Simone Concas says he wants to retire here.

“They gave me the entire 3rd floor to use as office space.” he says. “It used to be the maid’s quarters. Every time I sit up there I look around and discover something I hadn’t seen before.

It’s hard not to be enchanted by the beauty of your surroundings when you walk up to or in to Savannah’s La Scala. It is without question, the city’s most ornate “old home converted to restaurant.” We have a few, but this one is just different.

A lot of money went into making it so a few years ago.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the original plan for La Scala (named for Milan’s famed Opera House) was to create a festive atmosphere in a somewhat elegant surrounding. A place where you most certainly could ‘dine’ but it was perfectly OK if you just wanted to ‘eat’ too.

It was a vibe co-owners Donald Lubowicki and Jeffery Downey compared to Commanders Palace in New Orleans. It is a vibe they’ve been very successful with at their original restaurant Circa 1875 on Whitaker Street downtown Savannah.

They admit now, they got off on the wrong foot. “It was too much.”

Plain and simply, it was too stuffy. It really wasn’t what Savannah was looking for and they kinda knew it pretty early on. How so? Business, while good, wasn’t great. Toss in a pandemic and it has made for the kind of sizeable mess you don’t correct in 30 days time.

I’m not entirely sure that any restaurant in Savannah that has been open just under two years has been the topic of as much discussion as this one has. If I’ve been asked about it once, I’ve been asked about it 1,000 times.

Last month, with the worst of residual 2020 behind us, a change was made at La Scala. Simone Concas is their new Executive Chef.

“We had 4 interviews with Simone” Lubowicki says. “Every time we ate and just sat and talked for hours.”

They knew they had to get this right. Savannah is watching.

I think they did.

Chef Simone is a colorful personality and equally as important around here, a Savannah veteran chef. If you’ve been around long enough, you will remember Simone from his time at Il Pasticcio on Broughton Street. Once upon a time, Il Pasticcio (along with The Pink House of course) was the place you heard about all of Savannah’s celebrity sightings. It was very popular. But that was also a long long time ago.

A lot of you reading this have never heard of Il Pasticcio and frankly don’t care. You just want to know if you can get a solid chicken parm at La Scala, right? Simone is well aware of that. Twenty plus years in Savannah has helped him understand the local palate.

And yes, you can.

“Italian food can be a million dollars, or it can be simple.” Simone says.

That’s the balance he’s set out to maintain. You can find Pistachio Crusted Lamb Chops or his Slow Braised Osso Bucco on the higher end, but you can also slide out of there with an Alfredo Fiorentina – fettucini in parmigiano cream sauce and spinach-for $16.

“Something as simple as bruschetta.” he says. “I’m visiting tables and being asked for my recipe every single day.” That doesn’t surprise me in the least. Especially with the numbers they say they are now doing three weeks into their new menu.

I enjoyed dinner on a Tuesday night. The dining room was pretty full for a Tuesday. They say weekends are getting busier and busier as word spreads around Savannah that La Scala and made some tweaks and ‘reset’ their table.

The cocktails were solid. Pasta courses, entrees, desserts. All of it very good.
In the background, a solid soundtrack of Motown, Standards and yes, even some disco. Sorry kids, no Cardi B. But I thought the mood was set perfectly.

First Fridays at La Scala have always been very popular. Oysters outside, some live music and yes, even a lot of people stopping by for dinner without the perceived pretense of eating inside. Over time, I think that’s going to change.

Because of how massive the space is, getting a weekend table at La Scala probably won’t be too much of an issue unless you call Friday at 3pm looking for a 6 top at 7:30pm.

But don’t wait. Go check them out. It’s a little different over there now. The guys (and gal GM Elena Mouzakitis Hugley) will tell you all of it remains something of a work in progress to get it exactly where they’d all like to be but…

They are headed in the right direction.

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