The corner of NE 24th and Fremont has had a checkered history since its run as the second of the Nature's natural grocery stores in Portland (the first was on SW Corbett). It was redeveloped as the eastside branch of Multnomah's landmark Marco's Cafe but never really caught on with the neighborhood. Then the unpronounceable Aja Pacific Kitchen moved in with its fusion menu, confusing the heck out of everyone and closed within a short time.But now a strong contender, Lucca, might just win the day and take the hex off this corner. With a wood-burning oven and rotisserie grill, it's described as "a neighborhood friendly, Italian influenced restaurant and bar" with a high comfort factor, all good things when you live within walking distance and don't feel like cooking.
If anyone gets in there before we do, leave a comment and let us know what you think!
Details: Lucca, 3449 NE 24th Ave. on the corner of NE 24th & Fremont. Phone 503-287-7372.
Maybe MK, I, Laurie, and your hubster, and some others could meet there soon . . . I am hopeful about this place.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm looking forward to checking it out. Let us know what your avails are and we'll do it!
ReplyDeleteThe neighbors went and had this to say:
ReplyDeleteWe went to Lucca last night. Glad we made reservations. They were packed. The food was pretty good. I had the linguine with clams. The dessert was awesome. They need to do something about the music :-( I recommend they carry more local microbrew. I guess it's an Italian restaurant so you need to consider drinking wine instead of beer :-)
And from the distaff side:
I really liked Lucca. The service was great, food was flavorful and not huge, out-of-control portions. The atmosphere was nice, with maybe the exception of the music...which is so nit-picky it doesn't even count. For a moderately priced place, it was a good value for what we got. We will definitely be adding it to our list of good places to catch a bite. Out of all the food we got, probably the salad was the only thing that was so-so...needed a bit more of a punch in the vinaigrette, but otherwise yummy food.