All-Patio Restaurant Rises Inside Downtown Boutique Hotel | Eater San Diego

"Led by executive chef Justin Vaiciunas, Luca is the hotel's main restaurant whose menu draws flavors and techniques from cuisines along the Mediterranean Sea—chosen in part because of its climate similarity to San Diego—and emphasizes local ingredients; examples include scallops with preserved lemon, chive aioli, and brown butter risotto, and a pork tenderloin with goat cheese, chocolate mushroom sauce, herb pesto, and katafi. Vaiciunas, a native of Detroit who graduated from the culinary arts program at Schoolcraft and cooked in Chicago, Salt Lake City, and most recently Miami’s The Local House on Ocean Drive, will oversee all hotel food and beverage and plans to introduce seven-course tasting-menu dinners on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (limited to 20 diners and varying in concept and scope). The dining room is unique in that every seat is outside: the primary, plant-filled 70-seat central courtyard off the lobby plus additional tables on a large back patio called Grace Garden (a 40-seat garden space that will also offer an express lunch menu for guests and area office workers); happy hour and weekend brunch are in the works." - Candice Woo