Restaurant Review: Lucrezia in Chesterton, Indiana

Looking for a place to wine and dine your date? Lucrezia Cafe located at 428 South Calumet in Chesterton, Indiana, is where you will find delicious food. There is private parking next to the restaurant as well as parking along the street. There is also handicap parking available.

Lucrezia decor is elegant yet allows you to feel like you are eating in Italy. White linen tables with wooden chairs and beautiful paintings on the wall give you that touch of elegance. There are two dining rooms. We ate in the smaller room which was cozy and more intimate. The waiter was polite and prompt. They have a full bar so they can make anything you desire.

Diners: The Florida Four (includes myself and 3 siblings), and Mama J.

Lucrezia offers everything from appetizer to desserts. They also have a few items that you can order to eat along with your Italian bread, we ordered the Kalamata olives. I am an olive person, the perfect olive for dining in an italian restaurant or a greek restaurant is the kalamata olives. Nice plumb purple olives in its natural juices and seasoned. You can eat these olives alone or on the bread they serve. They must import these olives or have a good supplier of olives because these were delicious. For appetizers we ordered the brushetta, it had a perfect amount of tomato, olive oil,garlic and basil on a toasted italian bread. It was so fresh and flavorful in your mouth. The bread was crisp and did'nt get soagy with all the toppings they put on.

We had a choice of salad and half of us chose the house salad and the other half the Insalata Caprese. The House salad is one of the best salads I have had in a long time. Romaine lettuce, mushroom, onion, tomato, and balsamic vinaigrette. The vegetables were fresh and crisp and the vinaigrette was delicious. The balsamic vinegar they use to make the dressing is nicely aged and superb. The Insalata Caprese consists of fresh mozzerella cheese, tomatoes, onions, and basil vinaigrette. The basil vinaigrette complemented the cheese and vegetables giving them a burst of flavor. Both salads are delicious but if you are on a bugdet, order the house salad you will not be disappointed.

Entrees range from $15.95 to $20.95 and pastas range from $10.25 to $13.60. We ordered on item off the menu and the rest from the specials. Off the menu was Linguini Pescatore, calamari, mussels and scallops in olive oil and garlic (you can also have it prepared with marinara sauce). This dish was nice, a little to simple for me. There was no specific taste to the dish. The seafood was good but overall the dish needed a little something to bring out the flavors of all this delicious seafood.

Our first special was the Linguini with shrimp, scallops, spinach, cherry tomatoes and lemon in a garlic/butter sauce. Now this dish really rocked. The dish had so much flavor and was light. There was enough shrimp and scallops to truly call it a seafood dish.

Next was the chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese with sundried tomato sauce on rosotto. I loved the concept when I read it on the board. The chicken breast was tender but the goat cheese just over powered everything else. All I tasted was goat cheese which was good but I expected to taste all the other seasonings. The rosotto was delicious I could of eaten that alone.

We also ordered the veal slices with crabmeat, roasted peppers, lemon, garlic in a white wine sauce. This dish was perfect. Everything just meshed well. Flavorful and just plain delicious.

Our last order was roasted lamb shank with roasted potatoes, onions and braised cabbage. Out of all the dishes this was the favorite. The lamb was nicely cooked and tender. Nothing was to heavy or over powering. It was a good portion and very savory.

Desserts...yummy. Triple chocolate mousse cake. If you love chocolate this is the dessert to get. A huge portion and chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. The cake was rich and the mousse fluffy and light. Next, the Chocolate Creme Brulee. Not to chocolatey but yet flavorful. Creamy in the middle and the burnt sugar on top was made well. Bread pudding was good, I did'nt care much for the type of bread they used, it was a bite rough but had flavor. We also ordered stuffed strawberries, order this if you want something sweet but not to heavy. Last on the dessert list was chocolate cheese cake with almond crust. The cheesecake was nice and creamy. If you want something very chocolately this is not the dessert for chocolate lovers. It is more cheesy than chocolate but has good texture.

The rating: Out of "Must Bite"(Excellent), "Bite this"(must try), "Take a bite"(hit or miss), "little bites"(go at your own risk), and "This Bites!"(sucks)...we give Lucrezia an overall rating of Bite This