The much anticipated opening of David and Jennifer Uygur’s new restaurant, Lucia, can only be days away. This week they have been busy working up dishes and training staff at a series of meals to progressively larger numbers of people. By virtue of the fact that my dog walked me by the place last Saturday, I was invited to attend the friends and family dinner last night.
When the Uygurs took over the 1920’s building, it was an empty shell. The space had been an office, and only the pressed tin ceiling and original stone floor remained. Now, the fixtures and furnishings are country tables, chairs, and bookshelves filled with jars of pickled vegetables that will appear on the menu one day. After you cross the threshold, it is not hard to imagine that you have left the Bishop Arts district and been transported to a family-owned ristorante in Northern Italy. The tiny place seats only 30, so it has a built-in intimacy.
Jump for the food and pictures.
We ordered four courses off a menu which, while not the official version, is close to the final draft. In addition, while we waited we were served delicious warm olives that had been infused with rosemary olive oil.
It would be remiss to go to a David Uygur kitchen and not try the salumi. During his previous gig at Lola, Uygur became well-known for his house-made salumi, an effort he plans to expand on at Lucia.
We ordered the salumi misti (a tasting of house made cured meats) for $12. The plate contained some black pepper sausage, a black pepper and fennel sausage, and andouille sausage and coppa (pork shoulder). The andouille was intensely hot and flavorful. Fortunately, it was served on a slice of crusty farmhouse bread that effectively ameliorated the heat but emphasized the flavors. This sausage is a masterpiece. The coppa surprised by being succulent throughout, rather than dry with a subtle earthy quality.
The other antipasti we sampled was crudo of wild Maryland rockfish with shaved fennel and olives ($12). The thin slices of raw fish were the Italian take on sashimi. The olives, and some Italian parsley, substituted as the strong counter taste that would be provided by wasabi. This is a very light dish that proved a favorite with several people in our area (conversation tended to spill across tables in this convivial atmosphere).
For primo, we chose ravioli di zucca (winter squash ravioli with sage, butter, and crushed amaretti) ($12/18). The sweetness of the squash contrasted with the flour of the pasta just enough to prevent the taste of the whole dish becoming overly sweet. The sage infused into the both like an oil rather than a leaf and provided cold weather comfort food at its finest. The toasted spelt spaghetti with braised duck ($12/$18) laid the duck on thick and heavy. Sinews of meat populated the superstructure of the dish on the plate as much as did pasta. The roasted pasta acquired the taste of duck as well as the bath of duck fat that it had rested in. Note the split level pricing of these dishes. You can order them small or large, depending on your appetite and whether you want to leave room for dessert. My advice: They are so good, order the larger one. My stomach’s advice: don’t listen to me unless you have just spent a month on the “South Pyongyang Diet”.
Secondo was slow-roasted pork with corona beans and broccoli raab ($20). The pork shoulder simply capitulated to the pressure of a fork like slow-cooked pork belly and yet was not cooked to high temperature (275 degrees for hours). Corona beans are common in Italy but not often seen here. These were buttery and cooked just al dente. The broccoli raab added a touch of bitterness that contributed liveliness to the plate.
Quail al mattone with pancetta, polenta and vincotto ($21) combined a whole quail squashed flat (al mattone = under the mallet) with the sweet liquor flavors of vincotto as a substitute for demi-glace. Somehow chef Uygur managed to give the polenta a smokiness that complicated the singular taste of cornmeal. This is a great way to prepare polenta.
For the dolci course, all we could manage from the house made selection was assorted gelati ($7). Our constraint did not do justice to the selection (one very well known Dallas chef at the adjacent table approved strongly of the cannoli) but we will unequivocally recommend the gelati. The selection will vary nightly. Our three orbs were lemon, chocolate, and brown butter. If David Uygur ever feels like the only chef without a line of grocery store products then this would be the place for him to enter the market.
Another basic food group that may be even more off its respective scale than the gelati is the bread. Uygur makes his in cast iron baking pans. I remarked to the adjacent visiting chef that it might be the best that I have had in Dallas. He responded that it was the best, in his book, and his wife let on that they were asking the kitchen for a loaf to take back to “tell their guys that this is what we should be making.”
Jennifer Uygur says she and David want Lucia to be a neighborhood place, where people can come out for a good meal with friends. The laid back atmosphere, the pricing and location all suggest Lucia can succeed in delivering that. However, that undersells the whole concept. There is so much attention to detail and to ingredient sourcing at Lucia that it puts many more expensive and putatively more upscale establishments on notice. Lucia is homage to the past, but it could also be the shape of things to come.
No final opening date had been announced as of last night, but it can only be days away. I can confidently predict that this will be the opening of the year and that reservations will be very hard to get.
