Have reservations at da Fiore and Al Covo and....
 

<BR>need your advice.<BR><BR>Will be visiting Venice (2nd visit)the end of September (from Texas). Always appreciate "heads up". <BR><BR>What.............<BR><BR>1. Are their best dishes if you like wine reduction and cream sauces? Prefer local dishes not available elsewhere.<BR><BR>2. Will be the cost if we get the entree, bottle of house Chianti Reserva, desert and coffee?<BR><BR>3. Will they say if I am dressed in nice sport shirt and slacks?<BR><BR>4. Would you tip (not "would you tip" but "what would you tip"?<BR><BR>Thanks for your insight!

Duck,<BR><BR>At Da Fiore, try to get the table (the ONLY table available) on the canal... or at least as close to the rear of the resto as possible...and I hope that they have the pumpkin risotto on the menu when you are there...it was to die for. Creamy, rich, and delicatley balanced with wine and chicken stock.<BR><BR>As long as you enter with a sports jacket over your sport shirt...<BR><BR>They have a pretty reasonable wine list, I'm racking my brain to remember the name of the bottle of wine we ordered, I can see it in my mind, but argh! I can't remember, you can get this great local wine from the Venezia region,(La fioli) something like that, for the same as Chianti Reserva...ask for local suggestions based on what you order, they've never steered me wrong or suggested something too expensive...there aren't that many local wines, so you will enjoy it.<BR><BR>The two of us spent $100 a piece, worth every lira, uh, Euro.<BR>You are lucky! This is foodie heaven.<BR><BR>Buon Appetito.<BR><BR>

<BR>Tip if you liked

Italian wine is so much cheaper in Italy that you really ought to try something that ends up being prohibitively expensive at home (at my home outside of Boston, anyway). We had a 1996 Allegrini Amarone at Al Covo that was so good we ended up buying another bottle to bring home. As I recall the cost was the equivalent of about $60. We had a 1997 Tignanello in a superb Milan restaurant for about $40, roughly half of the liquor store price here!

<BR>Thanks for assistance.<BR><BR>Will try some new Italian reds. <BR><BR>Duck