![]() Like a good drink, it tasted better as she got to the end and all of the spice and flavor combined together. Jacque had a dish of green bell peppers, Anaheim peppers, grape tomatoes, garlic and a light olive oil based sauce over spaghetti. The tomato-based sauce was enjoyable and it was a better rigatoni than many Italian restaurants. I had the rigatoni which featured a slightly spicy sausage over undercooked pasta. Thankfully the glasses of wine we picked without trying turned out fine. After those two disappointed, we requested a less sweet red wine and she promptly brought the sweetest wine we tried all night. ![]() Our first goal was to find a good glass of wine and the waitress was cooperative in letting us have a small taste of two wines offered by the glass. Regardless of Luci Ancora’s identity crisis, it appeared to be a dependable neighborhood Italian joint for St. But sitting at our dark table by the fireplace, we found mismatched décor and thick wine glasses that ran counter to the bright, modern vibe we were expecting. The clean, bright, and modern website gives an energetic feeling. ![]() While our overall experience was fine, we were constantly puzzled about what type of restaurant Luci Ancora is. Paul, we trekked through the rain, wind and tornado sirens to try Luci Ancora. To others, they’re the reason to dine at Ancora.Needing an excuse to venture across the river and into St. To some, Luci’s quirks-its cramped space and tacky photos, the obnoxious buzz of the icemaker and the loud conversations coming from the kitchen-are what give it its charm. The noodles are feather-light and made a perfect nest for lush chunks of Alaskan king crab, glossed with butter and sparked with lemon. If the fresh fettuccine’s on the menu, start there. As it turned out, the poached salmon with apples and strawberries was the surprise favorite the delicate sweetness was marred only by the gratuitous use of parsley, which seemed too conspicuous in the dish.įor a few dollars more, you can build your own tasting menu. The cheese was followed by a cold tomato soup that was overwhelmed by a dull cumin flavor, then a hearty but somewhat soupy risotto with pork sausage and red cabbage. It began with a few green olives and a square of homemade, hand-pulled mozzarella, which had a texture like firm tofu, more crumbly than smooth. Some say Luci, some say Ancora, let’s call the whole thing off.Ī recent four-course prezzo fisso (fixed-price) meal at Luci was a steal at $26. (But Stephen also cooks at Ancora, and sometimes Luci dishes are served at Ancora and Ancora dishes are served at Luci-you see the problem?) The reasons some diners prefer one over the other-a penchant for truffle oil, a more spacious restroom-seem either ineffable or somewhat arbitrary. When pressed, Maria Gans (née Smith), who runs the fronts of the houses with her sister Daniela, says the differences are largely the whims of the chefs: her brother, Stephen Smith, at Luci, and honorary family member Jim Kohler at Ancora. Is one pricier? The other more experimental? Can we make some distinctions? The format of the menu is the same, the basics-homemade pastas, breads, and stocks-are shared, and both restaurants use as many fresh, local ingredients as possible. Over the years, that rule has bent like elbow macaroni. The real question is, What’s cookin’ in the kitchen? The Smiths, who spent 11 years living in Italy, originally intended that Ancora’s fare would hail from the north and Luci’s from the south. In contrast, the eight-year-old Ancora (which means “encore” in Italian) is the prom queen, an olive-colored villa with a wood-burning fireplace and patterned fabrics draped over windows that look out on the campus.īut looks only go dining room deep. It’s a dimly lit dining room with coral walls, white linens, and generic stackable banquet chairs, located in an unremarkable brick building with a glowing Pabst Blue Ribbon sign out front. Luci is the homelier-but perhaps more lovable-child, opened by Al and Lucille Smith in 1987 in what was formerly a 3.2 bar called the Club. ![]() Paul at the intersection of Cleveland and Randolph avenues, on either side of the gates of the College of St. The two are located kitty-corner from each other in St. FROM THE OUTSIDE, Ristorante Luci and her sister restaurant, Luci Ancora, appear so dissimilar you’d guess one was fathered by the mailman, er, il postino. ![]()
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