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Caffe Luna
Jack Benjamin opened Caffe Luna over 12 years ago, when no one spelled cafe the Italian way. What you got (and still get) wasn't particularly European, but rather Cal-Ital, as in sandwiches, pizzas, pasta, and grills. Nothing wrong with that, when you find fine roast chicken, a good burger, baked penne, and grilled swordfish.
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CAFFE LUNA
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Where: 11 Boylston St. (Route 9), Chestnut Hill.
Telephone: 617-734-8400.
Prices: Appetizers, pizzas, and sandwiches $4-$14; main courses $12-$19; desserts $4-$6.
Good choices: Grilled crostada with arugula; crabcakes; potato crusted salmon; penne with grilled eggplant.
Hours: Mon.-Wed. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Thurs.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
Noise level: Conversation not difficult even when room is busy.
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa, Discover.
Access: Fully accessible.
Get directions
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The ingredients here are exceptional and the sort of food you would make at home if only you cooked anymore.
A large grilled crostada spread with goat cheese and topped with tomatoes and arugula ($9) was lush with crisp greens on a smoky pizza-like crust. Plump Maine crabcakes ($9) sat on a creamy roasted corn and cilantro sauce.
Penne were baked with grilled eggplant and broccoli rabe in a darkly sweet, garlicky roasted pepper and tomato sauce ($15). A beautiful piece of grilled swordfish on sauteed spinach ($19) should have stopped there, without the grilled vegetables and olive-tomato Nicoise fussing. Shredded potatoes around salmon ($17), popular on French menus some years back, formed a sweet, golden crust for the moist salmon locked inside.
Luna's prices are high, considering the place is worn at the heels, but portions are large. The crostada was almost too large for two, and both penne and swordfish were ample enough to carry home for the next day's lunch. Luna is tied like a tether to the movie schedule next door. Good films ensure full tables.
All the films must be great lately.
- Sheryl Julian
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