Day 12: Venice Part 2
On Thursday, we took a 45 minute boat ride north of Venice to an island called Burano. Although this area is well known for the art of lace making, we really came to eat at Trattoria Da Romano, a restaurant notorious for their creamy risotto. There's a long list of celebrities that have universally praised their food and service, including legendary figures like Ernest Hemingway and Henri Matisse to current superstars such as Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro. This iconic trattoria was featured in Bourdain's No Reservations over 10 years ago. After watching the surreal footage of the preparations and cooking techniques of their risotto, we knew we had to eat at Da Romano.
Risotto is a time consuming dish that requires careful attention. The arborio rice in the broth is usually brought to a boil and then reduced to a simmer. The rice has to be stirred constantly to prevent sticking and burning. As the liquid reduces, you carefully add more broth and repeat the process until the rice is cooked all the way through. If done properly, the risotto is creamy without the need of dairy.
At Da Romano, they take it a step further by cooking the rice in a special seafood broth. The local go fish is not a desirable fish to eat because of the large portions of bone to the very little meat. Instead they use it to create a very flavorful fish stock. The go fish has to the be gently boiled and simmered because if it is handled too aggressively, an undesired dark product can be released, resulting in a foul taste. What is even more fascinating is how they mix the rice. Somehow the chef forcefully shifts the pot forward and upward launching the rice to what it looks, 2 feet in the air. The risotto lands precisely back in the pot and the process is repeated until it reaches creamy perfection. Search for the video online...it's really gravity defying.
Allow the chef 45 minutes to cook the speciality and what you receive is possibly the best risotto in the world. It was perfect with some parmesan cheese and chopped parsely. We couldn't believe there was no milk or cream added. They also have spectacular fried calamari that is lightly breaded served with lemon wedges and polenta. To us, it was definitely worth the ferry ride to Burano. Unfortunately Jackie wasn't feeling too well at the end of the meal. It was actually quite warm on Thursday leading us to think it may related to dehydration. We relaxed and rehydrated at our airbnb for the rest of the afternoon and early evening.
Before heading to our 9 pm dinner resevation, we stopped at Vini Da Arturo to place our names down for lunch the next day. This restaurant was very difficult to find. Google maps led us pretty close to it but kept relocating us to a residential square. After finding the address on the map, we finally discovered the hidden gem tucked away from the busy area. One of servers approached us after placing the monster size piece of pork on a table. He made a mental note of our lunch reservation request for the next day, as it was very busy during dinner service. Fingers crossed he remembers us tomorrow!
The evening grew dark as we crossed bridges and turned down many narrow side streets. The drops we felt on our head signaled our feet to walk faster. Luckily Antica Locanda Montin was much easier to find. We entered the restaurant only to find everyone was out back in the beautiful garden. The archway made out of plants and flowers was something you would find at Longwood Gardens. The trees and branches appear to have interwined and embedded itself into the metal frame, creating an impressive covering over all the tables.
Since Jackie was not completely recovered from lunch, we mainly ate pasta that night. She did try some of the fresh seafood sampler that included white fish, shrimp, octopus and mantis shrimp. However what she found very pleasing was the simple spaghetti tossed in red sauce. We also enjoyed the ravoli sized tortelloni stuffed with mild cheese. The main reason why we love travelling is the discovery of truly amazing food. Every dish we taste, we find inspiration that we can take home and attempt to recreate in our kitchen. If only we can figure out how to replicate this red marinara sauce to put on our homemade pizzas.
Friday will be our last day in Venice before travelling south, almost 4 hours by train to Rome. We have a few more restaurants to visit on our Bourdain-Rosenthal food crawl...and we saved the best for last!