Fantastic Food Guide to Venice, and an iphone app

Venice Osterie - Apparently, as we discovered on this trip, the place to get a great local dining guide is in a museum.  (The first great restaurant guide I found was at the Villa Borghese in Rome).  We went to the Palazzo Ducale, and found this guide in the gift shop.  It looked good and so Skye and I both bought one.  As it turns out it is the best guide out there for Venice.  Our waiter at Osteria L’Orto dei Mori actually saw me looking at the book and said, “that is a great guidebook”.  Not only does Michela Scibilia (the author) give you the best tips on bars and restaurants, but she also provides a food dictionary in the back to help you figure out what everything on the menu is.    This book is also available as an iphone application called “Tap Venice”.  She also has a book on Murano (we didn’t get there in our two days) as well as a shopping guide to Venice.  If you are going to Venice, BUY HER BOOKS (or her iphone application).  I wish she wrote for every city in the world.  


 “TapVenice is the iphone edition of Venice Osterie by Michela Scibilia. For the past 15 years, Michela’s handbook, now in its fifth edition, has been Venetians’ favourite guide to eating out in their own city”.   
The guide contains only restaurants personally selected by Michela, who has lived in Venice for more than 20 years. What you won’t find in TapVenice is paid advertisements or sponsored recommendations. TapVenice does not require an internet connection. Maps can be consulted offline.”  

Great Restaurants in Venice

Skye had two recommendations for restaurants in Venice, and boy were they amazing!  Two very different food experiences, and both were fantastic.

Tratorria Da’a Marisa - At Dalla Marisa you let the chef (Marisa) control your experience.  There are no menus, so sit back and enjoy the ride. 

We tried to call to make a reservation but the person who answered the phone did not speak English, so we decided to chance it and just walk over.  It's a real family affair- Marisa cooks up a storm while you are waited on by one of her attractive children, either her daughter Vanda or son Stefano Bianchi. We were there on a fish night and it was scrumptious!  We started with stuffed mussels, a white fish salad, a fish tartare, a grilled octopus dish and polenta.  

This was followed by seafood lasagna with an Alfredo sauce, a fritto misto course and a mascarpone cream dessert served in a small bowl with biscuits.  The meal is several courses and by the last two, Vanda asked if we would like to share one portion instead of having our own.  That might have been the way to go for the entire meal.   A few days later, we picked up a fantastic local restaurant guidebook  (I will tell you about that tomorrow) that describes Marisa as “the most Venetian eatery in the city.”  It seats less than two dozen, most of which is outside along the canal. The food was traditional and delicious, the view was gorgeous and the atmosphere sublime.  You are missing a real find if you don’t eat here. 

652b, Fondamenta San Giobbe, Cannaregio 41-720211.  Closed Sunday, Monday and Wednesday evenings

Osteria L’Orto dei Mori – I think this might have been one of the best meals we had in Italy (and we had some amazing meals).  If the weather is nice you will definitely need a reservation to sit outside.  We didn’t have a reservation but arrived just as they opened and we were able to get a table inside.

Inside the décor is playful yet elegant.  Very cozy. It must be a fantastic room in chilly weather.  It was very cool!  

The food is a twist on traditional Italian dishes, and the presentation is like a work of art.  (The pictures of the food we will show don’t do the dishes justice, as the lighting was really dim).  Every course we had was phenomenal.  We started with tuna carpaccio, followed by spinach tagliatelle with cuttlefish & cuttlefish ink sauce (apparently a traditional dish of the region).  

All of the pastas are made fresh in-house.   Our last course was a beef filet with Bleu Cheese and polenta.  We had chocolate mousse with Kent cherries and rum sauce for dessert.  

The wine was superb  (a 2008 Planeta, one of our favorite Sicilian producers) and the service was outstanding.  The only words I can say to you are GO! GO! GO!!!!  This gets an A++ in my book.

(It is a little confusing on the maps, so you might be better off taking the water taxi to the closest stop if you don’t have google maps on your phone.)