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Where the Chefs Eat: Skye McAlpine’s favourite restaurants in Venice
Skye compares Christmas to trips abroad, in that the anticipation, reflections, shared photos, and the excitement of planning are as much fun, if not more so, than the event itself. She is known by her Instagram followers for the epic number of Christmas cakes she makes as gifts throughout December. It was something her mother did. “I’ve played with some of her recipes, and I decorate them differently, but it’s definitely a tradition inherited from her,” Skye says. “And my sons and I always make gingerbread biscuits, and then we turn them into ornaments for our tree. I make the cakes for friends, and it drives my husband slightly mad because every surface of the kitchen becomes a Christmas cake.”
Skye’s Italian background has had a profound influence on her, and it’s the nostalgia, the sense of stepping back in time and the long history of multi-generational restaurants that she adores when there. Her taste “tends to gravitate towards something established and old school” when she is back home in Venice. With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that the restaurants in Venice that she recommends to us have been around as long as she has, if not longer. Henceforth, Skye’s favourite Venetian eateries.
Al Covo
This is such a lovely restaurant, and it’s near my mum’s house, so it’s in the area of town that I grew up in. It’s family-run and has been for generations. Today, it’s run by a really lovely couple called Cesare and Diane Rankin. It was in his family, and he married Diane, who, I believe, was in Venice on holiday from Texas many years ago. They met, fell in love, and she stayed to take over the restaurant with him. They’re both incredibly charismatic and very warm, and the food is not only delicious, but they also set a really lovely, welcoming tone in the restaurant. I think it’s one of the earliest proponents of slow food in Italy. They really believe in these things, and now they grow a lot of their own vegetables and produce themselves, so everything is super fresh and hyper seasonal. The dishes are all very traditional, though they may give them their own spin, and it’s not overly pretentious. They don’t complicate things for the sake of it. I love it. Everything is amazing, but I particularly love their fried zucchini flowers with mint and ricotta; the batter is just perfect. They’re the best zucchini flowers I’ve had anywhere, I think – certainly in Venice. Diane also does this ricotta cheesecake, which is to die for.
