Fall fun Food and Follies in Victoria B.C. 2010 chapter 3 Stone Cold · Wednesday October 13, 2010 by colin newell
I have a rule that I almost never break.
Writing reviews of cafes or restaurants shall never revert to stone age nit picking, whining or saber rattling rants.
Unless a couple of things come up during said cafe or restaurant visit.
And ironically, a restaurant I recently reviewed for EAT Magazine… Browns Social House, broke one of my golden rules in food service.
There are two such rules that cannot be broken.
Raw food that is dangerous when raw. Like chicken or pork.
And cold food that should be hot. That is colder than room temperature. Because that I cannot forgive.
While having a late lunch on Monday (after returning from a glorious weekend at Point No Point cabins), we stopped into Browns Social House for a quick bite; a blackened halibut burger (with fries) for me and a “flat bread” Pizza called the Royale with Cheese for Andrea.
The sandwich was good and as described: Blackened, spicy and thermally hot. The fries, on the other hand, were stone cold. Colder than room temperature… which was utterly remarkable and unacceptable.
Andrea’s flat bread was haphazardly thrown together – a flat bread with chunks of ground meat, sauce and cheese – a burned black on the bottom. Pity. It all could have been done right and these 2 offenses should have never left the kitchen.
Perhaps I have been watching Chef Ramsay and Hell’s Kitchen too much but really… when you think about it, if the chef does not care enough about the obvious details, like hot food, what the heck else is going on in the more subtle areas of preparation?
Anyway. In the end I got a plate of sizzling hot fries (that had not been fully drained of grease) and were way hotter than most people would get. There was no comp other than a “our fries are great and, by the way, sorry about that…”
Unacceptable.
Browns Social House in Victoria will now be on the blocked list for the next indefinite period until they can get their crap together.
Meantime, we now have the Atrium, Zambri’s, PIG BBQ and Al’s Organic Cafe to check out.
Comments please?
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Fall fun food and follies in Victoria B.C. 2010 chapter 2 · Monday October 11, 2010 by colin newell
For starters, I have twitter to blame for a dearth of activity around here. Damn you, you insatiable Sea Gull with a bottomless appetite for my most trivial thoughts! Never pleased with the amount of witty wrist shots I tap out! Well, I am done! Almost…
Big news in the Victoria area is the gradual opening of the Atrium Complex at the corners of Douglas, Yates and Johnson with Zambri’s taking the lead, followed by A.J.‘s Organic Cafe, PIG BBQ Joint and (for me) the most hotly anticipated coffee event in the last year…
The opening of HABIT COFFEE AND CULTURE # 2.
The Atrium, designed and built by the imaginative Jawl Properties, has fundamentally changed the game downtown – and folks, this is not the latest tourist trap area. This new infusion caters to the neighborhood – and what a splash folks! What a splash.
Andrea and I popped into the new HABIT and the Atrium after returning from a wonderful cabin get-away to Jordan River (Point no Point cabins) and had our breath taken away. An ebullient Shane Devereaux held court behind one of the brightly colored La Marzocco espresso-cappuccino machines and poured flawless latte art while we chatted for a few seconds.
Shane humbly reminded me that “this” was a collaborative effort when I suggested that his new digs fundamentally shifted the downtown Victoria vibe. And so it is. Peter Zambri (and his crew) and Shane’s collective (and others) have brought some magic to Victoria like nothing I have seen in the last 25+ years. I am excited… big time. And I hope my readers get down there soon.
One of the things (another blog perhaps) that I notice are the number of colleagues at the University (where I work) that claim to have not been downtown in years. This shocks me. The things that makes a city alive, well and healthy are people and healthy commerce. Claiming that there are too many social ills or no parking in our gem of a town is utterly lame. Sure. Go ahead. Do all your business at a corporate Mall or, God forbid… Walmart. But be prepared to pay the price.
Anyway. Rant off.
The Atrium on Yates is utterly spectacular and an incredible architectural wonder. Give it a week or so and come on down. It will be worth it!
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The Baratza Preciso grinder first look - Fall 2010 · Sunday September 19, 2010 by colin newell
Based on our their popular grinder – the Baratza Virtuoso, the Preciso adds extra precision and control to the great basic features of the Virtuoso.
This article on the Baratza Preciso grinder is unfolding as you watch! Watch for changes and additions to this blog over the next week!
Baratza’s coffee diva, Kyra and design engineer Kyle of Baratza were kind enough to entrust me with a sample Preciso for an intense look see – We are in the first few days of play so this article will unfold as this week comes and goes. Check in often!
Photo above right: We were pumped to receive a Preciso to give it the no-holds-barred coffeecrew.com tear-apart and abuse until it bursts review… and there are lots of good things to report!
Like the Virtuoso, the new Preciso retains the 40 grind adjustment steps of the Virtuoso, but a second micro adjustment lever further divides each of the 40 steps into 11 distinct settings. This was a much needed feature for serious espresso enthusiasts because with the Virtuoso’s more limited range of steps, one had to depend on their other skills for nailing the perfect grind and tamp.
Smaller steps (in this case 11 sub-settings for every regular click on the Preciso) means you have more control over your espresso grind, enabling you to pull that perfect shot.
The Preciso retains all the range and durability of the beloved Virtuoso. It really is the ideal grinder for folks who like to mix it up with French press, Aeropress, drip and all the other methods. And if you use a couple of different methods (like I do) it is now way easier to zero in on that sweet spot.
Operationally, the Preciso has the same timer and pulse button that the Virtuoso employs.
We have some photos of the Preciso over here in the photo gallery – more coming too!
The Preciso’s professional grade 40mm conical burrs produce a consistent, fine grind which is critical for all the grind ranges from espresso through French press. I am constantly mixing it up in my lab so the Preciso’s inherent flexibility pays off for stress free grinding batch for batch.
The front mounted pulse On/Off button allows you to grind directly into your espresso brew portafilter and an optional portafilter holder makes dosing a snap. The 60-second timer is perfect for grinding my regular “full batch” for my Newco OCS-8 and OCS-12 drip brewer. The Newco’s and the Preciso are the perfect team – then again, it works well with my collection of French press brewers
The Preciso’s large 8-oz. hopper and a 5-oz. removable anti static ground coffee bin are standard equipment – exactly like the Virtuoso.
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Summer Fun Food Drink and Gear - The Gin Virgin - Chapter 21 · Monday August 23, 2010 by colin newell
If you think Victoria B.C. is coffee central, better get ready to add a new category for this little piece of West Coast paradise! Victoria Gin has hit town.
We spoke with boyish master distiller and molecular biologist Peter Hunt, 31 as he tended his copper pot still – the first one I have ever seen.
Photo right: From L to R – The Hemp Vodka, the Oaken Gin and the Pure Gin.
Peter did his B.A. and Masters degree in Micro-Biology at UVic and seemed as surprised as my wife and I to be tending and managing the intricate discipline of distillation. One of his former vocations was community development work in Africa – but now, at this very early stage in his career, he is doing something completely different – if not just as equally satisfying.
This was our second attempt at finding the operation (they have added some more signs!) and adjacent to a small vineyard in Saanich, the distillery and tasting room are in a barn, giving it that cottage industry feeling that you find in many small wineries.
I learned a lot about distillation and the process of making gin and vodka while checking out their neat operation. A mash of juniper berries and 10 “botanical” additions are used in this handcrafted spirit. Watching it “boil” away at just over 80 degrees © was cool – as well as seeing the condensation towers “perking” – with a gentle little stream of refined “brew” ending up in a steel tin.
Wild organic herbs and spices plus natural spring water create the complex flavor profile of gin – and it is not entirely lost on me, an avid coffee taster. In some ways, it is even more challenging. In the sample room, there are martini glasses laid out with samples of the botanical pallet they use. So much for secret ingredients!
We sipped several varieties of the Gin, one Oak aged and one pure as well as the hemp vodka – and bought a bottle of each. Because I was driving I kept my tipple to less than 1/8th ounce sips with each sample – but the flavor was all there.
Some extra things I learned…
The German-made, 120L copper pot-still produces a “batch” in an attention grabbing 4 to 6 hour distillation process. Intense knowledge of biology and chemistry is key because you do spend a lot of time stripping off ingredients you really do not want in liquor – like acetates and methanol, the blindness inducing byproduct of careless distillation.
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