RESTAURANT REVIEW: Loca Luna's face-lift fits well

Our take on Loca Luna: We've always liked the food and enjoyed the atmosphere, but we just hadn't yet found the single menu item that would get us back as more than occasional customers. Given the diversity of the menu at this Riverdale neighborhood eatery and watering hole, that's always been kind of a surprise.

With the restaurant's 20th anniversary approaching this spring, owner-chef Mark Abernathy has given the place a face-lift -- a new, jazzier, almost Art Deco entranceway, new lighting fixtures throughout (though the dinnertime lighting has so far been pretty dim) and new colors, stone work and artwork on the main dining room's side and back walls. Though he has been calling his place a "Bold Southern Bistro" for some time, the new logo has newly called our attention to it.

He has also given the menu a face-lift, wisely keeping his "classics," a baker's half dozen established entrees that he sells the heck out of; the wood-fired-oven pizzas and calzones; and certainly his trademark dishes, including what the menu boldly asserts is The First White Cheese Dip in America, which Abernathy and the late Frank McGehee created for Abernathy's Blue Mesa in the late '80s.

He has also added a handful of new appetizers and small plates, including some intriguing-sounding "Bites" -- Fresh Pork Skin Cracklins With Spicy Thai Aioli and Housemade Sweet Pickles ($6), Crispy Fried Portabella Slices with Special Luna Pepper Ranch Dip ($5) and Blistered Shishito Peppers and Canadian Bacon Strips with Kosher Salt and Balsamic Glaze ($6). We're itching to try a couple of Southern-style apps on future visits (e.g., the Super Bacon Savory Shortcake).

He has tinkered with his pasta menu, which now offers a couple of cream-sauce choices that, although we're not big fans of cream sauces on pasta, work pretty darn well.

And we seem to have finally found our Loca Luna go-to dish -- and it's among the classics, not the newbies. More on that later.

We couldn't pass up a chance to revisit the cheese dip ($7.45), which was at least as good as we remember. The portion only looks pricey if you're hogging it yourself, since it's designed to serve two. And, rare these days, we actually had plenty of the fresh, firm crispy chips to last all the way to the bottom of the cheese dip bowl. We also revisited another familiar item, the exceedingly rich Lobster-Crab Bisque ($6.95 small, $10.95 large), which has just the right hints of sherry and nutmeg.

And we tried and very much liked one of the new apps, the Creole Smothered Corn Bread ($9), a good-size chunk of somewhat coarse-textured but tasty cornbread (was that actual pieces of corn we detected?) smothered in a rich and delicious crawfish-shrimp etouffee.

We tried the house-made Pan Toasted Gnocchi with Roasted Chicken Breast and Dill Parmesan Cream ($14.95) twice, because a) the first time the potato pasta gnocchi dumplings were dry, flat, chewy and not particularly appetizing, and b) Abernathy assured us it was a work in progress and he was still tinkering with it. Our second try was much more successful, the gnocchi springier and with considerably more flavor, and the sauce also a little springier (adding more grated parmesan was a good move). The "all-natural" chicken was moist, tender and a nice complement to the gnocchi. Fresh peas, a nod toward Northern Italian cuisine, added a nice touch of color and texture.

We also liked the Crispy Garlic Shrimp and Jumbo Four Cheese Ravioli with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce ($18.95), although there weren't quite enough of the excellent, firm shrimp that were perhaps a bit less garlicky than you'd think. The semi-lunar ravioli were close to al dente.

The three thin wedges of brick-oven parmesan flatbread that come with pasta dishes, many of the salads and our bisque have consistently been on the chewy side of the chewy-to-crisp scale. Interestingly, if you read all the way through the introductory pasta-section paragraph, you will discover that you can "Substitute Fresh Marinara Sauce on Any Dish."

For some reason, we have repeatedly, over 20 years of occasional visits, passed up the classic Loca Luna Seafood Platter ($24.95). This time we tried it and were captured. On the plate: a small handful of grilled jumbo shrimp and two sea scallops in a "sweet and spicy" Thai sauce; a lobster-crab cake with chipotle cream (also available by the pair as a $10.95 appetizer) and a portion of grilled wild-caught salmon with a delightful tequila-cranberry glaze (also available as a stand-alone entree, $18.95), plus seasonal vegetables and choice of potatoes or saffron rice. As is not always the case with such combinations, all the flavors were, on the one hand, unique, but also complementary.

Some wait staff veered more friendly and others more formal, but service was good on all our visits.

Loca Luna has a well-priced wine list. (You'll find this brag right on the menu: "The Best Bar Selection in Arkansas. Over 400 Bottles, Local Beers on Tap and Value Priced Wines.") Abernathy, as has been his longtime practice, presents his objections to the burden the state Legislature has placed on restaurants when it comes to the taxes on alcoholic beverages by breaking them out separately on your check, with also this notice thereon: "We do apologize, but in accordance with the law, state and local 32.5 percent liquor tax has been added to any liquor on your bill."

Weekend on 02/04/2016