How to avoid being served blackened squid while abroad

We had a couple of unpleasant culinary experiences on our honeymoon. For our first night in Nice, the restaurant served slightly blackened yet not-really-cooked squid to B and gnocchi with a gorgonzola cream sauce to me. B likened the squid to a Fear Factor gross-out challenge, and my gorgonzola sauce instilled a fear of French cheeses that will live forever.

We decided we could--and should--do better in Italy.

Asking the hotel concierge for help is a good start, but consulting a Michelin guide is better. If you only know Michelin as a tire company, then you're missing out. Their star ratings can make or break restaurants, and losing a Michelin star has undone many a French chef.

The only teeny weeny problem is that Michelin red guides (the red guides are for food and hotels) are published only in the language of the country that is rated. Between my Spanish and B's Latin, we could probably figure out some of the words, but who wants to work that hard? Not me, not on vacation, anyway.

But I discovered a Michelin red guide--in English!--for the main cities of Europe. Perfect, I thought. We'll be in Italy, Greece, Croatia, Germany, and Austria this year, and we can use the guide in all of those places. Two birds, one stone, and all of that.

Well, not so fast, Captain Awesome. Had I consulted the back cover before purchasing the book from Amazon, I would have learned that the guide doesn't cover all of the cities that we're going to. In fact, it doesn't cover either Venice or Florence, so there's almost no point in bringing it with us to Italy, unless we want to use it for our few hours in Athens (which is covered) or for our one-night layover in Frankfurt (also covered) at the end of the trip. Croatia doesn't even get a mention. For our December trip, Munich and Stuttgart are in it, but Salzburg is not.

So we're back to the original dilemma, only $20 poorer and no smarter. Ask concierge, wing it, or take our chances and buy the untranslated Italian red guide. Just no more cheese sauces, please...