I probably had the coolest dining experience this past weekend when I met with a friend down in Castle Rock. We went on a hike and then to lunch and we were recommended to go to Scileppi’s, a family-owned Italian kitchen. First, off I’d like to say, the restaurant is an old church that was built in 1888. In 1975 they converted the space into a restaurant and kept the original stained glass windows and exposed brick of the building.
From the moment I stepped into this restaurant/church, I was amazed! They kept the theme of the restaurant the same; there was even a table in a confessional booth! The church was pretty small and there was limited seating, but there was a second floor for a small gathering, and I believe they used this back in the day for seating when the restaurant was still a church.
Since they already kept the theme of the church for the interior of the restaurant, they also kept the church theme for the menu, yes their menu too! Scileppi was the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church before it was turned into a restaurant, so for what would typically be labeled, as “appetizers” or “pasta dishes” they stuck to themes from the bible! For all their salad dishes, it was categorized under “The Garden of Eden”, for the soups they had on the menu, it was under the “Fountain of Zuppe”, for traditional Italian pasta dishes, they called it the “Old Testament” and more modern pasta dishes were under the “New Testament”. I’m not very religious but the way they incorporated the bible into the menu made them look even more charming!
As for the food, they really killed it! The portions were huge and you can easily have two meals with one of their pasta dishes. The last time I had carbonara was in Italy when I was studying abroad, and whenever I go out and there’s pasta on the menu, I always look for carbonara, but most restaurants I’ve been to here in Colorado don’t have carbonara on their menu. So while skimming Scileppi’s menu, I was even more excited to see that they had carbonara and our waitress recommended this one, so I was sold! Aside from having carbonara, they also had a bottle of Peroni, which brings back so many memories from when I was studying in Rome. Peroni is a beer that I had often out there, besides wine, but I’m not trying to drink wine at 12 PM on a Sunday.
If you’re looking for a unique dining experience, and find yourself in Castle Rock, I highly recommend Scileppi’s at The Old Stone Church! Our waitress was very well informed about the history of the restaurant and the church and had great recommendations on what to order from the menu. She really made our experience that much better because we had so many questions about the place!
