Lucca: Midtown Sacramento's Versatile Bistro
For more than a decade I worked out of a small, midtown office on J Street. For a few years during that time, the Sacramento State University men's basketball team played its home games at Memorial Auditorium.
I've always appreciated midtown, but its pleasantness was further enhanced on nights when I left work early, stopped for dinner on the way to a game and then walked back the seven blocks to my office parking space after the contest.
The well-lighted stroll past diverse storefronts, the casual available fare, the buzz of midtown, and the enjoyment of collegiate athletics, gave Sacramento the "feel" of the metropolitan college town --- at least it did for me.
Lucca, the 2 1/2-year old restaurant located across the street from the historic brick facility, would be an ideal choice for such occasions if the university still used Memorial Auditorium for sporting events.
Still, it's an attractive restaurant and bar for a night in midtown. Plenty of concerts and other entertainment is offered at Memorial Auditorium, the nearby Sacramento Community Convention Center as well as at various art galleries and local theaters.
Lucca is a crossover restaurant. It's just fine for a casual pizza, burger or salad, and it works well as a dinner house for a business meal or dining celebration. It's not a bad place to watch a sporting event on television, either, if your style is anything on the dignified style of a raucous sports pub.
As the former home to a car repair shop and more recently a gardening and landscape store, Lucca's interior is spacious and varied. It affords guests four distinct seating options, including a covered, heated side patio, a narrow section away from the small, front entry bar, a parallel section across the bar and a cavernous back room.
Our reservation for four was available at our requested time, and my wife and I were escorted just prior to our dinner companions to table 90, a snug corner booth in the back room.
With the four of us seated, we could have used a little more space. My friend and I bumped legs and few times during the meal, and I didn't have much room to stretch or shift. My wife and my friend's wife Angie, were both comfortable.
Our server confirmed that diners have mentioned the back room, with its high ceilings and lack of soundproofing, is hardly the place for a quiet dining experience. Several times, my friend Dave and I, seated only a few feet apart, asked each other to repeat something.
To sit in the back room, restaurant patrons also walk past the kitchen. And while that's not unheard of, it does contradict the once standard prevailing edict of restaurants keeping their kitchens discreet. I like the open approach of allowing guests a full-on view of the what's happening behind the scenes.
Lucca offers a good cross-section of lunch and dinner selections, categorized succinctly under four categories — appetizers, salads/soup, pasta/risotto and mains.
In addition to two glasses of wine, Leaping Horse cabernet and Prosperity merlot ($6 each) and two cups of coffee ($2.25 each), the four of us shared a nicely prepared and presented asparagus and mozzarella appetizer ($8.95).
No one in our foursome recognized the mozzarella at first, since it was served in large, thick circular slices and at room temperature. But the appetizer was generously sized, tasty and enough for all.
As first courses, two of our dining corps ordered cups of Tuscan vegetable soup ($3.95 each), and we also chose two chop salads ($4.95). The soup resembled and tasted like the minestrone my Italian grandmother in New York made more than 40 years ago. The vegetables were fresh, the soup offered several distinct tastes and it was served at the proper temperature.
The house chop salads (radicchio and romaine chopped and tossed with lemon oregano vinaigrette and feta cheese) were offered in good portions. But the dressing was minimal, leaving the salad mix bland.
Our four entrees couldn't have been more diverse, and all received good marks. In addition to our original server, several other restaurant personnel arrived at our table throughout the meal. None arrived without an attentive greeting and pleasant demeanor, although we received one wrong entree and water servers arrived a little too often, adding to what my friend David calls "the interruption factor."
The main course mistake was corrected with apologies, and we all enjoyed nice choices. My cioppino ($14.95) was a generous mixture of mussels, clams, prawns and a mild fish served in a slightly spicy tomato chili broth and with two chunks of a soft baguette to soak up the broth.
My wife ordered the crab cakes caesar salad ($11.95), which she said was just the right combination of portion size, texture and spicing. Our dining companions, David and Angie, respectively ordered saffron seafood risotto ($11.95) and spicy sausage and mushroom papperdelle ($9.95). Both friends commented their choices were fresh, presented nicely, offered distinct flavors and were served at the appropriate temperatures.
For dessert, each couple shared one selection, a nicely appointed and generously proportioned gingerbread with cinnamon ice cream ($5.95) and shortcake with strawberries, with a hint of rum and accompanied with chantilly ($5.95). There were no complaints.
In addition to it usual menus, Lucca also presents diners with a smaller menu card that details the restaurant's rotating use of local grown ingredients. In our instance, it was the salad greens. It's a nice idea and a good marketing campaign.
After a nice meal, good companionship and a total bill (including tax and a 15 percent tip) of less than $125, Lucca was fine, reasonably priced choice. It's good for a night out with friends or, wishful thinking, if college basketball ever returned to Memorial Auditorium.
(Lucca, 1615 J Street, is open Monday - Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday - Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Valet parking available. Phone: (916) 669-5300, Fax: 916-669-2848.)
Sacramento blogger James Raia is a freelance writer and publisher. Visit his web sites, ByJamesRaia.com, TheWeeklyDriver.com and GolfTribune.com.
