Caribbean-inspired eatery is stunning
HOLLYWOOD BOWL-ESQUE canopies invite diners.
I love a restaurant that feels as though I entered a friend’s warm home. Lucia, however, is not that restaurant. It’s more exciting.
After checking in at the hostess stand at the Caribbean-inspired eatery, a door is swung open with maximum dramatic effect to reveal a stunning interior, with enormous sculptural, petal-like elements rising behind the bar and personal Hollywood Bowl-esque canopies around each table along one wall, upholstered half-circle booths along another and a soaring wood bow truss ceiling above it all. Despite décor worthy of Architecture Digest magazine, however, one feels welcomed, not intimidated. Everyone, from the hosts to the waitstaff, are just the right amount of friendly and efficient. The menu is a balance of comforting and unusual and the background music is real music, not that dreadful ambient techno or chill house music played in so many of the Instagram-ready establishments around town. The attention-grabbing design ends up feeling warm and inviting in an Art Deco-meets-city-of-tomorrow kind of way. It has a grown-up, vibrant atmosphere. The food is vibrant, as well.
Restaurateur Sam Jordan sampled a multitude of dishes on nearly every Caribbean island before opening Lucia, hiring Chef Adrian Forte to helm. Forte is no stranger to Caribbean cuisine, having grown up in Kingston, Jamaica. He proved his chops as a Top Chef Canada semifinalist. Forte brings a sophisticated approach to island flavors.
GRILLED RED SNAPPER is served with rice, peas and hot sauce.
Cocktails embrace the theme, featuring such Caribbean ingredients such as taro, jerk spiced agave and Caribbean coconut. My husband’s drink, a mezcal-based riff on a Tom Collins, was made with tamarind, cinnamon, chili and Jamaican lager. I ordered a California Pinot Noir from their well-curated wine list.
Plates are meant to be shared, as is the style in most restaurants these days. We started with salt fish and fig croquettes. Four crispy balls filled with a mixture of the fish and fruit were served with a spicy cheese dipping sauce. We loved the contrast between the exterior crunch and soft interior. It was delicious. Another starter, pepper shrimp toast, was similar to the Chinese version with shrimp paste sandwiched between flavorful fried bread. Two small, four-inch pieces were topped with dabs of chado beni aioli, made from culantro, a leafy green similar to cilantro.
Nearly every table had plates heaping with coconut fried chicken or oxtail pepper pot, but our helpful server, Lian, recommended the snapper. The generous meaty fillet was moist, sweet and smoky with beautifully grilled skin. It was served alongside a coconut butter sauce and a dollop of creamed callaloo, a spinach-like Caribbean green. We wanted more callaloo and will order a plate of it next time. We ordered loaded rice and peas, served with hot sauce, which was a perfect starchy side.
LUCIA’S panna cotta.
Coconut panna cotta was a refreshing way to end dinner. Denser than the Italian version, it was surprisingly studded with shards of tasty meringue and enhanced by a mixture of chopped mango and little cubes of fruit jellies on the side.
Perhaps most surprising is that Lucia is on Fairfax Avenue in the former Black Star Burger space, just a block south of Canter’s Deli. Just a few weeks ago, the local press reported the “death” of
Fairfax owing to most of the hot streetwear shops having moved out, taking with them the snaking lines of customers eager for the next sneaker drop. Lucia might just be the thing to usher in a new phase of the ever-morphing street.
Lucia, 351 N. Fairfax Ave., 213-800-0048, luciala.com. Open for dinner Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, 6 p.m. to midnight; Friday and Saturday 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Category: Entertainment
