Lucky Lucia

I discovered a great little Italian restaurant that happens to be about a mile from my house called Lucia. I absolutely love Italian food, and they had me at hello once I tasted their signature spaghetti and meatballs (White truffle oil fondue, shaved black truffle, homemade meatballs, covered in signature sauce – that’s right, TWO KINDS OF SAUCES!). But what’s even more better are their happy hour specials, which include $4 glasses of wine every day, $3 stuffed mushrooms ($3?! AND they’re amazing), and 1/2 price bottle night on Tuesdays. A friend and I recently went to share a $48 bottle of Justin Cabernet Sauvignon for $24 (hey, that’s down to retail! And they do the dishes! Score!). We are both Paso-philes, since as it turns out we both coincidentally used to live down in San Luis Obispo, where we developed our taste for wine – though I didn’t meet her until we both lived up in Washington. Once we discovered this great deal, we have since returned two or four times, always ordering the Justin Cab. But after that first glorious experience, they haven’t had that particular wine in stock, forcing us to expand our horizons. I’m glad we did, because we discovered a few other gems that we may otherwise not have tried.