Trattoria Lucca

41 Bogard Street
Charleston, SC 29403-5760
(843) 973-3323

http://luccacharleston.com/

I remember being thrilled when I heard that the award-winning chef of Sienna Daniel Island (slightly more damaging to the wallet) was going to create a new restaurant downtown with a “family-style” Italian feel. Lucca is meant to be casual and homey, at least compared to the haughty restaurants it competes with. Don’t get me wrong, I still get dressed up to go there and try to keep my posture straight and my cursing to a minimum. But the point is that Lucca delivers an extremely high-end dining experience without feeling like you have to wear pants, loafers and a jacket. My kind of place.

You may be wondering . . . why on earth would I post a picture of bread and butter? Normally this wouldn’t be important to me, but Lucca has some sort of flavorful chickpea dip floating in olive oil that, when combined with their excellent fresh bread, could honestly make a fine meal on its own. Don’t believe me? Go there and try it. Ridiculous.

Now this is what I really love about “family-style” Italian restaurants. A huge section of the menu dedicated to mixing and matching verdure, formaggi and salumi, or, in English, vegetables, cheeses and meats. In my plate’s case, above, we have grilled King Trumpet mushrooms, a soft and tangy cow’s cheese with roasted grapes and Soppressata salumi. This is the kind of starter plate that makes you say, “Entree who?!”

If you are fortunate, appetizers that make you question the point of ordering an entree will be followed by an entree that puts the appetizer back in its place. Lucca is blessed with such entrees. Here we have (in the background) a ricotta gnudi with grilled lamb steak and browned butter, along with the absolute star of the evening: pork chop Milanese with preserved heirloom tomato agro dolce, arugula, speck ham and Provolette cheese. Bite into this pork chop and you will enter a stunned silence. I would make every effort to make your way to Lucca just for this entree.

Unfortunately, the food coma at Lucca made me forget my camera for the round of desserts, but I’m pleased to report that this place is worth visiting just for the sweet stuff. Mind-blowing desserts. I feel fancy restaurants so often focus on the food leading up to the dessert and then utterly drop the ball on the sweet tooth. Lucca does not. This was the second time I had the pleasure of Lucca’s warm polenta cake with fresh fruit on top. I know polenta and cake don’t seem like they would be friends, but trust me, they’re tight. On this occasion I was introduced to their tiramasu cheesecake . . . and was so pleasantly surprised! I thought it sounded stupid, flavoring a cheesecake with something like tiramasu. To me, it sounded like a frozen dessert you would pick up at the grocery and thaw for four hours before serving. Fortunately, I was wrong and it was crazy-good, taking cheesecake to an entirely new level.

I can easily sum up my review of Lucca with two words: Go there.

Despite my fierce love for this place I will add one frowny-face item. I have been twice and the first time I went with a large group of adults and young people. Amazing service. The second time I went with just one other young person, and the service was disappointing to say the least. Insulting is a better word. (Since this may not be related to the restaurant itself I don’t want to discourage you from going there, but that did put a damper on my second trip.) The restaurant was not incredibly crowded but getting the server to come to our table was like pulling teeth. When he did appear he seemed forced. A food runner brought our food out, and our server did not ask once if everything was good or if we needed anything else. Finally, the ultimate insult was seeing the server flip open our check to see our tip as we walked out of the restaurant. I was outraged. Just because someone is young does not mean they don’t know how to tip well. I always tip well, and in this situation I tipped far more than I should just to prove a point.

Whew . . . that just got my blood pressure up! However, the fact that I’m still begging you to go there should speak to the quality of the food. Maybe just be sure to include an older person in your group when you go.