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Eat Here: De Pisis

Are you hungry right now? If you’re like me (and I certainly know I am), then you think about your next meal right after you finish the previous one.

A meal at today’s subject eatery is highly recommended…though you will need to travel to Venice to enjoy it…carry out or delivery just won’t work in this case.

De PIsis is located in the Hotel Bauer. This hotel is one of the up-scale hotels in Venice…a hotel for which we would not normally make a reservation. However, in 2004 we spent a January week in Venice and the Bauer’s rates were such that it was affordable. And yes, it was very nice, indeed. I’ll let you know more about a winter visit at another time.

We’ve dined at De Pisis for both lunch and dinner, and both were wonderful. But, our routine now is to arrive in Venice mid-morning, drop our bags at the Hotel Flora, and then immediately make our way a couple-of-hundred yards to the canal-side terrace of De Pisis, under the red canal-side awnings you see in the aerial photo.

It is such a lovely terrace, situated just where the Canale Grande (Grand Canal) enters the Bacino San Marco (St Mark’s Basin), with a view of the church of Santa Maria Della Salute in one direction and San Giorgio Maggiore in the other.

Today’s article will be short on verbiage and long on photos of the food and revelry of some of our visits. So, here goes.

A Toast to You and Yours!

As we always start our meals with a toast to friends both present and absent, that’s what we do here. Note the beautiful Santa Maria Della Salute in the background. This toast is with Debbie and Scott Kennedy. It is a rare event that Scott eschews wine for a beer…but it was a long, hard journey.

Another time and another toast with in-laws Leslie and Craig Johnson.

The particular toast above is made with Venica’s Ronco delle Cime, which is produced in the northern realm of the Veneto. The Veneto is the region in which Venice is located.

I love the way that Italian wine websites describe their wine ethic. Venica’s states that, “This wine wants to tell the story of a borderland with people and memories related to family’s values and to the region’s traditions.”

After our tasting, we understood the story.

And though we don’t always travel with friends, wife Ellen and I never fail to execute a toast to you.

Though we are pre-meal toasting here, we drank our prosecco throughout our meal.

And which prosecco did we demolish during this meal?

Banfi’s, of course! How does it taste? Let’s check their website. for a description. Oh here it is, “…an edgy, fresh peach and peppercorn-scented sparkler. It’s bright with the greenness of chlorophyll and a peppery burst in the end.” Hmm…bottom line…we like it!

And is that ‘B’ for Bauer, for ‘Banfi’, or for ‘Burkett’? We’ll never tell.

The Meals

Adam has come to tell us that our meal will be arriving “in un momento”.

In the background you can see the church of San Giorgio Maggiore, located on the Giudecca island.

And the meals are here! We’ll start with a salad and move on to the other savory dishes.

The Fish Course

And, let’s not forget a fish course…after all, we are sitting in the middle of a lagoon!

Dealing with a whole fish can be a formidable experience, right? Not so in Italy.

The typical routine is to present the cooked whole fish for your viewing pleasure, and then the fish is disassembled and de-boned tableside.

I don’t have a fish presentation photo from De Pisis, so I’ll use one where Elizabete makes the presentation at La Terrazza Danieli on the Hotel Danieli’s rooftop restaurant.

Our De Pisis waiter is carefully de-boning our fish selection.

And here is our plated fish dish, ready to be placed before us for our eating pleasure.

It’s Over

All good things come to an end…though I’m not too happy about it during this visit to De Pisis. Even the wait-staff seem to commiserate with my end-of-meal blues. The parsley? I’m just NOT going to eat that parsley.

We don’t always finish a meal with wine…sometimes we need a refreshing Coca Cola Lite, or Coke Zero. Ahhhh!

You will see Ellen and me traveling through Italy with friends in many of these articles. I wrote an article on ‘Traveling with Friends’ back in 2015. In that article, I included a short video giving you a whirlwind 3:28 glimpse into a 2012 trip to Italy. Here is that video, should you have missed it.

I hope you enjoyed your voyeuristic meal today at De Pisis as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you. And don’t forget…no carryout or delivery…you have to go in person. How about you join us the next time we’re there? Is it a date? But if your there on your own, be sure and make a reservation for the lunch-time terrace at the bottom of their web-page, here.

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Eat Here: Osteria and Trattoria Caprini

Index of Articles

What a night! It was magical. Tonight, we were welcomed into an Italian family!

Because we had both an osteria and a trattoria experience, I am breaking this article into two sections. Section1 focuses on Osteria Caprini, while Section 2 is about Trattoria Caprini.

To avoid a bit of confusion between the osteria part of this establishment, and the trattoria part, I’ll simply refer to the overall establishment of both the osteria and trattoria as ‘Caprini’…after all, they are both in the same building…just different doors.

Caprini’s Beginnings

In 1907, two young newlyweds decided to open Caprini, serving traditional dishes and Valpolicella wine in a simple and unpretentious manner. Four generations later, Caprini is still run by the same family…both as an osteria and a trattoria.

Torbe di Negrar is a small hill town surrounded by vineyards. Caprini is designated within the red circle on this aerial view.

Osteria Caprini

First, an osteria is like a tavern or corner pub. The food dishes are simple and the atmosphere is unpretentious. In other words, it’s casual and typically delish, but the menu is rather short.

We parked our rental car across the street from Trattoria Caprini in the Valpolicella-area hill town of Torbe di Negrar. Our intent was to go immediately to dinner at Trattoria Caprini, but as we crossed the street we were hailed with “Come down here!” from a small crowd outside the door to Osteria Caprini. Really, that’s what they were shouting over-and-over — “Come down here!”. What to do? We were in no hurry, so we said, “Sure!”, and we went down there to the entrance to Osteria Caprini.

What we found was Csaba’s birthday party. That’s Csaba to the left in this photo.

Csaba, Dennis, Patty and others were celebrating, and asked the four of us to celebrate with them. So, we did. Wine was offered and wine was gladly accepted.

Csaba is one of those remarkable people that you are instantly drawn to…a great smile and a welcoming spirit. Hungarian citizen Csaba works at the local NATO facility. Dennis retired from said facility awhile back. Patty is Dennis’ wife. Though they are Americans, Dennis and Patty have a house nearby…as well as this itsy-bitsy car that I’m inspecting.

We felt so much at home. We were among old friends, newly found for the first time. And, we were warmly welcomed with copious toasts of wine. It’s impolite to refuse wine, isn’t it? Plus, you know what the Romans say, right? “When in Italy, do what the Italians do!”

Here is wife Ellen, Patty, and sister-in-law Leslie.

And, behind the osteria’s bar was beautiful Maria (aka Mama Maria). She’s run the bar for many, many years. This lovely octogenarian was an excellent hostess.

See this early 20th century photo taken in front of Caprini? That’s baby Maria sitting in her mother’s lap!

We fell in love with Mama Maria because of her charm, graciousness and spirit. But also because she poured us a glass of Amarone produced by her husband and son.

This Corte Martini Amarone knocked our socks off! Really – one moment we had on socks, and the next moment, they were gone!

This wine was everything that brother-in-law Craig and I had been looking for in our two weeks in northern Italy -- put away the Barolo and pour us another glass of this awesome Corte Martini Amarone! [A further description of this Amarone and its equally outstanding Recioto partner will have to wait for another article.]

Also shown in the photo is the smaller bottle of Recioto della Valpolicella, which is a very tasty dessert wine.

Here are Csaba, Craig, me, and Dennis.

Are our glasses empty? Yes. That means it’s time for a refill.

Many celebratory things were uttered as we toasted and re-toasted Csaba’s birthday!

After an hour in the osteria, we bid Csaba and friends a final “Happy Birthday!”. And, with hugs all around, we said good bye to our new friends as we headed upstairs to dinner at Trattoria Caprini. It turned out that our pleasant evening was to continue.

Trattoria Caprini

The formality — or lack thereof — of a trattoria is much like that of an osteria, but the menu is more extensive and the decor is kicked up a notch.

Sergio, the family member who supervises the dining room and wine cellar led us through the menu and helped us make our decisions. My selection was also the local favorite of Lasagnette al Ragu della Pierina (that’s pasta with Pierina’s famous meat sauce). I dove right in and had eaten the whole thing before I remembered that I was going to photograph this dish! Dang! Trust me – it looked as good as it tasted.

Here are a couple of photos of other dishes eaten at our table.

The wine we ordered with dinner? Of course it was the Corte Martini Amarone. We just couldn’t stop toasting! We had now moved into the wine-drinking-excuse toasts.

Here you see brother-in-law Craig sitting beneath a painting of a part of the town of Torbe di Negrar. Trattoria Caprini is the building with the green awning on the left.

As mentioned in my article titled Eat Here: Enoteca della Valpolicella, we had purchased a book of Italian recipes during our trip. Lo and behold, the recipe for Pierina’s Lasagnette al Ragu Della Pierina is in that cook book. As we just happened to have it with us, we asked Pierina to autograph our copy, which she graciously did.

Here is chef Pierina posing with Leslie and Ellen.

And, once again, we get an autograph from an outstanding chef.

And surprise of surprises, that’s Pierina herself on the cover of our cookbook, making her homemade lasagnette pasta.

You can order this cookbook here — be sure to get the Italian-English version.

Do you have meals that you will always remember? Evenings where magic surely played a part in your enjoyment? This evening – with Csaba’s birthday party, Mama Maria’s charm and Pierina’s great food – is one of those for the four of us.

I hope that you can make your way 11 miles north of Verona to the town of Torbe di Negrar so that you can meet Maria, Sergio, Pierina and the rest of the family. And, if you are there on October 2nd, you will surely find Csaba and friends in the osteria celebrating another birthday. Hopefully, we’ll be there too. After all, we need to go back to get our socks!

Ciao for now,

Steve

p.s. Thanks to Silvia of Salvaterra Winery for recommending Trattoria Caprini

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Eat Here: Il Flauto di Pan

In a followup to last week's article on the beautiful Villa Cimbrone, I present their fabulous restaurant, Il Flauto di Pan.

“Wow! I’m very excited about Villa Cimbrone gracing the walls of a new development in San Antonio, Texas. Be sure to read the late-breaking addition to this article at the very bottom. ”

“I have never lied to you, and I won’t start now — so when I say ‘we ate every bite’, trust me on that”

We have a general feeling in our family about the quality of a restaurant versus its height above its surroundings...you know, the meals in space-needle-like settings, tops of very tall buildings, etc...often it is the quality of the view that takes precedence over the quality of the food...not always, but often enough that we steer clear without a recommendation.

Here is a restaurant that sits high above the Amalfi Coast, which has both a quality view and quality food.

The remarkable gardens of the Villa Cimbrone extend to the entrance of Il Flauto di Pan, as you can see here with a wall of petite white flowers.

As you are seated, you will find a lovely welcome at your place setting, as shown in the first photo at the top of this article, complete with embroidery hoop. So striking, don't you think?

As we sat, we were treated to both a view of the Amalfi Coat and bread sticks -- two of our favorite things!

In addition, there were two varieties of butter from which to choose.

Il Flauto di Pan is a Michelin-starred restaurant. Having a star is of great significance, and it is extremely hard to get.

If you have watched 'Chopped' on the Food Network, you know that they judge the food on taste, presentation, and originality.

These, of course, are important to the Michelin folks, too. But beyond the food itself are the aesthetics of the restaurant and the ways in which the diner is pampered. Touches like the orchids on your table are taken into account.

As Italian wine lovers, we seldom have cocktails whilst in Italy...well maybe a Negroni or Campari & soda on occasion -- but the suggestion of a Bloody Mary made with fresh-squeezed tomato juice sounded too good to pass up...so we didn't. And man-o-man was it ever good!

We had course after course, some of which I'll show you here. I won't try to tell you exactly what each dish is, because frankly, I can't remember.

I think you can get the gist of a Michelin-starred restaurant from the photos...lots of garnish, debris, drops and plops on decorative substrates with well-placed and tasty sauces. Not only is it pretty to look at, but it is most excellent in taste!

Of course, right now you are asking, "But what about desserts?" My response would have to be, and is, "Yes, they have admirable desserts -- which we did indeed admire, right before we ate them." I have never lied to you, and I won't start now -- so when I say "we ate every bite", trust me on that. And, as unusual, we also enjoyed a dessert wine.

I have to say that we had a wonderful afternoon and evening at the far reaches of Ravello at Villa Cimbrone -- at the villa, the gardens, and the extraordinary restaurant. As I finish, we toast you and say 'thank you' to all of you who loyally read the articles of Italy, Our Italy.

Villa Cimbrone in San Antonio!

You can now find Villa Cimbrone in San Antonio, Texas...at least photos of the villa.

I'm pleased to announce that 210 Development Group, one of the premier property developers in San Antonio and beyond, has ordered eight of my photos of Villa Cimbrone as the wall art for a model in their recently completed Aviator project. This housing project is on the site of the old Brooks Field of World War II fame, now called Brooks City Base.

Here, you can see photos of the installation. My thanks to Alyson Callison, Director of Design for for 210DG, for putting her confidence in my work, and for creating the beautiful model that surrounds my photos.

I suspect you will recognize these photos from last weeks article, titled A Visit to Villa Cimbrone.

Ciao for now,

Steve

p.s You can see other Amalfi Coast blog articles here:

Eat Here: Ristorante Antico Martini

“This restaurant has been in continuous operation since 1720, which means that it is approaching its 300 year birthday! ”

One of the charms of Italy is its food. With one exception, I've always enjoyed every meal. Today's article is about one of our favorite Venetian restaurants -- Antico Martini.

Here is a photo of the restaurant late at night. The photo shows one of the four dining areas -- this one the Terrace -- and it was taken from the campo that Antico Martini shares with the La Fenice opera house.

[click an image for larger view]

Like most Venetian restaurants, Martini is open late for dinner, because that's when Italians tend to eat. This makes it an ideal place to eat after an opera, which we did after a fabulous performance of our favorite, La Boheme.

Any idea who the first party to make an Antico Martini reservation via the internet might be? We have that distinction! Long before restaurants created their own systems or began to use those such as Open Table, we used just plain, old email. The owner at that time, the charming Emilio Baldi, had a table set with a nice bouquet of flowers and the prosecco was on the house to celebrate the occasion.

Here is a photo of the main entrance to Antico Martini, on Calle Veste, just over a small bridge.

The location of Antico Martini is especially nice if one is going to the opera at La Fenice, which is right next door.

Like most all of the Venetian restaurants, seafood is the predominate fare. And the seafood is fresh and delicious. Local chefs visit the Rialto Market each morning to gather the makings for the day's meals. You can read more about The Rialto Market in one of my previous articles.

Here are a few photos of our times at Ristorante Antico Martini, starting with a couple of toasts to you and yours.

I've mentioned the seafood served in Venice before...and I will continue to do so. Here is an appetizer of very thinly sliced fish, caught just the previous evening. I'm not a sushi fan, but I had no trouble with this outstanding item. Notice how the candle light shows through my next bite!