Well good morning.
Good morning guys.
It is another very snowy day here in Venice.
How lucky are we?
It is the snowiest of the snowy days.
It just keeps like it keeps coming.
The Beast from the East has been relentless.
Yes but I think the beast will be gone by tomorrow.
Yep.
So woah.
Got the wind blowing in our faces.
Can you see.
Today oh man.
So today we're going to go for lunch.
This probably the funniest intro we've ever done.
We're squinting our eyes.
The snow is blowing in our eyes.
And anyways this place is the only like two minute walk from our house.
Yes it specializes in pumpkin.
It does.
It is called Osteria La Zucca.
Yep.
Zucca means pumpkin and most of the dishes are made with pumpkin.
It is vegetarian friendly.
Yeah.
And we just thought it sounded really tasty.
Yeah.
So that is where we're headed now.
Exactly.
So let's go there.
Let's go.
Someone is happy about the snow.
Hey hey there.
Hey hey.
Okay let's go.
I thought I was leaving snow behind in Canada.
But oh no.
Check out how deep it is too.
Well it is not that deep by Canadian standards.
But for Venice.
For Venice this is quite a bit.
Alright so we are all settled in the restaurant and we've ordered three different pumpkin
dishes to share between Sam and I.
So the first one we got is the Saor Di Zucca Radicchio Rosso so that is this one right
here that I'm going to be trying.
It looks so good.
And I think it is the vegetarian equivalent of what I had at the other restaurant with
the sardines because it has the same name.
Okay.
So I can see that it has caramelized onions and the pine nuts but instead of the fish
it is pumpkin.
So let's cut this.
Okay it looks kind of like a pumpkin paste.
Let's see.
Mmmm.
Okay.
Yeah so it is still a little bit sweet and sour kind of like the sardines we had yesterday.
Yeah.
But yeah nice consistency and a bit of sweetness too.
It does have raisins.
Oh yummy.
So yeah this is one of our starters.
And I'll let you try it next.
Alright time for me to try it.
And just by moving it around it sort of reminds me a little bit of like a sauerkraut consistency.
Like the side part of that.
With all of the onions.
Mmmmm.
Oh that is tasty.
You're right it is a little bit sour.
There is some richness with the pumpkin as well and look I did find a raisin.
So very tasty.
Very tasty.
Oh, there is our main.
Our main has arrived.
Oh, wow.
Now we've got our three pumpkin dishes.
3 pumpkin dishes right in front of us.
We're all set.
Oh and I forgot to mention that I got some house wine as well.
Yeah.
So let's take a drink.
It is red.
That is really tasty and it just goes really nice with this meal yeah.
Especially on a cold day like this.
Need a little wine to warm up.
I know it is snowing outside.
We've got some cool views.
What a great view outside of the canal.
Right by the bridge and the canal.
Yep.
We're not in Venice today.
No?
We're in Ven-Ice.
Ven Ice.
Alright.
Venice in winter.
Hahaha.
Appetizer number two.
We got the fran de zucca con burro al la salsa ricotta stagionata.
So from what I can understand this has pumpkin and butter and some ricotta.
Oh.
So yeah when we were first reading this flan to me is a dessert.
Yeah.
At least in Spanish it is but apparently this is savory and it has nutmeg they said.
Yep.
And also a few different spices.
It looks really good.
It is also dressed with cheese and these it looks like sunflower seeds.
And guess who is having that as well?
George.
Georgy Boy.
How is it?
You've been trying it.
So how is it?
It is delicious.
Delicious.
Like how would you two describe it then.
It is so creamy.
Yeah, it is creamy and great pumpkin flavor.
Yep.
And my Indie Folk is playing in the background so there you go.
I couldn't be happier.
You could just curl up and take a nap here huh?
It is great.
Haha.
This is really good though.
Out of the two this one is my favorite so far.
Okay my turn to try it.
Oh you can tell that it is really smooth.
And just the way when I've been cutting it it sort of reminds me of a pumpkin pie kind
of filling.
Mmmhmm.
Just in terms of cutting.
I have no idea of the taste.
About the taste.
Mmmm.
Oh yeah.
That is my favorite too.
That is delicious.
But it is not sweet though is it?
No.
It has got a savory creamy texture and I love how there is the has been some cheese sprinkled
on top.
Also some pumpkin seeds.
It is just really really good.
It is also a bit thicker than what I thought when I first looked at it.
It has pumpkin seeds.
I called it sunflower.
These are pumpkin seeds.
Oh my gosh.
Definitely pumpkin seeds.
I knew they looked familiar.
Of course pumpkin on pumpkin.
It gives it a lovely crunch.
Now for the main.
Yep.
This one is the Tortino de Pate Zucca Caciotta Di Rocca Pontina.
So never heard of tortino before it kind of looks like a potato.
It reminds me of the Spanish tortilla.
It is kind of like that with pumpkin.
So let's just dig in.
Dig right in and see what this is all about.
Let's see.
Oh, nice consistency.
Let's see.
Oh.
This looks good get a little bit of that pesto right there.
Yeah, dig right into that pesto.
Mmmm.
Tasty?
Mmmhmm.
Yeah?
Wow.
It is kind of like mashed pumpkin with potato chunks and some pesto dressing.
Really tasty.
Vegetarian friendly.
You always know it is good when Audrey is going in for a second bite so.
Mmmmm.
Oh yeah you really taste the potato along with that don't you?
Yeah.
It is tasty.
It looks good.
I like that the melted and slightly crispy cheese on top.
Yeah, it is really tasty.
Yeah.
I love having that cheese.
And these three dishes all looked quite similar in terms of color and texture.
Yeah but they all tasted really different though.
Mmmhmm.
It is really neat.
If you come here with a group of people then I'd highly recommend just ordering a bunch
of different dishes and sharing.
Yeah.
So you can get different tastes.
Yeah.
Dessert time.
No pumpkin desserts?
Yeah, it is dessert time.
So we've ordered a piece of chocolate cake.
Woah.
It looks beautiful.
It is nice and thick.
Nice big slab of it.
I like that there is a little dusting of icing sugar on top and also we have some chocolate
sprinkled.
And it is beautifully plated too as you'll notice you see berries and you'll see some
cream.
It looks very festive like Christmas.
It does look very festive.
This would be a great Holiday Christmas cake for instance.
Oh and you can tell that there is nuts in here.
Wow.
Yeah.
Mmmm.
That is really tasty.
Mmmhmm.
Actually this reminds me a lot of a warm brownie.
That is how I would describe it with a lot of nuts and chocolate.
Going in for a second bite so that means I like it.
Alright guys well I really enjoyed that pumpkin themed lunch.
Yeah.
That was pretty good.
Yeah, it was good.
It is a Michelin Star restaurant so I didn't know that.
You knew that.
Yes, I did.
I only found that out once we left and I was looking at the door.
Yeah.
Anyways, in terms of price point it came to 41 Euros.
That included the 3 pumpkin dishes, the dessert and we also ended up paying for the water
for everyone.
Mmmhmm.
The wine that I drank my Dad bought for me and that was 5 Euros and we split it.
So basically an extra 2.50 if you wanted to do the math.
Yeah.
And right now we're just outside of the restaurant.
Look it is right on the canal.
Yeah.
Tada.
So in terms of the food yeah the quality was really good.
The presentation was beautiful.
The portions were small though so keep that in mind if you were coming for your main big
meal it may not be the best bet.
But if you're coming for like and wanted to have a smaller meal it would be a really good
choice.
Yeah.
It is a cool experience.
Yeah, exactly.
Food experience.
It is so cozy inside there.
Yeah.
So we really liked that aspect too.