iring on all cylinders, Giuseppe Di Gennaro (well known from his stint at Il Sogno), valued chef/owner of Calgary's haute-Italian cuisine haven, Capo, dramatically represents teatro della cucina (theatre of the kitchen).

The Inglewood District dining room is a temple to fine dining and a home for enchanting Italian food (if home happens to be a cozy 32-seat boutique restaurant with an exceedingly hip twist). The setting is modest but crisply appointed. Large globe lights hang overhead, emitting blue hues over cream-coloured banquettes. There are elegant white table linens, puffy seating, and a view, not of the mountains, alas, but of the action from within the Capo kitchen. An open window gives you full frontal of the chefs – including Di Gennaro himself - plating the meals in high style.

With Di Gennaro's ambitious M.O., Capo's kitchen soars above its contemporaries. Starters include a spring salad with grilled prawns and mandarins over julienne of cucumber, further fueled by citrus vinaigrette. A starter-sized casserole of prawns, clams and cannellini beans has snap and body, with a cherry tomato coulis laced into its crackling peppered batter. Can-baked bread almost vibrates in its invigorating bath of butter.

Known for its succulence, Dungeness crab and mascarpone is a wonderful treatment of seafood. Delightfully tender, it's stuffed into roasted peppers with raisin-honey vinaigrette, served over an herb salad with lobster mayonnaise squirting sweetness onto its charge.