Dale's One of a Grind Bistro · Tuesday December 5, 2006 by colin newell
Dale and family run a one of a kind bistro – cafe on Oak Bay Avenue.
One of a Grind is one of a kind.
In over 20 years of cruising cafes and bistros from Coast to Coast in this great country, I have seen it all and tasted it all.
Photo left – Former owner of One of a Grind Bistro, Dale Manason… from 4 years ago when he still owned O.O.A.G. Bistro – new owners now.
It takes a special something to create the down-home comfort of the One of a Grind. Dale and daughter (and son too I think…) put in regular shifts here Monday through Saturday on Oak Bay avenue just South of Richmond Avenue… technically still in Victoria proper.
The transition to Oak Bay takes place at, get this, the corner of Oak Bay Avenue and Foul Bay road.
Foul Bay road… now there is another storey.
Ok, once again, I digress.
Dale Manason and Co. run the One of a Grind Bistro with a basic and fresh is good approach. And it works.
Everything they serve is made pretty much the moment you ask for it. And that is good where I am coming from.
My memories flip back to another era. An era where places like Ian’s Diner (Richmond and Fort) served up greasy burgers and muddy-thick coffee. Ah.
Dale and Co. at One of a Grind Bistro go retro with the coffee prep. He uses an old-style Gaggia Lever espresso machine – and in my opinion, with the right beans, this method is one of the best.
Anyway. Head on down to One of a Grind. And tell ‘em Colin sent you.
Foot note: Dale sold the One of a Grind Bistro about 4 years ago. It is in new hands and I have not been by in a long time. Perhaps a look is in order.
Comment [4]
Kona Coffee and Jamaica Blue-mountain time... · Saturday December 2, 2006 by colin newell
I get e-mail. Lots of e-mail.
Now that it is December, almost everyone is thinking about specialty coffee as a gift item. This is the time of the year when people think that coffee would make a great gift. Unfortunately, it is also the time of year that opportunists foist some truely bad coffee on naive and enthusiastic consumers.
Everyone has seen those “mini-brick” packs of exotic coffee like Kona and Jamaica Blue Mountain. Read the fine print folks – chances are you are buying utterly stale Kona blend and Jamaica Blue Mountain Blend coffee.
Which means: Chances are there is a very little (if any) real Kona or Jamaica coffee in these sad little packets of (generally pre-ground) coffee.
Another rule-of-thumb: If it is in a brick-pack, it is Rat-ass stale. Trust me on this. Coffee is food too. You wouldn’t buy brown lettuce would you? Then why buy stale coffee?
In an e-mail today, I was asked: “Where can I buy pure Kona coffee in Victoria?”
This question gets asked in virtually every major city in North America during the festive giving season.
Currently, there are no roasters in Victoria selling
“freshly roasted” pure Kona coffee… to the best of my knowledge
Something to consider (and this is important…)
Coffee is only truely fresh for 5 to 10 days after
it leaves the roaster.
Coffee, like other fruits and vegetables, is a food
product that is subject to staling.
A good example of truly stale coffee is the product
you find in cans and bins on the grocery store shelves.
There are a handful of fresh coffee roasters in Victoria… I list them here in terms of
how
I “feel” about them… long story.
1.) Cafe Fantastico — Kings and Quadra and Cook & Mckensie (in the Cook Street village) Roasters of truly amazing coffee.
2.) Level Ground Trading — They roast a small selection of fairly traded and organically grown beans. No konas. What they do roast, is wonderful.
3.) Discovery Coffee — Douglas & Discovery (and its satellite outlet: 2%-JAzz at the Times Colonist building) Sam Jones roasts some of Victoria’s best coffee. No question.
4.) Mirage Coffee Roasters — Blanshard & View street and Government and Courtenay streets. The coffee is good and its fresh.
5.) Cairo Coffee Victoria — 700 block Fort street above Douglas. They sell exotic coffees from time to time. They are currently roasting Kona in store for 50$/pound which is 18$ less per pound than Murchies! Jamaica Blue-Mountain will be roasted in store and sold for 75$/pound. They take advance orders on this coffee so queue up! Bill, the store owner since the 70’s, has the most complete coffee accessory store in Victoria.
6.) Fresh Cup Roastery — Government & Pandora downtown. For me, too new to tell. Give them a whirl.
7.) Moziro Coffee Roasters — Shawnigan Lake Village – Dundas Street. Small batch roasts and great chocolate. If you are in the neighborhood, check them out.
8.) Creekmore Coffee — Coombs (available in quite a few grocery stores) – generally fresh and good value.
9.) Murchies Coffee – they almost always have Kona, but its “freshness” is almost always in question. Sorry Murchies – I have been spot buying from Murchies since 1972 and I have yet to be impressed.
If you want really fresh and spectacular Kona coffee, mail-order it from EveryDay Gourmet Coffee Roasters
in Toronto – their website is www.everydaycoffee.com
Truly spectacular Kona coffee can be mail ordered from Blue Horse Kona – their farm is near Captain Cook on the Big Island of Hawaii – I have actually visited the farm and sampled the coffee and can attest to its origin and freshness. This has been a very good year for Kona coffee (2008) and it is a good time for most people to sample it to see what I mean.
Bottom line: If you want great coffee, it has to be fresh coffee.
Freshly roasted that is.
Cheers!
Comment [6]
The World of Super-art. · Friday December 1, 2006 by colin newell
I know some pretty talented people.
Lot’s of them.
I am an average guy and I tend to gravitate towards the bright ones.
Learning by osomosis I hope.
Then there are those with some extreme talents.
Elizabeth Wegerif is one of those extreme talents.
What does she do? Well, she is an artist.
An artist with super-human abilities.
She can look at any photo or object and within minutes or hours produce a duplicate of it in virtually any medium; paint, crayon, acrylic, digital. Makes no difference to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth has helped me out in the past. You know, fine tuning the look of some of the web-pages I do.
She has one of those special talents artistically – You know. The ability to see between the molecules
and electrons of the paint in the palette… and then to reproduce it flawlessly.
Quick remarkable actually.
Check out her stuff.
Simple rules to drinking coffee... · Wednesday November 29, 2006 by colin newell
So. I am taking enthusiastic sips of my coffee today…
And…
Let’s back up shall we.
This brew was a blend of Cafe Misto (Hines Coffee) Decaf (Sumatra I think) and Level Ground Trading Organic Bolivian; full bodied, sweet and chewy enough to enjoy with one of my home made pumpkin spice muffins.
The Level Ground Coffee (a wonderful local roaster who only does Organic Co-op grown beans purchased direct from the farm and from the farmers. No middle people.) is a regular pick for me when I am between shipments of sample beans.
I sample coffee from everywhere. And profile it. If it’s good, I will plug it. If it’s bad, mum’s the word!
Fast forward.
Here is a good rule for coffee drinkers: If you are doing something at your desk (surfing net, sending e-mail…), make sure you leave a few CPU Cycles for actually watching what you are really doing in the real world.
I didn’t for a second.
I placed my almost full coffee mug down on top of an object on my desk. And then I let go of the coffee cup. Which, by the law of probability, fell in my direction instead of the other direction (more towards the computer and keyboard). Good thing I guess.
It’s easier to launder me (or my clothes) than it is to remove coffee from a keyboard and flat-screen monitor.
So. Coffee on my sweater (one of my favorites)
Coffee on my pants (my beige jeans). Coffee on my ergo-seat.
Coffee on the floor.
Next time, I’ll try and keep the coffee in the cup… or between the cup and my face.
