The Bistro Spotlight

stories from behind the pass

A letter from Pearl Street

Frasca Food and Wine

Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson's Friulian room on Pearl Street — 21 years, a Michelin star, and a Beard Outstanding Restaurant

Frasca Food and Wine — Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson's Friulian room on Pearl Street — 21 years, a Michelin star, and a Beard Outstanding Restaurant
Frasca Food and Wine — Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson's Friulian room on Pearl Street — 21 years, a Michelin star, and a Beard Outstanding Restaurant

Two French Laundry alums, one obsession

Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson met working the floor and stoves of The French Laundry in Napa. What bonded them was not California but a shared obsession with Friuli-Venezia Giulia — the sliver of northeast Italy where three culinary traditions overlap.

Farmhouses there used to hang a tree branch over the door as a sign that wine and food were being served that season. Those places were called frascas.

Frasca Food and Wine — Two French Laundry alums, one obsession
Frasca Food and Wine — Two French Laundry alums, one obsession

A Michelin star, and a Beard Outstanding Restaurant

Frasca serves Friuli through a Colorado lens — frico caldo alongside risotto with Wagyu cheek from a ranch two hours away, salumi that pairs San Daniele prosciutto with Alto Adige speck and a soppressata cured in Berkeley.

The wine list, run by Bobby's team, is one of the most decorated in America. Twenty-one years in, Frasca holds a Michelin star and the 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant.

Frasca Food and Wine — A Michelin star, and a Beard Outstanding Restaurant
Frasca Food and Wine — A Michelin star, and a Beard Outstanding Restaurant

Pearl Street's quiet east end

Pearl Street is Boulder's pedestrian spine, and Frasca sits at its east end, quieter than the buskers-and-ice-cream stretch to the west. The building is unassuming from the sidewalk — the sign small, the front room low-lit and lined with wine — and that restraint is deliberate.

Inside, the room feels closer to a serious old-world dining room than anything in the American West, but the guests wear whatever they wore up from Chautauqua Park earlier that afternoon.

Frasca Food and Wine — Pearl Street's quiet east end
Frasca Food and Wine — Pearl Street's quiet east end
Bobby Stuckey, Master Sommelier & Co-Owner of Frasca Food and Wine

With gratitude,

Bobby Stuckey

Master Sommelier & Co-Owner, Frasca Food and Wine

Order this

The dishes that made Frasca Food and Wine

  • Frico Caldo

    Frico Caldo

    Friuli's molten pancake of Montasio cheese and potato — pulled crisp at the edges, soft in the center. On the menu since day one and never off it.

  • Salumi board

    Salumi board

    Prosciutto di San Daniele from Friuli, speck from Alto Adige, and Salame Gentile from Fra' Mani in Berkeley — a small edible geography lesson.

  • Risotto with Wagyu beef cheek

    Risotto with Wagyu beef cheek

    Zucchini-and-provolone risotto in the Amalfi style, crowned with braised Wagyu cheek from a Colorado ranch — Friuli technique, Rocky Mountain proteins.

Good to know

Frasca Food and Wine, answered

Tasting menu or à la carte?

The Quattro Piatti four-course and the six-course tasting are the intended experience, but à la carte is welcome — Bobby has always insisted on that.

Should I do the wine pairing?

Sommelier pairings are a bargain relative to the list. Tell the team what you like and let them steer.

How far ahead should I book?

About four weeks on Tock. Sunday and Monday nights are the softest tables to land.