Walking into La Buca, the new Tuscan-inspired restaurant in the Paseo Arts District, feels at once like traveling abroad and coming home. It’s that fine line, threaded with timeless nostalgia and warm hospitality, that makes it so special. In the former Scratch space, velvet drapes and shimmering chandeliers set the mood, while candles flicker alongside plumes of cocoa powder from table-side tiramisu, and guests pair Italian wine with rib-eye Parmigiana. There is no shortage of Italian restaurants in OKC, but La Buca marches to the beat of its own drum.
“It wasn’t about opening a good restaurant, or an Italian restaurant,” explained owner Milan Karadzovski, an Italian native who regularly works the floor and spins house tunes in the restaurant during moody late-night DJ sessions. “I wanted to create something that feels timeless, where people can remind themselves of the trips they’ve taken and the food they’ve had.”
With a name that means “hole in the wall,” harkening to tucked-away restaurants in Florentine wine cellars and New York City basements, La Buca conjures a sense of faraway escapism, while rooted in the coziness of dining in someone’s home. “People walk in and say, ‘This reminds me of my favorite restaurant in Florence or Rome, or a little hole in the wall in New York,’” Karadzovski said. “That’s our biggest reward.”
Hospitality, he said, is the distinctive heart of La Buca. “I’m not in the selling food business; good food and good service are expected regardless,” he added. “What I’m selling is hospitality. If you come to my home, I’m not selling you food. I’m going to welcome you.” Paired with nostalgia, and an air of timelessness, La Buca is the rare newcomer that feels like it’s been in OKC for decades. “I refuse to build a restaurant with brand-new furniture,” he said, describing La Buca as new-school with a good vibe. “I wanted my chairs to be squeaky, I wanted to have that nostalgia part — rustic, sexy and moody, but not old-school.”
On the menu, a new-school approach to timeless classics echoes that aesthetic.
Karadzovski described the food as Tuscan-inspired, from spinach lasagna Florentine—cut into rolls, pinwheel-style—to fried ricotta-stuffed olives, crispy porchetta with herbaceous salmoriglio sauce, and ribolita soup with Tuscan beans and smoked Italian sausage.
He raved about his “best in town” meatballs and chicken Parmigiana, while highlighting unique innovations like a rib-eye Parmigiana. An Oklahoma-meets-Tuscany original, it’s chicken-fried steak “parm-style,” pan-fried and served with spicy vodka sauce and cheese. Going a step further, Karadzovski adds pepperoni atop the melted cheese, so the whole rib-eye looks like a pizza.
Along with other signature items, like a table-side tiramisu and a Limoncello Ginger Spritz that he said is the smash hit of the summer, it’s a La Buca original that distinguishes the restaurant from anything else OKC has tasted.
But no matter how spectacular the food and drinks are, or how sultry and moody the space may be, it all comes back to hospitality.
“The food is the reward for that experience,” said Karadzovski, citing a commitment to honest flavors, quality ingredients and dishes that leave a lasting impression. “When you combine that with hospitality and atmosphere, it becomes more than dinner; it becomes a memory. That’s what La Buca is about.”
