Ron Cito could have been laid back in retirement except for two things: He didn't like being laid back, and he got a tip that Patsy's Italian Restaurant in north Denver was up for sale.

So, Cito and partner Kim DeLancey bought it three months ago.

It's a homecoming of sorts for Cito, who grew up a mile from the restaurant that his family founded in 1921 when his great-aunt and great-uncle Maggie and Mike Aiello bought it.

"I wasn't interested in any other restaurant in Denver," said Cito, 72.

He and his family used to gather at Patsy's on Christmas Eve when he was knee-high to a calzone. The day is a big deal in north Denver, where the traditional fare is the feast of the seven fishes.

Cito started counting on his fingers, ticking off the meal of his youth.

"We had baccala and squid and shrimp and mussels and clams and smelt," he said, and then gave up counting. "We had six of the seven fishes."

Cito recalled going to the restaurant with his mom to visit Mike and Maggie Aiello, who were old then.

"I remember her hair was tied up in a bun, and she was wearing the little apron, standing in the kitchen, making pasta, cooking," Cito said.

Later, owner Chubby Aiello, Mike and Maggie's son, sold the place to Bil and Cindy Taylor.

Cito was an athlete at Cathedral High School - good enough to play football at Trinidad Junior College but not at much else in school.

"I majored in stop the running backs and boozology," he joked.

He finished his two-year career without a degree from Trinidad, then joined his dad as a union electrician. He retired in 1998.

When DeLancey heard from former classmate Cindy Taylor that the restaurant was on the market, she told Cito, "Let's dream about this."

So he did, and they bought it.

The daytime crew is pleased.

"He's no high hat whatsoever," said manager W.B. Coit.

During the day, Cito dresses casually. At night, he gets all duded up, making his rounds from table to table to chat up the customers.

And he knows how to make the rounds.

"On those applications for marital status, I check 'all of the above,' " he said. "I've been married, divorced, married, widowed, married again."

He said he doesn't plan big changes at Patsy's and certainly won't mess with the clothesline-thick spaghetti or the sauce Aunt Maggie most likely developed or inherited from her mother.

"I'd like to get calzone and pizza back in here," he said. "I've got to work on the beast. The old girl needs repair."

The beast, the old girl - that's the pizza oven in the kitchen.

Cito may be a native of the prairie, but his sense of humor is desert dry.

Patsy's was formerly called Italian Garden when it started out. But anti-Italian sentiment started brewing when Benito Mussolini and his Fascists came to power in Italy. So Chubby Aiello suggested to the family that they change the name to Patsy's.

So now Patsy's has gone around and come around. And Cito said he made the right choice to un-retire.

"It's hard work, but it's fun," he said. "I enjoy this, being here, being happy."

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