Eating out in the Jewish Quarter of Venice

Grilled scampi or langoustines at Ristorante Al Faro in Venice, Italy.

The first Jewish ghetto was set up in Venice, Italy, in 1516. Today, most of the Jews have moved out, only to be replaced in the past 10 years by Orthodox from the United States, but you can still visit old synagogues and dine on some specialties of the Italian Jews.

I drove to Venice from Milan on Sept. 13, parked in a garage and took the first of many vaporetti (small passenger ferries) to Lido di Venezia, an island beach resort on the Adriatic Sea, where I stayed at the Viktoria Palace Hotel. 

For the next three days, I took ferries, walked and crossed many canal bridges to explore Venice and the Jewish Quarter, including three old synagogues, the first I've seen on the top floors of buildings.

One highlight was a big lunch of Jewish specialties in the courtyard of  Le-Balthazar, a kosher restaurant and caterer in the new part of the quarter.

The fixed-price, 20-euro menu started off heavy, with an appetizer of moist potato kugel, followed by vegetable couscous with raisins and pine nuts. 

My entree was a fish fillet in a mildly spicy sauce of fresh tomatoes, served with sauteed spinach. 

Honey cake was included, but I was able to substitute a small cup of espresso. The meal cost about $25.60 at $1 equals 78 euro cents. 

Le-Balthazar, Campo Ghetto Nuovo, Venice, Italy.

This restaurant is on a square with a memorial to a relatively small number of Jews who were deported to concentration camps during World War II. 

There were several metal reliefs showing scenes from the round-up, and some of the victims' names and ages were carved into wooden planks: Vittorio Moise Gentilli, 50; Eugenia Franco Pitteri, 62; Ida Morza, 72; and Alice Coen, 71.

Ristorante Al Faro (The Lighthouse) wasn't kosher, but I had a bountiful lunch of scampi (pictured above), followed by a large Mediterranean or Greek salad -- more than enough food to share with another person.

The grilled scampi were served on a bed of chopped arugula with wedges of lemon (18 euros). 

The salad was 8.50 euros, water was 3 euros and bread was 1.80 euros, for a total of 31.30 euros or about $40. 

Ristorante Al Faro, Campo del Ghetto Vecchio 1181, Venice, Italy; +39-041-716871.

My first meal in the quarter was at a table outside Ai Quattro Rusteghi, which is on the ground floor of one of the synagogue buildings. 

Here, I had thin pasta in a fragrant pesto sauce, fish and salad, with a glass of wine, water and bread, for 22.50 euros or about $29. 

Ai Quattro Rusthegi, Campo Ghetto Nuovo, Venice, Italy; +39-041-715160.

 -- VICTOR E. SASSON

Food shopping in Italy and North Jersey

I had a chance to shop at an Italian supermarket and browse in a local butcher shop-deli, and compare them to my favorite food stores in North Jersey.

I was told the Billa supermarket on Lido di Venezia that I visited was part of a chain owned by Austrians, who once ruled Venice. (Lido is a beach resort on the Adriatic Sea, and one of the islands that make up Venice.)

This Billa market wasn't as big as a ShopRite, but all the promotions and sales going on gave the impression it is the low-price leader in Italy, just as ShopRite makes that claim here. But Billa is behind some ShopRites when it comes to providing antibiotic-free poultry and meat, and preservative-free cold cuts. I didn't see any fish.

I also couldn't find any organic milk, and in fact, no item I saw was labeled organic. That surprised me, because the Slow Food movement began in Italy and agriturismo is well-developed, with organic farms offering overnight stays and meals of naturally raised food.

At the checkout counter, one man was buying a dozen liters of Italian extra-virgin olive oil, which were on sale for about $4 each. The price of the large, plastic bottle of mineral water I had was cut in half, to 22 euro cents ($1 was worth 70 euro cents).

As I do in a ShopRite or other supermarkets here, I  had to make sure the item near a price or sale sign was, in fact, the item described on the sign. And the checkout counters moved as slowly there as they do here. If you want a plastic bag, Billa charges 6 euro cents for one.

A few days later, I visited Varese and walked through a crowded butcher shop. Chickens were being sold whole with some of the feathers still in place, and that seemed intentional rather than the result of a poor cleaning job.

In Gallarate, outside a cheese shop, I saw a vending machine selling plastic and glass bottles and unpasturized milk (latte crudo). The price was 1 euro per liter (3.8 liters make a gallon).

Back home, I went to Whole Foods Market in Paramus on Tuesday, and found large, whole whiting for $4.99 a pound. The store was having a one-day sale on wild-caught coho salmon for a low price of $7.99 a pound.

At H Mart in Little Ferry the next day, I bought fresh spinach and baby bok choy, and watched the fishmongers set up the counter, which usually has about 20 selections of whole and filleted fish on ice, labeled with country of origin and whether it is farmed or wild-caught. I also picked up prepared Korean food: stewed tofu, stewed Alaskan pollack and japchae or noodles.

At Jerry's in Englewood on Thursday, I limited myself  to Italian wine at $4.99 and $5.99 a bottle.

Although my exposure to shopping in Italy was limited, North Jersey food stores appear to be both bigger and better.

(Photo: The window of a butcher shop in the city of Monza, Italy.)