As any nonna will tell you, simplicity is the key to superb pasta. Logan Stephenson, Panzano’s new executive chef, agrees. “My approach is bare bones,” he says. “Simple pastas made with four or five ingredients—nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”

After just two months at the helm of the downtown Denver Northern Italian stalwart located inside the Monaco Hotel, Stephenson has already applied this less-is-more mantra to Panzano’s menu, overhauling two-thirds of it from its former iteration (curated by former executive chef Nic Lebas).