Who’s Behind It Executive chef Camilo Kobek and Teatro Group
What’s on the Menu Mediterranean-inspired fine dining in a majestic heritage building
Any city would be lucky to have a restaurant as grand and enduring as Teatro. With its dramatic white columns, quirky art collection and storied wine cellar stashed in an old bank vault, Teatro has served as the site of weddings, celebratory dinners and pre-theatre soirees for more than 30 years. With a second generation of the Berloni family helming the restaurant (founder Dario’s daughter, Mia is now Teatro Group’s president and CEO), Teatro is successfully pulling off the complicated trick of balancing legacy and relevance.
Some of Calgary’s most celebrated chefs have come through Teatro’s extraordinarily well-equipped kitchen, with executive chef Camilo Kobek, who cut his teeth cooking in Vancouver at restaurants like Wildebeest and Pidgin, running the show for the past two years. Kobek certainly has a strong culinary point of view, and he’s made his mark on Teatro’s carefully curated version of excellent Mediterranean-inspired cuisine by leaning into his own love of seafood (he is from the West Coast, after all), sometimes adding subtle nods towards his Latin American heritage.
“I condensed the menu to make sure every single item is stronger,” Kobek says. “The menu is a little more focused and now has more of my touch to it.”
While it’s hard to resist Teatro’s famous risotto or massive bistecca, the real magic can often be found in one of the menu’s three market specials (in carne, pesce or pasta categories) or in Kobek’s five-course tasting menu, with purées, nuts and fruit often showing up in surprising applications showcasing the chef’s remarkable command over playful textures and refined but unexpected flavours.
Naturally, everything at Teatro is even better with pairings from that legendary wine cellar, built over decades of ingenious buying practices and stewardship by a beverage team every bit as strong as the talent in the kitchen.
200 8 Ave. S.E., 403-290-1012, teatro.ca, @teatrorestaurant
