La Buca, a new Tuscan-leaning Italian restaurant, has quietly slipped into Oklahoma City’s Paseo Arts District, pairing handmade pastas with tableside tiramisu and a late-night DJ lounge. The dining room leans moody and romantic, with velvet accents, white-linen tables and low lighting, while the menu rotates monthly around a signature ingredient. The team is rolling out four services: lunch, dinner, late-night DJ lounge bites and weekend brunch. On Fridays and Saturdays, the kitchen stays open well past typical dinner hours, positioning La Buca as both a date-night pick and a post-gallery hangout.
Owner-operator Milan Karadzovski opened La Buca with chef Rachel Suitt in the kitchen and Ryan Murphy as general manager, according to The Oklahoman. Karadzovski told the paper the concept is inspired by “the hidden kitchens and spirit of Florence” and that both the dining room and service model are meant to handle formal dinners along with a livelier late-night scene. The restaurant lists regular service hours as Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., with late-night service from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on weekend nights. Managers say the rotating “piatti del mese” will let the kitchen spotlight seasonal ingredients each month.
What’s on the menu
The menu leans on handmade pastas and Tuscan staples, with tagliatelle ragu, lasagna Florentine (spinach lasagna rolls with béchamel and pomodoro) and nightly “piatti del mese” specials visible on the restaurant’s ordering page. Larger plates include an espresso-rubbed filetto toscano and a house La Buca burger, while small-plate antipasti such as Barbabietole carpaccio round out the savory side. For dessert, there is tableside tiramisu along with seasonal sweets. The online menu and prices are published on the restaurant’s ordering page Toast.
Bar program and late-night vibe
La Buca backs up the kitchen with a focused bar program pouring spritzes, crafted martinis and a Rosemary Sour, alongside a wine list that leans heavily on Italian bottlings, as reported by The Oklahoman. The late-night DJ lounge is set to keep the room humming with small plates and bar bites after gallery hours. Management says service will gradually shift from full dining to more casual, bar-forward offerings as the night goes on, an approach intended to give Paseo a fresh post-show destination for drinks and late meals.
How it fits Paseo
The Paseo Arts District is known for its galleries, late-night openings and neighborhood events that keep foot traffic moving well into the evening, according to the district’s calendar from The Paseo Arts District. La Buca’s extended hours and lounge programming line up neatly with the area’s after-hours crowd and First Friday activity. The opening joins other recent restaurant moves reshaping NW 28th’s dining lineup this winter, and for neighbors, a restaurant that serves well into the night could subtly reshape where people land for a post-show bite…