Eating Wyoming: Bosco’s Italian Restaurante In Casper Has Had The Same Chef For 61 Years!

One of the most remarkable things at Bosco’s Italian Restaurante in Casper is something guests probably won’t see at all during their visit.

It’s Suzi Bosco in the kitchen, preparing all the meals at once for a restaurant that is packed full of people, with not one table empty. 

While her family members help Bosco in many ways — cleaning up after the dinner guests are all gone, folding napkins and arranging silverware ahead of the dinner rush — she’s a one-woman show in the kitchen.

It’s a juggling act, but also a labor of love, and she does it with style.

“It’s so fun,” she said. “And everyone loves it.”

At any one time, a peek into the kitchen could find 18 pans of fettuccini going all at once, and no telling how many plates of scampi underway, too.

There’d be a few veal scallopini orders on the fire, as well as lasagna, chicken marsala and more.

Scampi, by the way, is Bosco’s most popular dish. An old newspaper article on the restaurant wall even tells how Cuisine magazine had been asking for the recipe.

Organization, though, is the secret ingredient in every dish here.

“My kitchen is small, but really well-organized,” Bosco said. “So everything is right there at your hand, and I keep everything as close as possible.”

There are occasional freezer runs, she admits. 

“It takes a little while, you know, to get the program down, so you’re not running your legs off,” she said. 

Bosco has had a fair amount of time to get her “program” down. 

She’s been cooking at Bosco’s for 61 years.

Never A Stranger In Bosco’s

Eating in Bosco’s restaurant at 847 E. A St. feels a little like coming home to grandma’s house.

That’s 100% intentional, Bosco told Cowboy State Daily.

She has cultivated all things home for her restaurant, down to its cute checkerboard tablecloths and photographs of memories — friends, family and the famous. Their smiling faces dot all of the walls. 

There’s a friendliness right off the bat that invites people in. It won’t matter if you are a longtime local, somebody famous or a complete stranger.

Smiles are the order of every day. 

“We’ve raised more kids in here than you can even imagine,” Bosco said. “Most of them aren’t mine, but they think I’m their Granny.”

That friendliness rubs off on all the guests, too. They are quick to spill the beans even to strangers on all the Casper classics.

“It’s like Cheers,” Patty Smith told Cowboy State Daily. “You always bump into someone you know.”

Her husband Craig Smith had his first job interview at Bosco’s. The friendliness was all part of what convinced him to take the job.

“This is where you bring people to get a sense of the community,” Patty Smith said. 

Famous Diners Don’t Include Trump Yet

Bosco is quite proud of the photographs of famous people that hang in a row across one of the support beams that runs the length of the restaurant.

It’s quite a collection. There are U.S. Sens. Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso, as well as President George Bush and many others. 

All of them have eaten at the establishment, Bosco said. Some more than once.

“President Bush was here four times,” she said. “That was really nice. He wrote, I have letters from governors, too, and they all came here to eat.”

Former president Donald Trump’s is the only photograph hanging in the row of pictures of someone who hasn’t yet been to Bosco’s to eat.

Bosco believes that will soon be rectified.

“He wrote me a letter and said when he gets re-elected, he’s coming,” she said.

Granny-Sized Portions

If anyone leaves Bosco’s hungry, it has to be their own fault. The portion sizes here are all generous in that granny-sized way. 

Just in case you were extra hungry, there’s even bread and salad to go with the meal. They aren’t extras here.

The servers will even offer — unasked — to toss shrimp on the salad. No extra charge.

Italian classics are all over the menu.

Lasagna, veal scallopini and chicken marsala are there. The veal, by the way, is special from Wisconsin, and it’s melt-in-your-mouth tender.

You can also create your own classic, fettuccini alfredo. Two ingredients are $20.95, with each additional ingredient $1 each. Ham, mushrooms, peas, broccoli — name it, and it’s in.

Bosco even keeps some off-the-shelf items for regulars on special diets, like zoodles. Because that’s what all grandmas do.

A collection of creative mobster cocktails round out the menu of classics.

Favorites include Sleeping With The Fishes, Cement Overshoes or The Godfather. It’s a margarita fit for a boss — mobster or otherwise.

Dreaming Of New Dishes

Bosco loves to get creative in the kitchen, so new dishes appear all the time. 

Her latest sensation is a pear cheese dumpling — they look like pirate purses, Bosco says — in a creamy macadamia nut sauce.

“People have dreams about it and call me and tell me they’re mad at me because I wasn’t open at 2 a.m. in the morning when they were craving it,” Bosco said.

That’s ironic, because the idea for this luscious new recipe came to Bosco at 3 in the morning. She was on the edge of dreams falling back asleep, thinking about what she’s hungry for. Fruit, nuts, cheese — it sounded so good.

“So the next morning I told the girls, ‘What do you think about this?’” 

They were skeptical. Until they tasted it. 

“That’s where half my recipes come from,” Bosco added. “I’m just laying there, thinking, ‘What can I make that would be new and exciting?’”

Italian Heritage In Every Dish

Bosco herself is Italian. Her father came to America from Italy, though her mother was born in America to Italian parents. 

Many dishes Bosco makes are homegrown classics passed down from her family — though she’s added her own twists and twirls along the way.

Bosco started working at her parents’ restaurant, which was then called the Tip Top Café, when she was just 13. At the time, it was a hamburger joint that only served American food.

“They didn’t think ethnic food would go at the time,” Bosco said. 

After her mother died, Bosco took over the cooking and decided to try a dish or two of classic Italian, just to see if it would go over.

“If it didn’t work out, we could just go back to the full American menu,” Bosco said, shrugging. “Needless to say, 49 years later, (Italian) is very good!”

Bosco herself has never been to Italy, but when she was young, she and her sister traveled around California. There, Bosco was invited into the kitchens of several Italian chefs who showed her quite a few of their tricks. 

Bosco makes her own cannoli for desserts, as well as her own pastas. She starts early every day, long before the lunch rush arrives. By 11 a.m. she’s plating up all the tiramisu. Then she turns to making fresh pasta.

That’s right. Fresh pasta by hand, just like grandma would do. 

The restaurant is open for lunch from 11 to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and for dinner from 5 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday.

Bosco’s really begins to shine at night. When the sun is going down and a wine or cocktail glass is in hand, something magical happens. It starts with the servers, who are all smiling and laughing and having fun with the guests. They go around lighting the tea lights that sit in little red vases on each table.

No other lights are turned on. 

It should be far too dark in the little restaurant with no additional light.  

Yet somehow, magically, it is just enough. And it feels just like home.

Contact Renée Jean at Renee@CowboyStateDaily.com