New Restaurant Lume Lights Up the Village, With Room to Grow

By Churchill Stone

Meet Churchill, a pint-sized foodie with a big appetite and an even bigger personality. At just nine years old, Churchill is already carving out a name as the most irreverent restaurant reviewer in town. With unfiltered honesty and a knack for spotting the fun (and flaws) that adults might miss, she brings a refreshing perspective to every dining experience. Churchill’s innocent yet candid observations remind us that food is meant to be fun—and sometimes, a little messy.

A new restaurant opened across the street from where I live. It is called Lume, and it is quite something. At first, it had my parents talking because Lume had an $8 cappuccino. But now it’s $5 which is more normal.

I knew I had to go see this new restaurant for myself. And that wish came sooner than I expected when my godfather came downtown and made a reservation at Lume.

On the All Day menu we ordered the Lume burger for me and the gluten free buttermilk pancake for my sister. The adults ordered steaks, salmon and the rigatoni and burrata which is a kid friendly pasta if you take the burrata and put it off to the side. Oh, by the way, they do not have a kids’ menu.

The Lume burger was pretty good — 6 oz. of Wagyu beef with fontina cheese melted on top. I got it medium rare and it came that way. It was big for me but I could eat it. However, it surprised me because I asked for regular mayonnaise but they only had truffle mayonnaise. This seemed strange to me because I am pretty sure you need regular mayonnaise to make truffle mayonnaise. Truffles are not a very kid friendly food. So I asked for that on the side to try it on my burger. And it was not so bad, but it had too much flavor for me. I also had a side of “Italian” fries which means they shredded parmesan cheese on it. You can also get regular fries if you ask — it’s not like the mayonnaise.

CHURCHILL STONE (left) pretending to drink coffee with her sister. Photo by Webster Stone.

 

The pancakes ”weren’t sweet enough” complained my five year old sister, so we asked for maple syrup. But they did not have any and said “We can give you honey.” So, my sister asked for honey cause she “needed” something sweet, but my parents and I felt a bit off about honey and pancakes, and soon my sister agreed, “Eww.” So, after all we agreed if your restaurant has pancakes on the menu you need maple syrup — big mistake, Lume.

After that, my parents let me and my sister share a Lume sundae. However, they only had ice cream, whipped cream and a bit of caramel, which can be considered a sundae I guess, but in the description in my head there’s at least some type of chocolate sauce. So we convinced the server to ask the chef to make a chocolate sauce. The sundae would have been good, but the chocolate sauce was dark chocolate. We realized we weren’t exactly super clear on that, but don’t most people know that most kids like milk chocolate? But we did appreciate the effort.

After the sundae, my parents and godfather asked about their steaks and salmon. Someone had forgotten about them. Fortunately, they wanted both of those things rare so it did not take a long time.

The place was very full during the time we were there, and it was entirely full of grownups, which I thought definitely made sense considering the big bar of liquor and the food. I had brought my Polaroid camera and I got some very nice photos because of the beautiful lighting — my father told me that “lume” means “light” in Italian.

At first I thought it was just a restaurant, then I remembered that they are open in the then I remembered that they are open in the mornings as a cafe with bombolone, croissants, and coffee. It must be hard trying to be a restaurant and a cafe, both at once.

I realize Lume is still a work in progress. Hopefully, it will stand for years to come. And out of the other dozen restaurants on West Fourth Street it will stand out. It’s a very nice neighborhood restaurant and nice addition to the West Village. And considering the issues and “problems” some may say, this will not be my last time there. And I am rooting (and eating) for them!

West 4th & Perry Street
lumewestvillage.com