Longmont’s Ragazzi’s to become Garden Gate

LONGMONT — Wednesday will be the last day of operation for a popular neighborhood Italian restaurant in northwest Longmont. Next Tuesday, its owner will reopen it as a second location for the breakfast-and-lunch staple he owns in Niwot.

Ragazzi’s Italian Grill, which had served up hearty East Coast-style Italian classics and featured all-you-can-eat spaghetti on Monday nights since 2005 at 1135 Francis St., will be shut down and somewhat renovated before being reopened Nov. 27 as Garden Gate Café, which owner Steve Gaibler said has drawn ever-larger crowds ever since it was unveiled 18 years ago at 7960 Niwot Road, Unit B4.

Gaibler cited two main reasons for shutting down Ragazzi’s.

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“Twenty-six restaurants opened in Longmont last year alone, and it’s tough to scrape the profit piece off,” he said, adding that “I like the breakfast-lunch concept, and being able to create what I want to. Having one of each — one breakfast and lunch, the other lunch and dinner — really makes for a long day.”

At his existing Garden Gate Café, he said, “we dominate our field in Niwot — the whole town actually. We’re definitely the gathering place.”

But that also presents its own set of problems, which also prompted Gaibler to copy the concept in Longmont. Garden Gate in Niwot draws throngs who often wait up to an hour on weekends to find a seat in the 1,800-square-foot restaurant or out front on the patio.

“It’s a zoo,” Gaibler said. “We get kind of an immediate surge, and sometimes it can be too much so that the nuances are not in place. The kitchen’s super small there too. There, we just have to be efficient and get as many through the door as possible.”

Since many of those diners drive or bike to Niwot from Longmont, and Ragazzi’s already has its loyal customer base, Gaibler said he figures the Garden Gate formula will work well in Longmont, with its standard bacon-and-eggs offerings plus several crepe selections and its signature green chili.

There also will be more room for weekend crowds in the 2,500-square-foot Longmont space Gaibler inherited from his father, who opened Vellero’s there in 1981. “I sort of extended his concept as far as the food,” Gaibler said, “but I did the renovation in the dining room to give it sort of a New York-New Jersey feel with the bricks and long, skinny room.”

This week, other than altering the internal décor, the sign and the look of the front, Gaibler said, he won’t have to make many changes before Garden Gate opens next Tuesday.

Some of Ragazzi’s dishes will live on, however. “We’re going to continue to do Italian catering,” Gaibler said.

Garden Gate’s new location will offer the same breakfast-and-lunch menu, he said, “but we’ll also have cocktails in Longmont, whereas we don’t in Niwot.”

There’ll be one other menu difference as well — but Gaibler said it’s a secret.

“We’ll still have our spaghetti with the red sauce and sausage or meatballs that we’ll continue to do in Longmont,” he said, “but it won’t be on the menu. You’ll have to ask for it. We’ll also have a family size that we’ll serve cold and people can take it home and put it in the oven.”