Some years ago when I visited Venice I stumbled into a small sort of hole in the wall wine bar with a wide range of plates of appetizer sized foods. Wonderful little stuffed octupus, fish in bite sized portions, etc... I can't remember where this place was, except for I think it was in the rough vicinity of the Rialto bridge. Any ideas about this place, or other similar spots? My wife and I will be in Venice for three nights late in June.

Those Italian finger food resembling Spanish tapas are called Cichetti (I hope I spelled correct - pronounced Chikéti). There is a wine bar in Dorsoduro area where I go for aperitif almost every time I visit Venice. I believe it's called al Bottegon, on a small canal and facing a gondola repair shop and San Trovaso Church. I see both locals and tourists (like me!)as clientel there. They also sell wine, champagne & prosecco.

Hi
I know that Rick Steves has a Bacari tour in his guidebook, maybe on his website too.
Here are some suggestions I've gleaned and put in my Venice file:

Osteria Bentigodi da Andrea, near the Ghetto. Rio Tera Farsetti 1424, phone 041 716269.

Nearby is the Trattoria Ca d'Oro, also called Osteria dalla Vedova, Ramo Ca'd'Oro, Cannaregio, phone 041 528 5324 This is one of the most reliable and well-known places in Venice. "Vedova" means widow, just fyi.
Get off the vaporetto at Ca D'Oro, walk up the alleyway to the main street. Once you get to the main street go straight across it into another little alley and the trattoria is there. Also praised in Time Out Venice, Gourmet magazine, etc.

Osteria alla Bomba, Calle dell'Oca 4297, Cannaregio, phone 041 520 1438. salami, local cheeses, and grilled and fried fish.

At Osteria ai Assassini, near San Marco, Rio Tera ai Assassini 3695, phone 041 5287986, the pasta was mediocre but the soups were delicious.

Nearby in a little cul-de-sac off the Frezzeria (also San Marco area) is Osteria da Carla, Corte Contarina 1535, phone 041 523 7855.

Cantinone Gia Schiavi, Fondamenta Nani 992, Dorsoduro, phone 041 5230034. Open-faced sandwiches and wine.

I just re-read what I wrote, I didn't mean to imply that I'd gleaned all those suggestions from Rick Steves (I rarely take his food suggestions) but from several sources over the years, including this very forum.

nadroj108, your hole in the wall near Rialto sounds like our hole in the wall, which we enjoyed numerous times on our visit in 2003.

From my trip report:

"We finally decided to stop at a little osteria just on the other side of the Rialto Bridge. There seemed to be only locals there, so it looked like a good choice. BANCOGIRO OSTERIA DA ANDREA, CAMPO SAN GIACOMETTO, SAN POLO, 122-30125 VENEZIA, TELEPHONE: 0415232061 was fabulous. Turns out that this would be one of our fave hangouts during our stay in Venice. It was mostly a wine bar that served cichetti, as well. We had calamari salad, along with assorted cheeses with honey that night. I would have never thought of combining cheese with honey, but it was really unique and very good. The calamari salad was also very good. Total cost with wine was 30 euro. I think, however, what we enjoyed most at this place was the tranquil atmosphere and it's location on the Grand Canal. It was very serene and enjoyable as we'd sit and watch a lone gondola pass by every once in awhile. My husband and I agreed that we could just sit there forever. But, we finally had to go home as it was getting very late after a much enjoyed first day in the mystical city of Venice."

If this isn't the place you went before, I highly recommend giving it a try on this trip.

> BANCOGIRO OSTERIA DA ANDREA

Although I don't remember the name, on the Venice map, it looks like the one we went once in 2003. We entered the bar from the church side then took a table on the terrace facing the Grand Canal. A glass of good red with a plate of cichetti was great for a late afternoon break. The place was also like 50 meters from Venice's famous fish market.

Sounds like the same place, kappa.

Check out the recommendations at slowtrav.com for Venice wine bars and bibite (snacks). I printed this out - it is written by a woman who lived for a year - and we took it with us last year as I know from experience how expensive Venice is. We followed a few of her recommendations and were please. I believe it is Shannon who writes about Venice.

There are lots of hole-in-the-wall places like this in Venice. The place near the Rialto Bridge might be Alla Botte - was it on the San Marco side? Alla Botte is off Campo San Bartolomeo and has a wide selection of cichetti. Go to the Campo, find the public restroom, and go around the corner. There is also a wine shop back there now. The street address is Calle della Bissa 5482.

A little farther from the bridge in Cannaregio, Ai Promessi Sposi has a pretty stellar variety of cichetti, as well as larger plates of pasta and meats you can eat standing at the bar. Calle dell' Oca 4367 (off Campo SS Apostoli.)

And if you see a bar full of Venetians eating and drinking, that is probably a bar with cichetti worth checking out.

Many good suggestions to my post about where to find what I now know are called Bacari (wine and small plate bars). Prompted by your responses and some reading I just did in a guidebook (Fodors!) I think the name of the place I stumbled into several years back is DO SPADE, in the San Polo district.

Do Spade

http://www.dospadevenezia.it/index_en.htm

Are you sure Do Spade is the place you rememebr? I ate there last November. It did not look like a wine bar (maybe there was a bar section by the entrance but I don't remember typical bar setting - counter, etc - there, Anyway I went there as a restaurant and from above site it does look like a restaurant.

The location is a bit farther than the fish market from Rialto bridge and in an narrow and arcaded alley just before a small bridge over a side canal.

Looking at the web site (http://www.dospadevenezia.it/index_en.htm) there is no way that Do Spade is the spot I remember from several years ago. "My" place was sort of mostly a wine bar, would have been full with 20 people in it, had an entrance on both sides of its horizontal layout though the front was on a larger street and the primary entrance, and while most people stood at the bar there were some sort of tables or shelves against the back wall where people could prop their plates.

Nadroj, I think your wine bar is Cantina do Mori. Your description matches it perfectly.

Do Spade recently changed hands. It is not so much a wine bar any more but lots of locals go there to drink wine. Emilio, the new owner, is a lot of fun. He is going to be opening a new place next to Bancogiro, so now there will be two places to drink wine on the Grand Canal by the fish market! (I'll report,in April, as to whether this new place has opened.)

It looks as if Bancogiro-Osteria da Andrea has now added an indoor dining room as recent as October 2004. Found the below info at http://www.departures.com/bb/bb_1004_venice.html

"The menu changes daily at Bancogiro-Osteria da Andrea, Andrea Varisco's newly opened 12-table dining room. A recent meal included grouper with artichokes, endive with melted Morlacco cheese and walnuts, and a bottle of Tocai from Friuli. Ask for a table outside by the canal. Dinner, $60. At 122 Campo San Giacometto; 39-041/523-2061. —P.R."

Here is another, older link with good info.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?...p;#entry404063