Restaurant review: Osteria Lucio, Dublin 2
This idea is often credited to the French and it is true that the first restaurants as we know them were created after the French Revolution by the unemployed chefs of the recently guillotined aristocracy.
Of course for a millennia or so you could eat out in the local pub, however, this was usually just the dish of the day (pot-luck).
The Italians would claim that they improved upon this basic model long before anyone else and the oldest documented Osteria is in the great city of Bologna where there has been an Osteria del Cappello since 1375.
In Ireland we are still struggling somewhat with the idea of serving food in our hostelries and pubs and the word ‘gastro-pub’ has been greatly abused.
Perhaps we still feel that drinking is too serious a business to be interfered with by adding food.
Last summer Ross Lewis of Chapter One fame joined with his similarly lauded Italian friend Luciano Tona to create an Irish-Italian take on this old concept of serving good booze and even better food.
You would not call this Osteria a pub however, think of it as a wine bar such as L’Atitude 51 in Cork or Ely in Dublin.
I’ve eaten both chef’s food (Tono visits Ireland to cook with Lewis occasionally) so I was hugely excited by this new venture when it opened.
My early visits however were rather underwhelming. Despite the quality ingredients the dishes didn’t gel.
However, recent reports have been hugely encouraging so I decided to give Osterio Lucio (OL) another chance and I’m glad I did as the new chef and the staff in general were on top form on the night.
OL is under the train arches between Pearse Street and Grand Canal Street and was previously occupied by Pizza e Porchetta and others.
There is something comforting about the rumble of trains overhead, the padded ceiling (hiding bare brick), and the well-designed lighting - this is a welcoming place.
The menu is one page long and split into Antipasti, Salumi, Pasta/Prima and Pizza — short, but this is as it should be in an Osteria.
The drinks menu is similarly focused and our bottle of Vermentino di Sardegna was crisp and fragrant and well worth its €31.
Given that this is a hostelry we felt the need to explore the drinks menu a little and I began with one of OL’s Italian craft beers called ReAle, a relatively understated and tasty IPA.
They have a few Italian beers of interest and Peroni and Moretti if you are looking for something more familiar.
My guest ordered a stunningly good Italian Margarita made with Disaronno Amaretto, Tequila and fresh Lime Juice — a perfect balance of citrus, alcohol and hazelnut flavours, an idea I shall be stealing.
At the end of the meal we also shared a fine Espresso Martini — the bar staff here know what they are doing.
While we were nursing our aperitivos our two olive antipasto arrived to slow us down a little — wood oven roasted green and black olives with orange and rosemary and large breaded and deep fried green olives stuffed with minced pork and veal all’ Ascolana.
The olives were a major highlight with a wonderful combination of sweetness, richness and a pungent bitter kick that initially shocked our palates but which we got used to by the third olive. I could have eaten these and nothing else.
We felt it was our duty to order the pizza and the fine quality prosciutto and bubbling buffalo mozzarella on a perfect thin base had a delicious lightness of touch.
Pork Rib Milanese was a breaded and fried pork chop with a crisp salad of rocket and fennel and the only low light of the meal — downright unpleasant mayonnaise (fix this please!).
Monkfish gnoccci with olives, cauliflower and caper aioli was the better of the two mains with a beautiful balance of sweetness, creaminess and freshness.
Desserts of warm chocolate mousse (with a flawless lemon jelly) and wondrously wobbly panna cotta with rhubarb, honeycomb and blood orange finished the meal perfectly.
So if eating and drinking for pleasure is even a vague interest of yours I suggest you visit soon, I think I’ll go for lunch the next time and stay there all day.
Dinner for two including two antipasto, one pizza, two mains, two desserts plus one bottle of wine, two cocktails and a craft beer - €140.90 (excluding tip)
Monday – Friday, 12pm-3pm, 5pm-10pm; Saturday, 5pm-10.30pm; Sunday, 12pm-4pm; 5pm-9pm
Food: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience 8/10
Value: 8/10
Disarmingly simple and tasty Italian food made from excellent ingredients served in a relaxed space.
Osteria Lucio, The Malting Tower, Clanwilliam Terrace, Grand Canal Quay, Dublin 2
Tel: 01-6624199;
www.osterialucio.com
