Description
During weekday lunch at Lechuga's, the sliver of space that connects the homey, wood-paneled restaurant to the lounge is packed. In that narrow hallway, there's almost always some chaotic semblance of a line, cops bumping into tattooed misanthropes and old men going head-to-head with packs of teenagers, all eyes on the display case at the counter. White lights in those glassed-in shelves shine down on trays piled high with sausages and meatballs encased in sheaths of golden crust, handwritten labels distinguishing "hot" from "mild," "meatball" from "devil" and, though it hardly needs explanation, "mini" from the rest. These are the famous Lechuga's canolis, a mainstay of this northwest Italian eatery since Chuck Lechuga and Rachael Vigil took it over in 1989. The savory, stuffed pastries are akin to fist-sized calzones, and there's nothing else like them in Denver. And they're the best reasons to go to Lechuga's, since the rest of the menu of Italian-American staples is mediocre.
