We just spent four glorious days in Venice, where the cloudless skies and sunny temperatures in the 60s that we had loved in Paris continued. I leaned heavily on Hungry Onion in planning our meals - and thus don’t have much to add to vinouspleasure’s excellent account from February. It had been eighteen years since we had last been in Venice, in large part because of our concern that it would be overrun by tourists and cheap souvenir shops. And they both abound, of course, but the magic remains; just turn down an anonymous alley and you’ll find yourself removed from the madding crowds within minutes. We arrived on a Tuesday and left on Saturday; the city felt noticeably more packed on our last two days.
We enjoyed our first night’s dinner at Ai Mercanti so much that we canceled our Thursday night reservation at Il Ridotto and returned there instead. We loved the informality and friendliness of the staff, the excellent pasta (spiciest spaghetti aglio olio peperoncino I’ve ever had) and the delicious croaker (a local fish that was quite like sea bass), and the wide selection of wines by the glass. The menu is quite limited and I was a little concerned that we would have to repeat ourselves, but happily there were a few changes (more white asparagus!) when we returned.
My two favorite dishes of the trip were at Ai Assassini: the unctuous seafood lasagna and the lusty fegato alla Veneziana, which went perfectly with the Gravner Ribolla 2015 that they serve by the glass. We were very happy with the feel of the place too: the quiet jazz playing in the background, the well-paced tables, the courteous and efficient service, and the extremely reasonable prices (keep in mind that home is NYC…)
We went to Alle Testiere on our last night, because when in Venice…The carpet clams with ginger were delicious, as was the scallops with artichoke, but the langoustine morsels with gnochetti were scarce (very sweet though if you could find them). We made the mistake of ordering the mixed grill of seafood for our mains: it probably would have been delicious if it had been served promptly, but the deboning process took a while and, as a result, the dish was lukewarm and overcooked by the time it reached us. We enjoyed our meal at Alle Testiere, but probably would have been happier doing a cicchetti tour instead.
Speaking of cicchetti, we enjoyed three venues: perhaps our favorite was vinouspleasure’s discovery Cantina Aziende Agricole - delicious bites served at a table outside in the sunshine, and thoughtful service that extended to cutting each of our selections in two to make it easier for us to share. Also wonderful was El Refolo in Castello, a five minute walk from our hotel; in contrast to CAA, ER was very busy, but the husband and wife team did a superb job of graciously serving everyone. I noticed that both CAA and ER took care to warm the bread of each cicchetti before serving it - a step that elevated the experience! We also went to Do Spade, but only saw there deep fried cicchetti, which we od’ed on; the one truly exceptional bite there was the deep fried zucchini blossom stuffed with zucchini.
We ate much too much gelato (twice a day - for a pick me up after our daily 10+ miles of exploring and then every night for dessert). We loved both of the places we found: Gelateria Gallonetto and Il Pinguino. The former’s nut flavors were pure and delicious - and extraordinarily creamy. The latter’s yoghurt with walnuts and honey was a revelation. And €2 to €2.50 for a generous scoop - compare that to Venchi NYC at more than three times the price (and not nearly so good).
The tiramasu at Tonolo was a worthwhile indulgence, even if the lavish topping cocoa powder made us cough as we ingested it. And we enjoyed an aperitivi served at our hotel bar of pickled baby green peaches, which we had never encountered before. They looked like very fat olives, but had a satisfying crunch and a very subtle, delicious flavor.
