February 18, 2014 – Bill Lee’s long-awaited new restaurant—Lucky’s Roadside in Seaside—finally opened for dinner in a rush last Friday, serving pastas, ribs and wood-fired pizzas but still fine-tuning other entrée options. “We had to open now or re-apply for our liquor license and wait 60 days more,” explained Lee, adding that he expects to start serving lunch at the beginning of March and open for breakfast in five or six weeks.
This is the ninth restaurant for the long-time Monterey entrepreneur. “It’s uniquely different from earlier restaurants. It has casual elegance, wrought iron orbs hung with crystal chandeliers, like an upscale California Pizza Kitchen,” he jokes.
“We had wanted to open softly, but we already have a full house and are starting a waiting list,” Lee said at 5:15 Monday evening.
Lucky’s is open seven days a week starting at 5pm for dinner, but doors open at 4pm for happy hour, featuring local wines, English Ales and a menu of $6 appetizers that include favorites from his previous restaurants, like calamari, crispy sand dabs, Szechwan style fried green beans and a soft pretzel with cheddar fondue.
Lee’s also proud of his over-the-top desserts, like caramelized banana cream pie and “Cherry Bombs” a real show stopper of chocolate coated cherry vanilla ice cream sitting atop a frothy, smoking bowl of dry ice.
As Executive Chef, Lee has tapped Michael Whalen, who formerly worked as sous chef at Michael Mina’s RN74 in SF and at Plumed Horse in Saratoga.
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