Antico in Bucktown

I passed by this newer place recently and it seems to be already drawing a crowd. When I googled it I saw its food has great yelp reviews.

So I, of course, came here to see what y'all thought since I trust your opinions, but didn't find much - Just curious if anyone from this community has eaten here and could give their 2 cents?

My wife and I ate here with friends a couple of weeks ago. The food was very good, not great. I don't remember everything we ate, but all of the appetizers we tried were excellent. One that stands out was the fried cuttlefish. The pastas were unremarkable (and reminded me that I need to get back to Terragusto). The short ribs were excellent. I don't remember the other entrees.

Service was friendly, but a tad inexperienced.

I would go back, esp if I lived close by.

I don't know about the dinner, but they are open in the mornings. I've stopped by quite a bit recently as they make very strong, and very good lattes. They have a roaster in house and are roasting and selling their own beans.

We had dinner there a couple of weeks ago. The food was quite good: simple, but sophisticated and fresh. We started with a well prepared blend of sauteed mushrooms. Entrees were an excellent veal rib-eye with bone marrow (perhaps the juiciest piece of veal I've ever had), and fresh spaghetti with clams, which was maybe a bit under seasoned, and was sized (and priced) as a primi piatti. Service was lovely. Antico has an intimate, friendly, neighborhood feel.

Antico
1946 N. Leavitt
Chicago, IL 60647
ph: 773.489.4895

We went for breakfast Sunday a week ago. They make their pastry in-house now (which the guy working said they didn't used to do). They will be having breakfast specials, but weren't yet when we were there. It wasn't clear if this was because we got there at 8, and it was too early, or because they aren't ready to offer specials yet (the guy working said they might be offering specials, and checked with the kitchen, who said no).

They have house-made pastries - croissant, pain aux raisins, pain au chocolat, etc. as well as breakfast-y cakes. We had the chocolate croissant and it was tasty. The only real breakfast option is the truffled egg sandwich, which has prosciutto and is served on a few different breads or on polenta. I had it on a croissant, the DH had it on polenta. It was tasty, but I would like the opportunity to have other savory options.

Coffee was good, and service was friendly. We were the only people in there from around 8-9 am, though there were a few folks who stopped in to take out coffee. More people came in to eat after 9. Definitely have to stop back for dinner, since it's close by!

I too had the gnocci with browned butter and fried sage and thought it was pretty fantastic. The rest of our dinner though was unremarkable.

They have a back patio now open, for those that like outdoor dining.

We had dinner here last night.

The service was fine, though a bit uncoordinated. The guy who seated us asked us about water (bottled, tap, etc), and I said "tap, no ice please", and then a waitress came over and poured all the ice into my glass. And then looked at me, and I didn't say anything - I was just going to take it that way, whatever - and she said "oh, did you want no ice?" I felt bad, but said "yes, if that's ok, I would" and she gave that glass to DH, and then realized that he probably didn't want ice either, and she whisked the glass away. And there I sat feeling like I had just written a check in the grocery line What's the point of the first guy asking if he's not going to tell our waitress? I mean, if there's not an option, or there isn't time to ask before they pour, or whatever, I'll take water however I get it, but if you ask me, I'm going to tell you what I prefer.

To start I had a beet and orange salad, DH had mushrooms over polenta. For our mains he had pork loin with sage and red wine reduction, I had the short ribs. We had sauteed greens as a side. I enjoyed mine very much, though I think the salad suffered from one too many ingredient (it had arugala, lots of pistachios, not enough blood orange slices, lots of roasted beets and goat cheese tossed with a vinaigrette) but enjoyed the short ribs. DH thought both of his dishes were overly salty.

Anyway, it was fine, but we probably won't rush back until the patio is open for summer.