Colacci Riggins now owns and runs the restaurant, and her son, Dave Hudson, and daughter, Jennifer Reynoso, are managers. Dave’s children also work shifts at the Blue Parrot, furthering the family legacy.