Chorney-Booth: Barbarella Bar brightens Stephen Avenue with a sunny slice of the Italian coast yyc
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You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails or any newsletter. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againBarbarella Bar was in the works well before Major Tom even opened – the two restaurants sit in Stephen Avenue Place, but while Major Tom is 40 floors up, Barbarella is on the street level. Concorde had confidence in its “go big” strategy since the 250-seat room is even larger than Major Tom, which has just shy of 200 seats with no possibility of a patio. But even though it’s mammoth, Concorde’s longtime collaborator Frank Architecture managed to make it feel chic and comfy, carving out a roomy lounge space at the front of the building complete with retro fireplaces and sofa seating, recalling the design at Bridgette Bar.Jim Wells/Postmedia The dining room features curved banquettes and a busy open kitchen, showcasing only a portion of the staff needed to make the restaurant run. There’s additional seating on the upper level as well as a sidewalk patio waiting for the spring and summer seasons and a private dining room downstairs. Expect this place to become business lunch and happy hour central, as well as a hot dinner spot like its sister restaurant upstairs.Article content Brittany Thompson, regional manager, Concorde Group, and Blair Clemis, regional chef, in the bar area at Barbarella. Jim Wells/Postmedia“We wanted it to feel intimate and have that energy in each space,” says Brittany Thompson, regional manager with the Concorde Group. “If it’s a big warehouse style of design, it’s hard to create that atmosphere. We wanted it to feel like you’re dining at a Model Milk or Bridgette Bar.”Simply being big and new and on busy Stephen Avenue is probably enough to keep a restaurant afloat, but Concorde wanted to give Barbarella a distinct concept and the company’s culinary team decided to go with “coastal Italian,” with direct inspiration drawn from the food of the ultra-popular Amalfi Coast. In line with other Concorde concepts like Lulu Bar and Surfy Surfy , head chef Jeremy Medina, regional chef Blair Clemis, and Concorde’s executive culinary leaders gave themselves the freedom to colour outside the lines a bit, dipping into other regions of Italy as well as global cuisines, provided everything felt instinctively cohesive.Article contentThis means a lot of citrus, with dishes like a delightfully fresh spaghetti limone , campanelle with crab, shrimp and yuzu , and hamachi crudo with pickled melon and a kabosu citrus vinaigrette . In fact, there’s a section of the menu entirely made up of different crudo in celebration of Italy’s waters, though most of the ingredients are sourced from the west coast of Canada. The pasta is made in-house – with the pistachio and ricotta ravioli in saffron butter as the arguable star of the show – as is the pizza dough. This is a bit of a “something for everyone” restaurant: in addition to a burger topped with truffle and raclette cheese , there’s a steak and a chicken parm sandwich , but every dish has a little something extra to take it beyond the expected.Article content “We’re able to offer something familiar in the sense that it’s pizza and pasta while taking a lighter approach,” Clemis says. “We definitely don’t shy away from flavour profiles from the north or the popularization of Italian food in North America, but we massage them to fit into the menu so they don’t feel out of place.”Jim Wells/Postmedia Falling in line with Concorde’s existing properties, beverages are also a highlight, with house-made limoncello and a cocktail list from Nate Rye and Emmalyn Copping that leans towards light and bright drinks rather than the spirit heavy. As with Major Tom, sommelier Brad Royale oversees the fun and often surprising wine list, which delves into the American west coast as well as Italy. Barbarella Bar is located at 240 8th Ave. S.W. on the ground floor of Stephen Avenue Place and can be reached through barbarellabar.ca. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. onward on weekdays and from 2 p.m. onward on Saturdays and Sundays.Article contentIn other restaurant news, Indie Counterculture, one of the first local restaurants to be brave enough to open in the early months of the pandemic, closed its original location in Kensington in mid-December. But fans of the restaurant’s curries need not despair, as Kensington’s loss is the southwest’s gain. The restaurant has opened another location in West Springs, offering the same great butter chicken and other dishes as well as new items like goat and beef biryani. The new Indie Counterculture is located at 8560 8A Ave. S.W. Elizabeth Chorney-Booth can be reached at elizabooth@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram at @elizabooth.Fresh seafood and light flavours mix in this dish of albacore at Barbarella. 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