Lucia

So I fi-nally got to eat at Lucia. It feels as if everyone who is everyone has already been there, and I'm the dorky girl in the corner waiting for the cute boy to notice me. It feels like high school all over again. Or any given Saturday night.

Our reservations (which we made a month ago) were at 5:30pm. Yeah, you read that right. 5:30pm. Do people who aren't my parents actually eat that early? Well, you do if you want a reservation before 9:30pm at Lucia. Since the restaurant is so small (less than 40 seats), it's just hard to get a table at a normal hour right now. Just eat a light lunch, and you'll be fine.

I was the first to arrive and a tad late. The rest of my party was stuck in traffic on 35, I told the hostess. "Well, we don't seat incomplete parties", she says. Now, I understand that policy when there are actual people in the restaurant. But at 5:38, Lucia had 2 tables (one 2 top and one 3 top) sat with no one coming in. Couldn't they make one little exception? Apparently not. Since there was no place to really wait, I was stuck standing in the corner all by myself. Alas, no cute boys came by to talk to the dorky girl standing there. Hmmm, story of my life.

About 5 minutes later, the rest of my party arrived, and I finally got a seat. Yeah! The restaurant has a rustic, casual feel. We were sat next to two elderly men who were apparently 5pm regulars. They reminded me of Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets. They were hilarious and gave us recommendations for our orders.

We started with the salumi misti. It had duck and olive pate, black pepper salame, lardo fresco (which is probably the worst named food ever), soppressata and chicken liver crostini and a surprise -- pickled golden beets. While the pate, crostini, and salum were delicious, the pickled, golden beets were the star of this starter. Their tartness added such a wonderful flavor to the dish. You can order a $13 or a $20 size of this dish, depending on the size of your party. The $13 size was perfect for our party of 3.

We decided that we were each going to order a different primi and secondi course so we could get the best variety. The menu changes regularly, so what we ate might not be there on the night you come. The primi courses can be ordered in two different sizes depending on whether you want to have one of the pastas for an entree. And please, please, please don't be afraid to ask your server questions about the menu. The menu is heavy on Italian foods with which most diners are unfamiliar. The servers are knowledgeable regarding the menu and will gladly explain what the dishes are in plain English.

For the primi course, I ordered the braised oxtail ravioli with caciocavallo, L ordered the tagliatelle with duck gizzards and cavolo nero, and S ordered the semolina gnocchi with hedgehog mushrooms and fonduta. (See what I mean about needing to ask your waiter for an explanation?) My oxtail ravioli had a rustic flavor but was a tad too greasy for my liking. L's tagliatelle was good but a little bland. S's gnocchi was our favorite selection with its fluffy semolina gnocchi.

For our secondi course, I ordered the Berkshire pork chop with sanguinaccio (blood sausage) and savoy cabbage; L ordered the Alaskan halibut with mussels, farro and Tassione Farms chard; and S ordered the veal involtini with escarole, and tuna mayonnaise. My pork chop was absolutely delicious. The large chop was cooked to perfection. It was not dry in the least, which was probably due to the large amount of fat that had to be cut away from the meat. Sometimes fat is a good thing. The blood sausage was good (although Bruno Davaillon's CFF blood sausage still wins in my book) and the cabbage was a nice accompaniment. I only got one bite of each but I thought L's halibut was a tad overcooked and S's veal was a tad salty.

With a 5:30 start time, we had finished dinner by 7pm, the time I'm usually getting home from work. Should we get dessert at Lucia or someplace else? Although they looked good, we decided to pass on dessert at Lucia. Tillman's s'mores were calling our names instead. That's one of the many things I love about Bishop Arts. It's so easy to go from one place to another since everything is in walking distance.

So my first take a Lucia? Well, the food is great but I think I expected a tad more. I had prepared myself to be wowed but, at the end of the day, I just enjoyed my meal. Maybe all of the hype made me raise my expectations to more than Lucia could deliver? I'm not sure. I do know that at no point during my meal did I reach food nirvana. And neither did my tablemates. Maybe it will come the next time. I'm willing to try it again and find out.

Cheers!