Patricia Koyich pours her heart and soul into Il Sogno

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I’m inspired by Italy—the fashion, the cars, the shoes, the wine, the design, the coffee, the truffles,” says Patricia Koyich, the owner of Il Sogno, one of Calgary’s finer fine-dining restaurants.

The funny thing is, Koyich has never been to Italy.

It’s not for lack of trying, mind you. She’s booked a few trips over the years but every time she’s been ready to board the plane, a chef quits or a manager leaves or some other aspect of life and work gets in the way. So instead, she immerses herself in the culture from a distance and brings her own sense of Old World dining to her little corner of Bridgeland.

Il Sogno has resided in that little corner near the epicentre of Calgary’s Italian community for more than 14 years. Its home, the historic DeWaal Block, hugs 4th Street N.E. as it descends from Regal Terrace, providing a brick-faced, high-ceilinged space that’s been elegantly transformed into two cosy dining rooms. But when Koyich found the space in 2000, she wasn’t sure how to approach it.

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She knew she wanted to create something that was “fine dining.” There was a bit of a boom in high-end restaurants at the time—The Belvedere, The Ranche, Rouge, Bonterra, Catch, Brava Bistro, Blonde and Sugo all opened within sight of the millennium. But at the time, she was working at Da Guido, where she met Giuseppe Di Gennaro, a chef from Naples who was waiting tables. The pair hatched a scheme to open a high-tone Italian restaurant and name it Il Sogno, “the dream” in Italian.

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Di Gennaro was executive chef for five years before heading off to open his own places—Capo, then Borgo. Koyich welcomed successive chefs into the Il Sogno fold; for the past three years Brian Diamond has helmed the kitchen.

With Diamond in the kitchen and a seasoned group of servers running the dining room, Koyich has time for her day job. She’s joined the faculty of SAIT’s school of hospitality and tourism, working with the students on dining-room service and mixology. In working at SAIT, she’s giving back to her alma mater. As a teenager she’d worked in the Stampede grandstand concessions and then moved on to a neighbourhood Boston Pizza and the Inn on Lake Bonavista. But by her early 20s, thinking she should have a more serious profession, she enrolled in a nursing program at Foothills Hospital. But her heart wasn’t in it and with a family background in restaurants—her father was involved in the fondly remembered Tiki Tiki—she switched to SAIT’s hotel and restaurant management program. More service and restaurant management followed at Hy’s and the original Centini, all leading to the day she opened her own place.

Il Sogno was among the first of the non-checkered-tablecloth Italian restaurants. Over the years, as the dining market has become more casual, Koyich has tweaked the restaurant to make it more approachable and comfortable while retaining a non-typical style, as seen in things like a tasting menu that pushes the Italian-cuisine envelope.

Typical is not what either Koyich or Il Sogno does. Some day soon, she might even make it to Italy.

24 4th St. N.E., 403-232-8901, ilsogno.org.

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