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In a town where winter visitors arrive by private jet and reservations are as coveted as lift tickets, the restaurant scene in Aspen has become as competitive—and glamorous—as the slopes. Among the dining rooms shaping the town’s modern culinary identity are Duemani, Acquolina and Angelo’s—three Italian-inspired restaurants that now operate under the umbrella of the rising hospitality venture Aspen Hospitality Group. At the center of this growing restaurant portfolio is entrepreneur and hospitality veteran Carlos Solorzano-Smith, the group’s founder and managing partner. His journey—from restaurant floor staff to one of the most visible figures in Aspen dining—mirrors the ethos of the establishments he now oversees: polished but approachable, ambitious yet grounded in tradition. Solorzano-Smith arrived in Aspen more than a decade ago with little more than determination and a desire to learn the business from the ground up. He worked his way through some of the town’s most prestigious dining rooms, including the celebrated Japanese restaurant Matsuhisa Aspen and The Little Nell.
Aspen Hospitality Group made its first major move in 2021, purchasing both Duemani and Acquolina from previous owners Luigi Giordani and Gretchen Leary. Rather than reinvent the restaurants, Solorzano-Smith and his partners including Neapolitan chef Vincenzo Salvatore, who joined in 2024 as Aspen Hospitality Group’s culinary director (formerly of Aspen’s Casa Tua and Casa D’Angelo), and Darko Petrov as wine director, took a subtler approach. Each of the group’s restaurants brings a slightly different interpretation of Italian and Mediterranean cuisine to the Aspen dining scene.
At Duemani, a sleek dining room on Monarch Street, the menu leans toward coastal Mediterranean flavors—whole fish, raw bar selections, grilled seafood and prime meats inspired by the cuisines of Italy, Greece, Spain and France. The restaurant’s bright, airy redesign emphasizes the same sun-washed coastal sensibility found on the plate. Acquolina, by contrast, remains a classic Italian trattoria. Long a favorite among Aspen locals, it specializes in house-made pastas, pizzas and traditional regional dishes. The newest addition to the portfolio is Angelo’s, which opened in 2024 after Aspen Hospitality Group acquired the former Casa D’Angelo space on Mill Street. While the name changed, many of the restaurant’s Northern Italian dishes and elements of the original concept remain, creating a bridge between past and present. Together, the three restaurants sit within a two-block radius in downtown Aspen. With Duemani, Acquolina and Angelo’s, Aspen Hospitality Group has quietly built one of the town’s most influential restaurant clusters—three dining rooms that blend Italian tradition with the cosmopolitan energy of a global resort. And if Solorzano-Smith has his way, the group’s growth is just beginning.
Dining and Cooking