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Restaurants
With patio season at its peak, don’t miss your chance to enjoy some of the Victoria area’s prettiest porches and greenest gardens for noshing out of doors. Here are a few favourites among the many.
Even before you take a bite, the Harbour Street Brasserie sweeps you off your feet. A beautiful garden and breezy front porch are the first sights...
Veneto’s got style. And no, I am not talking Italy, but the Rialto Hotel in Victoria, the site of a serious and successful makeover.
I had 2 free days a couple of weeks ago (doesn’t happen very often!) so I stole away for a 36 hour Seattle summer sojourn. Took the Clipper down standby (nerve-wracking – I got the very last seat!), and a few short hours later was walking the hilly streets of Seattle.
If you’ve walked through the Cook St. village lately, you may have noticed a little more activity in the lot adjacent to Bubby Rose’s Bakery. What started with Red Fish Blue Fish’s satellite operation, 1 Fish 2 Fish, back in February, has grown to a cozy cluster of street carts.
A whistle-stop visit to Calgary recently showed that cowtown chefs are dishin’ up more than honkin’ big steaks (not that there is anything wrong that).
“Are you ready to be transported to the bottom of the Salish sea?” It was a cool and rainy fall evening, and my aunt and I had just come in from a soggy stroll down the Sidney pier. Luckily, at the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre you can enjoy the sights of this rich ecosystem without getting wet.
Vancouver contributor Julie Pegg tours rural Ontario for the local flavour.
Last month, Canoe Brewpub held its inaugural Long Table series. This was the first time Canoe offered an event like this, where you sit at a long table with twenty strangers and enjoy a set menu of an entrée paired with one of the brewpub’s beers.
I adore my classic cookbooks. It’s wonderful having Elizabeth (David) and Julia in the kitchen and The Joy of Cooking on my shelf. I’ve no quibble, though with the hip (mostly) young chefs, whose cookbooks made it on to my desk this year—nearly all of them Canadian, and mainly BC chefs who are singing the praises of local, seasonal, but above all, fresh.
The countdown is on to 2010, and if you’re still looking for a good place to have your last meal of the decade, here are some suggestions from the staff at EAT.
Here at EAT magazine, we’ve decided that just writing articles isn’t enough. We want to give your voice a forum for identifying, recognizing and celebrating what is going on here on Vancouver Island that matters to you.
Dinner with a Twist commenced with a classic cocktail. The French 75 was light, sparkling and pretty, the bubbles danced across the tongue awakening diners’ senses for what was to come.
Being from a small community in Northern British Columbia, I am drawn to small, local, friendly restaurants with good food. My boyfriend introduced me to Bistro Caché a few months ago. Each visit has been a unique experience, with consistently high levels of food and service quality. We have begun making this our little spot to celebrate special occasions.
“I’m as jumpy as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs”, admits Rob Feenie. Feenie has graciously wedged me in between busy and nervous the morning of the Gold Plate Awards, to chat about his two-day challenge—comprised of three stressful competitions--a mystery wine pairing, an Black Box event a la Iron Chef, and a Grand Finale.
The tradition of supplying soldiers with cacao products dates back to the time of the Aztecs. The Aztecs also provided this product; a frothy, ground cacao-based beverage, to men on their wedding nights, which brings us to this week’s chocolate holiday: St. Valentine’s Day.
The first in a two part series on how a new crop of coffee shops and tea rooms cements Victoria’s status as the West Coast’s caffeine capital.
With fewer and fewer visits “across the pond”, I was beginning to lose touch with the wining and dining scene in the city that spawned the magazine. So with laptop, overnight bag and a 5am coffee firmly in hand, I aim for the first ferry on a rainy Friday morning to mix a little business with pleasure.
I’m actually a big fan of Murchie's. They make good coffee as well as tea, and their scones and pastries never fail to impress. They are undoubtedly one of the reasons (along with Afternoon Tea at the Empress and Butchart Gardens, not to mention White Heather and the Blethering Place) why Victoria is often referred to as Canada’s tea capital.
As world athletes gather to compete in Vancouver this month, an international gathering of a different ilk takes place across the country, in Montreal.
The door to Zambri’s is wedged open with a stool, a tray of fresh linguine perched on top to dry. I’m a little early for my meeting with Jo Zambri, but Gina lets me in, and I sit down at a table, happy to observe the pre-lunch hour happenings. Louis Vacca is hard at work in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on all his tempting offerings; eggplant parmigiana, sandwiches, and mixed vegetables in addition to the fresh linguine.
“It’s a bit like a marriage,” Cory Pelan explains, as he gently pushes his thirty-year old pasta maker into place. “I try to listen to what it’s telling me… sometimes I ignore it…” Chuckles go around the crowd watching the chef and owner of La Piola interact with his Italian-made Bottene Marano pasta machine.
Dine Out, Fight AIDS. This annual dining fundraising event raises funds for AIDS service organizations.
From the minute you meet Chef Anna Hunt, you know she is no ordinary woman, and she certainly is no ordinary chef.
Victoria is getting younger. Over the last few years, Victoria’s age demographic has become decidedly more youthful and one of the side effects of this shift is an increasing number of people going and staying out late, and often eating when they do.
There has long been a debate over what counts as “Canadian Cuisine”. Very few foods have originated in Canada – most dishes have sprung from the wide range of homelands of the immigrants who make up our population: perogies, pizzas, pastas, etc. But there is one “P” dish that is our very own: Poutine.
Readers, I may have taken a little break from my web duties, but never from my wining and dining. Here is a bit of what I've been up to. On May 17th and 18th, EAT Liquid Assets columnist Larry Arnold and I swirled, sniffed, spat and scored along with thirty-some other judges from across the country at the 29th All Canadian Wine Championships in Windsor Ontario. It was a tough job but somebody had to do it
EAT's new Vancouver Reporter, Anya Levykh, launches her weekly column. Check back every Wednesday to find out what's new and noteworthy in Vancouver's food scene.
One day shy of summer and a typically eclectic crowd converged in Fernwood Square to eat, drink and be merry. It was the first-ever Fernwood Bites– a fundraiser in support of the newly created Fernwood Neighbourhood Chest Fund. Armed with wine glasses and soon-to-be dishevelled napkins, ticket-holders to the sold-out event were greeted by an impressive array of sips and samples.
I was down in Sin City a few weeks back, hanging out while my fellow was at his annual hoteliers conference. I popped in to see an old school chum, a Victoria boy and sommelier whose passion and career path has taken him to great vinous heights in Vegas.
Vancouver Reporter Anya Levykh's weekly column on what's new and noteworthy in Vancouver's food scene.
It is common belief that Chef Todd initiated Vancouver’s underground restaurant movement at the infamous 12b on Main Street. Todd tells us that his dinners are fully booked two months in advance, suggesting that there is a demand for more underground restaurants. These hidden establishments have been slowly popping up around the city. The menu styles range from Secret Supper’s vegan menu to Swallow Tail’s farm-to-table focused concept.
So the HST has you sticking close to home this year instead of meandering down the Riviera. You can still enjoy a taste of France all summer long, thanks to these summer deals.
On the afternoon of Saturday July 17th, there will be a whole hog on a spit on the seaside terrace at the Hotel Grand Pacific. The pork will be paired with BC wines, apple cider and mead. Emory says, “The goal is to create a festive, informal fine food and wine event that gets people outside and away from the starched linens.”
The Fish House in Stanley Park, I am mildly ashamed to admit, is a place that I have not frequented in recent years, apart from the occasional visit for afternoon tea. But it’s a place that was brought back to my attention last week by their recently launched Klahowya menu, which honours the Klahowya First Nations Village in Stanley Park. The word itself can mean “welcome,” “how are you?” or “goodbye” in the Chinook Jargon (not to be confused with the Chinook language) of the Pacific Northwest.
In 2003, The World’s Longest Barbecue was a national first. City folk, country folk, Canadians all, “gathered” together from all three coasts (That’s right. There are three) to celebrate Canadian beef. Anita Stewart, Food Day founder, had come up with a simple premise: at 6:00 PM “Your Time”, fire up the BBQ, invite some friends and celebrate Canada as a culinary nation.
There is a lot of talk these days about sustainable seafood, and what that implies. It’s a complicated subject. A few years back, the idea was that anything wild, as opposed to farmed, was sustainable, specifically anything wild that was caught without producing dolphin by-catch.
This week has been an accidental continuation of last week’s sustainability theme. And it’s been interesting to find that theme creep into areas that I might not have necessarily considered, like macarons, gelato and pickled garlic stems, but such is life.
Treve Ring interviews bartender Simon Ogden and Gary Hynes reports on Veneto's new menu
This week I finally checked out the new menu—and chef—at Diva at the Met. I’ve always admired Chef Quang Dang from his long sojourn at C Restaurant, but wondered how the rigorous simplicity of that ethic would transfer to a larger, more complex hotel kitchen operation. I needn’t have worried. In addition to being one of, if not the youngest, hotel executive chef in the city, Chef Dang is also one of its most inspired.
Last night we escaped the summer windstorm and tucked into a bountiful sustainable cider and seafood pairingdinner at The Mark, in the Hotel Grand Pacific.
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Three years ago, while discovering my new neighbourhood on bicycle, I stumbled upon a lush, green patio space nestled against a warm, textured, brick building in residential James Bay. After a look at the intricate menu and a tour inside the wimsy and wild, dining space indoors, I realized I had found one of Victoria’s culinary gems.
It’s the height of the growing season, and products like tomatoes, corn and seafood are at their best. For the past week, I have been enjoying the local bounty at a couple local restaurants. Here are a few things you may want to try out before time—and crops—runs out.
Commune Café, Kitsilano Daily Kitchen and last call for the Floating Dining Room
An Extraordinary Event Featuring Chefs from every Province and Territory in Canada
Nothing settles my grumpy side more than a foodie toodle from Vancouver. If up and out early, I’ll fuel up on gas, eggs and toast at a truck stop. A mid-morning start, and I’ll nose out a bakery for a warm savoury scone or buttery tart to nosh on over a locally roasted java. Hopefully that same bakery will have a loaf or two of hefty wholegrain or rye to take home. Late summer meanderings tend to follow farm stands brimming with the season’s bounty, or a family-run dairy offering rich milk and butter from their own cows.
