A week ago I met fellow Fodorite Patrick at Bice for lunch. The day was December perfect and both of us, while not Bice fans, were interested in trying out the newer Florida version.

I have to admit to a prejudice against Bice and I imagine Patrick has his feelings as well. The Florida restaurant was welcoming, sort of, refusing to seat me until my "party" arrived, even though the restaurant was close to empty.

I was told to sit at the bar until my party arrived. I obliged but I felt it was kind of a stupid on their part as there was only one table seated in the dining room and maybe two tables on the terrace. I obliged and ordered a Prosecco. The glass wasn't chilled, a faux pas in Florida in my NVHMO (never very humble opinion). It was ok though and almost cold enough. Patrick arrived and we were seated.

Looking at the menu for lunch I found one of my favorite comfort foods, gnocchi which had a gorgonzola cream sauce. They were very good but a little heavy. I compare all gnocchi to a Napa restaurant, Tra Vigne, which are probably not very authentic but absolutely wonderful. Bice's were very good but presented without flair.

Patrick's luncheon had more style, some sort of pounded chicken filet. The menu listed arugula but it was served with mesclun I think.

I can't rave about this place but the food was good and the decor was stylish and the pricing was reasonable.

Patrick and I had a nice discussion about Fodors, travels and other things. A very nice Friday afternoon. LMF

Oh how nice! I am happy to see you here MsFoodie and happy to hear of your luncheon with Patrick. I will try hard not to be a tiny bit jealous

Florida is having some nice weather these days, isn't it ~

Ah yes, we indeed had lunch. LilMsFoodie, you left out a couple of the best parts. Remember that when you ordered your second glass of Prosecco at the table (oops, am I telling too much now?) that he brought one that had NO bubbles. Although he took it back and returned with a glass of bubbly he couldn't resist remarking that "this was from the same bottle". I loved your response that perhaps there was soap in the glass then.

And remember that although I selected a red wine by the glass, he immediately pushed a special wine by the glass they were offering. His quote, "it's from near Italy". I asked him what that meant and he said "Portugal". Again, LMF, in her great style said, "should we tell him we have a map?" I managed not to snort the wine out my nose.

Yes, my chicken paillard was very good, pounded thin and covering the plate, like a nice weiner schnitzel, but I was disappointed that it was topped with the mesclun and not the promised arugula and tomatoes. (Well, maybe the problem was that tomatoes had reached $4.00 a pound last week.)

What a nice little mini Fodorite gathering. Let's do it again!

You two! Please do it again, and please give us another play-by-play. Complete with color commentary. I enjoyed your lunch and GTG vicariously.

I've heard there's a Whole Foods now in Sarasota. Will you please make that your next review? I'd like to hear if it meets some high standards. You know -- like whether they give lots of free hand-outs to hungry foodies.

Thanks for both reports on this war on low class in high couture.

Hmmm... Glad you two had so much fun!

While I haven't been to Bice yet, I feel it is a loss to Naples that their downtown lost the little club that used to occupy the space of the current restaurant. It was the only one of it's kind in Naples.

;-)

No fizz. I guess if I were to sum up Bice, that would be my tag line. No fizz. Everything was a little flat, including that second prosecco. There are many ways of maintaining carbonation in sparkling wine, the cheapest of which is a spoon in the bottle. I have a couple of gizmos, which work for about 30 hrs. After that time, the wine needs to go. The prosecco had little fizz to begin with and the restaurant the same.

LMF

What good fun to read early on a Fri morning! I was just thinking about you yesterday LMF. Glad to see you here (or there anyway). Tandoori Girl, "low class in high couture" is a classic. But this lunch pair is HCHC.

LilMsFoodie, enjoyed reading about your lunch with Patrick.

Now for a question. A spoon in the bottle of Prosecco will keep it bubbly?
Sterling silver or stainless? The only thing is, a teaspoon will not fit in the opening of the bottle. What type of spoon do you use?

Thank you in advance with wishes that you have a fun and relaxing weekend.

don't think it matters about the spoon. It is an old bar trick and only good for a bottle of an evening. You'll seldom see sterling in a restaurant or bar so stainless will do the trick, handle down.

I have a variety of stoppers for champagne from Chandon, Screwpull (the best I've found yet) and Shramsberg. The most you can hope for is a little over a day. LMF