Italian find highlights Castle Rock's treasures

CASTLE ROCK • Our series of nearby arts- and food-related GO! Roadtrips continues with an unlikely stop.
We may think of Castle Rock as just a stop for factory outlet shopping, a bedroom community on the way to Denver with a prominent rock formation.

But exit on Wilcox Street and continue beyond the cheap-gas stations, and you’ll discover a cool historical downtown, art galleries, great restaurants, unexpected hiking and other cultural treasures.

A BITE

I knew about some fine dining spots in Castle Rock:

Pegasus on the Square has really good Mexican, Greek and American specialities.

The Old Stone Church, a terrific, high-end dining spot in an actual old church, stained glass and all.

Castle Cafe, get worthy chicken-fried steaks here.

Rockyard, a brewpub with great local beers and soup.

But here’s the big discovery:

Troncalli’s Trattoria, 323 Metzler Drive, 1-303-688-1229, troncallis.com.

Hidden in a strip center a few blocks east of I-25 on Founders Parkway is one of the best little Italian places in Colorado. The delicious, gut-busting double-decker pizza has become a hit with locals, but it’s the sauces on the Italian classics that really shine: the thick, lemony butter sauce with the perfectly cooked scampi, the subtle blending of flavors in the clear sauce on the Chicken Saltimbocca and, my favorite, the creamy pink Princess sauce on the Gamberi Pettine Di’Mare, an amazing seafood pasta. Unfortunately, Troncalli’s lost a recent bout with the city to get a sign on Founders Parkway, where it might draw some outlet-weary tourists. Without that, owner Joe Troncalli says he might not make it much longer.

Get a Castle Rock sampler: Some of the restaurants mentioned above (but not the Trattoria) will be providing tastes of their signature dishes during A Taste of Douglas County slated for Aug. 20 at the Douglas County Events Center, 500 Fairgrounds Drive.

A BIT OF MAGIC

Theatre of Dreams
735 Park St., 1-303-660-6799, amazingshows .com
If your image of magic is an old guy in a dusty tux sawing a woman in half, prepare to have your mind blown. Magicians Joe Givan and Carol Massie, who performed a long-running show at Vegas’ MGM Grand, have created a little theater specializing in cutting edge mentalists, sleight-of-hand artists, ventriloquists, jugglers and illusionists who make you think while they amaze you. A Rocky Mountain News critic called the Theatre of Dreams “one of the finest, most delightful and sophisticated blendings of theater and magic you’ll ever see.”
Go to the Web site above for the upcoming performance schedule.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Douglas County Fair and Rodeo: Aug. 1-9 at the Douglas County Fair Grounds, 500 Fairgrounds Drive. Tractor pulls, bull riding, roller derby, rides and all the funnel cakes you can eat. A parade is set for 10 a.m. Aug. 8. But the major highlight: a performance 9:30 p.m. Aug. 7 by Sha Na Na, at right, the ‘50s-era nostalgia group that’s promoting a new CD. (Trivia side note: Sha Na Na played at Woodstock, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this summer.); douglascountyfairandrodeo.com.

The Castle Rock Artfest: Sept. 12 and 13 at the Castle Rock Town Hall and Philip S. Miller Library parking lots. More than 180 artists from Colorado and elsewhere will be on display, with continual live music, a Children’s Imagination Zone and lots more; castlerockartfest.com.

TAKE A HIKE
Castlewood Canyon State Park: Just east of Castle Rock on Colorado Highway 83, this out-of-the-way park offers dozens of good trails. A good starter is the Canyon View Nature Trail, which lives up to its name with several dramatic views of the pine-lined canyon.

Gateway Mesa Open Space: A nice beginner scenic trail is Chuck’s Loop.
For more area trails, go to crgov.com.