 Ducca Restaurant Review: Nestled in the Westin, Ducca boasts an outdoor fire pit and a vast dining room with gleaming chandeliers and towering flower arrangements, yet basic design elements veer off course. Tables, for example, are too high, and chairs, though plush, dip low enough to make a tall person feel slumped. Ducca's northern Italian fare (formerly overseen by chef Erica Holland-Toll) suffers from a similarly inconsistent vision: individual elements deliver, but overall, dishes are limited in ambition and unspectacular in execution. In one of the Venetian-inspired small plates, or cicchetti, mushy baby artichokes with sea salt skate across a slick of oil. While a winter squash risotto oozes buttery sweetness, its crown of clams adds no balancing brine. Likewise, a humble supporting cast of caramelized cipollini and olive oil-"crushed" potatoes sing much deeper, more soulful notes than the sprawling New York strip steak they flank. Dinner might be run-of-the-mill, but Ducca's happy hour scene is lively with post-work drinkers and exhausted travelers staggering up to the bar. If you're in the neighborhood, join them in the lounge and soak up your cocktail with the best thing on the menu---the unusual and lovely roasted grape and burrata crostini.
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Splurging at top-rated restaurants is fun for special events, but where can you go for a good quality meal that won't break the bank? Gather the change out of your piggy bank and sofa cushions and take it to one of our selections for the best cheap eats in your area.
