Lucia's Best Kept Secret

Four stools offer unfettered access to Dallas' most exclusive restaurant.

Comments (0) By Scott Reitz Thursday, Jan 31 2013

...continued from page 1

And dessert is reason enough on its own to drop in on this bar whenever there's an opening. The subtle, ashy flavors of a salty caramel gelato still haunt me.

A cook at the bar told me the dessert's secret. Caramel cooked too far will burn into bitter, acrid flavors, but sugar taken just shy of this mystical threshold will present smoke and toffee. That's when the cooks temper the pan with a measure of hot cream, capturing perfect flavor just before it escapes. Honeycrisp apples tinged with rosemary finish the dish with the unexpected once again, but no matter what you've ordered you'll still second-guess your decision while you watch the cooks plate a rice pudding fluffed up with zabaglione, or an elaborately decorated hazelnut cake.

Lori Bandi

Salumi Misto

Lori Bandi

Agnolotti Pasta

Details

Lucia

408 W. 8th St., 214-948-4998, luciadallas.com. 5:30-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. $$$$

Charcuterie plate $15

Cauliflower soup $9

Pasta $15-$25

Grouper $29

Duck breast $16

Desserts $8

More About

If you made a reservation five weeks in advance, you'd have to admire all these dishes from a distance unless you've ordered them, but the four stools at the back of the restaurant will get you so close to these plates you can conjure how they'd taste with just your eyes. Best seats in the house? No doubt. They could be the four best stools in all of Dallas. And the only way to see first hand what Uygur will do next is to sit in one.