My third and final restaurant week meal this year happened by accident. I’d already booked reservations for our January girls’ night dinner at Casa Luca, before realizing they were participating in restaurant week. I was a little disappointed, but we decided not to cancel and hope for the best.
We had started the day with a carb-heavy tea, followed by four hours of window shopping in Georgetown so we arrived slightly before our reservations, and we were ravenous. This explains why the best thing we ate all night was a couple of orders of un-photographed (ain’t no hangry person got time for photos) meatballs in the most luscious red sauce of all time. Yes, it could have been the hunger talking, but I’m pretty sure they were still excellent. There may have been some drinking of the sauce. That good.
After that bit of sustenance started working its way into our bloodstreams, we all felt better and began to peruse the menu. Every restaurant does its own thing to make restaurant week work for their bottom line. Some offer their entire menus up to diners at the discounted rate. Some create a completely new menu for the experience, with one to three courses to choose from for each course. Casa Luca did something I hadn’t seen before. They had a specific restaurant week menu with two to three dishes to choose from for each course, and a smaller version of their regular menu available for diners to choose from a la carte.
I especially appreciated that they didn’t require everyone at the table to opt for one choice or the other, so everyone was free to go for the option they most desired. I decided the restaurant week options looked pretty good and went that route, starting with the misticanza of winter citrus and baby lettuces with pistachios and goat cheese.
Good salad, not great, but my body appreciated the nutrients of which there were plenty thanks to the apples and oranges.
My friend Sham, who decided against the restaurant week menu, chose the house made grilled crescia bread with ‘Njuda spreadable salami from the regular dinner options.
I’d really been craving a big bowl of pasta for dinner, but after all the carbs at tea I decided protein would be more practical. Plus, none of the pasta options were really screaming my name, so I went with the Wagyu skirt steak “cacciatore” style.
This dish, which is a regular dinner menu item, was very satisfying. I enjoyed the rich flavors in the broth, but wished the steak was more tender.
My friends mostly enjoyed their entrees as well. Lindsay ordered the Brodetto di San Benedetto, a traditional seafood soup of cod, Blue Bay mussels and Middleneck clams, a regular menu item featured for restaurant week.
Sham had the Bucatini Nero, squid ink pasta tiger prawns, grilled calamari and Blue Bay mussels. I had a tiny bite of the pasta, which was really good.
All of the restaurant weekers went with the Ciambellone di Nonna Palmina to close out our meal, warm hazelnut coffee cake with caramel gelato and vin cotto.
Sadly, the dessert fell short of our hopeful expectations. The cake was dry and flavorless, saved only by the gelato.
This meal reminded me of many other restaurant week experiences in the past – barely memorable. It’s disappointing because I’ve read so many good things about Casa Luca and had been looking forward to a great meal. I appreciate the high quality offerings, many of which were from the regular menu, but most of the dishes underwhelmed.
I don’t fault the restaurant, and will be back again to try the food under normal circumstances, but it does reiterate my feelings about avoiding restaurant week dinners. A $35 three-course meal is a good deal, but only if it tastes good.
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