Our story

Frank Bonanno’s eclectic restaurant group showcases his food-centered upbringing and commitment to culinary excellence.

Frank Bonanno

“I had a great childhood,” says Frank Bonanno. “Most of who I am today was shaped by food experiences—in restaurants, at home, with family and friends. I think I could trace every great happiness in my life to a correlating meal.” The aroma of pastries and pasta from his Sicilian grandmother permeated Bonanno’s New Jersey home, where he and his mother experimented to Julia Child and The Galloping Gourmet piped into a tiny kitchen television. On weekends, his parents would take him to New York City, where they’d explore wildly diverse restaurants, and Frank honed not only a deep appreciation for satisfying meals but service to match.

Ultimately, Frank graduated from the University of Denver School of Finance, an education he followed up with a second degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.

Frank’s restaurants have become the most fertile training grounds for upcoming restaurateurs and chefs in the western United States. Since Mizuna’s inception in 2001, thirteen of our restaurant family members have gone directly from an experience working alongside Frank to opening a restaurant of their own.

and creatively work toward rendering the exotic into the familiar. Frank’s front-of-house operations reflect that balance of creative collaboration and professionalism, working together to create Bonanno Concepts, a chef-driven family dedicated to deeply satisfying meals, outstanding service, education, and community.

Jacqueline Bonanno

Jacqueline Bonanno is the Bonanno Concepts Creative Director, though the word “creative” hardly seems to encompass all she does. A former AP English teacher, Jacqueline can put anything into words. A feeling. A smell. A memory locked away that you may not even know you had. Her visionary power extends far beyond the written language, however. She can transform a space through design. A mood through her presence. Magic always seems to surround Jacqueline and she never wastes an ounce of it. Her fingerprints are all over every restaurant, every menu, animating each in a way that feels both entirely unique and entirely genuine. If you’ve been lucky enough to eat at one of Bonanno’s restaurants, you’ve surely felt her influence all around you.