You can get anything you want at Aromi Restaurant...except "The Mayor's Water"

This may get to be a very long story and it may not be nearly as amusing as it was to Marcia and me when we had dinner at Aromi Restaurant at the Molino Stucky Hotel on Giudecca, lo those many Sundays ago. You can stop reading anytime.

First, let me say the food was great and it was definitely worth the splurge.

The photo of the amuse bouche didn't come out - it was Couscous with Clams and Burata Cheese - yum...and we didn't take a photo of the salad.

And now for the rest of the meal - photos from top to bottom -

-A Gazillion Kinds of Bread with As Many Different Olive Oils as You Want

-Risotto with White Asparagus and Ricotta-Stuffed Pumpkin Flower

-Fettucine with Duck, Shallots and Almonds

-Fish & Chips, Venetian-Style (MUCH better than it looks - little lagoon fish with mayonnaise made with egg whites only and beer with coriander)

-Tiramisu, Molino Stucky-Style - it was amazing! a hard shell of chocolate with a creamy milk center and a foamy surround (stay tuned for the winners of Battle of the Bands: Tiramisu AND Battle of the Bands: Panna Cotta - can't post those 'til the last minute. Wouldn't be fair to all the players.)

-Limoncella Baba (Marcia said it tasted like soap!)

-Amuse Dessert - just what it looks like - a little chocolate muffin with berry sauce

When you sit down to a meal in Venice - in all of Italy, probably in all of Europe - the first question you're asked is if you'd like water and whether you want still or sparkling. Which means, obviously, you're going to get bottled water. And the price for a liter of bottled water can range from Euro 1.50 to Euro 5.00 or even Euro 6.00, depending on how fancy the joint is. Interestingly enough just a few days prior there was an article in the Times about how the mayor of Venice was promoting tap water in order to cut down on the incredible number of plastic water bottles that have to be disposed of, not to mention the millions that end up in the lagoon, and because, supposedly, the quality of the tap water is actually better than the quality of bottled water. Here, read it yourself...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/world/europe/12venice.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Venice%27s%20water&st=cse

So apparently some Venetians have taken to asking for "the Mayor's water." So we figured we'd start drinking tap water at the apartment and asking for "the Mayor's water" in restaurants. No one ever had a clue what we were talking about (eventually we gave up). At Aromi, we decided to insist on tap water. And they absolutely, positively refused to serve it to us. The maitre'd very graciously said he'd be happy to provide complimentary bottled water and we tried to make him understand that paying for the water was not at all the point. He explained it was "hotel policy" not to serve tap water and that it was therefore impossible for him to comply with our wishes. We thought it was ridiculous. A week or so later I chatted with the Contessa about it and she brought up the issue of liability. Can you imagine? Being afraid to serve a patron tap water because if he or she got sick, you'd be sued? Sick from tap water? Rather than from food? What a world. So, like I said, you can get anything you want at Aromi Restaurant...except tap water.