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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe restaurant black hole that has claimed the culinary lives of Taverna, Khory’s, and Jerusalem Restaurant is now home to Luciana’s Mexican Restaurant & Cantina (1850 Broad Ripple Ave., 820-5377), a promising, uncomplicated eatery already bustling in its early weeks.
Our visit found a friendly waitstaff, lively interior and a slow-ish kitchen serving up a relatively simple, surprise-free menu. Rather than try to overload with toppings, for instance, Luciana’s idea of Chicken Nachos ($5.25/$6.50) translates to simple curls of grilled poultry with a coating of melted cheese. The result was, indeed, appetizing, but given the complimentary chips and spicy salsa already on the table, it was a trifle redundant. The Chicken Soup ($7.25) was more ambitious, with avocado blending nicely with the chicken, rice and broth. A shame it isn’t available in a smaller portion, though.
Texas Fajitas ($13.25) arrived appropriately sizzling, with marinated beef, chicken and shrimp grilled together with peppers, onion and ample portions of tomato. The Cancun Especial ($9.75) put emphasis on the sour cream sauce, which bathed chicken strips, onions, tomato and bell pepper. I had to do some draining before taking leftovers home.
While hardly gourmetor adventurous, the quality was a notch above most boilerplate Mexican places I’ve tried, albeit a notch higher in price. The requisite combo platters run $8.25 to $8.99, with an octet of Mexican beers ($3.75) and Margaritas available in multiple sizes from the regular 16 ounce ($5.25) to the Texas Large Pitcher ($19.75). Kick in another 50 cents to $1 for strawberry, mango, peach or raspberry flavoring.•
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