Chow Venice: Savoring the Food and Wine of La Serenissima, Second Edition ( Revised and Updated) [Paperback]

Shannon Essa (Author), Ruth Edenbaum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2006

The city of Venice is one of the most beautiful in the world, but visits are too often marred by meals at bad restaurants with high prices, unscrupulous waiters, and tasteless food. This new edition of "Chow! Venice" reveals the best places to eat and drink, from simple sandwiches and pizzas to elegant four-course meals. Discover places off the beaten track as well as steps away from St. Mark's Square. Learn how, when and what the Venetians eat and drink, where to get the best cichetti (Venetian bar snacks) and where to find restaurants and bars open after 10.00pm. In addition to restaurants and bars, there's a list of markets, speciality food stores and wine shops. Whether you are visiting Venice for three days, three weeks or three months, "Chow! Venice" will prove to be an invaluable resource and guide.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"They (Essa & Edenbaum) know the little secrets. This is the sort of book that makes you wish longingly to know as much as they do". Bill Marsano, Wine Editor, Hemispheres Magazine"

About the Author

Shannon Essa has spent weeks, months, and even a whole year in Venice. Much of this time was spent in the restaurants and bars you will read about here. She now resides in San Diego, California.

Ruth Edenbaum has been in love with Venice since her first visit. She now spends more than two months a year there. Her years of teaching cooking, writing and reading about food as well as eating in Venice are reflected in this book. She has lived in NJ for more than 30 years. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 194 pages
• Publisher: Wine Appreciation Guild; 2nd edition (November 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934259004
• ISBN-13: 978-1934259009
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #757,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

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

By 

Bill Marsano (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

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.

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

By 

Katherine Coleman "Loves Italy" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Marvelous Book, October 21, 2004

By 

lomein - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

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.