Posts Tagged ‘Luna Cafe’

There is a certain stigma when dining alone, in fact I hate it. But under circumstances such as business travel it becomes unavoidable and small price to pay for a decent meal. Yesterday, I decided to have dinner at Luna Cafe, after reading some good reviews it seemed like a good Italian cafe at an excellent price point. It was more formal than I had expected, as cafe was in the name, however I was promptly seated and ordered a glass of Malbec. To my annoyance, my waiter wasn’t convinced of the authenticity of my Minnesota drivers license and thought it prudent to bring this to the attention of his manager. As I sat, waiting for my wine, I was ever aware of the two of them discussing my position as they talked amongst themselves near the kitchen entrance. I don’t mind being carded, but if I was trying to pull one over to get some booze I would have gone elsewhere, say a bar perhaps (or I would have orderd my wine on-line, I should have thought of that before I was 21 . . .). When I was in San Francisco, I was only carded once out of the dozens of wine tastings and dinners I had, and the validity of my license was never questioned. After concluding that my license was genuine, I placed my order and waited, awkwardly checking my cell phone and glancing over at the TV near the bar attempting to catch some updates on the AF447 crash. This is by far the worst part of dining alone, but has the added benefit of being able to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. I noticed some of the diners around me, especially one lady who thought it was a good idea to put ice cubes in her Chardonnay. The food was decent for the price, although the vegetables seemed undercooked a bit although the wine pared well. Then the fire alarm went off. I sat relaxed at my table as the owner assured everyone the building was safe, despite the loud automated messages to evacuate the building and to use the stairs instead of the elevators.

Since I previously wrote I would attempt to center this trip around coffee, and I wanted to end my meal on a positive note, I decided to order post-meal cappuccino. I didn’t see an espresso machine at the bar but from the label on the cup I received (and from the taste), I assume they were serving Lavazza beans. The cappuccino I received was marginal at best. I’m not a huge fan of Lavazza to begin with; despite that fact, the cappuccino had minimal foam and was topped with coco powder (which I didn’t request). The ratio of milk to espresso was far to high, and the drink was well over 160F, more on the range of 180-190F inducing a burnt taste. To top it off, they did not pre-heat their cups and the shot seemed to have been taken in haste with a bitter-watery feel in the espresso, devoid of any substantial crema. Granted, this was still miles ahead of Starbucks, however I was expecting something more from an Italian restaurant with Cafe in its name. I would go back if I had the chance, but with only two weeks back in Miami this won’t be a repeat.