The Demise of Cibo

I’m really bummed about the closing of Cibo. This restaurant at 10th and Congress was the pride and passion of Chef Will Packwood. Everything he knew about Italian cuisine he poured into Cibo. He had actually spent a couple of years cooking in Italy (north of Venice) and every night some new taste extravaganza with its genesis firmly anchored in Italian culture rolled out of his kitchen. My favorite dish was the Braised Pork Shank with a side of risotto. But then again, every dish was my favorite.

But he didn’t serve spaghetti and meatballs! Imagine that. Of course, that is the dish that epitomizes Italian cuisine for many uniformed people. But Italian cuisine has many facets, and spaghetti is hardly the universal dish. So Packwood went ahead with his esoteric and splendid menu (lots of meat and fish dishes) and tried to maximize his profits by building a core customer base of serious foodies. But he just couldn’t get it done.

There are people who will say that this is his third failure: the other two being Emilia’s and 7. But that’s not true. Emilia’s closed because the owner demanded price points that were not realistic in the Austin economy of 2001.

And 7 closed because Packwood and Sam Dickey (formerly of Granite Café) made a tactical error by asking patrons to virtually construct their own menus and to choose their fish dishes by the ounce. There were no unreasonable price points or tactical errors at Cibo: just marvelous food that was unfortunately a bit too unfamiliar to many Austin restaurant patrons.

And so another fine dining restaurant in the River City bites the dust. Like Crimson, Collin B’s, Jean Luc’s, Girasole, Demi Epicurious and many others before him, Packwood’s decision to digress from the tried and true cost him. At this point, we will probably lose him to a larger city that will have an appreciation for his huge talent, and that’s too bad. Meantime, that ole’ never ending salad bowl at the Olive Garden will keep packing them in.