It took nearly 10 years and the success of three concepts for the chefs and owners of Johnny Bechamel’s to fully realize their new restaurant in Denver’s Speer neighborhood.
Now a month into business inside a redesigned restaurant property, 81 S. Pennsylvania St., Johnny Bechamel’s has exposed more of the city to the pizzas and pastas that are a specialty of its sister restaurants in RiNo, Dio Mio and Redeemer Pizza, and the smaller Little Johnny B’s inside of the Urban Cowboy hotel in Capitol Hill. The new locale expands the options while keeping the menu concise, introducing dishes that have nothing to do with dough and everything to do with the emotional connection had by their originators.
“Some of them are even dishes that we grew up eating as a family or went out to eat,” said co-chef Alex Figura. He, co-chef Spencer White and director of operations Lulu Clair own and run the restaurants as Mamas & Papas Hospitality Group.
Italian food is the base of all the Mamas & Papas concepts, but with Johnny Bechamel’s they dug into their varied family histories. It included a lot more research and development of specials, Figura said, and assists from others in the kitchen.
Johnny Bechamel’s restaurant in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Growing up outside of Washington, D.C., Figura loved two dishes: matzah ball soup and steak Diane. His dad would make the latter every month, he said, pouring alcohol in the pan and lighting it to flambe the steak.
At Johnny Bechamel’s, Figura uses a New York Strip steak for the steak Diane, served with creamed potatoes and finished with a shallot, green peppercorn and caper sauce. The matzah ball soup, meanwhile, consists of chicken and pork meatballs mixed with bread crumbs instead of matzah meal, topped with pickled celery.
White, the co-chef, ate stuffed peppers as a child, Figura said. They are piquillo peppers on the menu, stuffed with a spinach artichoke dip. Anna Munoz, the restaurant’s chef de cuisine, contributed the Hamachi crudo in a white bean puree with a Calabrian chili pepper oil, he said.
The kitchen also pipes its own spiral sausage using a Calabrian pepper veal and pork sausage from Lottie’s Meats, a Denver business started by sisters Chelsey and Cassie Maschhoff. Chelsey, formerly a sous chef at Annette in Aurora, also sells their product to Redeemer Pizza and Little Johnny B’s, she said.
Late last year, she arrived with her sausage stuffer at Johnny Bechamel’s and showed White how to pipe the sausage as one long, coiled spiral, she said. On the menu, it is paired with creamed polenta and a citrus salad.
Chelsey Maschhoff, who grew up in a pig farm in southern Illinois and still sources pork and veal from there, said eating the dish brought tears to her eyes.
“Your whole goal is to create something to put on a higher-end menu,” she said. Nailing the dish, labeled as Lottie’s Spiral Sausage, was a “bucket list item” for the sister pair.
DENVER, CO – DECEMBER 17 : Farfalle pasta (Green tomato pesto, clams, mint, basil, celery, lemon) at Johnny Bechamel’s restaurant in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, December 17, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
There are four pasta dishes, including farfalle with green tomato pesto and ricotta ravioli. (“It’s all handshapes” and sheeted pasta, Figura said.) The lasagnetta is what Figura called the “crispy part of the lasagna,” filled with bechamel and pickled beech mushroom sauce and with oyster mushrooms scattered up top.
Despite its prevalence at other Mamas & Papas restaurants, pizza finds another loving home at Johnny Bechamel’s. There are five specialties, including a strictly tomato pie made with Bianco DiNapoli canned tomatoes and spicy “alla vodka” made with the sausage from Lottie’s Meats.
Going inside of the restaurant space that would become Johnny Bechamel’s was a full-circle moment for Figura. He had originally eyed it as a prime location for Redeemer Pizza years ago but decided to stave off a costly kitchen renovation. Restaurateur Jared Leonard eventually moved in and shuffled through various concepts before vacating the property amid reported legal and financial woes.
When it became available a year and a half ago, Figura and his team were able to renovate the restaurant, moving the bar to the front so passers-by could see it abuzz at night. The time was right for a move.
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