Café Lucci Owners to Open New Restaurant Concept

A non-Italian restaurant operated by the owners of Café Lucci in Glenview will replace  sometime in October, according to Café Lucci co-owner, Bobby Arifi.

“We’re still working out what the concept will be,” Arifi said. “We will have the same quality and service we have at Café Lucci.”

Arifi and his brother and co-owner, Augie Arifi, have reached a lease agreement with the property owner and have purchased the fixtures and equipment of the existing eatery from Townhouse owner Restaurants America.

An eclectic menu with fresh offerings tailored to the tastes of Deerfield is the goal of the new restaurant, Bobby’s of Deerfield. 

“Fresh will be a big deal for everything we do,” co-owner Bobby Arifi said. “We have good food, good wine and good people. The food will be what the people in Deerfield like. The menu will be in evolution. If there’s something we see that people like we will add it.”

There will be a number of specials on the menu each night which is part of the plan to learn what people in Deerfield like and put it on the menu. If they are popular they could become permanent offerings.

“The specials will be part of my brother’s effort to show our breadth and his creations,” Bobby Arifi said. “We could have Chilean Sea Bass with white wine sauce and fresh asparagus.” If it is summer, the vegetables will be very fresh. “We’re working with a farm in Rockford and all the produce will be organic.”

While the produce will be fresh and local, the fish will be sustainable as well, according to Arifi. “If a fish is endangered we won’t buy it,” he said.

There will be plenty of wine to enjoy with the food. Arifi promises in the neighborhood of 150 selections including a wide array of wine by the glass.

“There will be 15 to 20 wines by the glass,” Arifi said. “We will have eight basic flavors. The others will be anything I find at the market that’s unique and special.”

The menu will include meat, chicken and pasta but there will be some more casual selections as well. Arifi promises he and his brother will not stray from the ingredients which have been working for them.

“We will have an Italian flavor but we’ll have a lot more,” Arifi said. “We don’t have a burger at Café Lucci. We will have a hamburger, chicken sandwich and skirt steak sandwich.”

Along with one of those sandwiches, there will be eight to 10 craft beers to go with it. “Four will be on tap and four to six by the bottle,” Arifi said.