Idol Worthy?

Hungry Z, NBC Chicago Street Team
The word Bice may conjure up memories of a long haired “American Idol”, singing about “The Real Thing”. While you probably won’t find any long haired rockers here, you might find a tasty meal. Will it be the real thing, or just a reasonable facsimile?

Unassuming from outside, Bice welcomes you with a relaxed two level dining area. Customary bread baskets are given to each table with butter provided, and olive oil available upon request. Although after tasting their bitter olive oil, you may wish you stuck with the butter.

To help forget about the olive oil, crab cakes were in order. Four well sized cakes were fork tender and very enjoyable. Folks should treat the accompanying salad as garnish and not suffer through its blandness. A much more enjoyable salad choice would be the tomato and fresh mozzarella salad. Simple and delicious.

While there are many types of pasta to choose from, a steak can be a nice departure. A wonderfully tender filet is topped with a creamy green peppercorn sauce. While not a “steakhouse”, the filet was prepared perfectly medium, and the green peppercorns livened up a normally mellow cut of meat.

Go back to tradition and enjoy the lovely tiramisu. Ladyfingers drenched in espresso, layered with mascarpone, and dusted with cocoa give your taste buds a lovely kiss goodnight. Flaky apple strudel was another fine choice and even brought back memories of childhood.

Dinner for two with drinks and tip runs about $125-150. So was it the “Real Thing”. Similar to that long haired idol, Bice sings a catchy tune, but doesn’t rock as hard as it could.

Location: 158 E. Ontario

Phone:312-664-1474

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