What a game of Italian musical chairs the past few years have been for La Zingara Italian Restaurant, which fittingly means gypsy in Italian.

The restaurant first opened in the former Villa building in Palmer Lake as a branch of Paravicini’s Bistro in Old Colorado City. Steve and Mary Beth Darnell purchased it in 2009. Then in 2011, the Darnells and La Zingara moved south and across the highway to the Gleneagle Golf Club, and The Villa was reopened under its former name under new owners.

Who’s dizzy?

Actually, not me. I’m sitting in La Zingara at Gleneagle, and basking in the hush of its tasteful yet casual main-level dining room – or better yet – on the deck for a late Spring lunch al fresco. Across an expanse of green grass, the mountains of the Front Range stretch like a wall across the sweeping scenery. Pink lemonade in hand, feet up, I’d say this location is a pretty good chair in which to have landed. 

That tasty, cold lemonade, by the way, is also available spiked with vodka as the day’s drink special. Sporty and resort-like, the environment is less “ladies lunching” than “dudes dining.” Though the crowd at lunch is mixed, golfers playing Gleneagle’s public course set the tone, and their shorts-and-polo-shirt style dominates.

The menu, too, caters to the casual by offering familiar, unintimidating food made fresh – including some thick, homemade potato chips that knock the socks off bagged varieties. Those chips upscale simple sandwiches like the California Chicken Wrap ($8.95, with lime aioli, avocado, lettuce and tomato).

Also crisply delicious are the super-thin crusts of the stone-baked pizzas, which range in complexity from basic Margherita ($8.95) to the Capricosa ($9.95). The latter is a pungent paradise of prosciutto, artichoke hearts and black olives, and both feature housemade red sauce rather than canned. In fact, all the sauces are made from scratch.

Golfing is, of course, a leisure sport, and therefore this lunch feels like a mini vacation from the world, complete with vacation food. Poolside food, sunshine food, going even as far as offering hotdogs ($2.50), bratwurst ($4) and eight ice-cold beers on tap. 

As the evening falls, however, gears shift. Diners move to the spacious, if bare, upstairs dining room. City lights and stars glitter outside the huge windows, improving what was always an amazing view, and the “dudes dining” become the “dudes dating.”

Italian food can be romantic, after all, and La Zingara’s dinner menu expands on their more casual lunch offerings. Plus, I finally saw some of the zing of their name. Mussels Marinara ($9.25) in a spicy red sauce offered fresh chunks of heady garlic, which is great paired with one of Zingara’s value-priced wines like the Argentinian Loscano Malbec ($27 a bottle).

Both tart and spicy, the menu also offers several Arrabiatti dishes, including a Calamari Fritti Arrabiatti ($11.50) with hot peppers, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and capers whose texture bounce off the crispy squid. The veal of the same name ($17.50) adds a bed of capellini pasta, the veal scaloppini and a ceiling of spicy Italian sausage rounds. OK, more like a mountain of sausage rounds.

Portions are huge – super-sized American portion huge – and easily split-able between two adults. The Chicken Parmigiana ($14.95), for instance, is served on what I’d classify as a platter, and it’s a hot and comforting favorite, if not exactly creative.

Creativity can be overrated when it comes to favorites. The four ingredients of Zingara’s Mozzarella Caprese ($8.95) — tomatoes, roasted peppers, fresh mozzarella and basil —  can’t help but succeed, and the Tortellini Carbonara Pasta ($13.95) — with Alfredo sauce, peas and prosciutto —  is a big bowl of rich, luscious decadence.

More delicately luscious was the Biscotti Parfait dessert ($5.25), which had thin, sweet pastry layers between cold and creamy ice cream.

The dating atmosphere of the evening, though, is less lively than the lunch scene. The room empties early and begins to echo with other tables’ conversations. The service, too, was more dour and less experienced, sometimes confusing items that were in stock with those that weren’t.

Still, I wouldn’t hesitate to return to La Zingara at Gleneagle, especially with out-of-town visitors hungry to see the massive mountain view. I don’t play golf myself, but I can certainly see myself enjoying a couple rounds – of ice-cold drinks on the patio.

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