Barbarella Bar: Amalfi Coast-inspired restaurant opening soon in Calgary
Barbarella Bar is the newest restaurant opening from the highly distinguished Concorde Entertainment restaurant group.
The team has been keeping details under wraps… until now.
This new Italian restaurant concept — located in the same building (Stephen Avenue Place) as the best new restaurant in Canada, Major Tom, another Concorde spot — is opening on Thursday, December 8.
A few other notable spots from this restaurant group include Lulu Bar, Lonely Mouth, and Surfy Surfy.
The opening was originally set for the fall, so it’s been a long-awaited grand opening.
With a concept that aims to be the “Amalfi Coast meets the Pacific Northwest,” we now know the opening date and have a first look at the food and drink menu. Concorde Group has an extremely good track record for opening high-concept restaurants that appeal to everyone, so we can’t wait to try this menu out.
Like other restaurants from this team, the food menu has snacks, pasta, pizza, vegetables, and small plates.
Crispy artichokes with rosemary aioli and the fried halloumi cheese served with caper-anchovy vinaigrette and pickled sweet peppers are going to be two great items to start with. Small plates include steak tartare, crispy calamari, and burrata, while the large plates have dishes that include roasted tiger shrimp, steak, and a decadent burger that’s topped with truffle, fontina cheese, brioche, and French fries.
Nothing says Italy like pasta and pizza, and Barbarella has eight different kinds of pasta and six pizza options that are going to make for some difficult decisions. Classic pasta dishes like spaghetti limone are bound to be popular, but so will the house creations, like the campanelle with crab, shrimp, yuzu, and baby spinach.
There are white pizzas here, like the clam topped with broccoli, crème fraĂ®che, parsley, chilies, and olive oil. Or you can go with a red sauce tomato pie with shaved garlic, olive oil, and stracciatella cheese. If you’re feeling adventurous, go for something entirely unique, such as the date and gorgonzola pie that comes with parmesan cream, provolone cheese, and rosemary.
What truly separates this new food concept from others like it is the Crudo options. Crudo is an Italian and Spanish word for raw, and most restaurants have one option for it, whether it’s scallop, tuna, or oysters, and this place has all of the above and more. The hamachi is dressed in pickled melon and a kabosu citrus vinaigrette and it sounds as refreshing as it does interesting.
For drinks, you can look forward to a massive selection of highballs, cocktails, beer, and wine, with a certain specialty in spritzes. There are eight of them, like the Passionfruit Spritz with vanilla vodka, sparkling wine, pink peppercorn, and of course, passionfruit.
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This has been an opening many have been looking forward to all year long, so it’s an exciting relief that it’s nearly here. There’s a very good chance it quickly becomes one of the most popular and best restaurants in Calgary.
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Barbarella Bar
Address: #110, 700 – 2nd Street SW, Calgary
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