En route home from Sarasota, St. Armand's Circle was a totally unexpected place. Full of posh shops and eateries, it's like something out of a crazy dream and in fact, it owes its beginnings to the fabulous mind of John Ringling and the Greatest Show on Earth. We had just spent a few hours at Siesta Key Beach and were sunburnt and ravenous, a far cry from the sleek and polished beautiful people that were sauntering past. Sergio Mendes' 'Girl from Ipanema' kept floating through my head as one goddess and adonis after another walked by. After peeking at a number of menus as we explored the circle, we settled on Venezia. The doors were open, the place looked cool and the smells were amazing.
It took a bit of deciding but we settled on
HOMEMADE CRAB CAKES: served with caper aioli sauce.........$11.95
and a pizza
CAPRICCIOSA: tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushroom,artichokes, olives and ham.....$15.50
The crabcakes were the best we've ever had. You only get two, which seems pricey until you start eating. They are full of crabmeat, not lots of bready filling and they are glorious. One with a side salad would be a meal, but you will want two!
Venezia offers Peroni on tap which made Jamie very happy. He was just finishing his first when the pizza arrived, placed atop an empty tomato sauce can which was a brilliant idea. The crust was just the way we like it, thin, crispy and actually tasty. The pizza itself was plain delicious with good quantities of all the toppings and big enough that we took a portion home.
We decided to go the whole nine yards and have dessert as it was still a two hour drive home. We split a piece of chocolate cake. Jamie had a double espresso and I had a cappucino which was a work of art when it arrived. Oh my, what gorgeous food. http://venezia1966.com/
http://www.starmandscircleassoc.com/about.cfm
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