On Friday, I checked out of the Topaz Hotel and, after work, headed north to my parents’ house for the weekend. My sister flew into town to make it a big family reunion (my brother still lives in town) so after we picked her up from the BWI airport, my parents, sister and I headed to a late dinner at Mamma Lucia in Elkridge, MD. Mamma Lucia is one of my family’s most frequented Italian restaurants in the area (we usually go to the Olney location). (I’ve always thought it was spelled “Mama Lucia’s.” Oops!)
This location looks like most of the others with an open kitchen, bar area, and large dining area.
The Mamma Lucia menu is huge! It has pages dedicated to pasta, chicken, seafood, and other meats. I almost always find myself on the pasta page but so many items on the menu are quite good.
Each entree comes with a salad. The basic choice is the House Salad which is romaine, green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and balsamic vinegar. Nice, simple, and refreshing.
Diners have the option to upgrade their salad. My sister upgraded hers to the Caesar Salad.
My mom upgraded hers to a Greek Salad.
Usually bread is brought to the table but we opted out of the bread this evening.
The specials this night all sounded fabulous so I opted to go with one as did my dad. I ordered the Seafood and Asparagus Penne. It included scallops. lobster, crab, and clams (I think? I often mix them up with oysters) plus asparagus in a tomato cream sauce. I chose to upgrade my pasta to whole wheat pasta for $2 more. My sister described my dish as chaotic (all of the items appeared overwhelming) but I enjoyed the dish.
Something to note about Mamma Lucia – all of the dishes are HUGE – definitely two or three (or more) meals worth of food. I saved most of it for the rest of the weekend plus my flight home on Sunday.
My dad also ordered one of the specials – Tri-colored Cheese Tortellini in a Mushroom Cream Sauce. My sister and I enjoyed many bites of this dish. It might have been the favorite of the table.
My sister ordered her favorite – Mostacolli Napoletana – penne is sweet marinara topped with some mozzarella. Simple and delicious.
My mom also ordered a more simple dish than my dad and I – Fettucini Bolognese. I love when restaurants make bolognese in the classic way and don’t treat it just as a meat sauce. This was pretty good, but a bit heavy on the cream.
We also convinced my mom to order an order of meatballs which we all nibbled on. These were fine, but not great. Nothing big to complain about – just had better meatballs out there.
Overall, our dinner lived up to the quality of all of our other Mamma Lucia dinners. Filling, flavorful, and lots of leftovers!
