LUCCA = CLUB MED? YOU BETCHA!So, when folks ask us to categorize ourselves by cuisine, we say, without hesitation, “Mediterranean.” For some reason, it really throws many for a loop!

Mediterranean cuisine is really the food from the cultures adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea: Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey… The food consists primarily of fresh fruits and vegetables with an emphasis on poultry and seafood, rice, grains, beans and pastas. Sound familiar?

BEST MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE IN OC?
YOU DECIDE!
Last week, we asked you to vote for us for Best Italian Cuisine in the Golden Foodie Awards (we do have some darn good Italian eats), but this week, we ask that you to vote us for Best Mediterranean Cuisine!

Here’s how you do it:
VOTE FOR LUCCA FOR BEST MEDITERRANEAN FOOD HERE

It takes a few seconds to vote, so please help us out!

THIS SUNDAY: BRICK CHICKEN!
@ OUR PICNIC WITH ALICE WATERSThis weekend, our Sunday Supper will encourage playing with your food! This time with methods of cooking – and why not under a brick? This is a simple technique that produces some of the most tender, evenly cooked all-natural chicken you’ll ever have!

You’ll be able to enjoy this and the other courses listed below when we pay tribute to “the Mother of American food” at our next Sunday Supper THIS WEEKEND on August 12th at 3 p.m. SHARP! This family-style dining of a four-course menu with wine pairings will be $60 per guest++. Reservations required by this Friday at noon and can be made by calling (949) 725-1773. Free parking available to all guests.

PLAYING WITH YOUR FOOD!
FIRST UP: SCALLOP BLT
My mom taught me not to play with my food, but jeez luuueez, that’s getting hard to do!

If you’re in for dinner this week, we’ve got a new R+D plate you’ll absolutely LOVE. Introducing our SCALLOP BLT+GC.

Look interesting?

This is a Hand-Harvested Wild Scallop (our sandwich “bread”), with our LUCCA Housemade Bacon, Market Tomato, Caramelized Onions, Arugula, Lemon Aioli and Goat Cheese (the +GC).

It’s incredible and a must-try dinner special!

Right now, you can try our Heirloom Tomato Salad on our new dinner menu! In addition to the delicious tomotoes, it features Di Stefano burrata cheese, golden beets and baby purple carrots, all tossed in a creamy lemon basil vinaigrette. This is a great example of local eating at its best – almost everything on this salad is local, even the Burrata made by di Stefano Family Dairy near Pomona!Next month, our August Sunday Supper on August 12th will feature even more beautiful produce as we create a Sunday Supper a la Alice Waters!Alice Waters is an American chef, restaurateur, activist, and author. She is a hero for really pioneering California cuisine by focusing on organic, locally-grown ingredients.

We’ll pay tribute to “the Mother of American food” at our next Sunday Supper on Sunday, August 12th at 3 p.m. SHARP! This family-style dining of a four-course menu with wine pairings will be $60 per guest++. Menu to follow in next newsletter, but you can save your spot now! Reservations required at least 48 hours in advance and can be made by calling (949) 725-1773. Free parking available to all guests.

Our new Summer Menu is here and we are proud to feature produce grown for us right down the street at Orange County Produce – you can’t get much more local than that! OC Produce in Irvine provides us with farm fresh, seasonal products that are produced with a sustainable commitment to the land, environment and their community. We are featuring many of the farm’s California Certified Organic seasonal produce, including fava beans, cranberry beans (borlotti beans), purple carrots, sweet corn, asparagus, Tuscan kale, golden beets, heirloom tomatoes, and romano beans.

Our new menus really do showcase the season’s most glorious offerings! We like to start with the best possible ingredients in the kitchen and then try not to change them or mask their natural flavors before serving them to the guests. In fact, our entire menu is based on the use of healthy and high quality ingredients that extend beyond locally grown organic produce, with the use of certified Angus beef, free-range turkey, hormone-free chicken, wild salmon and locally grown organic produce.

Last Sunday, we did up a Porchetta worthy of Mario Batali (after all, it was our Batali-inspired Sunday Supper). We created this hybrid Batali recipe with Pork Belly wrapped around Pork Shoulder! We tied it all up and roasted the monster to get it extra crispy and well, double the pork for the price of one….ah…. sts.

Above is the final Snake River Farms all-natural Porchetta, which we roasted ALL DAY – it was actually 3 pork shoulders wrapped with 2 pork bellies!

Talk about HOG HEAVEN!

If you’re one of the few who missed this Sunday Supper, our next one will be held Sunday, August 12th at 3 p.m. SHARP with family-style dining of a four-course menu with wine pairings for $60 per guest++. Theme coming in next newsletter! Reservations required at least 48 hours in advance and can be made by calling (949) 725-1773. Free parking available to all guests.