My girlfriend and I will be going into Venice for a day and will be there for lunch and dinner. We will be coming in on the train (at Santa Maria Lucia station) and will want to venture into Venice to explore and hopefully find some good eats (NO TOURISTY SPOTS PLEASE) without spending too much. We would like to have lunch and dinner -- one nice meal at least, one a little simpler possibly, and maybe sample a few things we find a long the way during the day. We are not opposed to going off the beaten path for food--we just don't have 75 euro to spend per person on a meal. We've allocated approximately 200 euros for the day, however if there are great cheap finds, that's never a problem. On the other hand, if there's something we just have to try that might stretch our budget a bit, we're open to suggestions. Also, any suggestions on things we should check out while we're there (not sightseeing--did that last time), we would greatly appreciate it.

thanks for any help you can offer.

You might try al veda, also known as trattoria Ca D'oro. It was mentioned in one of the other parts of ths website. Our dinner there was euro9 for the primi and euro 11 for the secondi (fried local seafood). It is not easy to find but is off of the Strada Nova , near the Ca D'oro museum/gallery. There is a Vaporetta stop for Ca d'oro.

There is a part of this website that lists restaurants in Venice and you can sort them by cost, location, and some other criteria.

La Zucca for lunch or dinner.

http://www.lazucca.it/ita/index.asp?L=2

> NO TOURISTY SPOTS PLEASE

You are on a budget, don't be picky ! ;-) In any case tourists are everywhere.

That said, I can recommend :
Trattoria San Trovaso in Dorsoduro, descent food, you can eat 3-course with a 1/4 litre wine from €20. This place is talked abou here and at tripadvisor.com repeatedly so many tourists too evevitably. From my experice most sit-down restaurants in Venice are more expensive than this.

Brek - self service restaurant in Cannaregio, 2 minute walk from the railway way station on the main street. You can eat their cheap (for venice anyway), no hidden charge. On TA forum a venetian resident recomended this place more for convenience. I tried it twice, it was ok and convenient indeed.

This one is perhaps less known because it is rather new. The name is Uno. It's a restaurant with a terrace in a small square behind San Zulian church in San Marco area. Honest food and no coperto (cover charge) that's exceptional in Venice.

> so many tourists too, evevitably.

Inevitably !