Teatro Cafe
1233 Wellington St. W., 613-699-1020, teatrocafe.ca
Open: Daily from 11:30 to 2 p.m. and then from 5 p.m.
Prices: small plates $8 to $17
Access: no steps to front door or washrooms
Of the Ottawa area’s restaurants that have opened in the last few years and focussed on small plates, Teatro Cafe, which arrived in June in Wellington West, strikes me as having the clearest sense of raison d’etre.
It’s simply practical to have the small, open kitchen that replaced the coffee counter in the Great Canadian Theatre Company’s lobby specialize in lighter but sophisticated fare. As well, the theatregoers that would ideally frequent the place aren’t in need of a three-hour dinner of massive portions that would leave them in a food coma.
Mind you, I’m increasingly having mixed feelings about small plates. I’m not so sure that the sharing ethic that’s associated with “tapas” in North America really works, even if small plates here have grown beyond their Spanish inspirations. And lately, when I’ve seen small plates that aim for downmarket cool rather than posh-food highs, the results have usually been flops, lacking craft and luxury — not to mention too little food on the plate.
Fortunately, Teatro gets it right. Here’s my scorecard for chef Mook Sutton’s work. Over two visits, 14 of 21 items were tried, and of them five were top-tier, richly flavoured and attractively plated hits, eight were a notch below but still solid and enjoyable, and just one was a letdown.
Sutton’s Mariposa Farm-sourced duck breast ($17) and skewered bison flank steak ($15) typified small (or perhaps medium?) plates done really well. Both had tender, flavourful morsels of meat worth fighting over, and were endowed with meaningful, contrasting extra goodies (a crumble of gingerbread on the duck, sherry-soaked figs, baby carrots even some whipped feta for the bison). Every drop of the finishing sauces (a smoked duck jus and a red wine gastrique) deserved to be sopped.
Bison Skewers at Teatro Cafe’
Duck Breast at Teatro Cafe (Jean Levac/ Ottawa Citizen)
Spiced chicken ($13) ate very nicely, with a crusted but moist thigh piled atop mashed potato, a bacon-bolstered slaw and barbecue sauce, flanked by a mini cornbread muffin.
Spiced Chicken at Teatro
A “tarte tatin” of oven-dried tomato and fiore de latte ($12), hidden under a thatch of dressed kale impressed with its surprising, savoury heft.
Tomato tarte tatin at Teatro Cafe
Raw tuna appetizers can easily slide into mediocrity, but Teatro’s is closer to a wow. The fish ($16) was served three ways — as a tartare mingled most of all with lychee, as a tightly cubed ceviche that went Southwestern with cilantro and jalapeno, and in medallions mounded over a crab-avocado concoction. It was hard to choose a favourite from this vibrant threesome.
Tuna trio at Teatro Cafe
A plate of finely seared halibut ($16) also came with a crabby accent, but stuffed in a slightly sludgy canneloni with potato. Even though a nice corn-butter sauce boosted the dish, the portioning of the admittedly pricey fish did seem less generous compared to the more shareable proteins on other plates.
Halibut and Canneloni at Teatro Cafe
Crab and pineapple salad ($11) was an appealing, focused composition,
Crab pineapple salad at Teatro Cafe
as were grilled spears of Parkdale market asparagus ($11) topped with the umami hits of parmesan and tomato jam.
Grilled Asparagus at Teatro Cafe
Pork belly was the star in an Asian-style noodle bowl ($13), eclipsing the nearby shrimp and the broth that I would have liked more had its flavour been deeper.
Shrimp and Pork Belly noodle bowl at Teatro Cafe.
These days, I’m usually wondering if octopus has had its moment, and the charred octopus, while smartly accompanied with shrimp, tomatoes, sweet pepper and fennel, plus a crispy chorizo accent ($13), still didn’t sway me.
Octopus and Shrimp dish at Teatro Cafe
At lunch, a soup of the day ($4,50), salsify with honey mushrooms served with plenty of crostini, would have been bang-on with just a hit of salt.
Salsify and honey mushroom soup at Teatro Cafe
The only dish that flopped was a lunch-time fish taco plate ($13), with slices of tuna that barely registered.
Tuna Taco lunch special at Teatro Cafe
Compared to some of the elaborate savoury plates, Teatro’s desserts were not showstoppers. Nor, I think, were they meant to be. I did like the lightness of the yogurt cheese cake ($7), nestled in some indulgent dulce de leche, more than the less distinctive chocolate brownies ($8).
Yogurt cheesecake with dulce de leche at Teatro
Brownie dessert at Teatro Cafe
Ambiance-wise, Teatro, which seats about 60, is a pleasant, simple space, although it can feel like an afterthought in a lobby if you’re facing the street entrance. It’s better, I think, to face the kitchen and watch the culinary show. That said, the open kitchen’s downside is that after dinner there, I did come home smelling like I had been cooking.
As for service, it was a little uninformed for one meal and then extremely attentive and even overly intense for another.
There’s a happy medium that suits the Sutton’s commendable, affordable plates, I’m sure.
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