A Local Taste of Venice

 Mitch Glassman

1 February 2019

Because our favorite dining experiences are often discovered by happenstance and then only shared discriminately to preserve the place as a well kept secret, I offer a review with conflicted feelings.  That said, what is better than walking into a favorite restaurant and seeing your neighbors and friends enjoying and sharing a dining experience?

A prerequisite for a good dining experience for this writer goes well beyond the contents of the served plates.  A core ingredient is memory: memories evoked from the past as well as memories being created for the future that are inspired by the ingredients, flavors, colors, and textures; and by the ambience that may (or may not) engage you; and by the sharing of food exploration and friendships. 

Recently, after a late morning Qigong workshop in Chinatown, as I undertook the cold walk back to my studio in the South End, I was craving some warm nourishment and found myself in a hole in the wall Chinese “café.”  Little or no English was spoken by the counter order-taker who had no patience for Q & A.  I ordered a heartwarming dish recalled from 20 years prior while studying in Beijing: bitter melon in scrambled eggs.  Despite not being on the menu, I was swiftly served up a wonderful and comforting dish that powered me and my spirits the balance of the afternoon.  The ambience was reminiscent of a working-class kitchen, and delighted me in its authenticity.  The experience had all the ingredients of a home cooked meal.

The purpose of this retelling is to emphasize the integral importance of place, happenstance, memory, and authenticity; not as a recommendation for this café as a destination restaurant.

Having set the table so to speak for a destination restaurant review, I offer up my recommendation and review of SRV, a bacaro and wine bar I happened upon on Columbus Avenue in the South End.  Not your typical Italian restaurant, SRV (Serene Republic of Venice) takes the diner back to the month you lived authentically (or imagine to have lived) in Venice as a Venetian.  Cicchetti, Piatti, and Grani constitute the loosely structured alternative dining options.  Nothing pretentious here, just good options full of amazing flavors, colors, and textures, served family style and with welcomed friendliness.

The menu offers enough good options that you’re likely never bored or disappointed.  The website delineates all the choices, but I do have some recent favorites: I highly recommend sharing Cicchetti to begin, and I particularly enjoy the baccala mantecato, and the  grilled octopus, but don’t stop there.  Experimenting is always gratifying.  Some evenings dinner may consist of several Cicchetti and a shared Piatti or Grani or skip the starters and share a couple of main dishes.  The pastas never disappoint and the wine list offers good options and value.  For this diner an outstanding Grani is the Squid Ink Bigoli: a very tasty and rich ragu of calamari, tomato, and seasonings.  The squid ink pasta is extraordinary.  The flavors transported me momentarily to the sea and the rocky coast of my childhood… a simpler time before the complexity of today.

After eating this dish several times, I asked if there were any chance the chef would share his recipe because I imagined cooking this on the Cape in the summer when the squid are abundant and wash ashore for the taking.  I left the waiter my email not expecting a response, but next day I received a personal note with the recipe from Chef Tyler Chase, in full detail.  Later that day, Tyler wrote again saying: “Mitch, I just realized that I didn’t incorporate the garlic into the recipe.  You can grind it with the carrots/celery/onions.”

So there you have it, a uniquely authentic experience where dining is much more than the contents on the plate, and where we all might meet up by happenstance to a not so well-kept secret.  Online you can discover the complete menu and learn about the material amenities.