SoBoBlog: News, rumors and oddments by and for the people of South Baltimore

by Colleen Wolfe
soboblog@baltimoreguide.com

For months I have been excited about the opening of Luca’s Café on Fort Avenue. In a not-so-distant former life it was Truman’s, a corner bar and grill owned by neighbors of mine. When they moved out of state a little over a year ago they put Truman’s up for sale. I figured someone would buy it who wanted to run a neighborhood corner bar so it would pretty much stay unchanged. I was surprised and pleased when I found out it was bought by Lando Orsino, who is one of the co-owners of Matthew’s Pizza in Highlandtown. That gave me high hopes that Locust Point would finally be getting a casual, family-friendly eatery, something the neighborhood sorely needs. We’ll soon see. As I write this on Sunday afternoon, I got word from a neighbor that Luca’s will be opening this week. By the time the Guide hits the streets, we could already be chowing down.
I have been very curious to see what Orsino and his partner Chris Maler would do with the former watering hole. Since early fall, workmen have been busy going in and out every day. When I spotted dry wall being thrown out of the second story windows I knew this wasn’t just going to be a corner bar serving pizza. Now that the renovations inside and out have been completed, it looks promising, and so does the food.
Among my junk mail on Saturday was a menu from Luca’s. It looks tempting and giving the neighborhood a sneak peek was, I think, a smart move on Maler and Orsino’s part. This definitely isn’t your typical corner bar fare. It looks like comfort food with a Mediterranean flair. You’ll have a handful of choices within each menu section: salads, sandwiches, pizza entrees and desserts.
Several items caught my eye. The Dip looks like an intriguing appetizer. The description is roasted shallots, reggiano mascarpone, basil pesto, jumbo lump crab with toast points. The fruit field salad is a mesclun mix with dried cranberries, red onion, red and green grapes, pear tomatoes with a citrus herb vinagrette. Even the burger on the menu doesn’t look like your typical fare. The Luca burger is described as being slow cooked in sweet onion and tomato sauce.
Knowing that one of the owners is also a co-owner of Matthew’s Pizza, you may be expecting the same thick crusted, doughy pizza. But rumor has it that Luca’s pizza will be a thin crust variety, which I prefer. Just about every item from the pizza section looks tantalizing. Two really stood out. The steak pizza includes garlic, pesto, mascarpone, provolone, reggiano, roma tomatoes, cipolini onions and sliced tri tip. The Mediterranean has calamata olive tapenade, goat cheese, feta and mozzarella. I don’t think there’s any way you can go wrong with olives and goat cheese.
Under the entrée section even the beef stew has a twist. It’s not just beef stew, it’s the Hungarian goulash variety served over gnocchi, those little pillows of Italian potato dumplings. I noticed there are two items that didn’t get the Mediterranean makeover: the Caribbean baked chicken and the crab cakes. I think when it comes to the latter, traditional is better. After all Baltimore is crab cake nirvana and there’s no reason to mess with a good thing. When it comes to crab cakes simple is best.
The dessert menu looks limited, but what’s on it is not your typical cake and pie selections. You have your choice of fried dough (yes, that’s right, we won’t have to wait for the St. Gabriel Festival to get our fix of fried dough), chocolate fondue with seasonal fruit, and an intriguing little item called chocolate of the day. Can’t wait to see what that’s all about.
It’s great that in recent years, several good restaurants have made Locust Point their home. For me, the Wine Market is one of the best restaurants in the area. But for so long we’ve needed a good casual restaurant where families feel comfortable bringing their kids. Up until now, the only place to get a casual bit to eat in Locust Point was City Limits. City Limits may have pretty good bar food (the tater tots are great), but obviously I’m not going to bring my 4-year-old daughter there when my family wants to get a bite to eat. I’m really looking forward to Luca’s grand opening. Lets hope the food and atmosphere live up to my hopes.
To fit the pizza delivery bill, it looks like a Ledo Pizza will be opening up in the Southside Marketplace. There is a sign in the window of the space that was previously occupied by the Laundromat. Although Ledo Pizza doesn’t do it for me, I know a lot of people enjoy it. And I’m glad that the space isn’t going to remain vacant much longer.
As one restaurant opens, one also closes. Coco Moka Café, located in The Foundry Building on Fort Avenue closed recently. I’m not sure what happened to the coffee shop, but I would guess that they were no competition for Harvest Table, which is located right within the Tide Point campus. It attracts a big crowd in the mornings as employees at Tide Point stop in to get their morning caffeine jolt before heading to work. They are usually back for lunch as well. Brunch there on Saturdays and Sundays is usually a big draw for neighbors. When the loop road opened in August, it also made it easier for commuters to take the back way into work, drawing them off of Fort Avenue and probably hurting Coco Moka’s business.
It’s too bad the owners of Coco Moka couldn’t hold on a little while longer. I was ready to switch my Saturday brunch loyalties to a new place. My family was a regular at Harvest Table for Saturday brunch for a long time. It got so that we knew all the wait staff, the owner and a few of the other regular customers. Chef-owner Greg Nally sold Harvest Table several months ago and the place is just not the same, so I am in search of a new neighborhood brunch place, something casual and low-key. I like Rallo’s (They have good chipped beef), but it’s generally crowded for Saturday or Sunday breakfast and that makes it loud; not a good place to kick back and read the paper over a cup of tea and a muffin. I though Coco Moka would fit the bill. But, alas, the search continues.