"At first glance, Si! Mon has many features typical of Venice restaurants: There’s a leafy, tropical patio, strong margaritas, and a crowd populated by floppy-hatted people. What sets this upscale Panamanian restaurant apart, though, is the food. Come here for a quiet date night in the dimly lit dining room, or a boozy Friday with friends at the upstairs bar, and you’ll find yourself fighting over dishes like shrimp dumplings in coconut bisque, rum-filled crab stew, twice-fried chicken, and tuna carpaccio on yuca tostadas with sweet pepper aioli. Getting to this canal-adjacent part of Venice is painful for just about everyone, but if the destination is Si! Mon, the struggle will be validated." - brant cox, sylvio martins, nikko duren