Lucca's American Kitchen in Leominster, MA

So I went to Luccas American Kitchen in Leominster, MA because Miss Normajean wanted me to experience it. She had been there a few times and told them her world-traveler friend Ann had a blog with a zillion followers and she was going to bring me. She was right about the world traveler part...

We get there on a Friday afternoon and I like the interior and vibe - casual and comfortable and clean. We are seated and immediately they bring some lovely bread. Since Normajean knows exactly what she wants, she asks for a dish of olive oil with salt, red pepper flakes, garlic and shaved parmesan for dipping. The chef makes a custom little dish for us. I am immediately grateful. It is delicious, even though I will be breathing fire from the garlic and red pepper all afternoon. I will replicate this. So done with butter. She also requests some of the bar olives. I get a salad and she gets some mussels for round one.

For the main course, I order some veggie/parmesan risotto and she gets some pasties - "Roasted beef tenderloin hash wrapped in delicate pastry dough, baked to a golden brown and served with a horseradish cream sauce for dipping." The dough was awesome! Delicious. Norma has never had risotto and she tries it. Calls it life-changing. I will post my risotto recipe soon.

I, on the other hand, have not had pasties. So a new experience for both of us and we agree, horseradish is under-rated and should appear more. I ate about 1/3 of my meal at best and took it home for dinner tomorrow. I will pair it with some grilled chicken or salmon. It will easily feed Bob and I with leftovers. I could have chosen from about 15 items on this menu or more. We finished off with some raspberry gelato with a bood orange sauce. By the way, the lovely lady behind the bar is Jodi, the owner. She is killing it. The bill comes in an antique book and guests are encouraged to leave a message about their experience. It was a good one. http://www.luccasamericankitchen.com.