Victoria B.C. Canada - Sunday around town - Beer burgers etc · Sunday June 22, 2008 by colin newell
It’s late in the afternoon. The chores are done. And you haven’t had anything but breakfast.
What do you do on a late June afternoon in Victoria B.C. Canada when the Sun is shining down and there is a thirst and a hunger that needs to be quenched?
Well. Heck. You head to the Irish Times Pub that’s where!
This cavernous joint on Government at the head of Bastion Square is a favorite of locals and visitors alike. On a day like today the patio was popular so we tucked inside at one of their cosy tables. We were immediately attended to by a bubbly young waitress – you know the type; about 6’ 4” tall, fashion-forward type with a pocket-square sized mini-skirt… made of a sample swatch of, you guessed it, a red tartan. Oddly, all the gal wait staff are dressed identically. The male staff wear… kilts – knee length by the way.
The Irish Times has about 32 beer on tap – which might be a record for Victoria. We quickly zeroed on the Kilkenny . It is a significantly lighter version of Guinness – that is because Guinness is a stout and Killkenny is an Irish Cream Ale, yea?
The Irish Times has been open for a couple of years now – this is our first visit. The owner of the I.T. also has the Penny Farthing in the oak Bay Village and is working on a 3rd outlet on Government called The Bard and Banker if I am correct – opening next Friday – June 27!
Oh yea. The Burgers were spot on. We had them with Chips – all dressed.
The holy trinity: Burgers, Beers and Tartan skirts. Good as it gets.
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Heron Rock Bistro #4-435 Simcoe Review · Sunday June 15, 2008 by colin newell
And now for something completely different…
Heron Rock Bistro, in the historic James Bay neighborhood of Victoria B.C. is one of a handful of 3rd wave restaurants focused on locally sourced meats, poultry, veg and creatures of the sea.
And where they succeed is – is taking great ingredients and carefully preparing them in an environment not so formal that it becomes a parody of itself.
The Heron Rock Bistro is anchored by sharp, attractive, attentive and informed staff – and in my books, this is always a reflection of what is happening in the kitchen.
My two female companions had the same thing – the steak fettuccine: It was perfectly prepared with the AAA Striploin attentively prepared to the gals discerning specifications.
I had Moules Frites – steamed Island mussels and hand-cut french fries in a cilantro curry cream – the fries served with a garlic aoli.
Overall – I would brazenly put the Heron Rock bistro in the same category as Victoria’s legendary Cafe Brio and Brasserie l’ecole. Still, I need to pop by a few more times to get a better feel for their consistency. Concluding, I hear from regulars who eat here almost weekly – and the rave never ends.
Quattro Stagione Cafe 7060 West Saanich Rd review · Sunday June 15, 2008 by colin newell
Quattro Stagione – I have no idea what it means.
Quattro Stagione is a restaurant on West Saanich road on the Saanich peninsula.
From the outside it appears to be a bit of a dive or visually unstructured. I mean, there is nothing to indicate here that there is anything outstanding or unusual on the menu. Patience yields a surprise however.
World famous coffee-tamper artisan (and vegetarian) Reg Barber swears by the joint. His shop is in Brentwood (no, the Keating industrial park actually…) and he lunches here.
So while picking up some stuff from Reg Barber, my wife and I popped in for a late lunch (3 hours before having a fabulous dinner at the Heron Rock Bistro – my next review)
Ok. The food here is really good. It is of a middle-eastern bent; falafel, pita’s, wraps, intriguing sandwiches and very original and healthful salads.
Which were very tastefully and artistically served.
The only minor downside at this late hour in the afternoon, 1/2 hour before closing:
Was the owners kids – a 7 year old boy and 11 year old girl kept buzzing in and out of the cafe… endlessly.
We were sitting out at a sidewalk table and the 7 year old boy spent 3 or 4 minutes running around us, hiding behind me giggling and mugging… at some point asking me if I wanted to hear a song with rude lyrics…
I think my bored and slightly irritated expression drove him away… or his boredom took over.
The 11 year old daughter roller-bladed non-stop… into the cafe, out of the cafe, into the cafe, out of the cafe… I am not sure… food safe violation ? No? Yes?
Overall verdict: Really great creative food. But come mid-day before schools out!
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Food on the table #3 - Argh Billy - you ever taste High Liner Fish · Monday June 9, 2008 by colin newell
With the price of fuel spiraling like lead-shot at a Dick Cheney hunting party, only the most oblivious among us have not figured out the impact this is having on food distribution.
Food riots.
It is amazing what people will do when they or their children are hungry.
Get used to hearing about it.
I heard something in passing about Canadian food legend, Captain High Liner.
They sell fish sticks… but that is not all.
Quite a few of their products are processed in China… flown all the way to China for filleting and then back to you… to feed you better.
Let’s here it from them directly: Link
WHY DO SO MANY HIGH LINER PRODUCTS SAY “PRODUCT OF CHINA” – WHY DOES SO MUCH HIGH LINER FISH COME FROM CHINA?
Very few of our products actually come from China. In fact, only 2 (Tilapia and Shrimp) out of 13 major seafood products sold by High Liner are from that country. All High Liner wild fish are caught in international waters where they are frozen within hours of being caught. The fish is shipped to China, where it is filleted (cut) and packaged. For filleting, the frozen fish are slightly “tempered” to allow the fish to be cut.
WHY ARE THE FISH NOT CAUGHT AND FILLETED IN CANADA?
- Chinese processors have built state-of-the-art processing facilities to meet the growing demand of the global market. This has given them a greater buying power that allows for better-priced seafood.
- High Liner uses China to cut some of our fish as it helps to keep our costs in line. This allows High Liner to provide competitively priced products to our consumers. Research has shown that we all want the highest quality products, yet at the best price possible.
- The majority of Canadian fish and seafood companies use China to process and/or fillet their fish.
Wow. Right. We want cheap fish! Yea.
As aviation fuel becomes liquid gold I am imagining that local fish processors might be getting more work… very soon.
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Food on the table #2 · Tuesday May 20, 2008 by colin newell
Our Monday to Friday morning coffee circle is an enigma.
Imagine one or two tables pushed together at the Finnerty Express (our UVic hang-out) at 10:00AM.
Ironically, I show up with coffee brewed in my lab and healthful treats that I baked in my kitchen. The only redeeming thing is that my posse (entourage and extended coffee family) are a combination of retired and semi-retired faculty and working professional stiffs – that buy stuff in this hallowed campus canteen.
It is a pretty modest affair; mugs of whisker scalding black coffee and Texas sized multi-grain bran muffins share the formica with dentine Necrotizing rice-crispy squares, carrot cake, green tea, lattes and cappuccinos. Each personality at the coffee table is pretty much matched to his beverage (and snack) of choice.
Topics of conversation run the circuit from World conflict, pestilence, plagues, pleasures, local politics and politics abroad.
Todays topic (one of several actually considering the number of times we change direction per minute!) was food portions in Canadian restaurants versus the ones in American restaurants.
Before I transcribe our findings today, let me start with this snippet I picked up this evening via BoingBoing.Nets link to lileks.com as James riffs on Disney World…
Dinner was large. The portions are huge. They might as well put the plate down and say “here’s more than you can possibly eat, and here’s nine potatoes on the side. Would you like another gallon of high fructose corn syrup? Okay, well, don’t forget to leave room for six pies.” There’s something a bit sad about seeing childless adult Disney fans, lanyards spattered with pins, eating slabs of prime rib thick as a Tolstoi novel, the chairs about to splinter from their enormous fundaments. On the other hand, what gives them happiness? Food and Disney. This is the happiest place on earth after all – even though there seems to be a subset of Disney nerds who appear immune to the very thing they’ve come to experience.
Wow. Yea. Wish I could think and write like that.
One of our cafe crewmen recently returned from a motorcycle trip to Washington state – the interior of which (Yakima, Walla Walla, Ellensburg, Wenatchee) appeared to have been sucked into a surreal black hole and spat out by a David Lynch novella — dusty roadhouses where middle aged dance girls sport feather boas, drink tequila fizz, disappearing into back rooms with muscle shirted men – smokes rolled in sleeves James Dean style while men with alarming big white teeth tend bar…
My kind of place.
And the adjacent eatery might as well have been named The Terminal Diner for its artery clogging, indigestion inducing and gastric lavage promoting coterie of all things Too Much Food!
Order the Pork chops? You get 4 6 ounce chops with 2 baked potatoes and enough rice pilaf to feed a family of five.
Dessert? Their 7-layer cake is $4.95 and is a whopping 10 gravity-defying inches high and 3 inches wide.
I would go on… but I have lost my appetite for words.
Point being – Our brothers and sisters to the South eat way too much stuff… and we are quickly falling into their size grande shoes.
Thankfully, there are still a few eateries (fancy and not so…) in Victoria where you can come away feeling somewhat peckish. Oh yea… and if there is anyone out there that can explain the disparity between Canadian and American portions… please dish me up some opinions!
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