Despite industry closures, Carmine Lonardo's Italian deli presses on
LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Nestled among the shops and homes in Lakewood is an Italian deli with decades of history. At Carmine Lonardo’s, family is the main ingredient.
Since 1976, the late Carmine Lonardo and his family have been supplying customers, local shops and pizzerias with mild and spicy Italian sausage and other meats. And thanks to their dependable customer base, the deli hopes to stay open for years to come.
“My dad, he came from Italy from Campobasso in 1956,” said Carmine Jr, one of the deli’s five owners. “After the war, [my father] started coming here because they were citizens. And the place they knew was Denver.”
After arriving in the United States, Lonardo worked in a meatpacking plant in Denver before it shuttered in the 1970s. A few years later, he and his wife Lois, one of the shop’s owners, opened their own meat market — bringing their Italian roots to Denverites.
“The people would talk to my husband. I think they loved the accent, and they loved the stories that he would tell them,” Lois told Rocky Mountain PBS.
“I really enjoy working with my family,” Julianna Harding said. “Especially with my grandma. A lot of people don't get to see their grandparents and their grandmas and especially work with them.”
Harding, the oldest granddaughter, recalled her grandfather, Carmine, sitting on a chair near the meat case and greeting customers as they came in.
“I definitely miss him every day,” Harding said. “So that's why we don't take out the chair cuz that's where he'd always sit.”
Although it has been seven years since Carmine passed away, the family keeps out the chair he used to sit in as a reminder of his legacy.
“When my dad wasn't able to do his work because he was diabetic and he was on dialysis,” Carmine Jr. recalled, “he would sit in that chair just so he could welcome every customer that comes through and say hello to them."
“It's still here today, we make sure that one's never moved,” he added.
Like his father, Carmine Jr. is devoted to his customers and his product. And despite COVID-related shutdowns and closures across the food industry, Carmine Lonardo’s stayed open.
“It really affected our wholesale business,” Carmine Jr. said of the pandemic. “It was a difficult time and no one knew what to do. It’s starting to come back now.”
Carmine Jr. attributes the business' survival through the pandemic in part to the deliciousness of the deli’s Italian sausages.
“When you have our Italian sausage, you want one more bite even when it's gone,” he exclaimed. “It’s addicting.” The sausages have been the best-selling item since the deli first opened.
In January of 2021, Food & Wine magazine declared Carmine Lonardo's sausage sandwich as the best sandwich in Colorado.
More than just a deli, Carmine Jr. said Carmine Lonardo’s is a place where everybody is welcome.
“It's an open door. We love when people talk to us for a while,” he said. "I know some customers kind of get mad that we're talking too much but that's us. That's how we are…This isn't a place where you come and just shop. We have to get to know you."
Julio Sandoval is a multimedia journalist with Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at juliosandoval@rmpbs.org.
Victoria Carodine is a digital content producer for Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at victoriacarodine@rmpbs.org.