The Knife

Osteria La Buca: Inside the new space

Osteria La Buca's expansion is almost complete. Actually, I think it's all but done -- but except for all the permits (of course). They say it will be another two weeks.

Noted: Big windows facing Melrose Avenue; high ceilings; love the wine-bottle chandeliers (there's two); free of any Dodd Mitchellian touches (hurrah!). Also noted: Free corkage is now a thing of the past: La Buca has a license for wine, a list of same and corkage is $18.95. And: Donald Sutherland likes La Buca, too; that's the smallest slice of his shoulder in the right-hand corner's foreground, where he was sitting at the new bar sipping espresso with the owners. The woman in the back in the red cap, however, is far more important; that's the chef, otherwise known as the owners' mom.

Osteria La Buca is stuck in a wrinkle in time

Commenter MaxMillion asks:

Any idea when La Buca's expansion will be completed? Every time you ask them it's, "In a few weeks."

I called Osteria La Buca and they said (wait for it): "In three more weeks. We hope."

In other words, I think it looks likely by early next year.

It's like "A Wrinkle in Time," where time behaved differently in different environments.

For musicians, you can take the given time, judge how late they'll be and add an hour.

For restaurateurs, the formula is simpler: New restaurants don't open when they're supposed to.

Ever. They can't help it, with all the permits and licenses and contractors and the desire to satisfy the fierce judgments of a hungry public. (Ahem.)

Look at La Buca. Or Comme Ca. Or Boule Atelier. Or the Mozzas. This morning I went to Lift. Not only is it supposed to open today, it's also open 22 hours a day. At 8:45 a.m., the kitchen wasn't ready.