Broomfield now has our own Protos. If you’ve never been, Protos is a local chain of pizzerias. I’ve visited the one on Platte in Denver and the one in Lafayette, and so Beth and I decided to try the new Broomfield location on their opening week.
Protos does what they call “Napoletana Style Pizza” which I guess means thin crust. I liked their pizza at the other two locations, and the Broomfield location has the same good stuff. We ordered “The Proto Pie” which has mozarella, tomato sauce, fresh basil, and Italian sausage. Yum.
I also had a Caesar Salad which was fine; my strongest memory of that was that I didn’t like their anchovies. Lots of folks don’t like anchovies at all, but if you find a place that has good ones they’re a nice addition to a salad.
There’s not much else to say about the food. It’s good, and reasonably priced. So let me talk about the location. Proto’s is in the Arista village, just down the road from the Broomfield Event Center. As far as I know, it’s the first restaurant in that area, not counting the food stands inside the event center (and no, I’m not going to bother to write anything on the Broomfield Restaurant Reviews site about those). The area is still under heavy construction. There’s a set of apartment buildings that are open now, but most of the lofts and other commercial spaces were unfinished when we visited.
I have high hopes for Arista, which was “sold” as a work/live community centered around a local public transit hub. So far, it’s not even possible to get there by RTD, so they’ve got a long way to do to turn it into a transit hub. If they can attract good businesses and move the Park-N-Ride over there, it would be an awesome place to live, I think. But on the other hand, this is Broomfield, and I have yet to see anything but talk and grand plans regarding modern city planning. But I do hope they’re able to pull it off, and I hope other good restaurants and shopping outlets come in alongside Proto’s.
Proto’s Pizzeria Napoletana
8001 Arista Place
Broomfield, CO 80021
303-466-2112
Open daily at 11