Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Prices start at €1 for tasty meatballs and range from €3 to €6 for gourmet fantasias with
fancy ingredients, typically devoured standing up or perched atop stools at the bar. Filling
cicheti
such as
crostini, panini
and
tramezzini
(sandwiches on soft bread, often with
mayo-based condiments) cost €1.50 to €6. Many
bacari
and
enoteche
(wine bars) also of-
fer nightly
cicheti
spreads that could easily pass as dinner.
For
cicheti
with ultrafresh ingredients at manageable prices, seek out
osterie
and
bacari
in Venice's backstreets, especially in these
cicheti
hot spots:
Cannaregio
Along Fondamenta degli Ormesini and off Strada Nuova.
San Polo & Santa Croce
Around the Rialto Market and Campo San Giacomo
dell'Orio.
Castello
Via Garibaldi and Calle Lunga Santa Maria Formosa.
San Marco
Around Campo San Bartolomeo, Campo Santo Stefano and Campo della
Guerra.
The Menu
Cicheti
are fresh alternatives to fast food worth planning your day around, but you'll also
want to treat yourself to a leisurely sit-down meal while you're in Venice, whether it's in a
back-alley
osteria
or canalside restaurant. If you stick to tourist menus you're bound to be
disappointed, but adventurous diners who order seasonal specialities are richly rewarded,
and often spend less too.
PIATTI (COURSES)
No one expects you to soldier through three courses plus antipasti and dessert, but no one
would blame you for trying either, given the many tempting
piatti
on the local menu. Con-
sider your à la carte options:
Antipasti
(appetisers) vary from lightly fried
moeche
(tiny soft-shell crabs) to lagoon-
fresh
crudi
(Venetian sushi) such as sweet mantis prawns, or a traditional platter of cured
meats and cheeses.
Primi
(first courses) usually include the classic Italian pasta or risotto; one Venetian
speciality pasta you might try is
bigoli,
a thick wheat pasta. Many Venetian restaurants
have adopted a hearty Verona speciality: gnocchi. Another traditional Venetian option is
polenta, white or yellow cornmeal formed into a cake and grilled, or served semisoft and
steaming hot. As the Venetian saying goes, '
Xe non xe pan, xe poenta'
(If there's no
bread, there's still polenta), a charming way of expressing a Zen-like lack of anxiety or
concern.
