Luci Ancora

We found ourselves in St. Paul a week or so ago.  It was dinnertime and we had no plans.  The beauty of the iPhone!  I quickly used the Yelp app to locate nearby restaurants.  I then flipped over to my OpenTable app and had reservations for 10 minutes later at Luci Ancora.

Luci Ancora is a quaint restaurant across the street from the College of Saint Catherine in St. Paul.  The neighborhood is great with lots of old trees and houses - seems like it would be a great area to live.  Across the street and down a half block is Luci's sister restaurant, Ristorante Luci.  We have had the good fortune to eat at both of these restaurants a couple of times at least.

On this particular night, the restaurant was not real busy.  It was a week night, so not too surprising.  The positive of this was that we had a great table by the window and could look out at the college.  However, this was pre-daylight savings time and it was dark.  The ambience in the restaurant was warm and cozy.

The hubby and I decided to order some wine and they had several selections of 1/2 bottles.  We went out on a limb and chose a Falanghina to share.  The waitress informed us that the wine was their sweetest white - this was not at all what we were looking for, so we changed to a known dry white wine.  I always appreciate the honesty of wait staff and the waitress' tip immediately increased due to the fact that she steered us away from a wine that we likely wouldn't have enjoyed.

My meal consisted of the mista salad and Ravioli alla Napoletana.  Both the salad and the main entree were very good.  The salad was nice and crisp.  The ravioli was tasty and creamy.  The tomato sauce added a nice acidity to the creaminess of the ricotta cheese. 

The hubby had an appetizer and then fettucine for his main entree.  Sadly we can't remember exactly what he had and the website just has a sample menu and not the actual one.  I do know that he thoroughly enjoyed his meal!

I ended the meal with one of the best desserts that I have had in a long time.  The surprising thing - it didn't consist of chocolate or ice cream!  What it did consist of was a yummy brandy soaked pear in the center of layers of phyllo dough.  It was topped with whipped cream, currants and powder sugar.  Oh my....what an awesome dessert.  Any liquor soaked food makes me nervous - often it is too strong to actually enjoy, but this pear was incredible.  I had to share a few bites with the hubby, but for the most part this dessert was ALL MINE! 

Luci Ancora and Ristorante Luci have special deals during the week nights including a nice 4 course tasting menu for a very reasonable price. 

I would highly recommend Luci Ancora.  The food is fabulous, the atmosphere quiet and romantic, and the service was awesome. 

As I mentioned, we've been there a few times now and after this last experience, we'll definitely be back.

Happy Eating!