Harry's Bar...

I don't have any relevant pictures, but thought it best to keep this in its own section since the night unrolled so spectacularly. We took the Vaporetto, which let us off right in front of the restaurant. We were early so decided to window shop. Just as we walked up the narrow street, after perusing windows of Pucci, fenestras of Fiorucci, a familiar voice hailed us. It was Jack from San Francisco, two hours off the plane but remarkably well preserved and as kind as ever. We strolled out to view St. Mark's and then came back in to be seated in the upstairs room.

We were next joined by our host, Charles, and his family. He introduced himself to us, and the evening was on. We know him from his sister and brother in law from San Francisco. Many thanks are due to him because we both ate, drank, and entertained ourselves richly at Harry's. I was seated next to Charles' teenage son. He was well-mannered and articulate, able to converse on a great range of topics, though we did dwell on a mutual liking for videogames.

There were nine of us, the largest party in the place, and Charles is a regular, so we had the rapt attention of a lot of the staff. They're always so helpful at Harry's and we had only the best service.

Despite the conversation and jokes and all-around graciousness, it is the food that brings you back. I started with the Caprese salad, tomatoes and mozzarella. It was sumptuous, the cheese among the best I've had. My second was a taglierre al saor (pasta with sardines) that was perfect. Several of us finished the meal with a simple pasta with tomato sauce, just a small taste, which was perfect before the desert. I had the lemon meringue pie, which was tart and cooked to its peak of taste, a balance between the lemon and the flattish sweet taste of the meringue.

There were several bottles of wine floating around, but I stuck with the Sosso from Felluga, a vintner I'd tried many times in Venice and always found deeply satisfying, from the relatively simple Pinot Grigio to this rich red.

We closed the place down. The staff gave us a final goodbye, then probably rushed off to the last vaporetto, as we did. It's hard to stay past 11 p.m. in Venice because so many of the workers can't afford to live in the lagoon and have to take the last public transportation to the mainland.

We caught the last vaporetto three or four times during our short week in Venice. There's something so satisfying about a large meal, finely cooked, and then a late-night cruise to your hotel. I'd recommend it to anyone!

Thank you to Charles and his lovely family for a wonderful evening out!