Luca e Lino (CLOSED)

Luca e Lino, the young heir to the decade-old Jerusalem Topolino, appeared on the streets of Lilienblum last month. After falling in love with Italian food while abroad in Rome, culinary couple Yona Sasson and Maurice Gini paired up with their children to share their “amore” with the Tel Avivians. Their concept is clear: simply Sicilian. Sicilian food (called “Cucina Povera” a.k.a. poor cuisine) uses very little butter or cream and relies solely on affordable raw materials like olives, almonds, nuts, herbs, and other dairy products. Luca e Lino’s menu offers a variety of sophisticated pastas like artichoke and ricotta ravioli in lemon butter and thyme, and hearty meat and fish dishes like the heartwarming oxtail stew and a Mediterranean eggplant parmesan risotto. Save room for desert as their tartufo is a divine final act to the meal.