Walking into La Buca, the new Tuscan-inspired restaurant in the Paseo Arts District, feels at once like traveling abroad and coming home. It’s that fine line, threaded with timeless nostalgia and warm hospitality, that makes it so special. In the former Scratch space, velvet drapes and shimmering chandeliers set the mood, while candles flicker alongside plumes of cocoa powder from table-side tiramisu, and guests pair Italian wine with rib-eye Parmigiana. There is no shortage of Italian restaurants in OKC, but La Buca marches to the beat of its own drum.
“It wasn’t about opening a good restaurant, or an Italian restaurant,” explained owner Milan Karadzovski. With a name that means “hole in the wall,” harkening to tucked-away restaurants in Florentine wine cellars and New York City basements, La Buca conjures a sense of faraway escapism, while rooted in the coziness of dining in someone’s home. “People walk in and say, ‘This reminds me of my favorite restaurant in Florence or Rome, or a little hole in the wall in New York,’” Karadzovski said. “That’s our biggest reward.”
Hospitality, he said, is the distinctive heart of La Buca. “I’m not in the selling food business; good food and good service are expected regardless,” he added. “What I’m selling is hospitality. If you come to my home, I’m not selling you food. I’m going to welcome you.” Paired with nostalgia, and an air of timelessness, La Buca is the rare newcomer that feels like it’s been in OKC for decades. “I refuse to build a restaurant with brand-new furniture,” he said, describing La Buca as new-school with a good vibe. “I wanted my chairs to be squeaky, I wanted to have that nostalgia part — rustic, sexy and moody, but not old-school.”…