We had dinner twice at the Taverna San Trovaso in Venice and both nights ate the Antipasti di Mare, which included calamari, prawns, a fried white fish, octopus and a delicious little piece of shellfish that we had never seen before. It was about 3 inches long, had a tail like a shrimp, body similar to a lobster tail and a pointed little head. The meat tasted very much like lobster. The waiter told us that there was no english work for it and I didn't write the Italian word down like I should have. Anybody know what it was? It was absolutely delicious!!

Langoustine?

Nancy,<BR>We just had dinner at Taverna San Trovaso last week. Wasn't it great? I had the fried shrimp. However, my husband had the coda di raspo (monkfish - grilled). We've fixed monkfish at home and it reminds us of lobster, though I've never had it fried. Could this be it?

Oh my God!!!! You ate a deep-fried gerbil!!!

No. Deep fried gerbil tastes just like chicken, not lobster. Must have been something else.

It sounds like Langoustino to me.

I think you are describing squill. The Knopf guide to Venice has (or at least had) as illustration of various seafood found in the lagoon. You might want to check for a copy of the guidebook at your local library and see if the picture matches what you ate.

A shrimp-type creature that is absolutely delicious, and is served all over Venice, is scampi. It is actually a salt-water crayfish. This could be, and probably is, what you ate. Scampi are very tender and are much better than shrimp, but so many visitors to Venice think they are shrimp when they see scampi on the menu. But that's just a problem with the American habit of giving names to things that make them sound fancier. In the U.S. you see "shrimp scampi" on the menu, or some similar term, and it's simply shrimp. Real scampi are different, are caught in the Adriatic, and are very popular in all the coastal areas of the Adriatic.

Wayne-scampi is the method of cooking!<BR><BR>Scampi-garlic and butter.<BR><BR>Shrimp is cooked scampi style.<BR><BR>Langoustine look like tiny lobsters,or very large shrimp.They taste more like lobster.<BR>If it was a shellfish,that is most likely what they were,monkfish is not a shellfish.Nor are gerbils, although they do taste like chicken.

Julia---<BR>I beg to differ. Yours is the common American interpretation and is totally incorrect when applied to scampi in Italy or other such areas.

Julia is not American.

Julia is American and bows to Waynes superior knowledge in his seafood!<BR>Scampi is a European lobster,larger than a shrimp although I am sure that they are not as large as our New England lobsters!<BR>Thank you Wayne,you are never too old to learn something new!

Cannocchia, translated as mantis shrimp, has a body similar to a lobster tail.

Canocchie are flat shellfish, mantis prawn is the English translation. They are quite wonderful. At the Pescaria Rialto, the are lined up on their back with their fins/feet waving in the air which is why my wife and I think of them as friendly shellfish. They are often served simply boiled with a little oil on them. They also can be found in Risotto or in a furutti di mare. Their claws are attached right to their heads.<BR><BR>Scampi are true prawns with a claw attached to an "arm". Since these shellfish are not available in American waters, shrimp are often cooked "Scampi style" in garlic, olive oil or butter and broiled. Most dished bearing the name scampi in America are forgettable and made from ordinary shrimp. True scampi are foten made "alla Griglia" in Italy, grilled and drizzled with a little oil and parsley. You eat the tail and then peel the head apart and suck out the juices. <BR><BR>Both of these shellfish have a sweetness similar to lobster with the texture more like shrimp.

Langoustino have pointy faces with long antennae and curved bodies like a large shrimp and also look like crayfish.

No I must say that all of you except one are mistaken. It was in fact a deep fried gerbil. The Venetians are well known as being big gerbil eaters. In fact they even like to have them sliced thinly for breakfast.

Hi everybody, it was funny to read all this message just for a little piece of shellfish. I can go to Taverna San Trovaso tomorrow and find out was the fish was, if someone is still interested.<BR>Anyway, SCAMPI is not a way of cooking, is the name of a fish. <BR>Bye now

Hi Max,that was already covered.It is a fish and it is a way of preparing a fish.<BR>

I'm the original poster, and while I am pretty confident that the shellfish in question was a langostine, It would be nice if you could check and let us all know. It was on the Antipasti di Mare.

Nancy---Not to prolong this, but your description of the size is what led me to conclude that what you ate was scampi, not langoustini. Langoustini are much larger, sorta like a small lobster, and would not be as small as you described. However, if the shellfish "tail only" was about 3 inches long after cooking, it could possibly be langoustini. The way I know the difference is mostly because of size, plus scampi are usually served as tail meat only; whereas langoustini are frequently served whole. If served whole, each one would typically be 6 to 8 inches long. The other difference is that scampi are more tender than langoustini; they almost melt in your mouth, whereas langoustini have the texture of shrimp.