Lucky serve

How do you make a favorite lunch spot even better? Start serving dinner.

by Margaret LeRoux

Lucky's Cafe 102 1/2 Grove Street, Worcester 756-5014 Breakfast Mon.-Fri. 8 -11 a.m. Lunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner Thurs.-Sat. 5:30-9:30 p.m. BYOB Cash only Not handicap accessible

Lucky's Cafe, tucked in a basement of the Northworks building, is a little gem that deserves to be appreciated by a bigger audience. There were only three tables of diners on a cold and slippery night, but we were rewarded by Lucky's atmosphere, charm, and wonderful food. The staff is accommodating; entrees, appetizers, and desserts imaginative and fresh; the background music is cutting-edge jazz; and the prices are a pleasant surprise, considering the quality and quantity of the food.

Lucky's is owned by Pete Arner and Patti Hallinan, who have been in the restaurant industry "in one aspect or another," Pete said later in an interview, for the past 30 years. A popular lunch spot, Lucky's recently started offering dinner from Thursday through Saturday. Wednesday will soon be added.

At lunch I've enjoyed two specials, a roast beef roll up ($4.75) and grilled lemon rosemary chicken ($4.35). Like most of the other lunch customers, I took the sandwiches back to the office, but there's plenty of room to eat in the cafe.

I shared the large chicken sandwich, including melted provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato on French bread, with a friend. After two bites, she sighed with pleasure, "This is the best sandwich I've ever eaten."

The roast beef was another winner, heaps of roast beef, served rare, with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and blue cheese mayonnaise on lavash bread. There are daily soup specials; we loved a tasty chicken peanut soup, chock full of vegetables and chunks of chicken in a creamy curry-enhanced broth. ($1.75 a cup, $2.50 a bowl). My friends on the Worcester Phoenix staff who've tried almost the entire lunch menu say that everything from Lucky's kitchen is good.

At dinner the hustle of the lunch crowd is absent, the lighting is lower, and you can appreciate the funky decor of exposed brick walls, wood floors, and an assortment of decorative photos. What we didn't expect were extras like fresh flowers and candles on the tables, cloth napkins, and a basket of warm rolls. Lucky's doesn't have a liquor license, but you're welcome to bring your own. Our waitress opened our wine for us and kept it chilled in the beverage cooler.

We began by sharing a Caesar salad ($3.95) followed by one of the appetizers specials of the evening, mussels steamed in wine, with chopped tomatoes, garlic, and fresh parsley ($4.95).

Our waitress warned us that the Caesar salad was made with mesclun greens rather than romaine, but we enjoyed it just the same. The dressing was spiked with anchovy and lemon, and there was finely grated Parmesan cheese atop the greens.

The platter of mussels was so large, we had to sacrifice our bread basket and salad plates to make room on the table, but we were willing once we caught a whiff of the fragrant shellfish. These mussels were fresh and sweet; the additions enhanced rather than overwhelmed their flavor. As we reached the bottom of the pile, we wished for the bread, though. It would have been good to sop up the sauce. Our waitress thoughtfully emptied the bowl she brought us for shells when she noticed it was getting full.

Entrees at Lucky's include several seafood choices, pasta, chicken, and steak; and for vegetarians there is vegetarian lasagna ($7.95). There are six different sandwiches -- a Southwest roll up of lettuce, avocado, black bean hummus, jack cheese, and salsa ($5.95) was tempting -- all served with red bliss potato salad. One in our group selected a grilled chicken sandwich with pesto, lettuce, tomato, and provolone cheese ($5.50). Another companion chose baked fish Aegean ($9.25), and I went for the pasta Ro, linguine with capicola, chopped tomato, basil, fresh mushrooms, and peas in a creamy tomato-wine sauce ($8.95).

They were all good, but what I'll return for is the seafood Aegean, a generous serving of haddock baked with sliced red onion, chopped tomato, feta cheese, and fresh dill. This was a knockout dish -- one that could hold its own next to any seafood I've had at the pricey Italian restaurant upstairs. Roasted red potatoes were served alongside; nestled among them were slivers of roasted sweet potatoes, a nice touch of color and variation in texture. Sautéed zucchini and summer squash were forgettable.

The serving of pasta Ro was rich, delicious, and beyond my capacity -- I made a dent in the serving, enjoying the subtle creaminess of the sauce, enhanced by the slightly peppery capicola -- but enjoyed finishing it off at home the next day.

We shared a dessert, tangerine cheesecake ($2.95), served with slices of mango, strawberry, and fresh mint. Bits of bright orange peel in the cheesecake filling gave it a light, tropical flavor. Our bill including tax but not tip was a very reasonable $39.94. I can't wait to go back and sample more of Patti's cooking.