Soon, guests at Denver’s Restaurant Olivia will enter through a new and renovated main entrance, where they’ll be greeted by a custom-built wine bar. On the way to their table, they might catch a glimpse of the Italian restaurant’s pasta chefs working dough at a just-installed pasta station. A walk through the recently expanded dining room will bring them to a second cocktail bar, this one imported from Norway.

It’s all part of the new “serendipitous” vision Restaurant Olivia is readying to unveil after work on a 1,200-square-foot expansion project wraps up this month.

The expansion did not only create more capacity for one of its hard-to-get tables — Co-Owner Austin Carson recently helped an eager customer secure a reservation for November — but also for pasta making classes, wine tastings, and a private dining area with front row seats to chefs making pastas by hand.

The doubling of its capacity is good timing for a restaurant gaining more attention. Olivia landed a coveted spot on the inaugural Michelin Guide in Colorado, making the list of 30 restaurants Michelin recommends.

The intimate Washington Park restaurant, which opened in January 2020, regularly filled all its 12 tables before growing its space. Once Olivia’s expansion receives final approvals from city inspectors, dining space will increase by more than 30 seats.

Olivia’s concept: “pasta-focused,” and “elevated yet grounded.” Open for dinner only, the restaurant serves both classic Italian dishes and globally-inspired meals.

Every week, the restaurant’s “pasta maker extraordinaire” — the official title bestowed by Chef Leon — Emily Boyd makes roughly 40 pounds of pasta in-house. Boyd spends her eight-hour shifts preparing “just pasta. Just rolling.” Last week, she made more than 1,500 individual pieces of pasta for the restaurant and another 700 for Harvest Week. The sight of racks draped in pasta by the end of the day is “staggering,” her bosses said.

The workload is no bother to the former Johnson & Wales University culinary student. At Olivia, she realized meticulously making perfect pastas is what she loves to do.

“This has been like the best job I’ve had,” she said. “I actually get to do something I’m passionate about.”

The trio of co-owners each have their own niche. Heather Morrison is the restaurant’s hospitality expert (the eatery is also named for her daughter). Carson oversees the beverage program, keeping an eye on sustainability efforts while at it. Chef Ty Leon helms the kitchen and designs the menu.

Being conscientious of food waste is important to Restaurant Olivia, Carson said.

When a regular gifted the restaurant locally grown apples, Leon used the apple’s fruit in his dishes that week but saved the cores and apple skins. The beverage staff were able to create infused whiskey and bitters with what Leon set aside, Carson said.

“Our ability to be creative in the name of waste reduction is, boy, so important,” he said.

With the expansion project’s completion on the horizon, interest has piqued in the restaurant’s pasta making classes, Carson said.

“People are really excited to learn to make pasta from Ty,” he said.

Leon is excited too, he said. Before the expansion, he and Olivia’s staff led a handful of pasta classes from a long table in the dining area. Now he has a dedicated space for classes thanks to the new private dining room. He’s thinking the first class will focus on noodles.

The expansion project unfolded serendipitously, he said, when the business next door decided to leave its space and the landlord asked if the restaurant would be interested in taking over.

The restaurant’s growing waitlist had already “started pushing us” to consider growing Olivia’s footprint, he said, and the vacancy next door kickstarted plans.

When crafting menus, Leon said staff lean into the nostalgia from their previous research trips to Italy, relying heavily on traditional techniques. The restaurant regularly incorporates venison dishes with meat from an invasive deer species on Hawaii as an effort to support Maui Nui Venison.

“We just believe in what they do,” Leon said.

Olivia’s ownership never expected to become a Michelin-recommended restaurant, they said.

“When we heard Michelin was coming, we were shocked and excited but didn’t think that we necessarily were their style. We’re a little bit more comforting I think than what Michelin generally looks for, and casual I think in our own elegant way,” Morrison said.

Restaurant Olivia had a loyal customer base before the guide came out, she said, but now there are new faces coming in, “folks who are curious about what a Michelin-recommended restaurant feels like.”

Denise Mickelsen, communication director for the Colorado Restaurant Association, said roughly one month after Michelin’s guide for Colorado was released, restaurants are continuing to feel the effects of the exposure it provided.

“Even though the dust has settled, I think the excitement is still there,” she said. “I can tell you from reservations and from speaking with Michelin-recognized chefs, those restaurants are busier than they have ever been. It’s very tricky getting a reservation at a Michelin restaurant right now.”

In addition to compiling a list of 30 restaurants Michelin recommends, the 2023 guide awarded five restaurants with one star, dubbed four others Green-Star Restaurants, and issued nine Bib Gourmand awards.

The restaurant scene in Colorado has long been recognized with distinguishments such as James Beard Foundation awards, but the arrival of Michelin is pushing them to step up more, she said. Although Restaurant Olivia’s expansion was in the works before Michelin’s arrival in Colorado was announced, it may not be the last project of its sort in the restaurant scene, she said.

“I think everyone is taking a really hard look at their operations, at their décor, at their menus, and at the level of service that they provide, so it’s probably great timing for Olivia to have this,” she said.

Denver Gazette videographer Tom Hellauer contributed to this story.