Designed by Brazilian architect Daniela Kohl of Kohl Interiors, Carmel’s two-story Sonata Cafe Bar and Art (31 E. Main St., Carmel) will feature large bay windows, an open-area bar and atrium, hardwood floors, and an open-air counter for window service to passersby on the street. Co-owned by Magdalena Segovia (who also owns the Magdalena Gallery and runs the Carmel Academy of the Arts), the restaurant with the Italian piazza-style atmosphere comes complete with live music from the piano on the second floor, where students from Magdalena’s Carmel Academy of the Arts will display and sell their work in the restaurant’s own gallery.
Segovia describes the place as “a community bistro with a European flare,” but what is possibly most unique about Sonata is who she and partner Michelle Miller brought in to man the kitchen: Karla Hoyos, who previously worked as a chef at the acclaimed El Bulli restaurant in northern Spain, a five-time winner of the prestigious Restaurant magazine award for World’s Best Restaurant.
The menu offers coffee and light European fare for the morning crowd, and a tapas style dinner menu from American, Spanish, and Italian cuisines. While tapas-style dining isn’t new to the Indianapolis restaurant scene, Segovia says she likes it because it’s the perfect in-between. “When you ask for tapas, you can have a little of this, a little of that,” she says. “You don’t have to compromise between having a huge dinner or something that’s too small, like soup and salad.”
