Antico Visited 11/3/2012 3 Forks

Antico 1946 N Leavitt St., (between Homer St & Armitage Ave), Chicago, IL 60647

Antico is one of those off the beaten track little Italian places in Bucktown that you probably walk past every day and think to yourself that you should stop by but don't.  This past Saturday Deanna, Soph and I were trying to find a place in the neighborhood that didn't require a 30 minute wait and Antico quoted us only a 20 minute wait.  Great!  We head over and while they did have a few tables available, it was also pretty bustling.   Despite being in a hipster part of town, the clientele was more mature and older, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend this place if you're looking for a rockin time.

As we sit down, I immediately noticed how charismatic our waiter was.  He was super chatty and engaging and I will say a great sales person.  Deanna and I ordered a glass of wine and he immediately tried to up sell us on the most expensive wine on the menu.  And you know what, mission accomplished because we did end up getting the $14 glass vs. the $7 glass.  He also described the all the specials with amazingly delicious detail that Soph and I jumped on the Mussels special ($12) without even asking how much it was.  As for the rest of the menu, there were about 8-9 antipasti dishes, 4-5 pastas and 8-9 main entrees such as ribs, lamb, pork, and veal.  I opted for the pan seared pork tenderloin with braised leeks in a red wine sage reduction ($24), Soph got the lamb chop ($28) and Deanna got the entree size pappardelle with wild mushrooms ($28).  Price-wise, all of these dishes are about $10 overpriced for what they were, especially the pasta dish. 

Our appetizers came out quickly and I was immediately not impressed with the mussel appetizer.  The waiter made the mussels sound like they were this amazing dish that couldn't be missed but it was essentially steamed mussels in white wine, so kind of your standard mussels dish.  For $12, the mussels themselves were pretty small and there weren't nearly enough of them for the dish.  As for the main entrees, they did fair a little bit better.  My pork tenderloin was a pretty large size and it was cooked to the right degree of tenderness.  The red wine reduction was a little bit overwhelming and the leeks were a bit difficult to eat but the pairing of the 2 flavors did go well with the pork.  I just didn't think the dish was worth $24 when you consider some other really outstanding food you can get for much less.

All in all, Antico is still a cute neighborhood joint.  It could be a nice 1st date type of place or an every once in a blue moon visit, but with all the other amazing Chicago restaurants nearby and at these prices, you're probably better off being a regular at some other places.  Total bill: $143 without tip for 3 people.

Photo Credit: Yelp