Settling In

 Luqa restaurant along with Petrus Lounge and Dallas Roof Gardens will open downtown on Main Street next Tuesday after a string of missed opening dates spanning the last year and a half. The opening spur? The nearly $6 million, 400-seat complex risked losing its eligibility for a tax subsidy if it didn't open by November 15, according to former III Forks cellar master Kyle Kepner, who is leading the project on behalf of assorted silent investors. Luqa's chef is Dallas native David Gilbert, who once cooked at the Ritz-Carlton in St. Thomas as well as the hoary Trader Vic's in the Beverly Hilton. Grant Morgan, formerly of Le Cirque in Las Vegas, is executive sous chef. Former Sense sommelier Philip Natale will be the project's sommelier/assistant general manager after he wraps up his Consilient Restaurants stint commanding the bar at Hibiscus this week. So what makes Kepner think a $6 million, 400-seat restaurant has a prayer amongst the corpses of downtown trailblazers such as Jeroboam and Metropolitan? "Pioneers get shot," Kepner assures. "Settlers get rich."