Vis a Vis

Posted November 19, 2011

2232 Oak Bay Ave 250-590-7524

By far the Victoria culinary powerhouse of the moment. Great vision, execution and innovation. There's a lot of intellectual and physical work going into this menu. Patty and I have been sitting at Vis a Vis, rubbing our heads overwhelmed with the energy going into some of these dishes. We've been twice in November and we were delighted to see the menu had changed in several respects between our two visits - that means we can visit often, yay! The star of last night's dinner was the Phesant Sausage with Buckwheat Waffle. It was the last thing we ordered, but the flavours and textures of this dish and it's multitude of garnishes was a triumph. Other winners were the Oxtail and Foie Gras Ravioli, which was served in a luxurious consomme, and the Chorizo Corndog and Manchego Cheese Fondue.

Vis a Vis also sports a spectacular by the glass wine list. Wines are available in a variety of price ranges, but if you're in the mood for  something fancy, say a glass of Perrier Jouet, they serve high end wines by the glass - that's fun!

A note: It's a small restaurant and we have yet to secure a table, alternatly sitting at the bar. If you want a table, best to plan a trip outside of the busy time. That said, the tables are wheelchair accessible, which is a bonus for those of us with loved ones with mobility issues.

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Tagged as vis a vis, restaurant, wine bar, victoria bc, and oak bay

The Black Hat

Posted September 18, 2011

The Black Hat by Bistro 28 has opened at Langley and Broughton St in downtown Victoria and in the process transformed the appearance of the entire block. Holly financial investment! They've converted the old Tony's Trick and Joke Shop into a flashy 85 seat restaurant. It looks great. This kind development is exciting and I always find the cohones required to execute these visions awe-inspring.  Owner, Sam Chalmers, however is cool as a cucumber - which made me feel better.  

Open for dinner - late, Wednesday to Sunday, it certainly is nice to have another option for us folks who work in the evenings. The menu is dominated by small plates, with a very reasonable selection of main course items. We had the Baccala Fritters with lamb ragout ($16), the Pan Seared Halibut ($28), the Pork Belly with Kim Chi Salad and Fried Egg ($22) and the S'more ($8). Everything was tasty, creative and well executed. Portion wise, I'd call the servings 'modern,' so if you're visiting with a big eater, I'd order heavy. The value is in the labour of preperation and quality of product, so penny pinchers beware - you'll have to be open minded. And, yes, that is a $130 steak on the menu. It's not a type-o. Not my style, I would rather spend that kind of money on a labour intensive presentation of less expensive products, but if nobody wants it, I'm sure they'll take it off the menu.

Also, worthy of note is a lengthy list of wines by the glass, available in 1, 3 & 5 oz pours. The selection is BC dominated, but is generally well balanced. Wine prices are quite approachable.

The service was a little spotty, but they're only a week in, so I would recommend having a little patience until they've had a chance to break in the new staff and get their procedures in order.

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More Schwarma Love

Posted August 24, 2011

I continue to be delighted by the increasing availability of Middle Eastern food in Victoria. I have now consumed all of the Beirut Express menu and last night's lamb schwarma platter ($11.99) and falafel platter ($10.99) definitely take the cake for variety and value.  The wraps are tasty too, but the platters are considerably more substantial for a moderate increase in cost. The lamb served with rice and tahina was tender and hot, similarly the falafel served with pickled cabbage, a couple of dolmades and tahina was generously portioned and a satisfying vegetarian option. We tried both the tabouleh and fataoush salads as part of the combos. Considering the composition of fataoush (vegetable and bread salad), I thought it might be soggy, but the pita was nice and crunchy. The humus side was not overpoweringly garlicky and nice and creamy.  While not loaded with ambiance, I like Beirut Express for takeaway. You can take it home and it feels like real food, not fast food.

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Tagged as beirut express, schwarma, victoria bc, and restaurant

The Whole Beast

Posted July 8, 2011

The Whole Beast: Artisan Salumeria 2032 Oak Bay Ave (between Foul Bay and Elgin) tel: 250-213-1226,Tues-Sat 0am-6pm

Adjoining the new Village Butcher location on Oak Bay Avenue, The Whole Beast brings some new meat to Victoria shoppers. Unlike the raw products sold at the butcher shop next door, the Whole Beast serves a wide variety of housemade cured meats, dry sausage, pates and terrines.  If you like charcuterie and salumi, you're going to be excited about this place. For all that owner Cory Pelan apologized for being out of a few things, I couldn't beleive the selection. It's alot of work and planning to keep the shelves stocked with high-labour, specialty products and much to my delight there was plenty to choose from. We ended up taking a couple different types of bacon and a chunk of country style pate with morel mushrooms home for our dinner for a mere $7.  Well worth a visit for salumi fans and general meat lovers alike!
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Summer Festival Season

Posted June 5, 2011

When the temperature rises in Victoria, you know summer festival season has arrived. It's time to buy your tickets and block off days in your calender:

ICC Food Fest, Sunday June 12: The Island Chefs' Collaborative annual fundraiser at Fort Rodd Hill in Colwood. The ICC is taking a slightly different approach this year, moving towards more food and more onsite cooking. This year's event will feature lamb, pork and chicken barbecues, as well as an entirely vegetarian tent, as well as a gluten free tent. The number of wineries, breweries and cideries represented this year is the highest ever. Funds raised support grants and micro loans for local farmers. Tickets available at Cook Culture, Charellie's, Niagara Grocery, Westshore Chamber of Commerce and online at www.iccbc.ca Little Piggy will be there.

Fernwood Bites, Sunday June 26: Come down to Fernwood Square for the most intimate of all the summer festivals. Local restaurants, wineries and breweries pack the square to raise funds for the Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group. Little Piggy will be there.

Taste Victoria, Thursday July 21: Over a 100 local wineries, as well as local restaurants and food purveyors, fill the Crystal Garden. Best thing about this event - air conditioning! Well, that and the great food and wine. Little Piggy will be there.

Feast of Fields, Sunday September 18: This is your last chance to get your fill for the season. This year's Feast of Fields will be held at Marley Farm in Saanichton. Proceeds support Farm Folk City Folk.

Eat Here Now, Sunday September 26: The Island Chef's Collaborative will be serving up salmon at this year's Eat Here Now, along with lots of other food and agricultural presenters. Little Piggy unfortunately will be missing this event because our baby is due September 30!

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Tagged as icc, food fest, taste victoria, fernwood bites, and feast of fields

The Earth Shakes in Oak Bay

Posted March 24, 2011

The Oak Bay Bistro opens today, replacing the venerable albeit creepy, Blethering Place Tea Room. Having spent several years of my life drinking coffee under a cloud of cigarette smoke at the Bleth, it's a little sad to see it go. That said, I'll be happy to not to see servers in oppressive looking petticoats trudging up Oak Bay Ave on their way to work. I love a theme, but there's something humiliating about making people dress up in serving wench costumes. The Blethering Place was the first restaurant I ate in when my family moved to Victoria in 1985. My father sent the lamb back for being overcooked. I was embarrassed and it made me think he shouldn't have ordered anything medium-rare in a British themed restaurant.

I'm always happy to have another restaurant in the neighbourhood. Oak Bay Bistro promises a middle of the road menu to balance out the Oak Bay dining scene, with a bottomless bowl of soup for the local cheapies (of which there are many, it's Oak Bay after all).  It's too bad that the Oak Bay market needs another conventional dining experience, but I think it's probably true.  While the concept doesn't sound mind bending, they do express a promising commitment to quality ingredients and scratch made cooking. It's hard to imagine they will actually make sour cream and mustard, like they was stated in the Times Colonist newspaper, but I guess I'll have to go and see.  Given the culinary pedigree of the owners, I'll put my faith in their chef, recently of the Wick in Tofino. That said, with the owners' history as successful restaurateurs, we can expect the Oak Bay Bistro to stick around for awhile. 

In any case,  it'll be nice to have a little more competition in the neighbourhood. They impressively already have 25 votes and an 88% like rating on Urbanspoon.com, pretty good considering they've only been open since 730 this morning.

Once they've had a chance to settle in, I'll be heading down for dinner.

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Dine Around 2011

Posted February 17, 2011

This year’s Dine Around line up (Feb 17-March 6), much like every year, has a number of lame efforts and an over-abundance of soup, mixed greens, stuffed pasta and stews. That said, there are always some hidden gems in the mountain of average dining, where true value (relative to food cost and/or that restaurants regular pricing) and creativity shine.  Life being as unfair as it is, this value combination tends to favour larger restaurants and hotels, where kitchens have greater flexibility with their profit margins than smaller operators. Below are a few picks from this year’s selection that represent a notable value, from restaurants I can generally recommend. That said, all the menus on the list represent a certain degree of value, so if a menu looks interesting to you, or you’d always wanted to try a restaurant that felt too expensive, now is the time to experiment.

I'll be checking out a few of these and maybe a couple of the more. If you have any interesting experiences over the next couple weeks, dining on Dine Around menus, please comment on your experiences.

UPDATE: We checked out Paprika's Dine Around menu on Saturday night (19th) - the chicken liver mousses, sausages, ling cod and pork belly were all winners and we really liked the the $16, 3-courses wine pairings - great value for an elegant evening.

UPDATE: Pizzeria PrimaStrada last night (22nd) for their $20 Dine Around menu. Lots of choices considering the length of their regular menu. I enjoyed the tuna and eggplant salad and the feature pizza with Choux Choux sausage. I thought the tiramisu was fairly ordinary and could have used a more pronounced boozy flavour, but it was tasty nonetheless. While the menu is inexpensive, we did still end up leaving with a fairly hefty tab once booze, tax and service were added on. I wish I could get away with margins like that on wine and beer.

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Tagged as dine around victoria, victoria, restaurants, value, and bargain

Change at the Empress

Posted February 7, 2011

Chef Ito is leaving his position as executive chef at the Fairmont Empress and reportedly heading to the Inn at Laurel Point to lead their kitchen.  Apparently, Chef Ito is looking to spend his culinary golden years in a kitchen where he can better express his personal vision and creativity.

The hunt is on for his replacement - see the posting here

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Tagged as fairmont, empress, hotel, chef ito, and victoria bc

New for weekend lunches

Posted February 2, 2011

Two new lunch options have just emerged. For those of you looking for an elegant end of week lunch break Paprika Bistro is serving lunch on Fridays and Saturdays. There is a shortage of fine dining lunches in Victoria outside of hotels, so this is a nice addition.

Also, Foo is now serving lunch on Saturdays and Sundays, in addition to their weekday offerings, for people looking for something more casual and downtown.

Similarly, The Noodle Box in now offering downtown delivery, but considering the decay of Noodle Box quality over the past few years, this news is less exciting than it once might have been.

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Tagged as paprika bistro, foo, the noodle box, victoria bc, restaurants, lunch, and delivery

Up and coming - ICC Cookbook!

Posted January 11, 2011

The Island's Chef Collaborative Cookbook Committee met for the first time yesterday at the English Inn. That's right, planning is underway for ICC fundraising cookbook celebrating local food, farmers and producers. We're looking to have the final product available for Christmas shopping next year, but it's going to be an interactive process throughout the year, with a multimedia blog and public events now being planned. If you have any feedback regarding the kinds of recipes and information you'd like to see in an ICC Cookbook, or if you're an Island food producer who would like to get involved, please let us know.

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Tagged as coobook, island's chef collaborative, victoria, vancouver island, bc, local, food, wine, cowichan valley, and icc

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