Ca’ D’Oro Alla
Vedova

Ramo Ca' d'Oro, 3912

30121 Venezia VETel. +39 041 528 5324&nbsp;

BY IAN D'AGATA | JUNE 07, 2019 The Food:

Meatballs
(Polpette di carne; specialità della
casa)

Sweet-and-sour
sardines (Sarde in saor)

Spaghetti
with seafood (Spaghetti allo scoglio)

Bavette pasta in squid ink sauce (Bavette al nero di seppia)

The Wines:

<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>2017
 Primosic Ribolla Gialla Friuli Colli Orientali</td>
 <td class="wysiwyg-text-align-right">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;92</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2015 Pieropan Soave Classico</td>
 <td class="wysiwyg-text-align-right">90</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2013 Miani Friulano Buri</td>
 <td class="wysiwyg-text-align-right">95</td>
 </tr></tbody></table>Ca’
d’Oro Alla Vedova is one of the best of Venice’s simpler, everyday lunch or
dinner spots, offering a bacaro-osteria combination at a quality level that
very few of the city’s other dining establishments reach. You can stand at the
bar counter and down cicheti (Venetian
tapas, if you will) and glasses of
wine quickly and harriedly (given the crowd that will surround you looking to
do the same) or kick back and relax at a small table in one of the old-style
rooms.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1559940210810-The+rustic%2C+charming+interior+decor+of+times+gone+by+at+alla+Vedova_copy.jpg"> Alla Vedova's&nbsp;rustic and charming interior decor of times gone byThe
restaurant’s name has two origins. The “Ca’ d’Oro” part derives from the nearby
vaporetto (ferry) stop. The “Alla
Vedova” (“at the widow’s”) stems from the long-held habit from perhaps less
politically correct times of referring to a restaurant as the “restaurant of
the widow” after the man in the husband-and-wife ownership team passed away,
leaving the woman to run it. Most everyone in Venice refers to the place as
Alla Vedova, and so do I.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1559940189689-Dalla+Vedova%27s++famous%2C+and+delicious%2C+polpette_copy.jpg"> Alla Vedova's famous, and delicious, polpette Alla
Vedova is a spartan-looking, no-frills eatery with only a short menu and wine
list. But there’s plenty to like, as evidenced by the fact that unless you make
a reservation (especially at lunchtime), you have no chance of getting a table.
Furthermore, negotiating the packed and disorderly lineup at the big bar
counter right at the entrance will make you feel like Indiana Jones hacking his
way through the Amazon basin. But once you make it through that human jungle competing
for food at the counter (as is normally done at all Venice bacaros), you’ll find the rest of the restaurant quaint and
relaxing, a place where time seems to have stood still. Brass lamps, old
photographs, wood panels and old chairs and tables are everywhere. Service is
leisurely and friendly. The food choices are few but remarkably solid. Virtually
every dish I’ve ever tried at Alla Vedova has been very good or better. The
wine list is even shorter, but there are outstanding estates to choose from,
such as Primosic and Pieropan.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1559940168974-Spaghetti+allo+scoglio_copy.jpg"> Spaghetti allo scoglio 

The
polpette di carne (light, flavorful,
moist, tasty and very well fried meatballs) and the sarde in saor (marinated fried sardines in white wine vinegar, slow-cooked
onions, raisins and pine nuts, plus a hint of cane sugar), which is always
executed perfectly at Alla Vedova were a
terrific start to the meal. Sarde in saor
is one of my favorite Italian appetizers, and it says “Venice” like few other
things do. The recipe dates back at least to the 1300s (the first official
documents attest to the dish being prepared in and around Venice at that time)
and allowed sailors to preserve fish while on long voyages because the onions
and especially the vinegar helped to slow spoilage. The original recipe also
called for many spices not commonly used today, such as cinnamon, cloves and
coriander, while black pepper is still included in modern recipes. I also sampled
some excellent pasta dishes, including the bavette
in black ink sauce and the spaghetti allo
scoglio. The fish and crustaceans of the latter were flavorful and fresh, while
the former’s sweet, garlicky squid ink sauce was just what the doctor ordered
on this cold late spring day in Venice. <img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1559938192912-Living+la+vida+buona%21_copy.jpg"> As
for the wines, I tried three beauties. The 2017
Primosic Ribolla Gialla is a wonderful version of this wine that is just as
it should be: pungently mineral, concentrated and flavorful, offering aromas
and flavors of fresh citrus fruit, white flowers and white pepper and hints of
saffron. Primosic is one of Italy’s top five wine producers of Ribolla Gialla,
and unlike most others, he doesn’t need to turn it into a sparkling or orange
wine to get lots of flavor out of the grape. Light and fresh, displaying an
easygoing quality but also endowed with sneaky concentration, the 2015 Pieropan Soave Classico always
makes an outstanding aperitif or a fine companion to simply cooked fish dishes.
I greatly enjoyed its jasmine, buttercup and orchard fruit nuances. Last but
certainly not least, the 2013 Miani
Friulano Buri (a wine from my own cellar and not on the restaurant’s list)
is drinking beautifully and only confirms Enzo Pontoni’s talent with the native
grape varieties of Friuli Venezia Giulia. The Buri is drinking beautifully but
will last in a good cellar for another decade at least. It is a remarkably powerful
but refined white wine that smothers your taste buds in layers of flavor - mint,
pear, yellow apple, beeswax, bitter almond - that you won’t soon forget.

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