Al Vecio Canton

Venice is not known for pizza, partly because fire codes restrict the use of traditional wood-burning ovens, but the big, fluffy crusted pies here—made using natural mineral water—are the best in the city. They also do a mean T-bone steak, cooked tableside on a granite slab, accompanied by truffle or red pepper sauce, and some of the pastas are pretty good too—stick with seafood versions like cuttlefish, and the seasonal moeche (soft-shell crabs fried in batter) and schie, small gray shrimp caught in the lagoon. Wash it all down with the drinkable house wine, or for a change, tasty craft beers from Treviso-based 32 Via dei Birrai.