By Billy Braunig
Photo by Billy Braunig
Located on Magazine Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, Osteria Lupo is the new talk of Uptown. It has already become a hit for its spectacular Northern-Italian based cuisine. The dual owners, Chef Brian Burns and Chef Reno De Ranieri, also own a restaurant named Costera, which opened in 2019 and has been serving delightful coastal-Spanish cuisine ever since. Four years later, the two chefs decided it was time to branch out and, on April 5th of 2023, the two opened Ostria Lupo. I decided to check out their new venture.
When I got to the restaurant, it was prime dinner time–7:00 P.M. The place was buzzing with people trying to get inside. The grand dining room was dimly lit and filled with happy customers enjoying their food. The walls were painted with a very pretty deep blue color, and the bar was gorgeous.
We started off our experience with complimentary fresh-baked bread and homemade butter. After we were finished with that, the waiter came over and explained to us the tasting menu, which was a four-course chef’s choice meal for however many people were at the table. We decided to try the tasting menu, and, boy, was it a good choice!
For our appetizers, we ordered the chili and garlic marinated mushrooms, the pesce crudo, and the spring green salad. Our second course was pasta, which is their specialty.The chef chose the radiatore pasta, and the spicy rigatoni alla vodka. The third course was secondi, or entrees. The chef chose for us the 24 oz. ribeye, the yellowfin tuna, and the 24-month Prosciutto de San Danielle pizza. Our last course was dessert. For dessert, the chefs brought out a banana chocolate cake and the pane perduto.
The appetizers were amazing for the most part. When I tell you that mushrooms are a must try, I mean it! There was an amazing garlicky flavor with a little bit of kick at the end. And if you are not a fan of the taste of mushrooms, don’t fear because these didn’t taste like normal mushrooms at all! I didn’t like the pesce crudo because of the texture, and the spring green salad was just fine. The customer service was great. Every couple of minutes, the waiters came by to check on our drink situation and ask how the food was.
Then out came the pasta, and I can honestly say I had zero complaints. The pasta tasted amazing, and even the presentation was stunning. The Radiatore pasta was a light and oily pasta with Louisiana blue crabs and a white creamy sauce, and the spicy rigatoni alla vodka was a thick and creamy pasta with a red vodka sauce that had some very good spice to it. I liked the spicy rigatoni alla vodka pasta more, but I would most certainly recommend both of them to anyone.
The third course was a 24 oz. ribeye, a Prosciutto de San Danielle pizza, and yellowfin tuna. The steak was cooked medium to perfection and was topped with a salsa verde. This might have been the best steak I have ever had. It was packed with flavor and very, very juicy. The yellowfin tuna was alright, but tuna isn’t my favorite thing, so I passed most of it to my family. The pizza was spectacular. The prosciutto was sliced very thin and had the perfect amount of saltiness. The mozzarella was fresh and beautifully colored, and the display was overall very pretty.
Next came the desserts. I loved the banana chocolate cake, although I wasn’t a big fan of the pane perduto.
This restaurant was overall pretty pricey but, in my opinion, very worth it for the servings and quality of the food. It would be a great place to take someone on a date, a birthday dinner, or honestly for anything. All of the workers there do a spectacular job, and I would recommend it for anyone who is willing to spend some money on some very delicious Italian food.
