To be sure, Buca is nobody's upscale, prettified version of Italian delicacies. Buca's menu is jammed with dishes like spaghetti with meat sauce, chicken with lemon, linguine in clam sauce and garlic bread. Befitting the overworked stereotype of a big Italian family, Buca's d cor is crowded, loud, some might even say tacky. Still, for all its kitsch and circumstance, Buca could become its own worst enemy. Each store hangs as many as 1,500 pictures, many of them original, to that location.
Statues seem limitless.
It hopes to open 12 more restaurants next year and 14 to 16 in 2000. Analysts agree that event is likely to be an initial public offering. What's warming is Buca's successful foray into metropolitan areas such as Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, considered difficult restaurant cities for newcomers. I can't think of any city that wouldn't be a Buca city.