Luce in Caldwell

I love going down Bloomfield Ave from the Caldwells all the way down to the Belmont! Ooo the Belmont is another story for another time! But anyway, I am slowly trying to eat my way through this long street. It has everything from different coffee shops, Japanese places, Thai, Ethiopian, Greek, and of course Italian! I mean its just endless! And of course there are all these awesome boutique like shops in between, its just one of my favorite places in Jersey.

Since driving down to Eclectic Cafe in high school I have been passing what is now known as Luce. Its this restaurant that juts out onto the corner across from Caldwell College. I don't know what it was about this place that made want to try it. Maybe because I passed it a million times! But this weekend I FINALLY got to see what the packed parking lot was all about. I have to admit I do fall prey to trendy looking restaurants even if I know the best places are usually the hole in the wall!

In walking in you see the woman with the big guido hair keeping charge of the door. Not with a computer but the old fashioned notebook. I see the place lined with what looks like the Sopranos cast and woman with lots of gold and glitter on thier shirts. This place might have some real potential after all! It took us 45 minutes to be seated even though we made reservations. Not so cool! They did seat some of the old timers that walked in before us. We sense they have have the pull of being "regulars." But honestly it was worth it!

Our server was quick and friendly. And we didn't have to wait forever for our food. Which almost everything was great! They bring out bread and a version of eggplant componata which was really good. Its always nice to see a place bring out something you don't expect (for free!). We were all overwhelmed by the array of great choices on the menu and to make the decision harder, there was a whole list of equally appetizing specials.For appetizers we had rice balls, rock shrimp arrabiatta, and an exotic mushroom saute over polenta. The rice balls were crispy on the outside and had a great flavor of Parmesan and prosciutto, the red sauce they were in was also very good! The rock shrimp were spicy but not so much so that you couldn't taste the dish. The mushrooms were sauteed in garlic and truffle oil served over mascarpone polenta.

For my en tree I had a short rib ragu. I love short ribs when done right and they were! It was pieces of melt in your mouth soft meat in a fantastic red sauce with fresh ricotta cheese ontop of pappardelle thats homemade. Everything about this dish was great! Then there was Brian who opted for Black Linguine Sauteed with Maryland crab meat, gulf shrimp, chopped tomatoes, and julienne baby spinach in a light garlic broth. I love black linguine and it was very well made but the light garlic broth was exactly that. It was just a little too watery and tasteless for us. But some people might like that, but for us it made the dish fall flat.

Luce is definitely a place to be checked out and not mention a nice date place. It is bring your own, and be prepared to wait for your table!