moeche fritte, molto delicioso

in venice, you are always lost and then quickly unlost because the alleyways somehow always lead you back to a campo or the water or a traghetto or vaparetto stop. wandering is pure pleasure in venice, as long as you don't have to be anywhere on time (or scrambling to get to a restaurant by the 2:30 lunchtime cutoff time, as i was today).

al covo in castello is one of those places that kept popping up just as i was about to pull out a map. it's become such a talisman that i finally decided to go in and try some of the some of the intriguing items on the menu.

after a lightly dressed green salad with crunchy bits of fennel, radish and green beans, here's what i was choosing among for my main course:

• spaghetti di Gragnano alle "vere" vongole veraci e fiori di zucca
• gnoccheti di patate ai calamaretti nostrami, porri e covallo di granserola
• "moeche" fritte con cipolle, patate a fiammifero e polenta

it was hard: a "true" vongole _ a bold claim _ with zucchini flowers, which are hard to find outside italy, spain and mexico? a homemade gnocchi with the intriguing combination of baby calamari, leeks and roe (three more of my favorite ingredients)?

i chose the soft-shell crab, shoestring fries with fried onions and greens. of all the items, i love soft-shell crab the most, and i can't remember the last time - if ever - i've eaten it in london.

it was perfect: five tiny, succulent, lightly salted crabs; asparagus and red onions lightly fried in a beautifully buoyant batter, and a cube of polenta that was crispy and grilled out the outside but oozing on the inside. two giaraudi amaretto cookies came with the bill, and i fear they might be come my newest addiction.

and a pleasant surprise: the owner, cesare, is tall, handome and very italian. but his wife, diane, is american, though it took me a second to realize it since she speaks perfect italian, and apparently with a venetian accent (though to her credit, she was quick to recognize a fellow american). props to a woman who has made venice her own, and become a part of the venetian landscape, without apparently flaunting or sacrificing her americanness.