Osteria Luce

I joked that Sofia might have more Italian restaurants per capita than any city on earth. A line most people would probably back me on, though nobody's actually counted. Angel met me at the door. With that many options in the city, picking Osteria Luce had to mean something. We started with sourdough and olive oil from Puglia, cold-pressed within four hours of harvest, poured while Angel was explaining the menu. The insalata mista came next. Rucola, romaine, avocado, pine nuts, cherry tomatoes, lemon dressing. The leaves were fresh, the avocado hadn't been rushed, and the dressing pulled the plate together. The rigatoni alla vodka followed. Angel's order. One he'd had before and one that held up on the return trip. Tomato, cream, shallot, parmesan, butter, restrained rather than heavy-handed. I'd never had pasta alla vodka before, though it's turned up on most Italian menus and social media over the past couple of years, and we joked about that on the spot. The cotoletta di vitello al Marsala was the low point of our dinner. We'd asked for medium. It came well past that, no pink left anywhere in the cut. The veal stayed tender regardless, which said more about the quality of the meat than the kitchen's handling of it. A wild mushroom sauce ran with it. Good in flavor but thinner than it needed to be to hold onto the plate. Baked potatoes came on the side. Competent enough that nobody at the table brought them up again. The panna cotta closed the meal. Caramel and berries on top. Sweet at first, then it pulled back, letting the caramel's bitterness and the fruit's brightness take over. We agreed without much debate that it was the best dish of the night. Osteria Luce is going for an elegant version of the traditional trattoria, and it lands there. Clean and modern without losing the warmth that kind of place needs to still feel like one. The music was loud enough to compete with the table conversation. Service held up through a full house, and people were waiting outside for a table.