An Epicurean expansion: catering company marks 25 years by moving into a bigger space.

• Author: Smith, Kathy

Larry and Jill DiPasquale have been in the catering business for 25 years, but the owners of Epicurean Catering only recently realized their dream of creating a fully customized operation.

The DiPasquales and partner Sharon Magness Blake purchased a 3-acre parcel that includes a 16,000-square-foot restaurant. Larry DiPasquale scoured properties in Greenwood Village, and he found what he was looking for.

"We've been located in Greenwood Village for the past 15 years and felt a desire to stay close to our former location," he says. For good reason. When Epicurean moved into the space in the Orchards shopping center 15 years ago, business took off.

"It's a high-end area, and when we moved into the center, we doubled our sales," he says.

The new facility, conceptualized by DiPasquale and designed by his wife, Jill, is decorated with a European touch and Tuscan ambience. DiPasquale gutted the restaurant, retaining most of the ash wood paneling and adding dozens of windows.

"I had two things I wanted in this building--a chef's table in the catering kitchen and to get a lot of light into the kitchen," he says.

Epicurean caters up to nine events a night, which means long hours--sometimes up to 18 a day--in the kitchen for Corporate Executive Chef Bob Gitre and his staff. Having plenty of lighting will help with productivity and the spirit of the employees, DiPasquale says.

The $1.6 million renovation includes a marketplace and wine bar where the company will sell food and wine for home entertaining, and a banquet room that seats up to 55 family-style and doubles as a conference room for the business.

Centering the building is the 9,000-square-foot kitchen, complete with five walk-in refrigeration units, a smaller walk-in freezer and a chef's table seating up to 14.

"With the tasting right in the kitchen, we have the ability to modify the menu based on the customers' desires, and with the tastings, we build relationships with our customers," DiPasquale says. Epicurean typically hosts five to eight tastings a week.

The kitchen is an open, clean room that features a surgical hand-washing station, a refrigerated fish-cleaning room and an equipment storage and cleaning area.

"The kitchen is an entity in itself, and we clean the entire kitchen...