The Boulder Bulletin/June 2026 My father was a raconteur, a storyteller. After he’d finish serving a particularly delicious
tale, he’d give you a knowing Irish wink and offer an epilogue for dessert: “It’s mostly true. And
the parts that aren’t make it more interesting.”
That’s how it is with Jay Elowsky, who everyone calls Pasta Jay after the name of the

Italian restaurant he’s operated on Pearl Street for nearly 40 years. He tells story after story, and

that every good story—like every good sauce—needs a little seasoning

you’re not entirely sure which parts are true. But it doesn’t matter. As a chef, Pasta Jay knows
that every good story—like every good sauce—needs a little seasoning.
How does a Polish kid from Bay City, Michigan, end up running the most successful
Italian restaurant in Boulder, with a second operation in Utah and jars of rich, red sauce sold in
supermarkets across the country?
After a brief and incomplete stint as a student at CU-Boulder in the early 1980s, Jay
headed to California to work in his Uncle Sonny’s pizzeria. There Jay learned Italian recipes
handed down from Sonny’s great, great grandmother, “Mama Genovese,” who was the cook for
King Victor Emmanuel of Italy in the 19th century.
Absorbing everything Sonny could teach him, Jay convinced his parents to loan him
$50,000 so he could return to Boulder and open his own Italian restaurant, which he called Pasta
Jay’s. The Mall on Pearl Street had recently opened, but Jay chose a spot for his restaurant a
couple of blocks west of the Mall, in an old house at 925 Pearl.
“Everyone told me not to open on the West End,” Pasta Jay recounts now about his 1988
decision. “They said it was off the bricks, and no one would come there. Well, it was an instant
success. From the first day, there was a line out the door. We could barely keep up.”
The first day for the new restaurant was September 16, 1988. That afternoon, before
opening the new place, Jay and his parents hurriedly painted bright red some old chairs they had
procured from CU to use in the restaurant. When they opened that evening, the second customer
through the door was George Karakehian, the proprietor of Art Source on the Pearl Street Mall.
“After George finished his meal in the newly opened restaurant,” Pasta Jay recollects, “he got up
to leave. But the chair stuck to him. The red paint hadn’t dried yet. George and I have been
friends ever since.”
In 1989, the year after opening Pasta Jay’s Restaurant, the Boulder City Clerk observed to
Jay that the CU football team was looking for a meal sponsor, someone who could feed them
before games. Jay volunteered but was told that university rules required that the school pay
something for the food. So, Pasta Jay charged the team $1 per player for dinners.

Feeding the football team lasted more than 30 years. Along the way, Pasta Jay started the
Buffalo Stampede, a Pearl Street tradition on the night before every home game, which continues
to this day. There is Buffs paraphernalia throughout his restaurant. Jay estimates that he serves
5,000 meals every CU graduation weekend.
Jay estimates that about ten percent of his diners are CU students. Another 20 percent are
tourists, and the rest are locals. “We are very family-oriented,” Jay explains. “I judge our success
by how many highchairs we’re using. I want families to be able to afford to feed their kids.” A
long-time leader in Downtown Boulder, Pasta Jay understands that Boulder residents are the key
to continued success. “We have to get families downtown. We need to keep the locals coming
in.”
Now at the corner of Pearl and 10th Street, a few yards east of the original Pasta Jay’s
location, Jay figures he has served between 200,000 and 250,000 meals each year since 1988.
That’s nearly 10 million pizzas and plates of pasta over the course of four decades.
“Through the years, we’ve added more sauces,” Pasta Jay explains. “We now have
something for everyone.” Jay says his favorite item on the menu is stuffed shells. That and the
chicken parm are the two most popular items in the restaurant. If you look closely at the menu,
you’ll notice that some dishes are named after regular diners and local luminaries. “Even my dad
has a dish on the menu, and there’s a drink named after my mom. It’s kind of cute.”
The same age as me and approaching retirement, Pasta Jay has been gradually handing
over the reins of his Boulder and Moab restaurants to his daughter Josie and his son Jay Wyatt.
“Jay Wyatt started bussing tables in the restaurant when he was 11. The other day, Josie was in
here at 2 am, learning recipes.”
Like Nicole Hurdle at Hurdle’s Jewelry, Zoe Polk at Pedestrian Shops, and Chase
Kraegel at Peppercorn, Jay’s kids have had to earn their place as next generation inheritors of a
long-time downtown family business. “I am harder on them than I am on my own employees,”
he says of Josie and Jay Wyatt. “They can stay here in the restaurant, or they can start their own
businesses. It’s up to them. But I am always asking them, ‘What are you doing to build your own
empire?’ They have worked for where they’re at. They’re doing a good job.”
The millions of plates of pasta and pizzas that Pasta Jay has served over the decades have
included meals for visiting luminaries to Boulder, including the Grateful Dead and the Dali
L

Lama. And Jay says he’s proud that the Sundance Film Festival is coming to Boulder next year.
“While Sundance will give us a big boost in January, what it really does is puts us on the map.
Overall, it gives Boulder more of a national presence.”
As proud as he is of his kids and the restaurant he has built up over the decades, Pasta Jay
says he reminds himself to be humble, to help those who are less fortunate. “We have served
homeless people meals out of the back door of the restaurant,” he says. “We have to be actively
involved in the community. I keep learning. I try to give others a helping hand. I keep reminding
myself: It’s about how you treat other people.”