Victoria Summer 2011 Starting Fridays Off Chapter 2 · Friday July 8, 2011 by colin newell
It’s a ritual. In July and August, in lieu of taking any time off of work, we take every Friday off during these two bright months. It is amazing what it does to the overall look and feel of the week.
Let’s talk about today – our first Friday in July off (not counting last Friday as it was Canada Day…)
Dropped into John’s Place in the 700 block of Pandora Avenue. Photo above I have been going there since they first opened in October 1984. I have 35mm photos of friends clustered around tables from those “old days”. Truth is, little has changed in the 27 odd years they have been open; real food for real people… or something like that. Their grub is reliable as gravity – particularly the breakfasts… waffles, eggs any which way, bottomless mugs of coffee.
Today we were late for the breakfast so we opted for the late breakfast specials of Omelette’s – we had the veg and the meat ones with sides of toast and English muffins – I tend to pass on the “Home style potatoes” – they are breakfast plate filler.
Their coffee is strong enough to stand a spoon in and is great for kick starting a caffeine kind of day… like today.
Quick stops in City Hall to flash up my downtown parking card and then Capital Iron and Steel to look at some tools and hardware.
Second stop was Ken Gordon’s Street Level Espresso for a shot of the good stuff. Ken Gordon’s lilliputian espresso bar is super small but it kind of adds to the overall intimacy of the joint… because it is always packed with beautiful men and women. I do not know where they all come from but be prepared to rub shoulders if you are in for coffee – or hang out on the sidewalk for some of Victoria’s finest people watching near the corner of 700 Block Fort and Douglas Street.
Today I walked in for the espresso and Ken put a size large Street Level Tee on my back – the one with the 60’s era Diana camera on it.
Third stop – Victory Barbers in the Atrium (going to do an entire blog on this place because it deserves it…) for my haircut. Victory is a barber shop with some interesting period energy from yesteryear – but totally in the 21st Century. They do conventional cuts for Men and straight razor shaves – as well as a wide selection of “hard goods” for men; shaving kits, colognes, pomades and knives… yes, knives. They even have a Bulldog mascot who does a cute trick. So, if you love dogs, handsome male (and female) barbers – and neat stuff, get on down to Victory!
Victory is the brain child of the devilishly handsome Matthew “Matty” Conrad – who would not be out of place in a wild west flick – He and his equally absurdly and unrealistically good looking staff are on-duty to bring out the manly-man in you.
Fourth stop – HABIT coffee and culture in the Atrium for decaf and some cookies from Origin Bakery
Victoria B.C. is a great place to spend a Friday – great food, coffee and attractions for everyone.
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Victoria Spring 2011 - Reading with Grant Lawrence at Bolen Books · Monday May 16, 2011 by colin newell
Andrea and I attended a book reading at Bolen Books, Hillside Mall in Victoria B.C. Canada – featuring Grant Lawrence, author of Adventures in Solitude, CBC host, former singer in a Rock and Roll band, outdoors man and self described raconteur…
(And) That latter talent, Grants reading and telling of stories, brought out to shine in one of the first Spring evenings where the Sun poked through a Venusian thick cloud cover that has not broken in what seems like months.
I picked up a copy of Grants book way back in the Fall of 2010 – just prior to a trip to Hawaii, shortly after it had been released… and was more than pleasantly surprised – and if you have not read my little review, it is over here
My wife, Andrea, describes Grant Lawrence as adorable (in much the same way as the staffer at Bolen Books introduced the author) – and got that extra kick when the “voice” was finally attached to the face and the energy within the book. We are big supporters of CBC radio and Grant’s engaging and quirky deliver is an almost instantly recognizable ingredient in today’s CBC radio product. In person, Grant is a natural story teller with a down to Earth folksy and self effacing tone – surprised as much by the success of his soft cover as he is with the engagement of the audience.
And the funny twist for me was the reality that I had read the book cover to cover twice before starting to “bed time” read it to my dear wife – whose response to its first few chapters was less than stellar. And let me clarify this – I often read stories while we are getting ready to fall asleep and the genre is generally action filled Science fiction or mystery… and for some reason, my reading of Grant Lawrence’s work was coming off as a little too poignant. Imagine that. I mean, Grant’s early years were most certainly angst ridden – by any measure. But my deliver was magnifying the sorrow beyond that which was a pleasant read.
So when Andrea heard Grant deliver a troublesome passage (The Pot Luck passage as I call it…) and when it was over, she turned to me and declared “We need to start reading Grant’s book again… but work on your delivery!”
Because as Grant reads it, it is adorable and sweet and yes, poignant.
Gotta work on that part of my style.
Anyway – if you haven’t got a copy of “Adventures in Solitude” – by Canadian author Grant Lawrence… get on it.
Colin Newell lives in Victoria, gets paid to write occasionally, gets rewarded for drinking coffee constantly – and whose opinions are often darker and stronger than the brewed beverage.
Victoria Spring 2011 - Single Serve espresso from Nespresso Pixie · Saturday May 14, 2011 by colin newell
Had the pleasure of getting a 1 week loan of the Nespresso Pixie from Weber Shandwick of Vancouver – thanks to the lovely Nicole G. for turning me loose on this new coffee maker.
The Nespresso Pixie is a fast heat-up single serve espresso pod brewer. And when I say “Fast Heating” – I am not kidding. I did not measure the time exactly, but after power up, the unit appeared ready to brew in under 2 minutes. Great if you are in a hurry in the morning.
I have done some other reviews of ESE “Easy Service Espresso” – which is different than the pod over here and here
The ESE machines I have used have been awesome – and a tad more eco friendly.
I might as well get this out there right now – The Nespresso system is downright ecologically unfriendly – using plastics and tinfoil in the pod product. Over the life of the unit this would amount to a boat load of waste products. Personally, I cannot support systems like this and would try and steer folks away from POD systems on this basis alone.
If not for that, what of the flavor?
I am not entirely sure how Pods are manufactured or whether or not they are flushed and sealed with nitrogen to keep the coffee even remotely fresh – I suspect not. Pretty sure that ESE’s are, at least, partially staled prior to packing and shipping. POD’s could not possibly be too fresh because the pods would burst open without a method of de-gassing. And the pods do not appear to have 1-way valves.
Flavor – at first spin, the flavor of the pods are not too jarring – depending entirely on “stopping” the shot prior to the full brew cycle. Bottom line here is: the dose of the pod is not nearly high enough for a decent single – that is, a 1+ fluid ounce shot of espresso… it’s close, but it is not quite enough.
As a result, every long pull pod serving is hopelessly over-extracted and watery… and, well… bitter.
Weber Shandwick was kind enough to send me around 10 Pods to sample – some of them were Decaf – which I blended in double shots during my evening photo shoot of the product. Overall impression over the course of brewing the different “espresso flavors” was one of, ahem *Meh. Hate to say that but I have to be cruelly honest about this. Even if the Nespresso system was not a complete Eco pig, it will still come down to trying to get too much flavor from too small a dose of coffee. Fix that and the pod manufacture materials and maybe Nescafe might be on to something.
If you are the kind of person that does not mind playing 50 cents per shot of coffee and are willing to double-pod your morning experience and short pull all your Pods, this might be the baby for you.
For me, not so much. Thumbs down on the Nespresso Pixie Pod system.
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Victoria Spring 2011 - Tofino sunset or sunrise on great coffee · Wednesday April 27, 2011 by colin newell
My wife and I have been visiting Tofino and Ucluelet on Vancouver Island for well over 10 years since we were married.
And in a decade some things have changed and some other things have remained absolutely and irritatingly the same.
Food: For all intents and purposes, Tofino has come a nice distance in the last decade. There was a time, 20 years or so ago, that there was little to pick from apart from some questionable burger joints and some really questionable seafood places…
Which is an atrocity when you consider that Tofino and Ucluelet are sea food meccas. For goodness sakes, there are fishing fleets based in these two magical little towns.
In 2011, Tofino and Ucluelet cuisine has moved forward big time — for the cuisine that is. You can still get some horrifyingly appalling fish and chips, burgers and hot dogs… ironically at mom and pop joints… because… wait for it, there are no chains or franchise fast food operations in Tofino or Ucluelet… Because heavens knows that a Taco Bell or McDonald’s could not possibly get down to the junk level of some of the joints up here on the coast. OK. Enough picking on that front.
A notch or two up are the deli’s that I have encountered – the ones that charge $10 for a fancy grilled cheese sandwich, that when you order it to eat in, takes 25 minutes to make and is handed to you wrapped in plastic, tinfoil and or paper. No name, but the one deli we visited on this last weekend kept me in stitches after witnessing one order mess up after another… only to have my order screwed up – where we waited almost an hour to get a cheese sandwich made properly. No apology either. Not a word. No sorry for the wait. Nor a nod. Because this is Tofino.
Tofino – all attitude and no substance. None at all.
At the cuisine level it is another matter. When fresh fish or local meat and produce are being prepared in Tofino, they are generally as good as the big city. Pricing tends to be slightly higher than other major centers – but what the heck, Tofino is a tourist town and a bit of a food trap. That said, there is a lot of competition and competition in close quarters is good for you and me.
Coffee: – There are no qualms about it. The coffee culture in Tofino is nearly hopeless. This is starting to change – thank heavens. A notable and sometimes irritating deli, Breakers, has just picked up a Fernwood Coffee contract – they have good equipment and raw materials… so with a little training from the fabulous people at Fernwood, there is hope. Let’s all cross our fingers.
The interesting observation I get about Tofino coffee culture is that it is all attitude and no production. And I want to be contradicted on this – in 20+ visits over the last decade plus, the coffee groove has remained sad.
A colleague of mine quipped the other day, “Remember Colin, Tofino is surf culture, not coffee culture…”
Huh? Why can it not be both? Victoria is coffee culture, tea culture, food culture and tourist culture?
Could it be that Tofino is not capable of doing anything but hippie chill out and surf? Maybe. I hope not. A community like that cannot survive on one trick pony.
Summary: – I would be remiss in not acknowledging the great people that live and work in Tofino and Ucluelet. Yes, the food and tourism culture is there for our comfort and amusement – much like my little city of Victoria – but there are other sides to the culture of community. Victoria is no different.
But if you are going to do coffee and offer a chunk of espresso culture, try and deliver the goods – even if you are pretending.
For now, if you are visiting Tofino or Ucluelet, I beg of you: Bring your own coffee!
We stay at the Middle Beach Lodge and the drip coffee they serve in the Lodge is very good. I know, I drink too much of it.
If I was anywhere else, I would have brought a Press or the Aero and a hand grinder.
To do anything else would be risky.
Espresso in Tofino? Forget about it…
For now.
Colin Newell lives, eats and drinks Vancouver Island food culture – and can often be found between the pages of EAT Magazine or hovering over a cup of Joe at one of many fine Victoria cafes.
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