Aurora Golf Course Restaurants

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Long ago a young man with a flair for cooking and solid training in hospitality left his native Romania in search of freedom from political turmoil. Dumitri Palea took the long way round, spending several years in a refugee work camp, then working in Turkey and Italy--always in restaurants—before finally being sponsored to come to America.

In 1990 Dumitri’s Family Restaurant and Sports’ Bar was born on S. Havana in Aurora, Colorado, bringing the best of Dumitri’s multi-cultural cooking background to a warm family atmosphere that soon became an Aurora favorite.

So popular was the restaurant that in 2009 when the Heather Ridge Country Club came available for sale, Dumitri was asked to open a restaurant within the Country Club to increase the attractiveness of the property.

Dumitri and daughter Juliana Palea Fritschel first opened a grill (Dumitri’s on the Green) for the golfers, right next to golf course. They then updated and remodeled the upstairs kitchen, dining room, and lounge, opening up Dumitri’s Restaurant and Bar, and extensive banquet facilities.

Juliana has a nursing degree, but prefers the life of the restaurateur, especially at the newly renamed Golf Club at Heather Ridge. “It has such a place in Aurora’s history—I can’t tell you how many people have commented on their fond memories at Heather Ridge—of weddings, meetings and holiday parties attended there. We strive to carry on the tradition by keeping the décor classical and familiar, yet modern.”

Juliana’s cousin, Nick Moga, now runs the original Dumitri’s Family Restaurant and Sports’ Bar.

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