Saturday, July 30, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The Superior...a hidden gem with all round overkill.
106 Superior Street
Victoria, BC
(250) 380-9515
The Superior, close to Fisherman's Wharf, is a spot I've often passed by on my runs or on my way to somewhere else. I always meant to stop in but it wasn't until this little blog pushed me to get out and find Victoria's undercover food scene that I dragged Chris out for brunch a few Sundays back. It is a fantastic old brick building that sort of hangs off the precipice off its own little corner where Superior ends and the ocean begins.
The interior is surprisingly spacious with soaring beamed ceilings but with minimal seating. Pieces of art are strung through out the space with an odd and unsettling focus of crows nests, eggs and ornithological taxidermy. They have a cloistered gallery that I was uninspired to visit as we simply wanted breakfast and felt the art-theme a bit contrived. But I digress...in the end it was all about the food.
I really appreciate the food here. The Sunday we went was pretty slow and it was evident that the cook was putting the time he had on his hands to good use: to crafting our breakfast. We ordered the one thing on the menu I will always order when I go: home fried fresh doughnuts...served piping hot. We had buttermilk doughnuts with bacon and maple syrup to start. They are done so well and so simply you just knew that this was their one thing. They do have an obsession with bacon, as many of us do, but theirs is borderline Rain man - they had a bacon Caesar with bacon vodka, bacon salt and fried bacon. Easy there... But they do offer a killer bacon jam.
I'm never impressed by the addition of truffles to a dish unless it's either an essential element of used in a way I've never tasted before. In this case it was scrambled eggs but I went for it anyway.Chris ordered the buttermilk fried chicken with sauteed greens and Tabasco honey on a fresh biscuit. Everything was quite honestly - some of the best done breakfast food I've ever had. The Eggs where lightly dosed with truffles and left them subtle and velvety. They were served on a homemade crispy flat bread with bacon jam, arugula and a sprinkling of fresh parm. It was tied together beautifully. Chris's plate was perfectly portioned, light and again, subtle. The menu, itself, was diverse, creative and well thought through. Thoroughly impressed.
If I have one comment its that when they get passionate about something they really run with it...and a bit too much. HEY! WE LOVE BACON! WANT SOME BACON? I'LL BACON THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR BACON. HEY YOU LIKE BUTTERMILK? I'LL DEEP FRY YOUR PLATE IN BUTTERMILK THEN BUTTERMILK ALL OVER YOUR FACE! YOU WANT ART WE'VE GOT LOTS! SO MUCH THAT WE'LL STUFF BIRDS WITH ART AND CALL IT ART. ART!
But all that aside it's a great place and is now one of my favorite spots in Vic for breakfast. We went with a few friends the day the TC 10k was held and it was packed. The service seemed to go right out the window as they just seemed overwhelmed. They probably should have accounted for the extra 2000 people that were going to be downtown that day and the food suffered for it, unfortunately. The menu changes week to week (except there are always delicious doughnuts) and it wasn't up to the par I was expecting. And I really talked the place up. The portions are what they should be for a healthy human being but I guess some expect a hot heart attacked drowning in hollandaise.
Anyway, I will continue to go back for their impressive efforts and their delicious doughnuts. A great place...go check it out.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Hiatus...almost over
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Fist Feast 2: Red Fish Blue Fish
Welcome to the second installment of what I hope will be a weekly feature! Red Fish Blue Fish continues to be bar against which all Victoria street food locales are measured. Operating at 1006 Wharf Street in Victoria, British Columbia at the foot of Broughton on the pier below Wharf Street, they are tucked away on an old part of the wharf out of view of the tourist throngs and pedestrian traffic; yet they still manage to draw a HUGE crowd. My bud Erica and I met up for our first taste of fresh, locally caught seafood of the Spring and arrived to find a decent line. The line can look daunting but is well worth the wait. The service is fast, efficient and above all consistently delicious. They also are an Ocean Wise eatery so you know not only is the seafood fresh but also sustainable - BONUS. I was disappointed to find that they were out of my favorite order - Quallicum Bay Scallops- so I settled for the daily special- smoked tuna tacone (perfectly seared smokes tuna ensconced in grilled tortilla hand rolls - taco-cone- with a custom aoli) and their new feature and an absolute MUST deep-fried pickles. Modest dock-side seating arrangements of overturned Ikea garbage cans encourage fervent protection of your order from skeazy seagulls- an aspect that turns the experience into an unchecked sport. 
Red Fish Blue Fish is never hit or miss - I've never had a bad experience. In my opinion, they embody all that is fresh and good about Victoria food and easily demonstrate our cities food culture. It's one of my most recommended spring and summer must-eat locales. So, if you are a tourist or were born and raised here put the time in to standing in line and battling the bad-mannered gulls and get some fish for your face. It'll thank you.Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Lady Marmalade - Unexpectedly mediocre
I don't know what possesses me to get up at 7:30am to conquer both a mountain and breakfast before noon on my day off but there is something to be said about making the time for a guilt free afternoon of bedcapades and cake - even if it's sunny - that what blinds are for.Locally loved, Lady Marmalade is an ideal choice to jump-start such a morning. Heavy on organic ingredients and unassumingly health conscious they pride themselves on local farm products and serve up bread from Victoria's staple organic bakery, Wildfire. The menu is diverse but slender offering hearty home cooking with a heavy Mexican tilt. From what I've seen in the past the service is usually pretty laid back without being to smug or lazy- a balance rarely achieved in such an atmosphere. After only being open for five years in Victoria and two in Toronto, Lady Marmalade is an established institution regularly packed around late breakfast and lunch time.
Chris and I rolled down there Friday morning just after 8:30 and watched their first table pay their bill, leaving the restaurant in our hands. We leaned hard into a pot of coffee and ordered a couple tofu scrambles with sides of chorizo. Well, we ended up with plain old-spiceless sausage that were good nonetheless but the mistake wasn't corrected despite the order being pretty damn straightforward. I've had the tofu scram before and it'll really get a fire lit under your ass packed with bockchoy, shitake, spinach and basmati brown rice but this time THE SAAAAAAAAAAAAALT...made me want to soak my eyeballs in saline. Lucky Chris likes salt so he he had no arguments on that front. I've come to the conclusion that a high volume restaurant are used to just pumping out multiple orders at a time but when it gets down to individual orders the ball gets dropped from time to time. It was tolerable and as I've had good experiences there before, I'm going to cut them some slack. But maybe take a note if you run a restaurant in the area...you never know when some over-indulgent Gen Y'er is going to review your food and post it to her modest blog page...and if it's not even modest...word of mouth travels fast in a city like Victoria..
So, all said, I do suggest you go get yourself fueled up there and go do something with your day - even if it's only going down to Fisherman's Warf to watch dogs bark confusedly at the domesticated seals. End it at 2pm between the sheets with a piece of cake and you've got yourself a day in the life of the Unmanageable Oven.
Addendum: My friend Hannaha went for lunch there today and texted me saying the service was HORRENDOUS but the soup was amazing. And when I mentioned this post to Tired Tim from work he said people were walking out the last time he went in because the server was chatting up some girl at the bar...not impressed, guys.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
First of a new Regular Feature: FIST FEAST: La Taquisa...aruba!...i mean Ariba!
Spring has sprung...burrito juice all down the back of my leg. The sun is out and so is the street food creep - FINALLY! My girl Hannah and I ventured into the blossomed streets of the Cook St Village to hit up La Taquisa. In the heart of the village in an ample outdoor alcove, La Taquisa sits solo (they where neighbored by Red Fish Blue Fish last summer...why they are not there? answers please!) with a great seating area and standing fire pit - still needed for the chilly breeze. The two cooks running the show (I want to say Bret and Derrek but I;m embarrassed to say that I think I'm wrong - corrections welcome) were super sweet even though I harassed them with a barrage of whiny questions regarding the sorry state of food cart numbers and Victoria's tardiness in following the Portland trend of parking lot food courts. This is when I got some friggin killer news: that alcove is going to be full of food vendors very soon! I am floored. You guys do get how amazing this is going to be and how much this could open up street food culture in Victoria, right?? I just know yer all with me on this one...so definitely more on that in the future.
We both ordered burritos straight up, with chicken - mine espicy. We struck up a conversation with another apparent connoisseur and thoroughly enjoyed the dripping mess that snuck out of the burrito (which I opened upside down...shocking - I know). This to me, is what street food is all about - making minute-to-minute friends, shooting the breeze about food and community and hanging out in the sunshine, or the rain or climate-change -rapture- induced deluges of blood - whatever.
I look forward to getting back there to try the 5 tacos of your choosing for $10 and to trying out the other vendors set to make their debut, shortly.
Check out La Taquisa on facebook to have some say in their expanding menu and to SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Hidden Pumpkin Crouching Avocado: Rich chocolate, coconut mousse...
Manipulating desserts is a growing specialty of mine. I know to some of you this is an act against nature but...suck it (or preferably, eat it).
It's very simple to prepare if you have the ingredients on hand - otherwise it's a pretty inexpensive shopping list provided you have cocoa on hand and avocados are in season. You can add any garnishes you like: nuts, fruit, more chocolate...whatever.
If you really want to spice this dessert up I've added cocoa-chili powder that you can now find in most spice sections... Rojo Caliente (for those of you who don't pick up on that reference- I suggest you click on the link immediately- it's nothing nasty just a girl from Toronto who got a million bucks from her dad on her 18th birthday and blew it ALL on making her own music video - did I mention she's a red head, hence roj....you get ii)
THE ESSENTIALS
Makes 8 large servings
2 ripe avocados
1 large can pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 can coconut milk (or 3 tbsp coconut oil)
4 tbsp agave nectar (or any alternative sweetener of your choice)
1tbsp of chili cocoa powder (if you like it Rojo Caliente as much as I do)
Blend well, chill to set and serve...
You can add whatever garnish you want - it's great with fresh fruit and nuts...
Simply Chaotic Cafe Fantastico - Parkside
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| Breakfast Board (10) |
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| Poached Eggs & Beans (6) |
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| Scrambled Eggs & Chicken (8) |
As many of you know Fantastico is one of my personal favorites for it's commitment to working with great local food makers. At the Parkside Victoria at 810 Humbolt, this location offers a breakfast menu that capitalizes on contemporary simplicity with neatly streamlined breakfast menu. Like it's other locations, it is tucked away humbly out-of-view with a slightly smug confidence that their followers will take the time to visit.
The menu, on paper, is ideal in my mind, offering casual high quality ingredients such as local farm-fresh eggs, fresh artisan breads and cheeses and house made compotes.
Being relatively new, I'm going to cut them some slack as the set up is awkward and the service organization a bit adhoc. Two small rooms, one for the service counter and one for dining are connected by a narrow hallway, off of which the closet of a kitchen is housed. We sat down in the tiny but bright dining room and waited while we watched one service person buzz around in a state of busy confusion. We searched for menus or some sign of the ordering process until we were informed that all orders were self serve at the counter. After getting traffic jammed in the hallway, I found the main room packed with people coming, going staying and ordering. It would be really simple for them to put in a POS system in the dining area and have a service person dedicated to running orders but for the time being that's just the way it's gonna be.
I wish I could say that the food was worth the minor frustration but it does need some work. The Breakfast Board ($10) was a bit sparse but offered a nice local selection of meat, cheese and eggs. The Poached Eggs and Beans ($6) was a rustic country style presentation but somehow, while spiced, had an overpowering blandness to it that spicy-heavy beans sometimes do and was not calmed by the generous dose of hot sauce I treated it with. Chris had Scrambled Eggs with Chicken Confit and Potato Leek Gallette ($8) and it was intensely good but the presentation was a bit too simple bordering on diner-slanged eggs and over-fried hash.
Overall, it's worth a try but maybe give it a couple months to let them get used to the volume they are serving. Further, with a menu that simple but with an orientation towards local fare I hope to see perhaps a bi-monthly feature come in with the Spring season.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
I choose not to scream at my washing machine...for at least 20 more minutes.
There's a lot to be said about down time. I forget that I can actually choose to sloooow thiiiiiiings dooooown. Things have been a bit haywire, what with a new job coupled with a bootleg baking operation, my obsession with punching things and running ridiculously long distances through traffic and opposite schedules of the one person who can make me sit still and breath less like a chimpanzee in heat and more like a chimpanzee not in heat. Today I took some decisive time to enjoy time. I still go to the only place that hasn't been invaded by hipsters and hybrid-humping yuppies who buy bread just because that's what they 'do' on a Saturday - Fol Epi/Cafe Fantastico. I love this place...it being on 'the other side of town', it's like the bridges needed to access it and it's hard-to-describe location keeps the walking-dead of Victoria at bay. I had a killer middle-of-the-line Americano, a simple sandwich without chipotle inbred with Miracle Whip and some damn fine cookies. With that, time slowed down long enough for me to forget that when I cross back over that bridge the chaos might start again. I don't know how long my hide-away will last but I guess I don't really care at the moment.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Keeping it international...
Thanks,
The Unmanageable Oven
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