Miami chef:
It’s ‘best food I’ve ever made’
Giorgio Rapicavoli’s restaurant dishes have always defied convention, but he wanted something different for his newest Coral Gables offering, Luca Osteria.
Born in Westchester to an Italian mother and an Argentine father, Rapicavoli grew up eating her homemade pastas during the week and his dad’s asado on the weekends. He was also influenced by Miami’s culture, from Arbetter’s hot dogs to Larios Cuban restaurants. And his dishes had a touch of all that culinary influence (including Iron Beer used in a reduction sauce).
For Luca Osteria, he said he wanted to keep it simple. All of the dishes are simply presented, none featuring more than five ingredients, he said.
“I’ve always wanted to cook this kind of food. It is who I am, and it’s what I grew up eating,” he said. “I thought, ‘How can we really respect the ingredients and put them through an Italian lens?’ ”
But Giorgio being Giorgio, he could not help adding his own personality to Luca’s dishes. At his other Gables restaurant Eating House, Miami’s first “Chopped” winner features cauliflower elote, wagyu beef carpaccio with leche de tigre and pork belly croquetas with chimichurri cream. After leaving as chef of Glass & Vine in Coconut Grove, he brought that eye to starting Luca.
Luca dishes like bucatini use a kind of mojo butter along with the clams and white wine. The vegetarian ‘dnuja “sausage” is
actually made from semi-dried tomatoes and cured in olive oil to make them spread creamily on Sullivan Street bread, he said. The Bolognese is made from short rib and uses a “mortadella butter” from a mortadella he actually makes in house, down to toasting the pistachios.
He said he is purchasing the best ingredients he can find, from imported 600-day aged
San Daniele prosciutto to stracciatella made and shipped daily from West Palm Beach. Some dishes are presented that simply. Black truffle is shaved over patate fritti with creamy Parmesan cheese and egg yolk. Others are used with his own Miami lens.
And that, he says, is what will make Luca stand apart from traditional Italian powerhouses like nearby Caffe Abbracci and Fratellino Ristorante that he reveres as institutions.
His new restaurant opens up to the lively Giralda Plaza, which has become a dining destination during the coronavirus pandmeic as it provides plenty of outdoor seating.
“It’s so liberating to get to cook like this,” he said. “It’s some of the best food I’ve ever made.”
LUCA OSTERIA
Address: 116 Giralda Ave., Coral Gables
Hours: 5-11 p.m., TuesdaySunday.
305-381-5097, LucaMiami.com