Mile High Locavorist

This is Part 2 of a two-part episode. Chef Frank Bonanno is one of Denver’s most successful restaurateurs. Since opening Mizuna (which he still calls “his baby”) in 2001, he’s opened a total of 10 distinct restaurants and bars. These concepts range from high-end French and Italian to Japanese noodles and from bbq and pizza to a deli modeled after those from his New Jersey childhood, plus a pie shop. He’s also Executive Producer and Host of Chef Driven on Rocky Mountain PBS. Frank Bonanno grew up in New Jersey and spent a lot of his childhood cooking with his mother and sister. He cooked his way through college as he earned a degree in Finance & Accounting from the University of Denver. Graduating in the early 90s, the tough economy pushed him into the kitchen once again at the successful (but now defunct) Fozzie’s Restaurant in Cherry Creek. A little BS, tenacity and, of course, skill moved Frank up the restaurant food chain and he eventually graduated from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde