Travel and Food

A section dedicated to food finds and ruminations on the small and large, near and far.


OAXACO, MEXICO

1/13/08—I have just gotten back from Oaxaca in Mexico which is the home of a variety of moles: black, red, green, yellow and more. I went online and searched until I found some to buy. At lunch, I heated some yellow mole and poured it over steamed vegetables. They were excellent. Coming soon, more about mole and the food of Oaxaca and over time, the restaurants and hotels.


A simple Mexican grill


VENICE RESTAURANTS

10/2/07—I am fairly newly returned from one of my favorite places, Venice. In addition to the beauty of the light—think Guardi and Turner—the magic of the buildings and the glorious art such as the walls and ceiling of San Rocco, I find the constant soft motion of the water soothing and I adore the food even though some say that it is not great.

It tends to be local fish and seafood fairly simply or traditionally prepared. A traditional example would be fish in saor which is first grilled or fried and then marinated in a sweet and sour marinade made with onions, raisins and vinegar—fabulous starter. New are the plates of crudo, raw fish and seafood, as well as the raw fish tartars and carpaccios. There are meat-serving exceptions, at least one on this list.

The names for the fish and seafood are often different in Venice than in the rest of Italy. Someplace, I have a list. I will try to find it and post it. Even the vegetables have different names: sparese rather than asparagi for asparagus. In any case, I manage to order to my satisfaction. There has been an innovative incursion in the form of raw fish such as paillards and seviches. It should be noted that butter is seldom used nor is cheese normal with seafood dishes. One night, I got into a conversation with two women at the next table when I asked the waiter if there was cheese in the pesto. The women, Florentines, assured me that pesto was always made with cheese, pine nuts, etc. However, when the waiter returned he confirmed my idea that there would be no cheese in this pesto. Some of the pestos are thick and darkish like a puréed vegetable and others are bright green thin like liquid sauces.

On warm evenings, I like to eat at the tables that many of the restaurants set up in the streets out side their restaurants. Somehow, due to the informality, I always find someone interesting to whom to talk. There are restaurants with actual gardens such as the Antica Loocanda Montin in the Dorsodouro and Agli Alboretti near the Academia. I didn’t visit either this trip, but have very good meals at both in the past.

Generally during warm days, I stay pool-side at the Cipriani (Giudecca 10…tel: 041 2408507). See my blog for my preferred lunch there, generally at two, followed by a trip by hotel boat leaving from a private dock opposite San Marco into town for sightseeing or shopping or a combination, followed by a late dinner. The pool installation and surrounding garden is a private club (Il Gabbiano: The Seagull) for hotel guests and locals. However, at the hotel corner is a restaurant on a terrace under an awning that puts out an extraordinary buffet in addition to the menu. It is open to the public as is the nighttime restaurant, Cips, on a dock at the back of the hotel overlooking the Piazetta. Both of these are open to the public, but be sure to reserve. Expensive.

A new find for me this trip was Antiche Carampane, old harlots (San Polo 1911, rio terrá de la Carampane; tel: 041 5240165; closed Sunday and Monday; all credit cards). It is hardly a novelty for others. It was recommended to me by two Venice-savvy friends. The owner is a delightfully welcoming woman and her equally nice husband walked us two travelers to the bus, vaporetto, one rainy night under umbrellas. The nearest bus stops at Ca Rezonico. Be sure to get a map and wear comfortable shoes. It is a walk.

From the very first dish I had there, I knew it was a find. It was a simple and perfect dish of grilled-in-the-shell-with-olive-oil canestrelli—the tiny scallops of the lagoon rather than capesante (sea scallops) and cappelunghe (slim young razor clams). Other starters were a crudo (raw) of oysters, salmon, shrimp, crayfish and tuna as well as a polenta made with olive oil and the of-the-season porcini—all very gala. There was a pasta with crab. One main course was a largish cube of grill-marked rare tuna with a thin pesto, baby arugula and tiny tomatoes grilled in a bunch (a trick I will try). There are historic Italian made dishes as well.

For dessert, there was the best version of what is called a “lemon sorbet” that I have had. I heartily suggest it. It is whisked up to a semi-liquid froth to be eaten with a spoon or sipped. I saw it being made at another restaurant where lemon sorbet was whisked at the table with prosecco and grappa. Unusually, they serve excellent house-made cookies.

The wine list is excellent and reasonably priced (as is the food) with a good selection of the red wines that I prefer even with seafood. I had a superb Capo di Stato a Vennegazzù wine of Count Loredan Gasparini that he developed especially for official events of the city of Venice. My event was special, but not official. The wine is made from the Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbech (his spelling) from vines of reasonable age—fifty years—on his property.

Nearby is Da Fiore (San Polo 2202/a, calle dello Scaleter; telephone 041 721308; closed Sunday and Monday; all credit cards; reservations essential), one of the long-time famous Venice restaurants. I was originally taken there in the time of the owner’s parents by Marcella and Victor Hazan. The owner is a charming man named Maurizio. The wine steward who has been there for years although seemingly very young is intelligent and nice and also doesn’t make a face when I order red wine at this almost entirely seafood place. The food reflects the lightening-up changes in Venetian food without being overly trendy. The selection of seafood is fabulous and there is the crudo I had. However, by far, the best dish was an unheralded grilled slice of plump eel—terrific. Reservations are essential. The place is costly.

Even more famous with Americans and even more expensive is Harry’s Bar (San Marco 1323, calle Vallaresso; telephone: 041 5285777; always open and all credit cards), at the corner of the street and the street along the canal not far from San Marco. I seldom go there due to cost and to the mob scene of celebrities and would be socialites sitting at the welcoming low round tables on the bar room level. However, one day I was in town on my way to the biennale of arts when it began to pour. As the vaporetto stop is just across from Harry’s, I dashed in to get cozy and stay dry. It was good timing as vastly prefer the place at lunch when there are more Italians—even locals, some simply at bar tables reading the newspaper—and the pace is less hectic. If you want to go at night, this is the place to have the concierge (portiere) at your hotel book the table and try to get you in downstairs. Upstairs has the food but not the style and flavor. Of course, I started with one of their justly famous Bellinis. As white peaches were in season, it was perfect. All their pastas are house made egg noodles. The famous tagliolini gratinati al prosciutto (white noodles rich with cream and eggs and ham, coated lightly with grated cheese and passed under a broiler) were perfect as was the risotto black with the ink from the small seppie (really the small seppiolini (baby cuttlefish) with which it is made. This made a perfectly adequate lunch. Dinner would have more food and bigger prices. I might have had their famous carpaccio of beef. The rain ended and I went out to the show and got a little mind food.

It is possible to get meat in Venice. One of my long time favorites is Al Assassini quite close to the opera house, La Fenice (San Marco 3695; telephone: 041 5287986; closed Sunday; only Visa). This is another place where I eat on the street weather permitting. The host is charming, remembers all guests and their preferences and sports, along with his staff, a specially designed tee shirt, new each year. The menu is unusual as it changes each day of the week Monday is for white meat. I had a spectacularly good rabbit. Tuesday is for braises and stews and Wednesday for specialty meats and so on through the week except for Friday which returns to fish.

Not far from the Rialto Bridge, is the tiny Alle Testiere (Castello 5801, calle del Mondo Novo; telephone: 041 522 7220; closed on Sunday and often—this is Italy—on Monday. The place is so small that is hard to get a reservation. You may have to settle, as I did, for 9:30. It is worth it. I cheered up with a bottle of Castello d’Ama 2003. This is a great Chianti made by an excellent woman wine maker. It is not as expensive as some authorities would have you believe, but is a rarity in Venice.

My meal started with moscardini (tiny baby octopus) stuffed with puréed mushrooms and grilled. My friend had a thin slice of raw fish served on what was called a gazpacho sauce and turned out to be a slightly spicy, thin, smooth purée of tomatoes and red peppers. The fish was topped with match strips no longer than an inch, cut through the skin at either end, which gave a fine crunch. One main course was grilled tuna with a sauté of mixed mushrooms, porcini, chanterelles and chiodini (the little nail shaped mushrooms) sprinkled with wild fennel fronds (which, it turns out, are called finochetti) as well as lentils. Sadly, I cannot remember the other main course—too much red wine? However, I can strongly recommend the side dish (contorno) of grilled eggplant slices (cut across and perfect), radicchio Treviso (the longish red endivish ones) as well as endive.
Don’t bother with dessert.

Possibly the most amazing—quite possibly due to my snobbery about hotel food—meal of the trip was on top of the famous Danieli Hotel at the Ristorante Terrazza (Riva degli Schiavone, 1496; telephone: 041 5226480). I had seen its lights twinkling seductively for many years but had never gone nor had close Venice habitué friends. In my own defense, I should add that it doesn’t get mentions in many guidebooks. We decided to go and once again I had the invaluable concierge at Cipriani call for me. I wanted to be sure that we had a table at the water’s edge overlooking the grand canal and the Lido beyond.

The short trip from the elevator to the restaurant was not prepossessing and had a sneaking suspicion that I might rue the experiment. Once we got to the terrace, the view was staggering. Man and nature conspired to make it even more spectacular during the course of the evening. A storm broke over and beyond the Lido sending great bolts of lightening streaking down the sky. These seemed to be echoed by the panoply of fireworks on the Lido to celebrate the opening of the film festival. It was ravishing and mercifully dry even without the awning that stretched over the terrace.

The next pleasure was the food. The quality of the ingredients set the tone in the opening fish soup, a carpaccio of swordfish, a millefeuille of tomatoes and a plate of San Danieli ham and even a pasta e fagioli minestrone. On to simple and excellent main courses: the special small sole (sogliola) of the lagoon perfectly cooked (best of the trip), a mixed fry (fritto misto) of shrimp and calamari, steaks on beds of rucola (arugula) and a wonderfully browned and rare order of small, rib lamb chops. We indulged in some extra grilled vegetables and a somewhat less fancy Venegazzu.

The final pleasure was the bill, which was quite modest by the standards of Venice (no more person than many of the small places we had been frequenting) and down right cheap by comparison with the rest of Europe.

Obviously, Venice has many more places of note; but I didn’t go back to them this time and there still some places suggested by friends that I still haven’t tried—a great excuse for going back.


TURKEY

12/12/06—Here are some photos from a recent trip to Turkey. Details to come.





OAXACA, MEXICO


A bountiful breakfast buffet: fruits and juices, eggs, tamales and lots more as well as the traditional hot chocolate and sweet buns were all laid out. We took our plates and sat outdoors in one of the beautifully flowered courtyards; perfect.

Every Friday night the hotel hosts a dance festival paired with a buffet dinner. The dances, costumes and music come from the numerous of states of Oaxaca. It is colorful and spectacular. Even the old Oaxaca hands told me that we must go. Get there early, before seven, so as to get a seat with a good view of the stage.

I suggest that anyone planning on going get and read a copy of Mexican Folk Art by Arden and Anya Rothstein. Oaxaca and the surrounding country side (pueblos) are full of wonderful crafts with different villages specializing in different kinds of work from woof carving to pottery (some of the best is black) to weaving and embroidery. I sent back crate fulls. The temptation was overwhelming and the Rothstein’s suggestions well worth following. Also get The Food and Life of Oaxaca by The restaurateur and fine chef Zarela Martinez. Her New York restaurant is Zarela’s, 952 Second Avenue (212-644-6740). That way you will have some idea of what is coming up. She also has a helpful web site: Zarela.com.

Oaxaca is famous for its moles which is both the name for sauces and for dishes made with them. They are silky smooth and come in a wide variety of colors: red, black, green and yellow made primarily from herbs and spices and complex in flavor as well as being fairly hot (spicy). Oaxaca is a large state as well as the main city. Each area is known for one or more moles and cooks are extremely proud of their own.

Fortunately—unlike the time of my girlhood—raw salads are safe to eat and many are made with pomegranate seeds and mangos as well as one of the ubiquitous chilies and often shrimp as well. Mescal is the native liquor and comes in many qualities of differing age. I brought some back and will at some point give tasting notes. Try it in a margarita instead of tequila for an extra taste kick. Served straight up, it is accompanied by a orangey chili salt and pieces of fresh lime. The traditional way of using all this is to put some of the powder on the back of the hand and sprinkling it with the lime juice. This is licked up before or after a sip. Again I was seduced into bringing some of the spice back.

Mexican beers are excellent and as a non-alcoholic drink they serve a variety of what they call agua fria or cold water. The most familiar to us is lemonade. The one I liked best was a clear red made by steeping what are called Jamaica (hibiscus to us) blossoms in cool water and letting it sit for about twelve hours. It is not a tea but rather an infusion that retains its fresh flavor. The Oaxacans sugar it heavily. I like it better less sweet.

Don’t order wine. It is overpriced and indifferent.

My favorite places to eat were the two Casa Oaxaca-s; confusing. One is a free standing restaurant and the other, the original, is a small hotel. I like both of the restaurants in part because they are semi-outdoors, patios. Also they are not noisy and the décor is white-walled and restrained. The chef for both is the owner. He spends most evenings at Casa Oaxaca, the restaurant. He has a wonderful sous chef who tends to the restaurant at the Hotel Casa Oaxaca, Eugenia Georgina Cruz. The food is original without being outré. One night brought a lobster empañada (turnover) served with a version of guacamole and fried black bean and venison tenderloin is the house specialty. The red snapper that night was available in two different preparations: one with lime and capers served with squash blossoms and tomato marmalade and the second with squash blossoms, poblano chili and fresh corn. To end with, the diner is not condemned to flan. Try instead the mamey cream caramel with guabana mousse and ice cream.
 
The food at La Olla is equally good but more traditional. This is the place to have a great mole. I particularly liked mole negro de fandango made, I was told, with twenty ingredients and served with chicken and rice. A particularly unusual first course was taquitos suaves de nopalitos (cactus paddles) with olive oil, onions, oregano, chile de arbol, cheese and of course small corn tacos. The Oaxacan white cheese is a goody.

Another well known place was good but less of a favorite—somewhat over-priced and noisy, El Naranjo.

La Fonda de Sta. Domingo is more traditional, but very good. All of the restaurants served wonderful soups.

Careful! It is easy to be seduced into over eating.






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