L'Osteria di Santa Marina - My Faves (sitios de interés)

This restaurant serves slightly updated traditional Venetian food at a relatively reasonable price. It is a cute but not funky joint with rough-plank wood walls, glass-front dark wood cabinets, hanging metal lampshades, and windows overlooking the lovely campo. Try the black sea bass ravioli in mussel-clam broth, beautifully hand shaped and pinched on top,::text like dim sum; perfect black barley risotto with mushrooms, zucca (pumpkin) purée, and a couple of first-rate grilled scampi; grilled octopus on a bed of potatoes mashed with olive oil, along with cold, slow-cooked tomato — a surprising touch that worked — and a garnish of lardo (cured fat) tangled with a wafer of black bread; zucca saor (saor is the local marinade, usually of raisins, pine nuts, oil, vinegar and onion) with thin fried slices of artichoke and soft shell crab. Then there was the inevitable, ubiquitous, emblematic and wonderful fritto misto, served on greaseless brown paper and featuring the local tiny soft-shell crab, about the size of a silver dollar — crisp, light, hot, irresistible. For dessert try the almond nougat with chantilly, raspberries and pistachio ice cream, and the lemon sorbet with licorice.