Luca West (24600 Detroit Rd., 216-201-9600), an offshoot of the popular four-year-old Italian restaurant Luca Italian Cuisine (2100 Superior Viaduct, 216-862-2761) downtown, will open its doors on Wednesday, November 8. Owners Luca and Lola Sema announced their plans to open a second location back in April.

The former Ambrosia Hungarian/Viva Fernando/Viva Barcelona spot has been renovated to accommodate a modern Italian restaurant that seats approximately 150 guests with additional room for private dining.

When it opens, Luca West will feature a menu and wine program that is almost identical to that served on the Superior Viaduct. That includes starters like raw salmon carpaccio with capers and lemon, and ricotta-and-truffle stuffed beggar’s purses with truffled cream sauce; pastas like handmade pappardelle with veal, duck and wild boar meat sauce, and orecchiette with fennel sausage and rapini, and entrees such as slow-roasted wild boar shank with linguini, and pan-seared branzino in champagne sauce that is deboned and served tableside.

No changes are planned for the downtown location.

This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2017.

For 25 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work as co-author on Michael Symon's cookbooks have earned him four New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor has garnered awards of its own.