Stopping for Dinner in the World's Most Romantic City by Brian Kerstetter
In Venice you'll inevitably feel like a mouse in a maze. But you'll be one of the luckiest mice in one of the most exquisite mazes. At dinnertime, however, you'll want to find yourself again. With over 10 million tourists a year spilling into a geographic sliver of real estate the size of a postage stamp, restaurants in Venice make a killing without breaking a sweat.
A surefire way not to eat well (and do it quite expensively) is to cling to the coattails of the masses. Rather, fall off the map and go splashing a while in Venice's backwaters. At the blessed hour of dinner, trace a path along one of her more neglected wrinkles to a lonesome outpost where the locals take the sacrament of fritto misto (seafood fry-up) in the company of a carafe of scarlet wine. Judging by the mantle of smoke and the lack of English being spoken, you'll know you've arrived.
Here are a few restaurants that triumph in the preparation of the fish from the lagoon as well as vegetables and game that are the cornerstone of classic Venetian cuisine -- and at prices that won't leave you looking for the nonexistent members of your party.
Unless specified, plan on lunch being served between 12:30pm and 2pm, dinner between 7:30pm and 10pm.
FIORE Calle delle Botteghe 3460 San Marco Tel. 041/5235310 Closed Tuesday and January or February You won't want to mistake this local trattoria with Osteria Da Fiore in San Polo, the buttoned up favorite of high-end diners, or you stand to lose your lunch money for the week. After idling through the Campo Santo Stefano, turn your back on the tourist-trodden paths and nip into a pint-sized bar packed with bands of Tintoretto's descendants. After an aperitif of Martini, Cinzano, or artichoke-based Cynar, make your way back to the festive dining hall where you can sample a few reasons why Venice is the seafood capital of northern Italy. The Adriatic Mixed Seafood Plate allows you to determine if squid and eel are to your taste, while the Scampi and Calamari Plate vie for top billing as the two freshest, most succulent catches. To punctuate the evening, don't forget to pay your respects to Italy's exquisitely potent coffee, the espresso - it's one of the best in the world.
Estimated cost per person: $20 - $25.
AL MASCARON Calle Lunga Santa Maria Formosa, 5225 Castello Tel. 041/5225995 Hours: Closed Sunday and mid-December to mid- January After nipping your hunger in the bud with a spread of cicheti (savory snacks of fish and meats) at Al Mascaron's good-natured offspring La Mascareta, a bacari (wine bar) just down the calle, push on to Al Mascaron. Brimming with Italian grandfathers playing cards and young DeNiros hashing out the days events over a glass of vino da ombra (drinking wine or literally "wine of the shadow"), you'll do battle with a gustful catch of fresh seafood. Whether you stick to the antipasti, such as spaghetti con nero di seppie (with squid ink,) or the delicious pastas and risottos, you'll revel in the come-together atmosphere and the no-frills mannerisms of the Venetians who call this home. Watch your manners -- it would be rude not to cap the evening with a modest glass of Grappa, Italy's renowned spirit made from skins and stalks left after winemaking.
Estimated cost per person: $20.
VINI DA GIGIO Cannaregio 3628A Fondamenta San Felice Tel. 041/5285140 Hours: Closed Monday, 3 weeks January to February Venetians are reputed to enjoy their wine rather more than they should. If one of your goals while in Venice is to follow in their wobbly footsteps, look no further for a top selection of northern Italian wines than Vini da Gigio. As the name suggests, Gigio has known a grape or two, and the cantina boasts vintages from as far a field as South Africa and Australia. To accompany the rosy tipple are platters of seafood that are so fresh they practically swim from the plate to your palate, while the prized secondi of anguilla alla griglia (grilled eel) confirm Venice's reputation as a harbor for unparalleled seafood. As antipastis go, the sarde in saor (marinated sardines) are a lovely companion to a quaffable glass of white Tocai. Gigio is no longer a secret and compared with other seafood restaurants in Venice, it is a cracking value for money, so book ahead.
Estimated cost per person: $25 - $30.
DA IGNAZIO San Polo 2749 Calle dei Saoneri Tel. 041/5234852 Hours: Closed 2 weeks Dec to Jan; 3 weeks July to August Venice may want for roads, but there is no shortage of streets and were you to stretch them out, Venice's labyrinth of alleys and passages would span 125 miles. So why not pull up a chair and sit alongside one for a spread of lunch al fresco? On a sweltering August day, Ignazio's courtyard garden will keep you in earshot of the waves lapping against the bobbing gondolas. This is also the best option to keep cool, as air conditioning is one of the few foreign invaders that hasn't gotten around to occupying Venice. Ignazio's has mastered the most elusive of northern Italian fare - no, not the seppie in tecia (tender baby cuttlefish) but the homespun cooking of the traditional Venetian mamma. The mixed seafood antipasta is particularly succulent while the risi e bisi (risotto with peas) plays well to an audience of warm bread and a glass of chilled russet Raboso.
Estimated cost per person: $25
ALLA RIVETTA Castello 4625 Ponte San Provolo Tel. 041/5287302 (Vaporetto San Zaccaria) Hours: 11am - 11pm Tues - Sun; closed mid-July to mid-August Though it is just around the corner from the Hotel Danieli, where the genteel likes of Balzac, Dickens, and Proust sipped spritzes (white wine with a twist of lemon peel), Rivetta captures all the spirited ambiance of a trattoria at moderate neighborhood prices. Venice may be a carless city without motors and horns, but that doesn't mean you can't howl into the nighttime silence over a good-humored bottle of Refosco and a platter of steaming fritto misto (seafood fry-up). Polenta is synonymous with Venice cuisine, so much so that the locals are known as polenton - Rivetta is known for its schie con polenta (gray shrimp with polenta). Don't be shy, crowd in along the tables of market vendors and shopkeepers as they line up the empty bottles of Amarone - a bittersweet wine made from partially dried Valpolicella grapes.
Estimated cost per person: $20 - $25
ALLA FRASCA Cannaregio 5176 Corte della Carita Tel. 041/5285433 Hours: Closed Thursday and 2 weeks in January The delight of Venice is that almost any building you enter has played a supporting role to some of Venice's most reputed citizens. Frasca is no exception. An amiable bacaro nestled in a square near the fondamenta Nuove, Frasca was once the back storage room where Titian, one of the great Italian renaissance painters, stacked his brushes and sketches. Vestiges of his style and technique can still be found in Frasca's classic Venitian dishes. What used to be a modest wine bar, this spirited restaurant has an outdoor dining area perfect for late summer suppers where the coda di rospo (angler fish) and the fegato alla veneziana (liver lightly fried in onions) are held in high esteem. On Monday an array of straightforward but appetizing bolliti (boiled meats) replace the otherwise standard menu of seafood dishes.
Estimated cost per person: $27 - $30.
ALLE ALPI (DA DANTE) Castello 2877 Corte Nova Tel. 041/5285163 (Vaporetto Celestia or San Zaccaria) Hours: 8am - 9pm Mon - Sat; closed 1 week August What's the opposite of Venice's famous, tourist-infested Harry's Bar in mid-August? Alle Alpi anytime of the year. In an effort to combat Venice's slide into a glorified theme park, descend into the bowels of Venice's Castello neighborhood for an unqualified glimpse of "Old Venice." You're not likely to hear a word of English and the locals may raise an eyebrow at your plucky ingenuity in discovering the not-so-beaten path to Dante's neighborhood bacaro. You'll receive your just rewards - Dante's wife knows how to grill a baby squid not to mention the fresh and tender gamberetti (shrimp) that perfumes the air and clouds the windows. In October and November try a jug of the sweetish Torbolino, a new wine freshly pressed from the grape. It mixes delightfully with a sack of charred chestnuts.
Estimated cost per person: $20.
ALL'ANTICA CARBONERA 4645 di San Marco Tel. 041/5225479 Hours: Closed Tuesday If your taste is more classical, traverse the Rialto Bridge toward one of Venice's most beautiful theaters, the Teatro Carlo Goldini, for a gilded representation of masterpieces by Selvatico, Ruzante, or by Goldini himself. Being cultural, though, can work anyone's appetite into a lather. Luckily, Carbonera is near at hand and possesses the requisite antidote to what ails the wilting theater buff. The feathery tagliolini alla buranella (thin fettuccine with shrimp) and the Sicilian-style, sweet-and-sour sarde incinte (stuffed, or "pregnant," sardines) receive regular encores. For a more straightforward approach, trust their zuppa di pesce (fish soup) followed by the fish of the day, either grilled, baked, or steamed. Even Goldini himself would be eating out of their hand.
Estimated cost per person: $30 - $35.
DA ALBERTO Calle Giacinto Gallina 5401 Cannaregio Tel. 041/5238153 Hours: Closed Sunday If you wish to follow the example of Venice's carnival, which takes its name from the Latin carnem levare or "farewell to meat," you'll be thoroughly horrified to discover there isn't a single vegetarian restaurant in Venice. However, a large part of what anchors Venetian cuisine to the earth is the bounty of seasonal vegetables that arrive by the boatload, even to Venice's most concealed restaurants. Vegetarians can embark upon, say, the cicheti (tapas-style snacks) -- many are vegetables like pumpkin flowers and artichoke hearts -- not to mention a variety of pasta dishes that are vegetable-based, comprised of mushrooms or broccoli. Alberto is a cozy trattoria that specializes in a full range of non-meat dishes in a 'days of yore' atmosphere stuffed with cloudy wine jugs and oaken barrels.
Estimated cost per person: $25 - $30.
TAVERNA SAN TROVASO Fondamenta Priuli Dorsoduro 1016 Tel. 520 3703 Closed Monday The streets and avenues of Venice are canals, and the gondolas its cars. Before digging into a hot plate of gnocchi al quattro formaggi at San Trovaso, take a peek at the Venice version of a roadside garage at the nearby Squero di San Trovaso (a boatyard where gondolas are built, repaired, and lovingly overhauled). If you're in Venice in the off-season, you'll find San Trovaso a cozy spot with a pleasant collection of Italian families, students, and the odd snuggling dog at your feet - toss him a square of your Pizza Quattro Stagione drizzled with olive oil and he'll sit up and listen to your Italian. If you're in the mood for an about-face after days of seafood, dip your spoon into a ceramic bowl of their pasta e fagioli (hearty pasta and bean soup) accompanied by a plate of crusty bread and a glass of golden Moretti (Italian beer). Finally, to encourage your stomach in the mixing and matching of all the Italian delicacies you've sent its way, devote your final moments at the Italian table to a glass of Fernet Branca, Italy's restorative digestivo made from over 40 herbs and spices.
The Top List of Great Restaurants - Venice, Italy