Chef Elise Wiggins Is (Almost) Back with Cattivella

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Elise Wiggins, former executive chef of Panzano, will debut her highly anticipated restaurant Cattivella mid-April. Just a month after leaving her 12 year role at Panzano’s, Wiggins announced her next endeavor - a wood-fire focused Italian restaurant all of her own. Now, the final touches to this project are being finalized before opening to the public.

Cattivella - which loosely translates to "naughty girl" in Italian — will be located in Stapleton as part of the Eastbridge development that will also house a restaurant from chef Lon Symensma and a couple of concepts from chef Troy Guard. The 3200 square-foot space will host just over 200 guests with a variety of seating options all boasting an open and airy concept with good views of the kitchen staff at work.

The menu will highlight several Italian cuisine staples all with a touch of Wiggins' naughty girl flare, including biroldo bruschetta with cooked Tuscan blood sausage, a marrow braised beef shank over a creamy polenta, and of course, wood fire pizza such as the speck with a sunny side up egg, smoked house made mozzarella and San Mariano tomato. The focaccia di recco is made with prosciutto di Parma and Crescenza cheese encased in a light pastry dough baked to a golden brown and topped with rucola and a 12 year old balsamic.

Accompanying each dish will be 10 seasonally rotating wines served by glass, bottle or flight. A selection of wine will be available by the bottle, with many specifically highlighting specific dishes that Wiggins creates. In addition to wine, Cattivella will also serve mocktails and cocktails.

Cattivella, located at 10195 East 29th Drive Suite 210 will open mid-April with dinner service seven days a week and brunch on the weekends.