Chow! Venice: Savoring the Food and Wine of La Serenissima

A Guide to the Restaurants and Bars of Venice, Italy.

Venice is one of the most magical cities in the world, but it has gotten a reputation as a city with no good restaurants. Ruth Edenbaum and Shannon Essa have both spent a lot of time in Venice and feel the city has gotten a bum rap. While agreeing that there are some restaurants and bars that do try to take advantage of the tourist with mediocre food and poor service at high prices, there are many places in which your meal can be as amazing as the city.

Since both authors love Venice and love good food and wine, they decided to take on the challenge of providing information to both newcomers and regular visitors on how and where to find good food, be it in a fine restaurant or one of the many osterias, trattorias, wine bars and cafes that line the calles and fondamentes and are too often not seen by the average tourist.

Chow! Venice contains not just a list of restaurants and bars, but detailed descriptions of the authors' favorite dishes and how to find the places they recommend, with several maps. It also offers listings and descriptions of pasticcerias, wine shops, food shops, coffee bars and gelaterias as well as an explanation of how and why venetians eat what they eat and when they eat it. To help Venetian visitors work their way through a menu there is also an extensive glossary of food terms in English, Italian and Venetian. No matter what the size of your budget is, Chow! Venice is your passport to good eating in Venice.

For more information, see the Chow Bella Books web site.