Originally Posted by
mosburger
One would think that Venetian restaurant proprietors take pride in dishing out inedible, overpriced nosh on their "menu turistico".
On the other hand, my ex-GF from Padova once explained to me that the restaurant owners quickly lose interest in customers who only want meals consisting of meat and potatos.
Well, Venice is quite expensive to live in/own a business, so prices are undoubtedly high. Just the cost of a small apartment alone can be more than an apartment in Manhattan. And given the extremely small area of Venice, there is no room to grow, so costs only go up and up.
As for the quality of food in Venice, you just have to know where to go. Inevitably, places near Piazza San Marco and the Rialto can have some lower standards. Afterall, some Italians have the idea that the daily American diet consists of three meals made at McDonalds. Not exactly gourmet cuisine.
It is a typically Venetian tradition to eat cicchetti anytime in the late afternoon with a few spritzes with aperol. The cost of these is low and the quality is usually very high and they are made fresh every afternoon. This is a great way to have an inexpensive snack in the afternoon.
Remember, Italian cooking isn't about complicated sauces and cooking styles. It's about fresh, organic, whole foods that are grilled or roasted with a focus on fresh herbs and olive oil. Pasta is mainly eaten at lunchtime, but can also be found at dinner as a first course. There are basically 5 sauces: arrabiato (spicy), ragł (meat sauce with tomatoes), pomodoro (just tomatoes with fresh herbs), pesto (fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, and olive oil made into a paste), and carbonara (pancetta, pecorino or parmesan cheese, egg yolk, and pepper). Yes, there are many more ways to prepare pasta, but these are the basic and main dressings for pasta. The idea of complicated, hard to prepare sauces that must bubble on the stove for hours is utter nonsense. Yes, ragł can be slow-simmered, but this is not necessary to achieve a good ragł.
Food in the north of Italy is vastly different than food in the south. It is important to note that 80% of Americans of Italian ancestry come from the south. So, it is quite common that most "authentic" Italian restaurants in the US serve southern Italian food. Some favorite dishes we find in America simply do not exist in the north or are very difficult to find. Most Americans wouldn't know about Baccalą vicentina, Bigoli con anatra, Fegato alla veneziana, but you would be hard-pressed to find a northeastern Italian who hasn't eaten these. Northern Italian lasagna usually has just 2 small layers of pasta with ragł and ricotta inbetween then covered with bechamel sauce. A Napolitano or Calabrian cook would shudder at the thought of putting bechamel on top of a lasagna, and it must be made several layers taller, prepared one day in advance, and put in the refrigerator to mix the flavors together. Italian cuisine is extremely varied and differs from region to region, province to province. Even in my province, there are typical dishes or foods that are not found in the province next door.
If you want recommendations for good quality eating in and around the Venice area (even Mestre or Padova), don't hesitate to send me a PM. I am a foodie and have a waistline to prove it!
