Seafood restaurateur pivots to Italian for new DTC restaurant

Cherry Creek seafood restaurateur Sean Huggard is boiling up something new.

The owner of Blue Island Oyster Bar & Seafood is opening a new concept, Oliver’s Italian, at 4950 S. Yosemite St. in the Belleview Square shopping center.

“American Italian food was some of the first stuff I ever learned how to cook as a line cook in high school,” Huggard said. “I’ve always been super fond of it.”

Customers can expect a simple “approachable” Italian menu, with a mix of items such as Americanized chicken parmesan, pinsa (a Roman-style pizza) and a raw bar.

“We’re not sticking ourselves to one type of thing. It’s the idea of Italy as a whole, and also bringing that Americanized Italian food,” Huggard said.

Huggard opened the first Blue Island in Cherry Creek in 2015 and expanded the brand to Lone Tree early last year. Like Blue Island, which sources from its own oyster farm on Long Island, Huggard said Oliver’s will be working with small farmers and impor...