AL DENTE, the way Italians cook pasta, translates as “to the tooth.” It describes the feel of chewing on a correctly boiled noodle: somewhat stiff, cooked long enough that it kneads rather than crumbles or sticks between your teeth. 

At Luca Modern Italian Kitchen, servers tell guests that the pasta is all made in-house, adding a gentle reminder that true al dente might seem like it’s undercooked to the American palate. With this introduction, there’s no way to interpret the pastas at Luca as anything other than precisely cooked.