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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You're In the Hands of Experts, October 20, 2003
This review is from: Chow Venice: Savoring the Food and Wine of La Serenissima (Paperback)
Venice is known as a feast for the eyes but not for the belly--that is, it's known as a town where you can't expect to dine very well. Ordinary is what you'll get at best, and sub-par more often. Well, that's partly true, even largely true for the hapless, unarmed tourist. And Venice is quintessentially a tourist town. Live with it. Or don't, because there are plenty of good places where Venetians eat, and they are well worth discovering. Fortunately for you, Shannon Essa and Ruth Edenbaum have done that already, and they have published their secrets. In this tiny book they give extensive details on 40 restaurants and 40 bars ranging from cheap to very expensive, from drop in any time to 'reservations strongly recommended,' from calm and delightful to noisy and smoky, from cash to cards. Their attention to detail is excellent. They give you not only menu recommendations but the name of the nearest vaporetto stop AND walking directions from there. (One's gratitude knows no bounds.) They know the little secrets. Of course, everone by now has heard of the ombra, that traditional Venetian cooler, buy do you know the sgroppino? Do you know cichetti? Do you know that when ordering coffee in Venice (and everywhere else in Italy) you should forget anything that you've ever heard (or had) at Starbucks? Well, Essa and Edenbaum do. This is the sort of book that makes you wish longingly to know as much as the authors do. Well, buy it and you're on your way. Note to the publisher: Yo! Next time, publish this in pocket-size format, OK? Readers will want to carry it with them. --Bill Marsano is the wine editor of Hemispheres, the magazine of United Airlines; he visits Italy three to six times a year.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't eat in Venice without this book, November 8, 2005
This review is from: Chow Venice: Savoring the Food and Wine of La Serenissima (Paperback)
This book saved our trip to Venice! We have traveled to Italy many times , and always enjoy the food tremendously- EXCEPT when we had made previous, short trips to Venice. Even when accompanied by Italian friends, we were ripped off by places with "tourist menus" (high prices and indifferent food combined with snarly service).
I bought this book for our recent return visit and it was invaluable! It proved it's worth on the very first day- before we unpacked and could check the book, we went to the first pizza place we saw, famished, soaking wet from a heavy rain, thinking, "Hey it's just lunch, how bad can it be?" HAH! 43 euros (yes, forty three) for two inedible pizzas, one beer and dirty tables. The next day, eating at Casa Mia, a place we would never have found without this book, we had some of the best pizza in Italy, a half-liter of superb house wine, friendly service...for 14 euros!
The book divides Venice into manageable neighborhoods, and gives very good directions. We founds great places for pizza, for drinks before dinner, for meeting friends for dinner, for cappucino in the morning. A very nice bonus was exploring the "less-touristed" parts of this beautiful city, guided by the suggestions and directions in the book.
I absolutely recommend this book for anyone traveling to Venice (my Italian friends want a copy!)- it will literally pay for itself with the first meal!
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Marvelous Book, October 21, 2004
This review is from: Chow Venice: Savoring the Food and Wine of La Serenissima (Paperback)
We ate in Venice for seven days and Chow Venice never failed us. The one time we used a local resident's advice we appreciated Chow Venice even more.
The authors never missed, from inexpensive pizzerias to top-of-the line restaurants. The directions to the restaurants were always accurate - an important feature.
I could not ask for a better book - short, precise, clear and readable.
The food in Venice is wonderful. Use this book and enjoy both the food and the book.
Reading the 2nd edition of Chow Venice made me want to get on a plane to Venice immediately. It is a wonderfully lively, thoughtful and trustworthy book, brought up to date and expanded.
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