Lucia, a Stunning New Destination for Afro-Caribbean Fare, Has Arrived in Fairfax
Lucia is a glamorous new Fairfax hotspot that’s moody, dramatic, and will have you feeling that joie de vivre in no time. With a towering white palm-tree-shaped bar, soaring exposed ceilings, and sea-shell inspired Deco-style booths, it’s definitely one of the most visually stunning spaces in town. But it’s also doing something that few restaurants in L.A. have attempted: Reimagining Afro-Caribbean food through a fine dining lens.
For veteran chef Adrian Forte, Lucia is all about telling a story: “I’m not trying to erase what people have done in the past with Afro-Caribbean cuisine. It’s just a different take. I want to do a deep dive into our ancestral heritage and exalt those flavors,” he says. Indeed, Lucia’s menu is packed with influences and deep-cut dishes from across the Caribbean, with nods to Forte’s native Jamaica, Guyana, and the namesake island St. Lucia.
Here are five things you need to know about this chic new Fairfax destination.
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1. The vibey space alone is reason enough to visit.
Owner Sam Jordan, previously of Issima, hails from the Bay Area and spent months traveling to the Caribbean to research Lucia, his first standalone project. He brought his in childhood friend and longtime collaborator Dominic West as Head of Brand & Culture Development to help mastermind the vibe – everything from lighting to staff uniforms to DJs and playlists.
The 118-space was designed by Alexis Readinger of Preen, Inc. (Pine & Crane, Lasita), and nods to island flora and fauna as well as 1950s glamour. “We drew a lot of inspiration from the Caribbean and the islands in general,” says Jordan. “We have these grand booths that are our interpretation of seashells, and these subtle nods to the Caribbean throughout,” he says. Indeed, semi-enclosed shell-shaped booths run along the walls, housing semi-circular plush velvet seating. The effect is supper club meets island escape, and every angle feels cinematic.
2. Lucia gives the fine-dining treatment to Afro-Caribbean fare.
Forte grew up surrounded by cooks in Jamaica, where his grandmothers ran a restaurant. He split his time between the island and Canada during his youth, eventually attending culinary school in Toronto and working in local restaurants. He went on to become the first Black contestant to compete on Top Chef Canada, released a cookbook called Yawd in 2022, and began working as a private chef in Turks & Caicos for celebrities like Simone Biles and Alicia Keys.
Having hit a significant number of career milestones over the years, Forte admits he was “semi-retired” when Jordan tracked him down. “I was very impressed that Sam was able to find me,” he jokes. “Once I heard about the project, I was all in. We don’t have anything like this in North America,” he says. Going all in for Forte means doing everything from scratch — including importing pimento wood from Jamaica, and taking three full days to make his braised oxtail.
Per custom in Los Angeles, Forte is also sourcing many of the ingredients from local farmers. “We’re cooking in line with the California produce calendar,” he says. As for the food, it’s not solely Afro-Caribbean, but a true fusion of his training, travels, and locality. “It’s a hodgepodge of all my travels, all my cooking experience, and being a classically trained French chef,” he adds.
3. Starters riff on Caribbean classics and crowd-pleasers.
One of Forte’s goals with the menu is to expose a new audience to Caribbean dishes and flavors, tinkered to suit a fine-dining setting. For his saltfish and fig croquettes, for example, Forte reimagines the national dish of St. Lucia, green fig and saltfish stew, into a compact, ready-to-eat appetizer: “I took all the components of that dish and turned it into a croquette filling so it’s more approachable,” he says. “I’m not really changing the flavor profile, it’s just the vessel.”
The Jamaican staple of beef patties appear near to their original form, with a flaky, crispy golden pastry exterior, and a seasoned wagyu beef filling as the spin on the original. He also reimagines crowd pleasers like Parker House rolls, ceviche, and tuna tartare with island and global influences in his coconut milk bread with thyme butter, tuna tartare with shiso leaf and shito (a Ghanaian pepper hot sauce), and a creative lychee ceviche with sorrel leche, avocado, and a rice paper crisp.
4. Entrees are equally as inventive and include some splurges.
Entrees run the gamut from grilled snapper and jerked steak to a veggie-friendly mushroom stew, but one of the dishes Forte is most excited about is the oxtail pepperpot. “Most people aren’t familiar with that dish even in the Caribbean because it’s very indigenous to Guyana,” he says. “It’s something that’s only eaten during Christmas time. People are used to the Jamaican style oxtail, which is more savory and umami and more of a stew. The Guyanese pepper pot eats more like a short rib,” he adds. The oxtail in this case is cooked down with cassareep, a cassava molasses which adds notes of bitterness and smokiness to the dish. “I just wanted to give people something different,” he adds.
His coconut fried chicken is another signature, a dish that Forte originated on his YouTube channel and in his cookbook. The boneless chicken pieces are breaded with a mixture of homemade strained coconut cream (using real coconut flesh) as well as seasoned flour, then deep fried and served with fermented chili aioli, coconut milk powder, and housemade butter pickles.
If you’re looking to splurge, there’s also a $200 dry-aged, 36-oz. Tomahawk steak with jerk-spiced jus and toum (a Lebanese garlic sauce) and a $225 Kaluga hybrid caviar plate that reimagines the classic blini with plantain tatales (a Ghanaian pancake variation) along with puffed rice, shallots and cashew creme fraiche.
5. Drinks also incorporate island flavors, in surprising ways.
“With the beverage menu, we wanted to do Carribean-esque drinks, but not just your classic tropical drinks that people always think of,” says Jordan. Beverage director Melina Meza (previously of Level8) incorporates classic Caribbean ingredients seen elsewhere on the menu like tamarind, soursop, and okra, as well as Black-owned rum brands such as Haiti’s Saint Benevolence into the inventive cocktail menu.
The unique Okra Martini features pickled okra along with vodka, lemongrass, thyme, bay leaf dry vermouth, and escovitch. The island classic Pina Colada is reinvented here with tequila in the agave Pina Colada featuring Tesoro blanco tequila, Caribbean coconut, pineapple emulsion, and green Chartreuse. An oxtail-washed Old Fashioned is perhaps the most adventurous, with oxtail-washed Maker’s Mark bourbon, sweet potato, sugar cane, and Creole and Angostura bitters. You’ll also find takes on the Jungle Bird, Espresso Martini, Mai Tai and a Moscow Mule, among others.
The menu also includes several wines by the glass, many from Black‑owned labels like McBride Sisters, Sun Goddess (co-owned by Mary J. Blige), and Red Bear Winery (owned by Jordan and his father) as well as a thoughtful menu of mocktails like the Aloe Vera and Chedo Beni (Seedup Garden, Cucumber, lemon and sage).
