Peter Guimaraes is Keeping Milanese Delicacy Alive: All About the Man Behind the BiCE Brand
Whether you’re a tourist or a local, BiCE Cucina, simply known as “BiCE”, is a Northern Italian restaurant to put on your must-visit list. As co-owner of BiCE, Peter Guimaraes is committed to serving the most authentically ambitious cuisine by not just preserving the long-lasting brand but making it better. The former real estate giant and mayoral candidate is more than a man of the New York City restaurant biz; he’s a man of the city.
Peter’s humble beginnings started with his emigration from Portugal to Hartford, Connecticut,
at only two years old. He studied marketing at Central Connecticut State University, where he also played football, though the future entrepreneur quickly realized that “maybe football wasn’t for me.” After college, Peter used his business acumen and bought a plot of Connecticut land, relying on a loan shark alone for financing. As his rags became riches, he continued to invest in real estate.
Peter began his restaurant venture in Connecticut with the opening of Blue Smoke in Bloomfield, his premiere dining spot. He then opened a second restaurant, Dulce in Hartford. Inspired by his Portuguese heritage, Dulce brought his mother’s comfort food alive.
He continued to make his mark on the industry and by 2000 had opened Cafe B, a former rooftop lounge in Chelsea. Peter then took a quick break from the tri-state area, pivoting to Miami, where he opened a BiCE location in the Victor Hotel. Peter’s expansion of the BiCE brand impressed consumers and investors alike. While the original BiCE on 54th street had been opened by his partners in 1982, Peter took over in 2010, eventually reopening BiCE Cucina in its current midtown location. Excited to share the brand with his beloved New York City, BiCE Cucina immediately flourished under Peter’s control. The present-day BiCE Cucina, a more casual version of the BiCE brand, in the heart of the city which claims Peter’s heart, is on 55th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues. But after years of success, the location was closed and renamed Alfredo 100. With his construction expertise grounding a new space, the stubborn New York attitude insisted BiCE had to return. “Everyone missed BiCE. So after a few years, I reopened it.”
BiCE is an extraordinary merging of Northern Italian cooking and the American palate. “Our locations are always opened with our corporate Italian chef teaching our local chefs the BiCE traditions,” says Peter. Almost a century old, the brand is known for its light and airy Roman pizza crust, tagolini lobster, pappardelle al telefono, and, not least, its upscale New York City clientele. Peter explains the patronage of the restaurant: “It’s a big local spot, but due to the fact we are next to the theater district, we get a lot of tourists, too.” The brand’s widespread popularity suggests possible expansion throughout Manhattan and into New England as well.
Peter’s fun and fabulous life also extends outside the restaurant business. Not only was he a regular guest on three seasons of the Real Housewives of New York.
Now distributed in seven markets, Tipsy Girl caused as much drama as the real housewives themselves due to Bethenny Frankel’s constant comparison of the brand with her company, Skinny Girl. Though Frankel claimed that Peter’s alcoholic beverage brand was a ‘ripoff’ of her own line, it was discovered during filming that he had owned patents for Tipsy Girl long before Skinny Girl had emerged. The idea was originally thought of when Peter owned nightclubs in New York and Connecticut and had a group of regulars, who he dubbed the ‘tipsy girls’. Tipsy Girl is still the most popular sparkling wine on the menu at BiCE Cucina. During his time on the show, Peter recalls other drama filled moments such as when Ramona Singer’s husband’s affair – which happened to be with one of Peter’s good friends – was revealed at one of Peter’s restaurants. Cameras also followed him and Ramona when they embarked on a restaurant venture together and went through the hiring process and tribulations of opening a new space in the city.
Since coming to the United States, Peter’s dream of the American dream has continued to come true through his multiple ventures, from a homebuilder to a restauranteur, to an entrepreneur, to wanting to serve as a public servant. His parents instilled in him the value of hard work, dedication, and determination. These pillars are at the very core of Peter’s outlook, and perhaps what led him to run for mayor in 2021 during the covid pandemic. Being in the restaurant business, he saw firsthand how much small businesses were struggling and the alarming rate at which New Yorkers were leaving the city he had come to feel so grateful to be a part of. He attributed much of this to failed leadership. “I have a love for this city and believe with my business experience and knowledge that I can make a difference here,” he says.
It is his love which compelled him to entertain a political career as he wanted to make the Big Apple shine one again. It was not for himself, but for his fellow New Yorkers. In fact, as he will tell you, he ‘hates politics.” His resolution to try and help his neighbors and colleagues is what propelled him to realize that his lifelong career had prepared him to help others. As an employer, he was used to finding innovative ways to increase business in an effort to help not just himself but his employees. Calling himself the people’s mayor, Peter, is well, a person who truly cares about the people, from the sanitation worker in Harlem to the teacher in Queens to the banker on Wall Street. In a city facing homelessness, crime, lack of affordable housing, crumbling infrastructure and a falter economy, Peter still cares as much now as he did when he first put his hat in the circus ring.
Alongside his passion for bettering his city, he is a dedicated father. “My daughter Makayla is the love of my life, and I enjoy being a father and spending every free minute I can with her.” And now, Peter won’t be the only one running the BiCE Manhattan location. “She’s making my dream come true by coming to New York City for college and working in the biz with her dad.”
Peter Guimaraes indeed has it all: family, fame and fabulous food in the heart of Manhattan. Don’t be surprised if he is someday running the city as well.
