Trattoria Ca D'Oro alla Vedova

This is the second review I've done on Trattoria Ca D'Oro alla Vedova in a week. I contribute to Tripadvisor and saw a few bashings that made me feel very protective of this delightful little dining establishment in Venice's Cannaregio neighborhood. The first time I stepped through the portal was on my honeymoon. We could barely fit into the small bar area for cichetti as the place was packed. The second visit I dined alone while exploring Venice on my own for a few days and the last time I took my nephew there for lunch on a whirlwind day in Venice. I wanted him to get a good impression of the city, in the hope that he might elect to return one day, so going to my favorite places for espresso and pastry, lunch, and cichetti were squeezed into a short 7 hour span of time. Trattoria Ca D'Oro's atmosphere was perfect for setting the Venetian mood; old, compact and a bit brooding and dark, veiled in mystery, not only because of it's napkin draped lighting, but because of it's small labyrinth of rooms.

That being said, I came here for the food and the quiet, since the restaurant sits at the end of a very narrow alley off the busy Strada Nova. My nephew and I needed a little down time from our hectic blitz through Venice and although the service was fast, Ca D'Oro provided a needed rest for us. I'm sorry to note that we dug into the polpette (meatballs) so fast, I forgot to take a photo, but this restaurant is famous for them and at 1.5 euro per plate of 2, they are well worth ordering.

Their seafood antipasto plate comes in two sizes with the half portion for 9 euro being quite sufficient to sample a variety of seafood, mostly cold, but all good with the exception of the sliced item in the right hand corner of the photos above. I have no idea what it was, but it was overly chewy and had little flavor. Left to right there are boiled shrimp, a grilled baby octopus, stuffed mussels, the sliced mystery fish and the classic Venetian Mantecato, a fish spread made of bacala, olive oil, garlic and parsley. I've experienced several versions of this and some are more appropriately called a fish mousse made with potato and mayonnaise.

My nephew ordered the scampi with spaghetti dressed with the tomato sauce that had been used to cook the prawns, so it had a mild shellfish taste to it. It was light and flavorful and came with the scampi facing one another from both sides of the oval plate like warriors about to engage in mortal combat, a combat I'm afraid to say, they both lost. Speaking of the combative, the shell, in relation to food service is quite beautiful in the plating, but impractical in the eating. In an effort to use utensils and not dig in with both hands, my nephew lost his own battle with the first scampi. Just as he was managing to get the tail out of the shell, it went flying onto the floor.

Twice now I have had the pleasure of ordering the vegetable lasagne. Both times it was not what I had thought I was ordering, but better. The menu states that it's a vegetable lasagne, but on my first attempt at ordering it, the waiter apologized and said they only had a seafood lasagne available. That also sounded good, so I had no problem with it. The lasagne that I received was redolent with fresh porcini mushrooms layered with Grana Padano and a rich, unctuous bechamel sauce. It was a melt in your mouth experience of large proportion. On this last visit, I again ordered the vegetable lasagne and once again it was the porcini lasagne, just as delicious as the last time I had ordered it. Maybe their vegetable lasagne is supposed to be porcini, it matters not; I just love this recipe.

Calle del Pistor 3912 (an allley off of Strada Nova)

Cannaregio VENEZIA
Vaporetto stop: Ca D'Oro (turn left at Strada Nova and walk up a few blocks looking on your right for the small alley)