Spring into the Victoria night life - with the Shark Club · Saturday April 25, 2009 by colin newell
When you are 19 to 34 years of age, it is commonplace to put on some tacky threads and hit the night life – to head to the other side of the tracks – to see how the other half lives…
And when you turn 35… Well…
There comes a time when you stop going out on the town…
Which is utter nonsense.
Now unless you have popped out 2 or 3 kids and have been lost at sea for the prime of your life, there are many great reasons to grab the car keys or the cab fare and seek out the gritty side of the downtown.
Example: I am coming up on my 5th century on the Planet Earth…
Duh. I mean… my 5th decade. Yea. That is what I meant.
And I have one very important reason to go out on a date night from time to time:
A much younger wife.
Oh. And the lack of kids.
The Shark Club (many locations in Victoria, Vancouver and the interior…) is custom made for a tasty and thirst quenching couple of hours on the town.
But you have to love at least one of these four things:
- Girls in short black dresses and revealing tops balancing trays of savory snacks and steins of local beer.
- Crowds of girls on the town in party dresses.
- Parched and beefy dudes in plaid shirts with a desire for cold beer and/or girls in party dresses.
- Loud and colorful sporting events on the High-definition flat-screen TVs (of which there are about 28 in each bar).
It is a fun place, really. The wait staff are sweet, mature and ultra professional and courteous. I have never seen an order of apps (we ordered calamari, ginger spicey beef and BBQ Chicken wings) and 2 pints of ale come to a table faster – it could not have been more than 5 minutes from order to delivery. The food at the Shark club is a click ahead of places like Boston Pizza and Earl’s – and the eye candy for both genders is mind numbing.
Alas, I only have eyes for one – and she always comes home with me.
So get out there… into the night. Because, it won’t bite.
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Spring coffee style - Joy in the Italian espresso maker #2 · Thursday April 2, 2009 by colin newell
If it were a simpler World – less all the problems that we are all too familiar with; hunger, war, strife, natural disasters… etc
and I had the luxury to choose… which Country I would like to rule the World… based on the simple things…
…like food, drink and love.
I might pick Italy. For the coffee. For the wine. For the food. And for their love of simple pleasures.
Sure I could pick France for the superior cuisine (kidding) and the slightly more civilized wines (now I am really kidding!) and the faster trains… but why bother.
The Italians rule the coffee pot. Particularly the stove top espresso maker. They excel in that department and the numbers do not lie. Over 100 million Italian families start each and every day with a stove top espresso maker. It is simple. It is elegant. And although it does not make real espresso (that takes more pressure), it makes some pretty dope brew – with an attitude and a punch that is definitely not straight coffee.
I have had a Bialetti for years – and it is currently on loan to another coffee lover. When Bodum-USA sent me a family sized one (twice the size of the basic stove top), I was delighted because I had heard a rumor that it makes slightly better coffee.
Now I can neither confirm or deny that the coffee was better than the coffee that my little Bialetti coughs up – but this first brew was spot on the money; intense, thick and built for the breakfast table.
So. If you have never had stove top espresso, give it a try. The coffee makers start at around 25 dollars. Do yourself a favor and get a stainless steel one. The coffee tastes better and the unit lasts longer – likely a lifetime of coffee drinking. Salut!
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and food writer for Eat Magazine. His almost daily jaunts into coffee world leave him intense, awake… and creative.
Dining in Victoria as good as it gets #2 · Saturday January 24, 2009 by colin newell
I last wrote about Brasserie L`ecole several years ago – and I get back from time to time. And I am never let down… unless of course there are some things that are out of the control of the restaurant and its owner.
A case in point.
Andrea and I were out for dinner last night with a dear friend who is celebrating her birthday. She is the best and is worth the best that the city has to offer.
Brasserie L`ecole has no bad tables – and only great food.
Unless. Unless you have some badly behaved guests.
At Brasserie L`ecole, everybody is special – although if there is a fussy guest, the staff will generally look after them. Last nights celebrity guest table included Global TV news anchor Tony Parsons – an awesome guy by all appearances (and younger and better looking in person than on the tube…) He and his table were awesome – enjoying the restaurant and the whole experience.
He was to our immediate left. To our immediate right was a local clothier who thinks pretty highly of himself – you know the kind; refers to himself in the 3rd person…
Anyway, when he was not talking story with any restaurant staff that would stop by the table (forcing our table to look at staff bums for almost 20% of the time we were eating…) he was trying to send; wine, dessert, whatever to the Parsons table – essentially insinuating himself on them.
Clothier: “I would like to buy a bottle of wine for Tony…”
Maitre d’: “Monsieur, the Parsons table have plenty to drink… They do not need any more wine…”
Clothier: “Well, I would not want to buy them wine they will not drink…”
And so on and so on…
Nothing like an idiot clothier to almost ruin a great meal…
Almost. It was a great meal nonetheless.
Brasserie L`ecole is the perfect restaurant for that special first date or 22nd date or a spot to take those special friends on their special days.
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Fall Colors Canadian Style - La Belle Patate Esquimalt British Columbia · Saturday November 1, 2008 by colin newell
La Belle Patate is a little hole in the wall restaurant at 1215 Esquimalt Road a half-block past the Civic Center and Esquimalt’s original strip mall.
Their specialty is Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and Poutine. For the uninitiated, Poutine is a dish of French fries, topped with a thick beef gravy and a macadam of cheese curds. And for those who feel that this might not be the most healthy combination of ingredients – They are completely ignorant to the fact that Poutine is a cruise missile with your arteries in the cross hairs.
Yes. It is that good.
And today we actually ate there. Ok. Here is the story:
Baker/owner of Bubby Roses Bakery, Mark Engels, has been singing the praises of La Belle Patate for some time now – and although we did drive by a couple of times, noting that the general feeling of the neighborhood is not unlike some calmer parts of East L.A. – we swallowed our fear, renewed our life insurance and pulled into the parking lot – a parking lot that served a Thai restaurant, a beauty salon oddly called The Daisy Pot and god knows what else.
Walking through the doors we were greeted with a hearty Hello there! from the owner and staff – We ordered a smoked meat sandwich, a hot-dog and a small order of Poutine. This would turn out to be particularly bold for me… and challenging.
Their Montreal smoked sandwich is a perfect balance of meat (about 6 to 8 ounces) on two cardboard thin slices of perfect rye bread – braced on a paper plate with a pucker inducing pickle. The hot dog is steamed and served on the standard bun with cheese, onions and any assortment of common condiments. The Poutine, which arguably should be served on a skull and cross bones patterned plate, is as described above; fries, gravy, cheese curds… is so comfort food that every bite is yummy inducing. We washed it all down with a tin of Nestea Iced tea – but opted to get a bottle of Spruce Beer on the way out the door – Spruce Beer is non-alcoholic and its flavor (carbonated) defies explanation – you either love it or hate it. We love it.
Lunch for two with more protein that is socially responsible: 22 dollars.
Would we return? In a heartbeat. That is, of course… if my heart keeps beating.
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Summer food fun and drink - feel the love at J & J Wonton Noodle House · Saturday September 20, 2008 by colin newell
Just prior to getting married in the mid-nineties, Andrea and I watched with great anticipation the opening of J & J Wonton Noodle House. For the life of me I cannot remember quite why. Maybe as marriage is a new beginning, so the opening of a new restaurant plays a symbolic role in that chapter.
So. J &J Wonton Noodle House opened in 1994 by Head Chef Joseph Wong, the restaurant is a family run business, bringing the authentic style of Chinese cooking from all over China. Joseph has over 20 years of experience and has won countless number of awards. He previously owned Szechuan Resturant in Victoria, he then decided to re-challenge himself and opened J and J Wonton Noodle House which has become more successful than his last culinary adventure.
For me, the joy of J & J, in part, is being greeting by the ever lovely and vivacious Lillian – Lillian, who has been at J & J since day one seemed to recognize us on our 2nd and subsequent visits.
About 56 visits later, we are still feeling that love.
Lately I have been popping in for semi-business lunches – today for example, I met up with baker-mentor-friend Mark Engels of Bubby Roses Bakery. We both ordered soup – and in Mark’s case, we got the soup that Lillian thought was best for him. Is that caring or what? No one cares what I order! Actually – Lillian does care and explained why the Sichuan Shrimp Noodle soup was more appropriate for me over the Spicy Ginger Beef Noodle soup that Mark got. Sorry. No explanation for you punters out there on internet land.
Anyway – Mark and I both agreed that we have a crush on Lillian and a love for the food at J & J Wonton Noodle House – a joint that is as much embedded in the fabric of foodie in Victoria… as the hanging baskets are part of the streets of the city.
Lunches at J & J are typically under $10 with Tea. The service is prompt, professional and filled with attentive love.
