Lucca's crudo: It's good if you can catch it

Crudo is, simply put, the Italian version of sashimi. It's a dish that features the freshest raw fish, dressed very simply to feature top quality ingredients.

The Crudo at Trattoria Lucca is some of the best that I have ever eaten.

The night that I was there, Ken Vedrinksy had a vermillion snapper crudo.

The snapper, apparently, had shown up at the back door only a few hours before dinner service began.

This is one of those dishes that won't always be on the menu, and you hope that you'll be lucky enough to get when you go to Lucca for dinner.

I have noticed that sometimes the crudo is announced on the restaurant's Twitter account, @trattorialucca. That is the fun of this restaurant, in my opinion. You don't always know what is going to be available, but you always know that it is going to be fresh.

The crudo has amazing heat from calabrese chilies, and was topped with goodies such as small bites of artichoke, perfect salt, crunchy celery and beautiful cauliflower.

Every ingredient is well thought out in this dish, as it has to be. I was invited to try the fish sauce and the vinegar on their own, while the chef pointed out the attributes of both.

Vedrinsky knows his flavors and is passionate about the way they work together. Much like the wrong choice in wine can ruin your meal, he says, the wrong oil or vinegar can clash with a crudo and disturb the delicate balance of flavors.

He finds much of his product from distributors in New York, and hopes the choices he comes to love will be available when he orders next. Trattoria Lucca is run much like a restaurant that you would find in Italy. What's on the menu is often what is found that day, the menu changes during service when he runs out of something, menu's are reprinted as diners are enjoying their food, and the chef loves to share his passion with his guests.