In Europe it is more common to find the traditional with cloth fine dining restaurants compared to the United States where even the traditional fine dining restaurants become more and more approachable and casual. Luce is a great example of a restaurant which is for everyone who loves food. You still have the white cloths, but the service and style is much more informal and you can enjoy some great cuisine without dressing up too much. Luce is a restaurant for all occasions.

Luce is located at 888 Howard Street inside the InterContinental San Francisco which was opened in 2008. The flagship restaurant Luce can be reached through the hotel’s grand lobby or via a separate entrance off Howard Street. It is perfect to start your meal with a drink or two at the Bar 888 just next to Luce. The impressive grappa selection alone makes it worth a visit before you have a seat at one of the 130 available seats in the main dining room. You can have a private dinner as well if you like so, but the spacious dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows is a perfect setting for a great meal by Chef de Cuisine Daniel Corey.

Chef Corey is a native Californian and was born and raised at Huntington Beach. He is using the French fundamentals in his cooking, but he is heavily influenced by cuisine and style of California. Corey moved up to San Francisco in 2001 to attend the California Culinary Academy and after that he started his career at the Downtown Restaurant in Berkeley. He had several different kitchen positions before he started at Luce, for restaurants like the Campton Place when Chef Patron Daniel Humm was in charge.

Daniel Corey’s new American fare is approachable and your taste buds will like the food within a second. Some handmade sweetbread ravioli with crispy sweetbreads and truffle is delicious as well as the roasted lamb loin and crispy lamb belly with black olive, garlic, baby carrots and turnips. The contemporary menu based upon seasonal produce is filled with great dishes, as the seared diver scallop and abalone with pumpkin skin sun-dried spices and duck consommé as one of the best examples.

Luce is one of those restaurants which do not look that much at your first glance. You think it is just another semi-good hotel restaurant, but you are wrong and the restaurant is one of the great places to have a meal at when you are in San Francisco.

Written by Andy