Bob's Italy Trip: Part Three:"Organic" Restaurants

[robert brown]

For me an organic restaurant is one that lives and breathes, that tells a story, or shows us a facet of human nature we might not readily see in the world in general. It’s unpredictable where you might experience this in your restaurant comings and goings. It can happen in any kind of restaurant, but not in every restaurant. Also, a neophyte or insensitive diner might miss such themes altogether. What I like about eating in Italy is the immense variety of restaurants that there is once you go beyond the heavy touristy cities and regions. This diversity shows itself not just in atmosphere and what you can eat, but the personal dynamics (which are often more pronounced and memorable because more often it’s a member of the family who is serving you); the vibrant life of the dining room that Italians have a knack for creating; and that special theme or story you take away with you.

Sometimes a theme needs more than one restaurant to become apparent. In Venice, though with an admittedly tiny sample size, I learned first-hand what everyone says: namely that thanks to tourism Venice is not a good dining city. I am now certain that you can exhaust the supply of good restaurants there in a matter of days if you take the time to “do the research”. Della Marisa was our most satisfying, delightful and memorable meal in Venice. Had we gone to Harry’s Bar, I doubt we would have eaten better at four times the price: thus a reinforcement that the best restaurant in town doesn’t have to be the most expensive, or, for that matter even expensive. Al Gondoleria, best known for its fegato alla Venezia was as touristy as a gondola ride itself. The liver was overly-sweet and heavy-handed. The food came too fast, besides, although our two young and attractive servers were unfailingly nice.. Most satisfying were the two ice cold bottles of San Pellegrino, which, in our very-dehydrated state because of the walking around we had to do to get to the restaurant, that we knocked off in ten minutes..

Da Fiori has wonderful seafood among which we can count the best soft-shell crabs we ever had. The owner, however, should disappear at meal times. When we phoned to ask if we could arrive later than we had booked, he asked us if we wanted to cancel instead. He elicited no interest at all in his customers, and this attitude infected the men who served us. It’s a cold place, that Da Fiore, but a good one if you want to hide in your shell. The Sultan of Dining apparently had a nice chat with the boss, but after having to hire a water taxi from our hotel far out in the lagoon to get to the restaurant (and a hard one to find, at that) during the one torrential rainstorm of the summer, we were in no mood to try to lick the master’s boots. As good as it is, I would like to know how Patricia Wells gets to name Da Fiore the best restaurant in Italy. How many others in Italy has she been to?

If there’s a bad apple in every bunch, then R.W. is entitled to a bum steer every now and again. While Trattoria Laguna is not in Venice, but rather on a long peninsula that extends from the mainland, stopping short of Venice, it’s okay, I figure, to consider it a Venetian restaurant. It indeed is reachable by a 35-minute vaporetto ride from near San Marco and either a 10-15 taxi ride or, in our case, a free lift from the restaurant owner’s son , who met us at, and returned us to, the Punta Sabbioni vaporetto station. Yes, it was Apple of the Times’ glowing review of Trattoria Laguna that had us devoting an entire afternoon to dining there. It was our misfortune, however, to experience the motif of a restaurant that tries too hard.

During our SUV ride to the restaurant, it appeared we would the beneficiaries of a memorable dining occasion. We learned a lot about fish in the lagoon, when the best time to have them were (not when we were there, but in November, which the natives say is also the best time of year generally to be in Venice) and the restaurant procured its fish at the night time professional market in the Tronchetto secton of Venice, not at the Rialot market.

Unfortunately our visit didn’t work out as anticipated. Father and son tried hard to please us, and perhaps we might have appreciated their efforts a bit more if there had been more than four people dining in the dining room. The father tried some showmanship and cutting up, which is always a bad sign. We received plate after plate of fish, not much of it from the lagoon and some of it such as smoked salmon not even from Italy. We suspected that the low turnover in clients compromised the freshness of the fish. In fact, the son pretty much conceded that although Apple’s review was useful, the restaurant’s position of being too far from Venice and in a desolate area in terms of tourists, business often wasn’t so good. We left so stuffed that realizing we would never be hungry enough for dinner, we were forced to postpone until next time our visit to alla Testieri. But we’re planning to return in November, just like the natives told us we should.

[tsquare]

On the other hand, that your dining experience may be lackluster is no reason to miss visiting Venice. Just eat the inexpensive way and enjoy the incredible beauty and magic while strolling the island.

[plragde]

I would say that it is not tourism alone that has killed dining in Venice, but tourism combined with the lack of any other serious basis to the local economy. Paris, for example, seems perfectly capable of dealing with its tourists and still offering excellent fare, and that is because of sufficient critical local patronage to keep the restaurants on their toes. Venice's population is aging and shrinking as younger people starting families move to the mainland. I think the mode of tourism is also important: I read somewhere that the average length of the visit for a Venetian tourist is seven hours. tsquare, I think you are right. Food lovers visiting Venice must go with modest expectations, and focus more on what the city does best. --PR

[vmilor]

I actually disagree about Venice not being a good place for gastronomy. The molluscs and crustaceans and some fish from the lagoon are quite unique. There are many treasures and one needs to seek them out. I only scratched the surface in my "A Trip to Venice" report and was amply rewarded, esp. by some of the best raw molluscs one can not easily get elsewhere and some very good produce too.

Da Fiore is obsessed about the quality of ingredients and it shows. However, one can eat as well for half the price at Alle Testiere. The owner of Da Fiore has a cookbook in English which looked interesting but it is not possible to replicate these recipes elsewhere. Nonehtheless, it may be of interest for most people.

Another trick in Venice it to never take the vaporetto and walk to all destinations. We were amply awarded doing this and felt more like part of the everyday life.

Thanks Robert for these thought provoking reports.

[robert brown]

It depends how you go about considering a city for its gastronomy. It's one thing to be in the neighborhod of great material; it's another to have to bust your chops and play hit or miss to get it. I don't think the ratio of fine restaurants to all restaurants in Venice is anywhere near that of, say, San Sebastian. But I will admit that I was in a low season for products from the lagoon and the Adriatico, and if I follow through on my plan to return in two months, I'll get a better idea since that it is the high season. Other than della Marisa and da Fiore, I have heard detractors of every other restaurant. Nonetheless, I will be back at those two and will make up for the reservation I had to cancel at alla Testieri. Then if our respective travel plans works out, you'll be the first to know what happened.

[docsconz]

November is indeed a great time to be in Venice.The markets and the produce is indeed enviable. This makes it that much harder to understand why the restaurant fare is not uniformly better. The moleche were also a highlight for me.

[Kevin72]

We went on our honeymoon to Venice in the latter half of October and really enjoyed it. The mobs had died down considerably, the canals weren't as famously ripe as they are during warmer months. Pumpkins and mushrooms everywhere!

Be warned that this is also the time of year, however, that seasonal rains come in and flood much of Venice out. Maybe they diminish further into November?