Lucca
Comfort food with a Mediterranean edge
Gloria Glyer

At Lucca, the first item on the lunch and dinner menu is an appetizer called zucchini chips. Read no further; just tell your server: “Zucchini chips, please.” Then you can order a cocktail/glass of wine/iced tea/soda before perusing the rest of the menu. When the chips arrive, all conversation and menu reading will stop, because the chips are unbelievable. Paper thin, almost transparent, not even an inch in diameter – they must have been cut from very young, slender zucchini. Crisp, lightly salted, delicious. The chips started the Dining Divas lunch off to an exciting start at Lucca, a newcomer to Sacramento's midtown scene.

the long, narrowish building with its original brick walls exudes excitement – not the edgy kind where all the servers wear headphones, but the positive kind that makes you want to stay a while and people-watch. “My relatives are in Lucca, Italy,” said Diva Paulette Bruce-Miller. “I wonder what they would think of our Sacramento Lucca.”

The Wine
Diva Joan Leineke selected Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve 2000 Alsece (She declared it “excellent”) and Torres Coronas Tempranillo. Guest Nancy Ball liked the crispness of the Pinot Gris, which complimented every dish we ordered. Guest Brian Rusch took a taste of the Torres Coronas Tempranillo and said, “I'll buy it.”

The Order
Lucca, which is not strictly an Italian restaurant as its name might suggest, is the kind of place where a group of people could order all six lunch appetizers to share , along with a house salad for each, and be happy. In addition to those zucchini chips, we ordered all five others: crispy risotto cakes with lemon garlic aioli; skillet-roasted mussels with drawn butter; lamb broschette, glazed with lavender honey and served over coucous; shrimp spiendini with grilled citrus and a spicy fennel slaw; and Myzithra (a soft, Greek cheese) flatbread with red lentils and garlic-and-green-olive pesto and house-cured olives.

Our favorites? Everything. The mussels arrived in the very skillet used for the preparation – be careful, our server warned us; it's hot. “Very tasty, and I don't usually eat them,” said guest Diane Rusch. Guest Randy Reynoso thought the mussels were simple but perfectly prepared; he also liked the risotto cake for their consistency and sauce, an opinion shared by Brian Rusch. Diva Bernice Hagen noted that the garlic aioli was just right.

Ball liked the fennel salad under the shrimp spieldini because she likes fennel. Guest Barbara Xakellis thought the crisp Myzithra flatbread could become addictive.

At the Top
We didn't stop at the appetizers, ordering main courses as well. The braised short ribs with peas, carrots and mashed potatoes received accolades for their simplicity. Guest Dianne Penning liked the flavor, and Hagen said the dish would be great on a rainy day. “A tender and tasty preparation of an ordinary dish,” said Xakellis. “Great with the red wine.”

Nicoise salad featured ahi , mixed greens, tomatoes, Nicoise olives, capers, green beans and potatoes, tossed with a citrus vinaigrette. Leineke liked the all-mixed-up approach, a change from the classic, artfully arranged presentation.

The Lucca house chop salad, a mix of radicchio and romaine tossed with lemon oregano vinaigrette and feta cheese, offers another innovation: The greens are nicely cut up for easy consumption. The feta caused Xakellis to observe that the salad “tasted like a typical Greek restaurant salad – and I have eaten plenty, being married to a Greek guy.”

The Lucca burger, made from grass-fed beef, was medium rare and filled the grilled bun to its very edges. It was a winner for Leineke, who liked the nice, smoke flavor. Fries came in a paper done place in an old-fashioned glass. Some lunchers thought the dish was too ordinary, but its worth a try for burger fans, who may not care for the confit duck cassoulet – a classic French dish of spicy duck sausage, green garlic, petite onions and roasted tomatoes, which was a favorite for many at our table.

The polenta pizzetta was topped with artichoke hearts, olives, caramelized onions, tomatoes and mozzarella, and the chicken saltimbocca was rolled in pancetta, fontina and sage for a new take on a classic. The saffron seafood risotto had an abundance of shrimp, mussels and clams.

Dessert
The lineup included Death by Chocolate, a molten chocolate cake with chunks of chocolate and white chocolate mousse; a sweet cornmeal cake with warm berry sauce; lavender creme brulee served with a cinnamon shortbread cookie; giant chocolate-striped strawberries with mocha pot de creme; and a vanilla bean ice cream with fresh berry sauce. We skipped the gelato and sorbet, although the Cabinet sorbet and chocolate hazelnut gelato sounded intriguing.

Brian Rusch, a creme brulee guru, had strong words for Lucca's version which had a cold caramelized-sugar top: “No,” he said. “The custard should be cold, the crisp topping hot .” his wife thought the creme brulee's lavender flavor was too strong, but she liked the accomapnying cookie. the vanilla bean ice cream was refreshing and worth every creamy calorie. Ball and Xakellis enjoyed the mocha pot de creme with the chocolate-striped strawberries, even though Xakellis is not a chocolate fan. The cornmeal cake received mixed reviews. some liked its heavy. homey texture, while others didn't care for its gritty feel. I liked it, and so did Hagen.

Negatives
Valet parking is one of the perks at Lucca and – wouldn't you know it – the day of the Diva lunch, the parking crew was late. Ron Gilliland, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Terri, was on top of the problem, making emergency phone calls to the valet parking company and telling us to leave our cars on the street. Although we prefer round tables to rectangular ones, the corner where we seated had a round table that was way too large for the server to handle comfortably. We had to hand our water glasses to refill, and she had a hard time maneuvering the plates. Bruce-Miller thought a lazy-susan might be the answer, but Jessica Waterbury, our more-than-adequate waiter, said a niche was going to cut into the table to make serving easier.

The front of the restaurant is the place to be, even though it's noisy, but what popular place isn't? the back room is quieter, an din the evening, candlelight reflects in the massive, gilt-framed mirrors lining the walls.

Chatter
Conversation was hot and heavy, mainly about the food. Mace who had eaten at Lucca before, touted the zucchini chips and suggested we skip the spaghetti and meatballs.

Chef Gene Moana made an appearance and graciously acknowledged each luncher. The executive sous chef is Jeff Ivaska, and the sous chef is Avrill Gilliland, a cousin of Ron's who graduated from culinary college in Ireland, The pastry chef is Shaun Nelson.

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