Ristorante Local- Chef Salvatore Sodano, Venice, Italy

Chef Salvatore Sodano

Last week I was in Venice. I decided to treat myself to a foodie vacation and my first stop was the Michelin starred restaurant, Ristorante Local. Was it a coincidence that the chef is a close friend, Salvatore Sodano?

Maybe.

I chose Sodano's 9 dish tasting menu which was a journey that blended his Campania roots, techniques that he has learned throughout his career, and flavors and customs of Venetian cuisine.

That means that his menu began with a series of 'cicchetti' which are little bites to open up your stomach. I also tried his appetizer of tuna, cucumber and nervetti. Nervetti are the cartilaginous parts found in calves' legs. In Venice you may find them served with onions in a salad and in Campania in a favorite street food called 'o per e 'o muss.

Chef Sodano is a staunch protector of the environment and believes deeply in sustainability. That is why it was important to include a blue crab appetizer on his menu. This particular crab which originated in the American Atlantic has, well, let's say-invaded the Adriatic. How? By feeding on local fish and crabs and damaging fishermen's nets as well as seaweed beds.

His menu also included one of my favorite dishes of 2023- a spicy pasta dish called pellusiello, red pepper, black lemon. Another first course - risone, mantis shrimp, xo and chicory. Sodano used schie which is a small grey shrimp to make his xo sauce, taking advantage of a surplus of this particular species which can be found at the bottom of the nearby lagoon.

Sodano's tasting menu continued with two second course dishes- one featuring the catch of the day using dry aged fish and the other was lamb )aged in beeswax), onion, tofu and medlars. It was interesting to learn that not only was the lamb aged in beeswax, but cooked in it as well.

The meal wound down with Sodano's dessert which featured venere rice, oxidized banana and amaro.

I enjoyed my time at Ristorante Local. I enjoyed the casual atmosphere. I enjoyed the wines chosen for me by sommelier Manuel Trevisan. I enjoyed the little cards that accompanied me throughout the meal with little tidbits of info about each course.

And...I really enjoyed the polaroid picture of Chef Sodano and I given to me at the end of the evening.

Fantasticaaa!