Opening a fine-dining restaurant in a college town can prove to be a daunting task. When the menu doesn’t include hamburgers, pizza and cheap beer, the 18- to 25-year-old university demographic is often uninterested.

The owners of Lucullan’s Italian Grill, 400 Main St., however, are driven to prosper in a town where fast-food joints and street vendors dominate the market.

The food

Co-owners Mark Kassis and Terry Lowman serve primarily traditional Italian dishes, but also offer guests the opportunity to order American food such as steak and pork chops. The menu includes a variety of pastas, pizzas, calzones, chicken and seafood dishes.

The house specialty, although not characteristically Italian, is a recipe that once belonged to Kassis’ mother.

It is a slightly spicy Creole dish called Cajun Pasta, made with linguine and seafood with cream sauce.

“Cajun Pasta is ordered a lot,” said waiter Travis Goering, sophomore in health and human performance.

Although the Southern-style recipe is a Lucullan’s signature dish, the owners maintain that it is the traditional, homestyle Italian cooking that keep them in business.

“We’re just a really solid family-traditional Italian restaurant,” Kassis said.

The uncommon menu items help draw customers to the Main Street eatery, said Madeline Crawford, junior in journalism and mass communication.

“It’s different than a lot of the food in Ames,” she said. “It’s really unique.”

The location

Kassis and Lowman opened Lucullan’s on Main Street in 1979. The restaurant remains at the same location.

The central Ames locale offers an interesting change of pace from the Campustown, south Ames and Somerset dining areas.

The business’ location offers much to the restaurant’s ambiance, Goering said.

“The atmosphere here is relaxing,” he said. “There’s a good view of downtown Ames and Main Street here.”

Lucullan’s customers can enjoy a stroll down Main Street to a great number of small businesses, antique shops and restaurants.

“I think downtown has a little resurgence going,” Kassis said.

The philosophy

Many restaurants have strayed far from their roots, abandoning local ideals and products for national chains. Lucullan’s is no such a restaurant.

Many of the ingredients Lucullan’s uses in its recipes are locally produced.

A portion of the vegetables are grown by the restaurateurs. Even a great deal of the pasta is made locally.

Kassis and Lowman also attempt to keep the menu reasonably healthy.

“We’re trying to be as close to nature as we can,” Kassis said.

The patrons

As Lucullan’s approaches its 29th year, it’s hard to deny that the restaurant must have a large following in Ames. Professors, students, alumni and businesspeople keep Lucullan’s busy.

“Our business depends on repeat customers,” Lowman said.

Although local diners account for a large percentage of Lucullan’s guests, the restaurant has also catered to a handful of celebrity patrons throughout its three-decades worth of business in Ames.

“We’ve done a lot of rock people and a lot of politicians,” Kassis said.

Past customers include former presidential candidate Al Gore, ’80s pop star Phil Collins, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe and Baywatch’s Traci Bingham. Rock moguls the Dave Matthews Band even had a Christmas party at Lucullan’s.

“They were popping $100 bottles of champagne,” Kassis said.

Lowman said he is grateful for all the patronage the restaurant has received.

“We have accumulated a lot of friends over the years,” he said.