Summer food fun and drink - Some of Victoria's best · Friday August 8, 2008 by colin newell
It must be pretty obvious that I am fond of the food and drink scene in Victoria B.C. Canada – and I am not alone. My wife, Andrea, and I are on a 3 week unstructured break from work. We are spending a tad more time around the Victoria area than I thought we would – but the upside of this is…
More visits to the places we really enjoy.
Photo left – Your editor, Colin Newell, shoots with a Canon EOS-30D and a variety of modern lighting equipment – click pic to super-size
Like the Cafe’s and Cafe-Bakeries. My current number one pick right now is Bubby Roses Bakery (2) on Cook Street and Meares Avenue. Valerie and Mark Engels and their team of food Jedi pack a mind-boggling quantity of home-cooked love into every bite. No wonder. Mark’s attention to detail is not unlike a bald Eagle dropping into a mountain stream with its eyes on the Salmon. It never misses.
I had a visit from Poul Mark of Transcend Coffee, Edmonton, Alberta recently. As we tucked into 2 orders of French Toast, he commented on the samples of coffee he had; double shot of espresso and a macchiato. Keeping in mind that Bubby Roses gets their espresso from Discovery Coffee – “How are the shots”, I asked cautiously… Poul hesitated for a second, “These drinks are way better than Disco – which comes as a bit of a surprise to me…” – “Not me”, I replied. The boys at Bubby’s get the level best from this bean. The people at Discovery could equal it if they worked at it – but they are not going to best Bubby’s on anything. Yea, it is that simple.
If I had to pick one spot down town for a perfect mid-day pick-me-up when hunger calls it would have to be Paradiso De Stelle… The Paradise of Stars is aptly named. The staff look like they are chiseled out of Italian granite – and that is not one word of a lie. If you like looking at young people while they whip up the cities finest Panino Gelati and espressi perfectamente – Then the Paradiso is the place. My buddy Italo has been running this place for over a decade – and he has a new place at the Mayfair Mall. Paradiso de Stelle is one of the best spots (at the base of Bastion Square) for people watching – because with pretty staff come pretty customers – not quite sure how that works… but that is the way it is.
Have a hankering for a coffee and panini on the West side of town? Buon amici’s is to coffee and lunch what Bubby Roses is to wonderful baked goods on the East side of town. Derek and his lovely wife Gina are grand-masters of the perfect latte as well as hosts of an increasingly popular Friday BBQ at their Tyee Road location. Our little secret… to you!
Looking for a wonderful meal in James Bay, Victoria and don’t have a sack of Gold for dinner? Consider the Heron Rock Bistro The Steak Fettuccine or Steak Frite are 2 of my favorites. They have an eclectic menu with suitably quirky wine pairings.
In a World as deeply troubled as our own, we are truly blessed living in Victoria – arguably the most peaceful little corner of our green little orb. Dig in. Enjoy it.
In a continuing series on what’s hot in the Victoria food scene, writer, blogger, photographer and all around decent Man, Colin Newell, reports directly from his plate to you
Summer food fun and drink - The Classic Ice cream battle · Saturday July 19, 2008 by colin newell
Once a year there is a corporate magazine that hits the stands called (I think…) The Best of Victoria or Victoria`s Best Stuff or Shit we think you should want
or something like that…
and what burns me about it – is that (in my humble opinion…) It is a crock of information cooked up by Men and Women in expensive suits and no brains.
Example: (and this, my friends, triggered my now legendary “Victoria`s Best Cafe”) — as chosen by the readers of the CoffeeCrew.Com website…
Anyway… the example:
Where is Victoria’s Best Coffee?
Number one choice… Starbucks.
Number two choice… Serious Coffee. (Yikes, and to think that Geir and I actually wrote the catch phrase – Want great coffee, Get Serious!
and Number three choice? Never mind. By now you should be scratching your head.
Okay. Next example:
Where is Victoria’s Best Ice Cream?
Answer. Number One… Beacon Drive In
Uhm. Hello? Does the Beacon actually serve anything with Dairy in it? I have it on a pretty good source that they do not serve anything with Dairy in it at the Beacon Drive In. It is a vegetable oil product or something (To the best of my knowledge…) Correct me if I am wrong thank you very much.
If you are interested, I think their number two choice for Victoria`s best Ice-cream is Baskin-Robbins or Ben and Jerry. From a Mall no less…
Say it with me friends… Jane! Stop this crazy thing!.
Seriously – The best Ice Cream in Victoria is a bit of a toss up. It could be Sweet Memories on Government street. It could be perennial favorite Mister Tubbs on Burnside Avenue. It could be the new Rogers Ice Cream Parlor (open hardly 2 weeks) on Government Street. Ice Cream is kind of personal, I guess – and I beg our readers (not just regulars Jeanie and Cheryl) to express their Moo-Pinions in the comment field.
Listen up you corporate boot lickers: Ice Cream is made with milk. Not Hydrogenated f*cking Vegetable oil! I have to take Lactaid prior to eating any Ice Cream and I am proud of it.
In fact, if there is a God, she is probably made of pure Ice-Cream… with milk and chocolate syrup running through her veins – Oh great lady of the Dairy I worship you. And If she uses cold cream (and I doubt it), it is probably real cream – without a drop of trans-fat.
Did you know that there are 2 types of Ice Cream eaters out there; lickers and chewers? I am a chewer. I bite and chew ice cream. Always have. Go figure.
Oh yea. According to this mysterious Cities Best according to the Establishmentarian`s Magazine The Best burger in Town?
McDonald`s apparently. :-/ Right. Listen up Corporate toadies: Victoria`s Best anything is all home grown, all Mom & Pop, all Local
Not McDonald`s. Not Starbucks. Not Ben & Frickin Jerries.
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Summer fun food and drink - Choux Choux Eat like France in Victoria · Wednesday July 16, 2008 by colin newell
830 Fort Street in Victoria B.C. Canada – on the North side of this bustling one way street – huddled in the middle of a scrum of antique stores and government offices is Choux Choux Charcuterie.
According to their website: “Choux Choux Charcuterie is Victoria’s premiere charcuterie. They specialize in house made pates, sausages, smoked and cured meats. Their products are made on premise, using only fresh, free range, un-medicated pork from Sloping Hill Farm in Qualicum Beach, Mill Bay rabbits, Cornish Game hens and chickens, free-range chicken livers, Quebec foie gras, and Cobble Hill lamb, when available.”
Food expert, Mark Engels, joined me for my first lunch here – and apart from the wall of cheeses, meats and bread that I saw in this cute little walk-in, I did not know what to expect… Okay, I did. Meat. Meat and more meat. Smoked meat. Cured meat. Cheese. More meat. Some bread. Meet. Cheese. Strange Cheese. More meat. Apparently this is a meat lovers paradise. Personally, I like to eat less of the red stuff and more of the green stuff – and I encourage everyone to do the same. Anyway.
When I saw that the lunch special was Sirloin with a swirl of steamed spinach and a lump of blue cheese… I thought to myself: “Self, what on Earth are they going to do with this?” Well – not surprisingly, our 2 identical orders arrived: 2 plates, 2 handsome slabs of beef perfectly cooked (medium rare I think) – about 1 ounce of steamed spinach and 2 or 3 ounces of melting grainy blue cheese on top of the steak. This is crazy, I thought. The French don’t eat like this… or do they?
After resisting the urge to growl and snap at anyone that came near my dish (we were, after all, sitting at a busy sidewalk as civil servants and beautiful people walked by) – and I knew they were looking at my sirloin. I growled under my breath – my upper lip curling slightly revealing perfectly sharpened incisors.
Anyway. The beef was insanely tasty and I felt pangs of guilt with each alternate bite and surges of a B12 rush with the other bites. The perfect follow-up to this feast would be curling up on the sidewalk with a good bone or chasing down a frisbee or a tennis ball.
But at $10.95, this was a fun and filling meal – heck, if they were to add frites (French fries all dressed) they could probably rival those beefy slabs from Brasserie L`ecole. Maybe just maybe.
Next visit: Cheese and bread. And that’s a promise!
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident, University employee and Pop culture savant. His food reviews on this blog make up for the endless political drivel!
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Summer all food, fun and drink marathon - Bard and Banker Pub · Sunday June 29, 2008 by colin newell
If I was to take a snapshot of one moment in time on the Government Street arcade in Victoria B.C. Canada – it would include thousands of people; people with ice-cream cones, people on honeymoon, locals experiencing the color, buskers making a sweet noise, the less fortunate and the too fortunate.
Smack dab into the middle of this conflagration is the brand new Bard and Banker Public house. The Bard and Banker is one in a chain of locally owned and operated pubs; including the likes of Irish Times (2 blocks away), the Penny Farthing in Oak Bay village and others…
Like coffee houses, T-shirt emporiums and real estate – it is all about location.
And the Bard and Banker is within that oh so precious sweet zone along Government street that supports the tourist foot traffic. Like everywhere else, people who stay in downtown Victoria (at one of our many fine hotels) walk up Government Street probably as far as Pandora or Fisgard – and that is it.
The Bard and Banker has been open for about 24 hours so ours was the first visit. Their menu is traditional pub grub with some unusual twists (I will go more into that on my second visit and follow-up). I had Steak and Ale pie with a fine Kilkenny Irish Cream ale – and Andrea has the Bison Burger with a Boddingtons English Ale. Despite the fact that they have been open a night maybe two, they were on their game. All the wait staff appeared to be sharp and responsive; girls in tartans somewhat more modest than their Irish Times counterparts and the boys in kilts – a nice touch.
I loved my meal. There are few comfort foods more satisfying than Steak Pie – this particular version is like a thick Irish stew with lots of baby carrots and mushrooms – bite size chunks of sirloin in an impossibly rich Bass ale infused sauce. I would not hesitate to order this again… and again… and again.
Andrea would tackle her Bison burger again – its caramelized onions and Stilton cheese were great components – I think she would have preferred her fries a little thinner in the cut and perhaps all dressed.
The Bard and Banker is a winner – the layout, staffing, menu and kitchen are obviously in order and it is a heck of a great place for people watching with numerous interesting site lines.
Come on down. For a pint and some great pub grub.
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Summer all food, fun and drink marathon begins · Friday June 27, 2008 by colin newell
Beginning, well, now we will start the all summer, all food, coffee and fun marathon of blog posts.
I am so done with Olympic rants. I am so done with gas price rants. I am so done with political stuff.
Folks. I just don’t care anymore. I just want to have fun and enjoy life.
For at least 2 months.
So buckle up.
Let’s begin our 60 days of reckless and irresponsible abandon with this little tid-bit: The self-stirring mug. What could be more hedonistic than a mug that stirs itself. Yes, friend – it is true.
There was a time that coffee brewers seemed radical. Now we have devices for stirring. Soon, very soon, we will have surrogates that drink the coffee for us, waving their arms and smoking cigarettes as they become increasingly agitated.
Not for me though. I would rather do my own arm waving.
Welcome to the Summer of 2008.
