Restaurant Review

Laudisio has been awarded ‘Best Italian Restaurant' in The Daily Camera Best of Boulder for thirteen years running.

The inspiration for Amante Coffee was born at Laudisio Ristorante Italiano. The restaurant was founded by Antonio Laudisio. Tavio, Antonio's son started a small wine import company with another Boulder restaurateur, Steve Lewis. In 1992 Giuliana Imports, named after Domenico Clerico, a famous wine producer in Piedmont, Italy was formed. While in Italy for a wine harvest in 1998, Steve and Tavio met the Ghigo family. The grandson of the founder, Federico had just finished rebuilding their family factory in the small town of Bra and Steve and Tavio met the family to taste their coffees. Tavio new instantly that they had found a special product! They brought coffee samples back to Boulder and enlisted the help of Greg Buchheister finance major from the University of Colorado.

At that time Greg, Steve and Tavio were all working at Laudisio restaurant. It was the perfect test market for the coffee. “Every time we would have someone taste the coffee, they could not believe how smooth and flavorful the coffee was,” states Greg, “but above and beyond that it would surprisingly remind them of an experience they had while in Italy. That's pretty powerful,”. They knew based on the reactions from the clients and suppliers of Laudisio that they had a winner. “We were using Lavazza at the time and every time we would blind taste the customers, they would pick the Amante coffee!” says Laudisio.

The guys also enlisted the talented pallet of a self-assured restaurant veteran from San Francisco, Mark Kretz. Mark gave the reassurance and inspiration to Greg, Steve and Tavio, convincing them that they had a great product and that they should give it a shot! Marks' expansive culinary knowledge, his passion for fine wines, helped spark the creative incubator, from which Amante was born.

Amante was born in February 1999 and their first client was Laudisio restaurant. “Looking back on how we started the company, Mark played a large roll in our decision to start this company. Based on his knowledge of food and wine and our gut feeling, we knew we had to give it a shot!” states Greg.

Currently, Laudisio and Mark Kretz still support Amante Coffee. Laudisio exclusively serves Amante espresso and are integrating retail sales of the various Amante blends at the restaurant.

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Over a breve latte on the scenic patio of his Boulder restaurant, Laudisio Ristorante Italiano, General Manager Mark Kretz discussed his personal connection with Amante Coffee.

Marks' thoughts on Amante Coffee: “ The lighter roast on espresso allows the expression of the bean, the artistry of the blend, like a fine wine. A lighter roast equals more true flavors. Like teretade wine, it masks the richness of the core of the fruit. The difference with Amante is that it is you find the balance. For a good espresso, you need acidity, volume, roundness, and a mouth feel. It's a textural thing, …it's about feel as much as it is about taste. Amante company. The Mediterraneo blend makes a great cappuccino because of the power behind it. We plan on selling Amante coffee here as a retail outlet, because of the customer demand. As a service to the guest, because so many guests ask about the coffee, it will be nice to be able to send them home with something.

Even though Amante has numerous accounts, their service is still as if we were still their only account. I don't notice much about the coffee program because Amante takes care of everything from the order taking to the service. It allows me to focus on other factors of the restaurant business of which there are many! I do however notice that our customers are happy and the quality is always maintained to exacting standards.”