A new wine-and-pasta destination has taken over a former Madame Bonte Café space on the Upper East Side. Bicchiere, a Venetian wine and pasta bar, has opened its second Upper East Side outpost inside the transformed storefront, bringing fresh-made bigoli and Venetian-style small plates to the neighborhood.
The opening marks an expansion for Bicchiere, which according to Upper East Site debuted in a fully renovated former Madame Bonte Café, with the new location serving fresh pasta and wine. The outlet broke the news of the opening, giving neighborhood diners their first look at the transformed space.
Beyond the Upper East Site report, the restaurant has also drawn attention for its food. The Infatuation describes Bicchiere as a Northern Italian spot that specializes in cicchetti, the Venetian small plates that pair naturally with a glass of wine. The review highlights dishes like smoked salmon tarama and meatballs in marinara among the cicchetti offerings.
Seven Ways to Order the House Pasta
The centerpiece of Bicchiere's menu is its bigoli, a long extruded pasta that the kitchen makes fresh in-house. The Infatuation's review notes the pasta is available in seven different preparations, giving regulars plenty of reason to return and work through the list one dish at a time.
That combination of small plates and house-made pasta places Bicchiere squarely in the wine-bar tradition associated with Venice, even as descriptions of the restaurant have varied slightly. While the Infatuation's review frames Bicchiere as a Northern Italian restaurant known for cicchetti, other accounts of the concept describe it more broadly as a Venetian wine and pasta bar — framing that underscores the same emphasis on small plates and glasses of wine rather than a single rigid definition.
A Possible Connection to Madame Bonté
One account of the opening ties Bicchiere to familiar Upper East Side hospitality. A report from prismnews.com states that Bicchiere comes from the team behind Madame Bonté, the Parisian-style cafe group that already has three Upper East Side locations. The report frames the new restaurant as an extension of that same hospitality group moving into Venetian wine-and-pasta territory.
For now, Bicchiere's second Upper East Side location gives the neighborhood another spot built around fresh pasta, cicchetti, and wine in a space that was previously known as a Madame Bonte Café.
