Lucia on Main

Awhile back, I was getting my hair cut at my hairdresser when I looked across the street to see that Smitty's had closed.  A few more visits to my hairdresser and I noticed that it was being replaced by an Italian restaurant called Lucia.  Taking a closer look at what it is all about, the place seeks to be unpretentious and welcoming while Chef Zach Steele combines traditional Italian with Westcoast influences.  This sounded like the place to go when the hockey crew wanted to meet up for a Monday dinner.

For a Monday, the place was hopping and was definitely inviting and we never felt pressured to rush through our dinner.  We decided to do our meal "alla famiglia" with a selection of dishes including the Sourdough Focaccia with a delicious butter.  Honestly, we weren't paying attention to what the creamy butter was, but it was fantastic on the appealingly chewy bread with a beautiful crust.

We really enjoyed the Polenta Fritters as they were a whole lot lighter than most other versions I've had.  Encased in seasoned bread crumbs, the polenta was creamy and well-seasoned without being dense.  They were crunchy on the outside and topped with grana padano.  Underneath, we found a tasty pesto aioli that was creamy and well-blended.  Hence, we got nuttiness as well as herbaceousness.

Probably the most popular appie we had was the Calabrian Cheese Dip served with house-made flat bread.  Honestly, we could've put this dip on shoe leather and it would've tasted good.  It was creamy, appealingly salty and cheesy.  However, it was not merely one note as we could pick out the tangy nuttiness of the manchego.  The fluffy bread was the perfect match for this dip.  But again, we put that on other things at the table too!

We decided to order a couple of pizzas including the Capicola and the Wild Mushrooms.  As you can see, the pizzas weren't exactly traditional Neapolitan, but it worked for us just fine.  It was thin, uniformly crispy and had a shattering crunchiness.  I enjoyed the properly salted dough as well as the chewiness of the crust.  With a combination of spicy capicola, roasted peppers and confit garlic, there was not absence of impact.  As for the mushrooms, it was more subtle but still there was plenty of woodsiness and earthy truffle.  I enjoyed the simplicity of this pizza more.

Moving onto the pastas, we tried all of them starting with the Fregola Sarda.  The sweet pops from the charred corn was a nice counterbalance to the salty pancetta. There was rich cheesiness provided by the ricotta salata as well as from the cheese on top.  The little fregola pasta was delicate but still had texture.  Not to be forgotten, the charred zucchini was tender but not mushy.  It had some natural sweetness with a bit of bitterness from the skin.

The best pasta according to everyone hands down was the Spinach & Mascarpone Tortelli.  These precious little pockets contained a considerable amount of filling which was creamy but not runny.  The pasta itself was thin and still fairly al dente (especially for a fresh pasta).  This was all tossed in brown butter, which was nutty and seasoned just enough.  Adding some cheesy saltiness, we had some grana padano on top.

We had some differing opinions about the Lumache with Italian sausage in a vodka sauce.  Some thought it was salty while others thought it was fine.  For me, there were pockets of saltiness, especially from the sausage, but not enough to be "too salty".  The pasta itself was tender and just a bit past al dente.  I loved the vodka sauce as it was creamy with a mild tanginess.

Other than the tortelli, the Bucatini Bolognese was also really good.  Featuring fresh bucatini, there was a more gentle texture than the dry version.  It was tossed in a hearty bolognese that was rich and meaty with a background creaminess.  It was plenty savoury with a balancing sweetness as well.  The generous amount of grana padano provided plenty of nuttiness.  I would come back for this dish alone.

We only ordered one meat dish in the Squid that was grilled and served with salmoriglio.  The exterior of the squid was quite nice being nicely charred and appealingly chewy.  However, the inside was rather soft and mushy.  It would've been better that they butterflied the squid and grilled it for a more uniformed preparation.  As for the salmoriglio, it was a nice compliment to the squid being tangy and bright.

For good measure, we added some sides including the Broccolini and the Potatoes.  We really enjoyed the perfectly prepared broccolini as it was crunchy but cooked all the way through.  Nice char that offered smokiness and caramelization.  We didn't enjoy the potatoes that much as they were not crispy and quite dry.  As much as there was plenty of cheese and herbs on top, it didn't season the potaotoes effectively.  Overall, our meal at Lucia was good and we thought the pricing was completely reasonable.  Service was great and we never felt rushed.  Would come back.

The Good:

- Generally tasty food

- Reasonable prices

- Nice vibe

The Bad:

- Those potatoes were not very good

- I didn't think so, but many at the table thought some things were salty