SIOUX CITY - A little piece of New York City or Chicago can be found on Historic Fourth Street. The revamped Luciano's Restaurant at 1019 Fourth St. is where to find a taste of big city living.
"Folks come down, stop for a second and look," owner Ray Hoffmann said. "You can tell they're impressed. They come up and say, 'I feel like I walked into a place in New York City or Chicago.'"
Such is life when you remodel your Italian restaurant (Luciano's), transform it into a new Italian restaurant (still Luciano's), close your gift shop (Victorian Opera Company), add a martini bar (Badda Bing) and open a wine shop (Uncorked).
Hoffmann said the idea to shift the focus of the business came from Historic Fourth Street regulars who said the entertainment district lacked a place to gather that was sophisticated, quiet and comfortable.
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The new and improved Luciano's, Hoffmann and his wife, Kathleen, say, is upscale without being stiff by offering a number of stylish, comfortable and intimate seating areas.
"Things were going pretty well, but we realized retail was slipping in the area," Hoffman said. "My wife and I then decided to convert the tea room and gift shop to the restaurant.
"My wife and daughter decorated (the martini bar and restaurant) and that's what has been drawing people to the place … That's how the whole thing matured."
Kathleen Hoffmann and her daughter, Heather Soltero, are largely responsible for Badda Bing's estimated 50 specialty drink offerings, about 25 of which are martinis.
Soltero also went to work revamping Luciano's menu, doubling the number of appetizers offered, adding a create-your-own pasta bowl feature and mixing Luciano's popular lunch items like curry chicken salad into the dinner menu.
"We see this as a place for the after-work crowd who can come in, sip a couple of martinis and sample our large menu of appetizers," Kathleen Hoffmann said in August.
The Hoffmanns completed much of the remodel on their own, and even found time to add a bathroom especially designed for children. The toilet sits about 1 foot off the floor, the sink about 2 feet and the walls are decorated with the names of the Hoffmanns' seven grandchildren.
"Even families are welcome here," Kathleen Hoffmann said.
"People keep asking me if we're going to start having live music now. I say 'no.' There are plenty of night-life options like that. We wanted a place that wasn't too loud, that was comfortable, relaxed and laid back. I think we've done it."
- Jesse Claeys contributed to this report.
