Alongside its eclectic lineup of galleries, shops, cafés, and neighborhood bars, Oklahoma City’s Paseo Arts District is now home to an Italian restaurant. The newcomer, La Buca, aims to bring the flavors and spirit of Tuscany to one of the city’s most walkable and creative corridors.
The small space, formerly home to Scratch Kitchen and Cocktails, has been beautifully reimagined with rich wallpapers, luxe drapery, a dozen bespoke chandeliers, and intimate candlelit tables.
At La Buca, you don’t want to sit with your back to the door, but only because you don’t want to miss a moment of the people-watching, cocktail shaking, and tableside tiramisu-making. It feels scene-y in the best possible way — a scene you’re just enjoying being a small part of. Longtime OKC people will remember what it felt like to be at Flip’s on a Thursday night in the 90s: a little bit of vamping, a little bit of peacocking, a too-loud laugh that is somehow endearing, just an absolute vibe. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just book a table at La Buca on a weekend night.
The name itself hints at the concept. In Italian, buca can loosely evoke the idea of a cozy, tucked-away nook. It’s a fitting description for a restaurant meant to feel like a well-kept neighborhood secret. And, it totally works. It feels like a place you just stumbled into, like an invite-only supper club that you finagled an invite to because you’re just mysteriously interesting enough, you sly fox.
La Buca draws inspiration from the intimate kitchens and tucked-away trattorias of Florence. The concept leans into the idea of a hidden neighborhood restaurant. Think dim lighting, candlelit tables, and a menu focused on classic Italian technique and seasonal ingredients.
The restaurant is the latest project from owner-operator Milan Karadzovski, who has assembled a culinary team that blends familiar local talent with a focused Tuscan approach. Chef Rachel Suitt will lead the kitchen alongside Karadzovski, while veteran OKC chef Ryan Murphy is stepping into a new role as general manager.
Together, the trio has designed a menu that leans heavily on handmade pastas and rustic Italian cooking traditions. Standouts include dishes like Manicotti Brasato and pinwheel Lasagna Florentine, along with richer center-of-plate options such as espresso-rubbed Bistecca alla Fiorentina.
If that sounds hearty, it’s by design. Tuscan cooking has always favored bold, comforting flavors and an emphasis on simple ingredients handled with care. In Florence and throughout the region, the food is often deeply rooted in rural traditions: slow braises, fresh pasta, herby sauces, and the kind of meals meant to stretch over a long evening.
La Buca’s menu reflects that spirit. Alongside the pasta program, guests will find burrata with sun-dried tomato pesto, crispy porchetta finished with rosemary and lemon zest, and a house burger made with a Barolo reduction.
The bar program is firmly Italian as well. The wine list is built entirely from Italian producers, and the cocktail menu features classic martinis and lighter spritz-style drinks, including a lavender spritz designed to echo the floral aromatics of aperitivo culture.
La Buca is not positioning itself as a laced-up, traditional fine-dining restaurant. Instead, the concept is structured around multiple dining modes that shift throughout the day. Lunch and dinner are the backbone of daily service, while weekends have a late-night component with a slightly different energy. On Friday and Saturday nights, the restaurant will transition into a DJ-driven lounge atmosphere after 11 p.m., offering a smaller menu of late-night bites alongside cocktails and music.
Across Oklahoma City, diners have shown an increasing appetite for restaurants that emphasize atmosphere as much as food. In recent years, moody interiors, thoughtful lighting, and smaller dining rooms have become defining elements of the city’s evolving restaurant scene. Cavernous, barn-sized dining rooms with their devastating acoustics, too-bright Edison-style lights, and industrial metal chairs have given way to better lighting and softer textures. And, the over-40 crowd says, amen.
La Buca appears ready to lean into that aesthetic and that demographic. The space is intimate and candlelit, designed to create a warm, slightly mysterious environment where conversations linger and dinners stretch into late evenings.
If the concept lands as intended, it could become a natural stop along the Paseo’s evening circuit. A gallery opening might begin with a glass of wine and burrata at La Buca. A post-opening late dinner slides effortlessly into cocktails once the DJ set begins. And for neighborhood residents, the restaurant could easily become the kind of place where dinner morphs into an impromptu night out.
For Karadzovski and team, the goal seems less about reinvention and more about capturing a feeling. Tuscan cuisine, after all, is not especially flashy. It rarely depends on elaborate presentations or technical theatrics. Its appeal lies in the opposite: depth of flavor, straightforward technique, and dishes meant to be shared over a bottle of wine.
As I wandered back home after a recent visit, full of Tuscan deliciousness and good juju, I was able to finally articulate why I liked it so much. Starting around 2005, we began to have a lot more really good food in OKC, but the restaurants often didn’t feel especially welcoming or fun. The digs were often an afterthought. Then came the Instagram era, where emphasis was put on the look — the grammability, if you will — often at the expense of the actual experience and, worst of all, the food.
Somehow, the pandemic ended that era, culling the restaurant equivalent of duck lips before they became too terribly invasive. Since 2021, our scene has healed itself; we are now rich with spots that serve up equal parts thoughtful, delicious fare while also considering every single element, from lighting and seating to noise level, music, service, and general approachability.
The Tuscan nook embodies that most elusive, yet intrinsically Oklahoman, sensibility: warmth.
La Buca feels like a graduation where all the things come together. My Italian is rusty, but I think they would say, tutto torna: it all adds up.
This article appears in Celebrating 60 years of the Festival of Arts!.