Venice - Local Authenic food?
 

Spending 3 nights in Venice and don't want to eat at the Tourist Trap restaurants. We are looking for Authentic Italian food.

1. Pizza
2. Seafood
3. Homemade Pasta

Any suggestions?

Pasta is not big in Venice - they serve many more risottos (the north of Italy produces tons of rice. You can get pasta but it's not a specialty. Various types of seafood are local favorites - but be aware that fish is priced by weight - not portion - so you need to be careful what you order and what it will cost.

Since pizza doesn't come from Venice, you won't find "authentic" pizza anywhere. And it's risotto that Venice is known for more than pasta, though I found lots of excellent pasta when I was there last week.

I ate at Ribot and found the seafood excellent and very well priced. I had turbot, which was local and fresh, but they also serve a salt-crusted branzino, which is pretty expensive but looked delicious, and that's what the two local gentlemen in the corner were having. But don't get me wrong. While I found it a great place, it's still a touristy little restaurant, as are most of the restaurants in Venice. So don't think you'll find a locals-only place. Most restaurants wouldn't survive if they relied entirely on locals since they are a dwindling number these days.

Seafood (particularly shellfish) is very local and authentic, as is risotto with shellfish. Fritto Misto is also Venetian. I can't eat shellfish, so I wasn't able to find a risotto I could eat. I only had pasta one night, and it wasn't fresh pasta though it was very good; otherwise I had salads as first courses or grilled octopus, and then just fish.

Fodor's recommends Osteria Da Fiore as an authentically Venetian restaurant, but I didn't have time to go there.

Just remember that at the best places you have to make reservations. But there are many places that aren't tourist traps that still draw lots of tourists, as there are in NYC.

FYI: not all fish is priced by weight, but when it is the price is usually 1 euro per 100 g, which means a typical fish is going to cost you at least 20 euros (about $26). I did have an excellent whole branzino for 17 euros, which I found a very fair price. It was definitely more than a pound (though that included the head, tail, and bones of course).

In addition to shellfish and risottos, calves liver cut into thin strips and fried with onion ( fegato veniziano) is a famous local dish. We have had good luck there with baccala, salt codfish. I remember eating polenta there too.

We have eaten half a dozen times at La Bitta, Calle Lunga San Barnaba. Good food and great service.

Our favourite place in Venice. About 75 euro for two, including a bottle of wine.

Doug_Stallings - I think you meant either 10E per 100G or 1E per 10G as there are about 450G in a LB (making 20 Euros worth at 1E per 100G nearly 4.5 pounds!).

If you want some sort of authentic cuisine in Venice then you should try one of the cicchetti bars in the Rialto Market area.

And have yourself an Aperol spritz, very Venetian.

If you want to eat like a local you'll have to go to Mestra.

Thin

We like the pizza at Pier Dickens in Campo Santa Margarita. Quattro Stagione is our favorite!

The quality of pizza in Northern Italy in general has risen a lot since the 1990's when it was no better than Pizza Hut, but it isn't local or authentic.

if you have a wander around Cannaregio you have the possiblity to find more authentic restaurants. We came across one with workmen eating there just south of the Gesuiti church up by the fondamente nuova [do go there first to inspect the marble curtains, they are spectacular] - not much choice but what there was, including traditional dishes like risi e bisi [rice and peas, a sort of risotto] were very good.

as for home-made pasta, not all good pasta dishes are made with fresh pasta. Some dishes are felt to be better with dried pasta eg spaghetti alla vongole. but you would be better off searching out places serving risotto, polenta [La Bicca mentioned by Peter does a great polenta and mixed meat dish] and sarde in saor [a sort of lightly pickled sardine].

Yes, you are absolutely correct that I mistyped. Ten euros per 100g is correct ... and probably underestimated the cost as well. I think you're correct that most fish would weigh in at at least 400g, so 40 euros (more like $52 when priced by weight).