Nearly 3 years in the making, the Cohn Restaurant Group and native San Diego chef Travis Swikard are ready to grand open Callie Meditteranean-fusion restaurant in San Diego's East Village.
In July 2018, Chef Travis Swikard departed his position as Executive Chef of iconic French chef Daniel Boulud's famed Boulud Sud restaurant in New York City. Prior to joining Boulud in 2008, Swikard was a consulting chef at Barbeques Galore in San Diego from 2006-2007 and worked for the Cohn Restaurant Group at Island Prime from 2002-2005 before beginning a formal culinary education at New England Culinary Institute.
Swikard, along with his wife and two children, moved back to America's Finest City in fall 2018. Upon returning to San Diego, the 35-year-old chef and Santee-native partnered with his former employer Cohn Restaurant Group, which operates such area eateries as BO-beau, Coaster Saloon, Coasterra, Corvette Diner, Draft Republic, The Prado, and Del's Hideout. David Cohn and Cohn Group Corporate Chef & Partner Deborah Scott have known Swikard for over 15 years, since they gave him his very first job in the industry at their restaurant Kemo Sabe. Together, in 2019, they signed a lease on the 6,500-square-foot East Village space that last housed Bottega Americano to open Callie restaurant.
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| Crunchy Moroccan Carrots |
With a name derived from the Greek "kallos," meaning "the most beautiful" in English, Callie offers a contemporary California-Mediterranean menu tailored toward communal dining. The offerings will be centered upon seasonal local ingredients with vegetable-centered dishes, fresh made pasta, elevated flatbreads, and an array of rotating starters, entrees and desserts, all inspired by the flavors of Greece, Spain, Italy, Morocco, the Middle East.
Callie is currently open Wednesday through Sunday, from 5-10pm, at 1195 Island Avenue in San Diego's East Village. For more information, visit calliesd.com and check out the menu below.
