Trattoria Rampa
Venice
Miraculously, corners of Venice remain unchanged by the tourism that bustles through most of the city. At the end of Via Garibaldi, moored on the canalside, is one of the last fruit and vegetable boats in town, and right in front of it, with its ancient hand-painted sign, is the venerable Trattoria Alla Rampa. Life starts early for the working men living around here, so the Rampa opens at 4.50am. The bar is run by Fabio Fontebasso, while his sister, Fabie, cooks an ever-changing menu of Venetian dishes using fresh, seasonal products. Lunch is served in a rustic dining room at the back, and from 12pm to 12.45pm there is a €13 menu’operai, a fixed worker’s menu of pasta, main course, wine and coffee. “If there is space,” says Fabie, “then tourists can sit down and order too, but normally it is packed out and a second a la carte service begins at 1pm.” Specialities include a delicious zuppa di pesce, spaghetti alle vongole, risi e bisi (Venetian rice and peas) and seppie in tecia (squid cooked in its own black ink served on a bed of polenta).
Pasta €10, main dishes around €14.
• Via Garibaldi 1135, Castello, +390 41 528 5365 , lunch only, closed Sunday
Trattoria d' Marisa
This old-fashioned trattoria is a Venetian institution that has been serving delicious traditional dishes at affordable prices since it opened in 1965. It is packed to bursting every lunchtime with a noisy mix of workers in overalls, students from the nearby architecture faculty and curious tourists; you can sit inside the cosy oak-beamed dining room or grab a waterside table and watch boats pass by on the busy Canale di Cannaregio. This neighborhood used to be the site of Venice’s abbatoir, and Marisa made a reputation for nose-to-tail cuisine with dishes such as risotto con le secoe, using beef bone marrow. Today, her daughter Wanda runs the kitchen, still making favorites such as tripe stew, but also rich ragu sauces and tasty roast rabbit. The lunchtime menu is dominated by meat, and for €15 you can feast off a steaming plate of pasta, one of the dishes of the day, vegetables, wine and coffee. At night, the speciality is seafood, though expect to pay around €35 a head.
• Fondamenta di San Giobbe 652B, Cannaregio, +39 041 720211, open every lunchtime, Thu-Sat evening by reservation
alla Vedova
Venice's most Popular Bacaro
"Venetian Wine Bar"
Talking about Bacaro in Venice, this "Alla Vedova" is the best!
Venice, the town of water is a unique place in the world. Transportation of the town is only by boats and there is no car running. The Canal Grande, the splendid palaces of Venetian architecture, trails called Calle and canals, tunnels called sottoportego... a fantastic labyrinth-like town.
Such a unique Venetian culture influenced also their cuisine. Bacaro is a local wine bar where the locals relax and enjoy eating snacks called Cichetti. They are looking forward to chatting with friends at night. The most famous one of the many Venetian Bacaros is here "Trattoria Ca' D'Oro "Alla Vedova".
The basic style of a Bacaro is drinking wine with Cichetti (snacks) standing. But like many Bacaros here "Alla Vedova" has lots of seating as well, so you can eat at table like a normal restaurant. The price is also affordable. Please try a Bacaro tour if you go to Venice.
Reservations are required for dinner. For lunch, let's try to visit earlier or later!
This "Alla Vedova" is always very crowded. That would be its only defect. For dinner it's impossible to enter without reservations. Also for lunch it's better to make a reservation, or you can go earlier or around 14.00 (opening or closing time). Every time, in front of the restaurant full of customers are waiting for seats. While waiting, let's enjoy aperitif. Order local white wine with Cichetti and wait patiently.
Even if you make a reservation, the capacity is same so it's not suitable for those who want to eat slowly and quietly...
Inside is a typical Italian Trattoria!
The official name of this restaurant is "Trattoria Ca' D'Oro". It's located just in two minutes by walk from the Vaporetto stop "Ca' D'Oro". And "Alla Vedova" means "widow". That's because since the death of the father of current owner and his mother became a widow, local regulars started to call here "a trattoria of a widow"...
On the wall many pictures, photographs and even copper pots are hung from the ceiling. They are very pretty! You can enjoy a relaxed atmosphere. Simple wooden tables and chairs are pleasant and instead of the tablecloths, paper cloths are used. It's like a popular dining room. I feel this style is also nice.
It's popular because of delicious dishes!
Why the locals love this trattoria so much? Because it's simply "delicious". "The seafood appetizer platter" is simple but prepared with fine care. Many plates of this restaurant are a little bit smaller than other places. In Italy it's normal to share a plate of appetizers (generally very big). Here there are 2 sizes. "Small plate" of 9 euros wouldn't enough to divide in two people... so let's order "Large (18 euros)".
Bigoli, Spaghetti with squid ink sauce, Scampi...
Also the pasta dishes are excellent!!! I frequented every day and tried three types of pasta. All were tasty. First, a traditional Venetian cuisine "Bigoli in Salsa". That is thick spaghetti in a simple source of onion and anchovy sauce. It's a rustic dish of traditional taste.
Talking about Venetian spaghetti, everyone would like to try "Spaghetti with squid ink sauce (Bavette al nero di seppia)". It's also exceptional. The noodles boiled al dente are suitable to smooth tasty sauce of squid ink. It's aromatic and satisfying.
"Spaghetti with scampi (Spaghetti alla busera)" has an exquisite harmony of fresh tomato sauce with hot pepper and scampi. In the mouth the sweetness of shrimps will spread.
VEDOVA
Bar & Dining Room
BIGOLI
Venetian Buckwheat Pasta
With Anchovy Sauce
alla ARCO
Across the iconic Rialto bridge, on the other side of the Grand Canal and tucked down an alleyway, is tiny All' Arco (Calle Arco, San Polo 436, lunchtime only). On a Saturday lunchtime this friendly bacaro was heaving with shoppers from the nearby Rialto market, which sells a stunning selection of fresh fish and remains a favorite meeting place for Venetians. Plates of cicheti on the bar – langoustines, calamari, liver, speck and prawns, all served on slices of bread – were tasty enough, but what the owner Francesco Pinto was preparing behind it looked even more appetising. The hot sandwich of boiled beef sausages (which, he gesticulated, are made from the meat in the cow's head) served with mustard was the perfect winter comfort food.
Cantina d' Vino gia Schiava
Thanks to the quantity, variety, and quality of its cichetti and wines and its location, the bacaro “Cantine del Vino già Schiavi” is a known bacaro in Venice and the most popular among students also due to its proximity to the university. The nice and traditional bacaro looks, the great selection of typical as well as original and creative cichetti, the good wines, its position on a fondamenta and the view if offers on one of the last squeri (gondola-making place) make this our favorite bacaro in the Dorsoduro district.
Opposite Cantinone–già Schiavi (992 Ponte San Trovaso), located on a canal in Dorsoduro, is another symbol of disappearing Venice: one of the city's last gondola workshops. Schiavi is really a wine shop that sells food on the side – although the cheese and fennel crostini were delicious. The walls are covered floor to ceiling by bottles, and there is a fantastic choice of 10 or so wines by the glass, mostly from the Veneto region, starting at €2. That, I noted, was the same price as the house, so I made a pest of myself and started to work through the labels (well, the glasses are tiny).
Do Draghi
Venice is notorious for its lack of nightlife, but a good place to end a bar crawl is Campo Santa Margarita, the hangout for local and international students. Ai Do Draghi, at the north end of the square and known as the red house as much for its political leaning as for the colour of the facade, was swarming when I arrived. Like me, the cicheti were looking a little tired and dog-eared by late evening, so I ended the night with their excellent spritz, the classic Venetian cocktail (whose recipe Norman admits to nicking for Polpo).
CICHETTI at Al SQUERO
Al Squero is the only Osteria in Venice exactly in front of the Ancient Squero of San Trovaso. There is no other place where appreciating from its window the construction or restoration of original Venetian gondolas. It is a cozy and comfortable place where you can share with friends a glass of Italian wine and taste an appetizing “cicchetto” at a small price. The selection of wines you can taste or buy at Al Squero comes from small regional wine firms of Friuli, Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto, so that it is guaranteed unique care at the quality and distinctiveness of their products.
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