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A pepperoni pizza from Lucy's Restaurant in Bury St. Edmunds. The base of the pizza is made from sourdough, and it is cooked in a bespoke Italian oven with a revolving base.

A pepperoni pizza from Lucy's Restaurant in Bury St. Edmunds. The base of the pizza is made from sourdough, and it is cooked in a bespoke Italian oven with a revolving base. (Kyle M. Alvarez/Stars and Stripes)

A pepperoni pizza from Lucy's Restaurant in Bury St. Edmunds. The base of the pizza is made from sourdough, and it is cooked in a bespoke Italian oven with a revolving base.

A pepperoni pizza from Lucy's Restaurant in Bury St. Edmunds. The base of the pizza is made from sourdough, and it is cooked in a bespoke Italian oven with a revolving base. (Kyle M. Alvarez/Stars and Stripes)

Lucy's Restaurant offers Mediterranean-style food in the middle of the English town of Bury St. Edmunds.  Lucy Davis and Francois Pretorius opened the business in November 2019 but it was only doing takeout or delivery during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lucy's Restaurant offers Mediterranean-style food in the middle of the English town of Bury St. Edmunds. Lucy Davis and Francois Pretorius opened the business in November 2019 but it was only doing takeout or delivery during the coronavirus pandemic. (Kyle M. Alvarez/Stars and Stripes)

When my wife took her first bite of the sourdough cheese pizza at Lucy’s Restaurant in the English town of Bury St. Edmunds, her eyes opened wide and she said, “This is it.”

I knew what she meant: we had found our Friday night cuisine for the foreseeable future. Friday night in our house means snuggle time on the couch, with comforting food for the soul. Our lives had been uprooted for two months during our move to RAF Mildenhall, and Lucy’s gave us something in their food that we had been missing — something to focus on other than the craziness of moving during a pandemic.

We found Lucy’s Restaurant after getting out of quarantine. There was a nearly two-hour wait to pick up food after placing an order, which can be done online or by phone, but that didn’t put us off.

We were not disappointed.

Lucy’s offers what it describes as Mediterranean food, inspired by the previous job of one of the duo who own the restaurant: Francois Pretorius was a chef on a yacht that cruised the Mediterranean, according to an interview published in the local paper, the East Anglian Daily Times. Pretorius owns and runs the restaurant with Lucy Davis, who’s from Bury.

The menu changes every week. It offers a fairly standard selection of starters — garlic bread, salads and several dips. It’s the main courses that stand out.

There are seven different pizzas. Some were very simple — like the pizza margherita — with the option to add more toppings. Others were more lavish — mozzarella, anchovies, olives, capers and basil on a sourdough base.

In most pizzas I have tried, the base is just a vehicle for the main act. The focus is on the topping.

But Lucy’s pizza is different. They put just as much effort into their dough as what goes on top of it. The base is homemade and hand-pulled. I don’t know why hand-pulling pizza dough makes it better, but every bite of the sourdough pizza seemed complete and was delicious.

The pizzas are cooked in an Italian oven with a rotating base that cooks each one evenly and perfectly.

Lucy’s also does homemade pasta, and the sauces are not your run-of-the-mill tomato and garlic. In the past, they’ve had pappardelle with prawn bisque, but we didn’t see any pasta on the menu when we ordered. Which was fine, because we wanted pizza.

There were a couple of items for dessert — brownies and Nutella calzones. Italian red, white and rose wines, beers and mineral water, soft drinks and draft British cider are available to drink.

Because of coronavirus restrictions, the restaurant was only doing takeout when we got a meal there.

Orders can be placed over the phone or online, and picked up at the restaurant or delivered. The service is friendly and welcoming. We’ll be enjoying our Friday nights on the couch eating a delicious, made-from-scratch, sourdough pizza from Lucy’s.

Alvarez.Kyle@stripes.com Twitter: Kalv2931

Address: 2 Church Cottage Fornham All Saints, Bury St Edmunds IP28 6JW

Directions: About 20 minutes from RAF Mildenhall, 25 minutes from Lakenheath.

Hours: Tuesday — Sunday 5 - 8 p.m.

Information: Phone; +44 (0)1284 834001 Online; lucysrestaurant.co.uk

Prices: From around $2 for starters to $15.50 for a pizza with multiple toppings. Credit cards accepted.

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