WHO’S IN CHARGE
Half order of Lucca’s beets five ways
Executive chef Anthony Mazzotta of Rockland’s new Lucca South Shore has a tasty bio that’s a good fit for the organically grown careers of the new restaurant’s three owners. Sean Williams, Matthew Williams (they’re brothers), and Ted Kennedy opened the first Lucca in Boston’s North End in 2000. The trio have since opened outposts in the city’s Back Bay, Logan Airport, and now, their fourth, in Rockland.
Mazzotta started cooking at home with his Italian parents in Norwood, went on to culinary school, and later distinguished himself working under renowned chef Thomas Keller at both his rarified French Laundry in Napa, and his Per Se in Manhattan. More recently, Mazzotta circled back to where he started, cooking locally again with Ken Oringer at Toro and Lucca Back Bay. Running the new kitchen with Mazzotta is chef Nate Lawrence, who closed his popular Munch Mobile Kitchen food truck a couple years ago.
“Anthony’s food is exquisite . . . and we’re lucky to have gotten Nate,” said Sean, who is always at one of the restaurants with his two partners.
“A big part of our success is being there,” said Sean. “We basically bus tables. There’s nothing we won’t do. When you open a new restaurant everyone comes in expecting everything to be all figured out, but there’s a lot to figure out. It’s not quite a well-oiled machine yet, but it’s getting there. We’ll keep improving over time — adding more dishes, stepping up service, trainings, all of it.”
THE LOCALE
The 300-seat restaurant, the former Bella’s, is a 10,000-square-foot building on a 3-acre lot. The partners bought it in June 2019 and, after a substantial renovation, held a soft opening on New Year’s Eve. Take a stroll around to get oriented: A 75-seat bar and lounge up front has a lively vibe with up-lighting that turns the ceiling different colors, windows, a fireplace, and huge black-and-white prints of Roman gods. The rest of the dining areas branch off down a dramatic black-and-white-tiled hallway: There’s a second gleaming mahogany bar; a private dining room, enclosed but visible; and a field of white tablecloths in the back divided with interior structures into various areas. Permits are in the works for an outdoor lounge and maybe, someday, a big chef’s garden out back.
THE MENU
On a recent late February night, the place was packed by 6 p.m. Same the next visit. For starters, I went a little nuts over the butter-braised calamari appetizer ($13). The fish curls are so tender and melded with the buttery tomato sauce they stay flavorful the whole chew through. I will make a meal of this appetizer with a slice of Lucca’s Margherita pizza ($12) some night. The slow-roasted cod ($29) is another delicate preparation, marinated in herbs that imbue it with rich flavor and strewn with spinach, fregola, and chopped hazelnuts. I so prefer dry, al dente pasta that I wasn’t as excited about either of the homemade pasta dishes we had as my tablemates were. If you’re a fan, then you’ll like the ricotta cavatelli ($27). The ribbed inch-long pastas are sauced with hunks of tender braised boar, rich pork meatballs, and Swiss Chard. A huge portion of home-style, fork-crushed potatoes is a perfect side for the magnificent grass-fed tenderloin ($39) and the five presentations of beets ($13) is a knock-out. Hunks of roasted beets are arranged over a pink beet yogurt, adorned with a portion of finely chopped “beet tartar,” and strewn with a raw beet slaw dressed with beet vinaigrette. Best beet dish I’ve ever had.
Lucca South Shore, 933 Hingham St., Rockland, 781-871-5789, luccasouthshore.com.
Joan Wilder can be reached at joan.wilder@gmail.com.
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