When he was dreaming up his Southwest Florida Performing Arts Center, Brien Spina saw a hole in the area’s fine dining scene—the lack of a big-name chef. (This was before Art Smith announced plans for his 1500 South.)
He pinpointed a potentially perfect partner: Michael Psilakis, of Iron Chef and No Kitchen Required fame. Psilakis had just launched a restaurant/music club hybrid in New York. Who better to help establish a restaurant/theater hybrid?
Psilakis was all ears.
Read more about the Southwest Florida Performing Arts Center here.
“I feel like the consumer today is really looking for more than just food when they are going out looking for a dining experience. I feel like they are looking for a package of value, and I think what’s being created here right now is that package,” Psilakis says.
Psilakis chose Italian for Teatro’s menu, intending to offer unique twists on a genre that consumers know and love.
“You’ll find on this menu that you have traditional Italian that is being done with ingredients that are as good as I can get right now, and then you have this more contemporary Italian that is sort of borrowing from the north and the south and combining them in ways that are unique and interesting and very different,” he says.
Teatro's Ricotta Gnocchi is a must-eat in Southwest Florida.
