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BY LISA KAMPETER

Clayton can be a hot spot almost any evening, and this night, the local news cameras were rolling.  As the Dining Divas pulled up outside Luciano’s, our first thought was “how’s my lipstick look?”  But we soon realized, Fox 2 wasn’t interested in us, much less how we looked on camera.  They were there to get the restaurant owner’s reaction to the new non-smoking law in Clayton.   We had our own reaction to share.

The Dining Divas are not all  “anti-smoking.”  The Greek Diva is a long time smoker, and although we may not be a supporter of her bad habit, we don’t interfere in her decisions.  The Dining Divas are “anti-rude smoking”.

As we sat at our table waiting for dinner, a couple patrons pulled up in their flashy $75,000 vehicle waiting for valet parking.  They puffed away on their cigarettes and then tossed their butts onto the ground, leaving nature to deal with their bad habit.  That’s rude smoking.

Or how about when you’re at dinner or having a drink somewhere, and the smoker at the table next to yours so politely keeps the smoke out of the faces of their party, only to blow in yours.  That’s rude smoking.

Never having smoked, I’m probably slightly biased but even the Former Smoking Diva can’t stand it.  Coming home after a nice dinner with your cute outfit you just picked up from the dry cleaners reeking of smoke, and your hair smelling of an ashtray …that can put you in a bad mood.  And the Diva Husbands don’t want to hear it.  I’m pleased to say that the Greek Diva is a very polite smoker.

So the cameras weren’t quite as exciting once we realized their reason for being there.  We were more excited about dinner and chatter.

Luciano’s may be across from the Ritz-Carlton, but don’t be concerned that it’s too high priced.  This Italian restaurant is no more expensive than other Italian places around town.  All the Divas weren’t in agreement as to the price to pay for pasta.  The Annual Diva picked one of the appetizer specials, scallops and spinach ravioli.

To her surprise, it only came with two scallops and three ravioli and with a big price tag.  Twelve bucks.  The appetizer was delicious, but the price was shocking.  This Diva’s rule:  Any time you’re thinking about ordering one of the “specials”, inquire about the price.  There’s usually a special price attached.  A costly one.

The Grandma-to-be Diva decided to order her own meal instead of splitting one with the Diet Diva as planned.  She regretted it.  As she put it, she had to take out a second mortgage on her home.  She, too, ordered a “special”, the grouper, and although she loved it, she also was surprised by the price.  Again, she didn’t inquire before she ordered.

The Culinary Diva started her meal off with a toasted ravioli appetizer.  The appetizer plate showed up about a half hour later and with only four ravioli.  Being only average, she felt the $7.50 price tag was a little steep.

Although these Divas felt they paid too much for what they got, everyone agreed that Luciano’s is delicious.  Some of the Divas wanted to devour the entire bread basket filled with freshly baked focaccia bread dipped in olive oil and crushed red peppers and spices.  Others thought it was dry.

The Absent Diva enjoyed the local tomato salad with bacon & gorgonzola.  The Caesar salad was average except that the romaine was appropriately cut into bite sized pieces and served in a good sized bowl, always a plus as it keeps it from ending up on the table.  The Casa salad which was a chopped salad with salami, garbanzo beans and a red wine vinaigrette was delicious.  A meal in itself.

The Pork Chop with a side of gnocchi, sautéed spinach, and Italian sausage and plated in pork jus was awesome.  The Italian Diva had Maiale, a parmesan encrusted pork chop and thought it was possibly the best chop she’s ever eaten.  And she’s quite the pork chop connoisseur.  Although the Diet Diva easily could have eaten her entire plate of Penne with grilled chicken, wild mushrooms, roasted garlic, and tomato broth, she was excited to have leftovers the next day.

The Picky Diva went for your every day kind of pizza.  Luciano pizza.  It’s simply hamburger, sausage, pepperoni, and bacon.  What made this different, and slightly dry, was the minimal sauce on the crust.  Too bad because she really enjoyed the parts with the sauce.

Another Diva tried the herb encrusted sautéed chicken breast with roasted cherry tomatoes and black garlic risotto.  She too was excited about her leftovers.  Sadly, she wouldn’t get to enjoy them.  The next day when she decided to dive into them, she realized our waiter had given her the Picky Diva’s leftover pizza, which really didn’t surprise many of us.

Our waiter wasn’t on the ball.  The restaurant wasn’t busy, but he seemed to never be around.  Perhaps he was busy freshening himself up for a possible TV interview.

Don’t waste your time even looking at the dessert menu.  Indulge in the rest of your meal.  The list of desserts was disappointing.

The restaurant atmosphere and food was great, but the music confused us.  While most of us enjoy listening to a little Lady Gaga or Katy Perry, the music didn’t fit the environment.

Regardless of our own personal peculiarities, we would definitely go back.  The food was excellent.  This time upon leaving, I’ll be skipping the mint bowl filled with “fire bomb” balls.  These things will kill garlic breath for a good year.  But I guess my mouth was the only thing on fire that night in Clayton.  It certainly wasn’t cigarette lighters.

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