The Sauce had the pleasure of dining recently at LUKE Bar and Restaurant in Woodland Hills, a new home for American cuisine with a Mediterranean flavor that's bringing elegance and hipster energy to a rather bleak strip of Ventura Boulevard. It's crystal chandeliers and blue jeans, and it works.

Don't leave without sampling Chef Thomas DeVille's popcorn toasted in truffle oil (also available tossed in duck fat), roasted brussels sprouts with honeyed cranberries, any of an assortment of creative flatbreads, and the grain salad with arugula, feta, quinoa, farro, toasted pine nuts, golden and dark raisins, and cherry tomatoes.

And this is welcome news for the neighborhood: LUKE has just opened for lunch Tuesdays through Fridays beginning at 11 a.m. (Closed Mondays; weekend brunch hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.) The menu is not quite as extensive as the dinner menu, but you can definitely find the farro salad and those tasty flatbreads.

A partial lunch list: burrata flatbread with basil chimichurri, Roma tomatoes and balsamic reduction; a prime rib dip sandwich with Monterey Jack cheese; and a seared ahi tuna sandwich. For the office crowd: Call ahead, and your meal will be ready for takeout when you arrive.

22616 Ventura Blvd., 818-876-6000