Luce
1053 Oyster Bay Rd. East Norwich, NY 516-624-8330
Its menu defines the experience here: a selection of dishes that receive upscale creation and preparation. For starters, appetizers like the “Salcicce E Broccoli Di Rabe” (grilled cheese and parsley rope sausage, sautéed broccoli, cherry peppers) and “Tartlette Di Funghi Di Bosco” (baked wild mushroom soufflé, truffle oil, grilled portobello mushroom, shaved cheese) are only some of the contemporary plates that combine Italian culinary style and trendy ingredients. The entrées follow with equal flair, providing fish, chicken and beef that have been upgraded with nouveau tasty touches like sun-dried tomato, roasted butternut squash, mixed berries and fresh orange sauce.
Hours: Noon-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; Noon-11 p.m. Friday; 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m.-9 p.m. Sunday. Ambience: Very Good Service: Very Good Reservations: Recommended Credit cards: Accepted Accessibility: One-level dining area with wheelchair access.
Photo credit: Robert Mecea, Newsday | Luce, in East Norwich
THE BEST
You'll enjoy the elemental seafood salad, with tender calamari, octopus, shrimp and sea scallops in a lemony dressing. Just as flavorful: plump, grilled shrimp atop rounds of zucchini and marinated tomatoes, accented with basil oil. Crisp but not crunchy fried artichoke hearts require only a squirt of lemon. The "three-cheese fondue" that comes with the dish goes better with bread. There's savory minestrone and an even-better lobster soup, with chunks of shellfish in a cream-enriched, coral-tinted broth. Excellent cavatelli alla Bolognese heads the pastas. Snowy, moist halibut wrapped in potato "scales" swims in on a balsamic-vinegar reduction, with caramelized onions. Tuna alla Calabrese finds its way with roasted garlic, Gaeta olives, capers and grape tomatoes, along with asparagus risotto. The house's lobster risotto delivers a sweet taste of Maine via Milan. Luce travels elsewhere, too, with a juicy, double-cut pork chop paired with butternut squash; and rosy, orange-sauced roasted duck breast with mashed sweet potatoes and mixed berries. A mound of creamy polenta boosts the moist, spinach-stuffed breast of chicken in mushroom sauce. Tiramisu, panna cotta, fruit tarts for dessert.
THE REST
Duck-and-goat cheese ravioli: on the dry side. Leaf-shaped strascinate pasta turn pasty, tossed with fresh tomatoes and ricotta salata. The apple strudel arrives as a limp packet. Who'd come here for blueberry-cream cheesecake?
THE BOTTOM LINE
Let there be ...
Reviewed by
Luce
