BYOB? Barcellos Wicker Park

Found this place by accident and was totally amazed! A menu that goes from $8.oo to $100.oo and a really simple colorful/bright COOL interior (the best part is the live Itallian radio station downstreaming into the stereo). I looked it up on this forum and poeple are gripping about the change and no fried chicken ?????? Walked by it before and it looked like a dump But I have read it is under new ownership. Why did they keep the old name? Oh well, we went in, looked at the menu, I ran off and grabbed a bottle of wine, no uncorking fee, Had a dinner that should have been priced at 50 - 60 bucks for $28.oo !!!! Can't wait for ANY excuse to go back.

We also had a good meal here recently. The lobster risotto seems to be in the same vein as the one they serve at their sister restaurant, Sweets and Savories, which is a mighty fine thing, in my opinion. The "dip" that came with the bread was amazing, olive oil and butter with some tangy peppers/tomatoes lurking at the bottom.

Another outstanding item was the Truffle Potato Raviolo: "open ravioli with truffled potato puree, egg yolk and white truffle oil, chive." The sight of a nice yellow egg yolk oozing out over the fragrant potato puree...mmm. (Oh yes, it tasted good as well.)

I was less impressed by the pizza, but that could be that I'm just not a big fan of the cracker style of pizza crust; I much prefer the Neopolitan, charred-but-tender style.

They also sent out a very generous portion of the roasted beet/goat cheese salad as an amuse-bouche, which was a nice touch. Especially for me: I got to eat more than my share since my foolish dining companion doesn't like beets.

They are BYO for now, but are working hard at getting a license, to my dismay but to the relief of the very nice guy who served us.

Just to make things a bit easier for those reading about Barcello's, here's some location/contact info:

Barcello's
1647 N. Milwaukee
Chicago
773.486.8444

Also, FWIW, I wrote about my late-evening visit to Barcello's towards the bottom of this thread.

--Matt

As excited as I was to eat at Barcello's, my first visit last week resulted in a very mixed bag.

The highs:

--A simple appetizer of buffalo mozz. and tomato included a delicious, high-quality mozzarella that was worth every penny.

--Creamy polenta with mushrooms and gorgonzola is as good as mhl described it in another Barcello's post.

--Through a mistake by a server, we were brought a plate of gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce was delicious. (He brought it to us and told us it was the polenta. I told him it wasn't, he insisted so I started eating it. Oddly, the server returned and took it away when he realized his mistake. Nevertheless, the two bites I had were plenty). I am not usually a fan of gnocchi, but these tasted very good with a perfect density.

The not-highs:

--I should know better than to order fresh tomato in October. Blech. As good as the mozz. was, the tomato almost killed this plate.

--This pizza did not work for me. We tried two: margherita and duck confit with fennel. The crust style is not something I've ever seen before and has the flavor and texture of a large baked water cracker. The ingredients tastes as though they've been added after the bread was baked, creating an experience more like a topped bruschetta rather than a pizza. The margherita was served in a style that had completely uncooked toppings, including the same tomato from the appetizer that I had.

--A nutella and banana challah-panini for dessert is a nice concept but it's way too heavy and hard to eat for dessert. Something about a toasted sandwich for dessert just didn't seem right.

The non-culinary issues:

--Wow, the menu here is one of the most confusing menus I've seen. There are two menus: one for small plates (hot, cold, soup, salad) pastas, and entrees; the second menu is for pizzas. (So, between the two of us, we had four menus). The waiter describes that the restaurant is a "small plate" concept and recommended 2-3 small plates per person. He then went on to talk about how the entrees are designed for two people. We were quite puzzled about how much food to order. How is this a "small plates" menu with some small dishes, some individual portions, and other double portions? Do we just go with 4 small plates? Four and a pizza? Two, pasta, and an entree? Very confusing. I really hope they pare this down and bring some focus to the recommended style of ordering.

--I am not a stickler for service, but the behavior of our waiter and the runner bringing out the food was simply laughable. The runner was constantly bringing out food to the wrong table (I counted at least 4 occasions near us). Beyond the weird gnocchi incident, he carried our pizzas to three other tables before passing us by. I stopped him with a "excuse me, are those our pizzas?" and he thrust them in my face and said, "I have no idea. You tell me". Beyond this guy, our waiter basically decided halfway through the meal that he was done serving us. When we were finished with our pizzas and contemplating dessert (waiting to hear the options), he walked up and said, "do you want anything else?" in a tone to suggest, "can you please get the hell out now?" After dessert it took us 20 minutes to pay the bill due to lack of attention.

I refuse to hold one snapshot of poor service as a final analysis of Barcello's. I think there is a good restaurant hiding inside this place. Chef Richards has a commitment to quality ingredients that I believe faltered only in the tomatoes we ate. While the pizza doesn't work for me, I'm sure it works for others. On my next visit, I will likely stick to pastas and meat entrees.

Best,
Michael

We went on Saturday. They are clearly still getting their legs, but there is a very good restaurant there, struggling to get out. Some highlights included a polenta with wild mushrooms, lobster risotto, and the open ravioli. Desserts were also excellent. Due to some food and service issues we were comped the tiramisu and blueberry bread pudding. I'll definitely go back, but I think I'm going to give it a few months.

I suppose it's great I now have a really cool and colorful place to enjoy lobster risotto and listen to streaming Italian radio, but if I want really good and tasty pizza (which I could reliably get delivered hot to my door from the old 'dumpy' Barchellos), I'll need to look elsewhere , at least for now. Chef David seems a very nice and sincere fellow, and I do wish him luck, but the pizza clearly needs work here. One can hope for better things to come.

Well, in all fairness, we didn't try the pizza. Maybe next time.

Went last night - we had a group of 7 people with a 6:30 reservation. 2 in our group didn't get there until after 7 pm, so we started with the complimentary beets and gorgonzola (tasty) and a selection of appetizers. They were good, but very small portions (on the other hand, they only cost $3 each or something) The grana padano with truffled honey was phenomenal.

I got one of the "trattoria" style pizzas, which I wasn't thrilled with (pre-cooked cracker crust with uncooked mozzarella was kind of odd). We'll try the regular pizza some night soon. The steak was good, though those who got (and shared) the hen said it was nice but nothing special (it was an entire chicken, separated into 4 quarters, so the waiter recommended it be shared).

The service was good, we didn't see any items being delivered to the wrong tables. Parking around there is tough, but it's right by the Damen blue line stop, and several buses go to that intersection as well.

As a BYO it's definitely a great thing for the neighborhood. I hope they stay that way a long time, though I suppose that's a pipe dream

geli wrote:We also had a good meal here recently. The lobster risotto seems to be in the same vein as the one they serve at their sister restaurant, Sweets and Savories, which is a mighty fine thing, in my opinion. The "dip" that came with the bread was amazing, olive oil and butter with some tangy peppers/tomatoes lurking at the bottom.

Another outstanding item was the Truffle Potato Raviolo: "open ravioli with truffled potato puree, egg yolk and white truffle oil, chive." The sight of a nice yellow egg yolk oozing out over the fragrant potato puree...mmm. (Oh yes, it tasted good as well.)


They are BYO for now, but are working hard at getting a license, to my dismay but to the relief of the very nice guy who served us.

My wife and I ate here last night. We walked in about about 7:30 with no reservation and had no problem getting a table, but about 15 min later about 80-90% of the tables were full. I completely forgot it was BYOB, not a huge deal, but a miss step on my part.

The bread and oil and sun-roasted tomato dip seemed fresh, and was pretty tasty. The interior of the bread was soft, w/a nice crust on the bottom. It seems like they were bringing a second freebie out to everyone, we got what was described as a "Sicilian tuna fish". While I'lm not big on fish in general, the wife liked it.

We started with the "Roasted Sweet Red Peppers" and " Stuffed Mozzarella with Procuitto and Pesto". Both were solid and a pretty good value at 8$ total.

Our mains were the same as geli above, the Lobster Risotto and Truffle Potato Ravilo. The better half the Risotto as rich and creamy, almost too rich. She was very happy with the choice. I thought the Ravilo was excellent, even if I had eaten half of it before I broke the yolk hidden inside. Great balance and flavor. Only real problem I has was that the chive listed was more as a garnish than part of the dish.

We finished with a peach tart w/coffee and tiramisu w/espresso. We were both happy with our selections and experience overall. There were some missteps with service, but the waiter was admittedly new, it was his actually his first night. I am very tollerant of service issues, so this didn't bother me at all.

SSDD

Had a wonderful meal last night, the room was transformed with some simple alterations...service is still struggling a bit...but the food is amazing for the price...

nice little amuse of white beans and cucumbers
nicely done simple calzone
baked mozzarella with marinara and bread crumbs done perfectly

After a Wicked matinee on Sunday we went with a group to Barcello’s. Very nice space, especially considering the prices. Brick walls, sandblasted exposed beam ceiling, a couple of orange walls, cool bar, and nice restrooms. White cloths are topped with white paper and cloth napkins. Some striking white serving pieces (great shapes) with handsome presentations. Very friendly and attentive service. And best of all, gotta love the BYO.

Now the food. Good bread and a sun-dried tomato olive oil for dipping. The waiter brought out a really terrific amuse of cold eggplant parmesan. We shared a trattoria pizza to start. The Crust was a little strange, appeared to be pre-baked and the topped with warm ingredients. We had the duck confit/braised fennel/Indiana goat cheese which was mighty tasty.

Someone had a Caesar salad which looked good. Another liked the ribollita. A variety of pastas, but I only tried two. Excellent gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce with pine nuts. Great texture and delicious, but very rich. Even though I really wanted to try the truffle potato ravioli, I thought the paparadelle with braised veal ragout for be a better compliment to my wife’s gnocchi. Fine pasta and sauce, but not a speck of braised veal (another person also had it and no veal in hers either). The veal would have really finished off this dish.

The kids had a pepperoni thin crust which they really enjoyed. They also loved the tiramisu, but I didn’t even see it . Good strawberries with balsamico for the adults.

We will go back and if it wasn't such a haul, I'd probably go often. Very promising for a relatively new place.


Barcello’s
1647 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, IL 60647
773.486.8444

Al Ehrhardt wrote:
Even though I really wanted to try the truffle potato ravioli, I thought the paparadelle with braised veal ragout for be a better compliment to my wife’s gnocchi. Fine pasta and sauce, but not a speck of braised veal (another person also had it and no veal in hers either). The veal would have really finished off this dish.

Hah! My mom and I had that too, and thought the same thing We did find a few specks of veal, but not a lot.

All the trattoria pizzas have that strange crust, but they said the other pizzas use the old barcello's crust and sauce. We will have to try it some day. But other than their BYO policy, there's not much that makes them stand out for me.

Barcello's on Milwaukee in Bucktown closed on Friday August 3.
I guess David Richards is going to work on a new concept for the space. I read this on Metromix.
I really liked Barcello's food (under David Richards) but the restaurant never seemed to gel.

Chloe54 wrote:Barcello's on Milwaukee in Bucktown closed on Friday August 3.

*finally* ... my friends all hated that place. our infamous story... Her: "Is your gnocchi fresh or frozen? " waiter: "frozen." her: "Ok, I'll have that then" ...

Chloe54 wrote:Barcello's on Milwaukee in Bucktown closed on Friday August 3.

This doesn't surprise me at all. As talented as Chef Richards is, this place was just a mess on a variety of levels.

interestingly, about an hour ago I just got an e-mail from Worldperks dining for miles saying they've added Barcellos' to their network of places you get miles for dining at...