Bice

Galleria III (between Macy's and Saks)

What impressed me most were the Italian accents floating around the surprisingly intimate dining room. The accents come from the Italian waiters. The decoration reminded me of a more classy version of the other new Italian eatery, Arturos. Bice (pronounced bee-chay)is originally a Milan restaurant that has grown by leaps and bounds. Next stop Dallas.

The food here is epensive. Our dinner for four without wine came out to almost $300 with tip. Was it worth it? Let's talk about individual elements.

Decoration: Classy but cheap fixtures, no artwork and uninspired furnishings.

Diners: Excellent. Houston's old money mixed with its new money. Kind of like finding the diner where those who have so much money they don't know how much they have come to mix with those who know exactly how many millions they have and are going to make. Significantly, the place was packed on Saturday.

Appetizers: We had the carpaccio. Paper-thin and nicely seasoned, they were perhaps too thin for my taste. I could barely perceive the flavor on my tongue. We also tried the mussels and clams in tomato sauce. Quite good with crazy fat mussels.

Main Course: Very disappointing. I had the spaghetti with bolognese sauce. the pasta was starchy and the bolognese was dry. Dad had the steak. It looked tough. Mom had the tuna. She had hers done medium, so I won't comment on the taste since medium kills the taste of tuna.

Dessert: The reason to come here might be to hang out at the bar and enjoy the panna cotta (light and flavorful with vanilla) and the berries with zabigogne sauce. Sooooooo goooooood. I'm almost tempted to join their private club upstairs for $1000 to $5000 if it weren't for the fact that I can get those dessert by just dining like the regular folk.