Hiatus...almost over

I've had to take a brief hiatus due to job crazieness and oven madness but I will be back soon. SATURDAY, April 30 is Studio 4's Health and Wellness Open House from 9am-7pm.  The Unmanageable Oven will be on site till noon with samples and product.  Plus, free fitness activities all day and Victoria's beloved Hernandez will also be there serving up healthy dishes!  CHECK IT OUT.  Once this all dies down I'll be back to posting the same old rambling nonsense..till then stay tuned for mobile blog pics from Saturday's event!!

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.

Smoked sweet n savory spicy tuna, apple salad with summer legumes

RED FISH BLUE FISH...REVIEW TOMORROW!!

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.

The end...Lady Marmalade

Whaaaaaa? No chorizas?

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.

La Taquisa is doing it right, in my opinion. they make their own flour tortillas right in front of you, the service is fast, friendly and engaging, made to-order and they actually ask you if you are enjoying it. It was fantastic...It's not just about what you eat but how the experience went down.  I think sometimes people get confused and think that I just love to eat.  Not the case...it's a lovely bi-product, but it's really about the way food is experienced as an aspect of a strong culture.  La Taquisa is a fine example of this.
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!

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 beauty of this recipe is not only are you getting your fruits and veggies but you are also cutting out unnecessary fats and sugars. Fun fact: Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. They also act as a "nutrient booster" by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha and beta-carotene and lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit. The more you know....

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

Breakfast Board (10)

Poached Eggs & Beans (6)

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.

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.

Keeping it international...

Don't know how u guys found me but to the 2 of you in Iran and the 2 of you in Hungary...
Thanks,
The Unmanageable Oven

Blueberry apple deep crisps... Fresh.

Blueberry apple deep crisps... On the go

Intoduuuuuuuucing: The Top Ten....

The Unmanageable oven needs your input for a weekly top ten - another fantastic idea by UI producer-at-large out of Montreal, Ulrick McKenna - AKA BIGS... To kick it off we're going old school , though this will never get old:
BACON: TOP TEN BEST WAYS TO GET BACON INTO YOU
...if you can PLEASE include pics, recipes or dishes...will be posted one week from now...

send to jvangyn@gmail.com or post to my facebook page, group or profile.

Check out the new Food Challenge, too!

BRING ME YOUR FOOD CHALLENGES!!!

.



My friend Ulrick McKenna out of Montreal has prompted me to start reader-featured food challenges. Bring me your biggest, baddest, spiciest, grossest, weirdest food adventures, complete with photos and I'll give you a featured post!! I want you to go out there and find your local freak of food, eat it, document it and send it in!!! Write your own blurb or let me put my own spin on it...it's up to you. Leave no bun unturned, no chili undigested nor any abomination avoided. ANYTHING GOES (but please use a bit of discretion). I'd like to have a feature every week and multiple submissions are welcome.

Send writing and pics to jvangyn@gmail.com (no spam please).

Spicy tuna salad with beets, raw veg and toasted seed mix.

Cold smoked albacore tuna with spicy quinoa, mixed raw veg, diced pears and toasted seed mix

This salad is quick, easy and more well-rounded than a prom queen who doubles as the Mathletes captain.

Many of the dishes I post have pre-prep elements to them. Make your quinoa ahead of time and all you have to do is add your ingredients. Cold smoked tuna is a relatively inexpensive way to add a protein alternative to this essential salad. I add pear because it keeps well if you don't use the whole thing, its mildly sweet and nice and crunchy. Also, it goes surprisingly well with the spicy chili flakes.

Found a qauint, tucked-away joint to indulge...my deepest fears and soon-to-be regrets.

After a night of testosterone, silicone and self-tanner induced mania (the AFC fight night) we stumbled on this place in an attempt to a satiate late-night penchant for self-degredation. On the menu I found a seemingly Franco-Irish inspired sandwich called the "Filet O'Fish". I am sure I've had one before but perhaps the experience had the side-effect of wiping my memory of it's ingestion - we'll never know. This is why I should get this down in writing asap. It's shiny exterior has it's allure (dig deeper for that pun) but I warn those of you who follow in my questionable footsteps to avoid any further investigation. Just get it over with as soon as possible and shut out the protests of your friends. It will transport you back to the days of being a young child with workaholic parents who served food from boxes before the days of "panko-inspired' breading, when sawdust as a bulking agent was an acceptable ingredient. The 'juice' that exudes from its interior is somehow clearer than water - maybe that's what Chris was looking into when he foresaw the horrors to come (pic after the jump). The 'tang' of the sauce is eye-watering and will remain with you like the taste of a smell that came from the back of your elementary school locker (in my case, that would be a week old cheeze whiz, tuna, pickle sandwich - not a far cry from my criminal entree this evening, come to think of it.)
Whatever your take on the integrity of this post, it will never be said that I descriminate in my epicurean adventures. Leave no stone unturned but if that stone happens to be a filet o'fish rest assured there will be consequences. My palate might be ranked on a sliding scale (wawawa) but I've gotta set the standard of zero if I'm going to find my ten.

I think chris is seeing into my near future. He's now in charge if picking my lotto numbers.

The filet o fish will make your face try and turn itself inside out

The destitute mans fried chocolate banana fried pie. An apt punishment for ordering the filet o fish

Breakfast of a wannabe champion... Steel cut oats and quinoa with organic dried cranberries, fresh banana, coconut, seed mix , hemp hearts, flax seed and vanilla almond milk. You could power a lawn mower with this s%@#

Pb chocolate banana sandwich micro cakes with pb cream cheese icing. Served with vanilla rooibos tea and almond milk. Friday is complete...

Pink Bicycle Burgs at long last...

1008 Blanshard Street
Victoria, BC V8W 2H5
(250) 384-1008 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (250) 384-1008 end_of_the_skype_highlighting










We'd been trying to find the time to wait in line for these burgs and finally put in the time. I can safely say that everytime it will be well worth the wait. They have a great selection of locally raised meats from bison to mutton to the standards. -even a few vegetarian options but please - don't waste a seat in there by not having the real thing (Bring on the rage, haters...you will not win). They have an amazing selection of condiments and sauces and - this is the kicker - they are pretty relaxed when it comes to swapping out one cheese (move over cheddar I got a goat to please) for another or removing the blasphemous bbq sauce from some of their staple classics for a less overbearing flavored mayo.
The fries are deepdeepdeep fried and for a buck extra are sprinkled with truffle oil. The onion rings are beefcut and dense. Do yourself a favor - get in on that deep fried mac n cheese...add a spicy ketchup and you've got a childhood classic reborn.
Overall one of the best burger joints I've visited in a long time. It got the makings of a long-time local gem one that locals will return to to 'climb the menu' (I'm coining that right now...it means to go back till you've tried everything on the menu). Great atmosphere and decent service despite the kitchen being up a set of stairs near the front of the crowded entrance.
So, get in there - roll up your sleeves and don't wear a white shirt.

Pink bike Mac n cheese stick unleashed

Pink Bicycle: so good u go cross-eyed

The Unmanageable Oven and the Floating Dessert Shoppe

Jordie at the Floating Dessert Shoppe



Fisherman's Warf and business is banging! head down there for fresh sea food, BBQ, and fresh desserts! Namely, at the Wonderful, Wild and Whimsical Floating Dessert Shoppe! The Unmanageable Oven is featuring Jumper Cable Protein Boms, I Don't Know Bars (pb, organic oat and chocolate) and PB, Chocolate Banana Micro Cakes with PB cream cheese icing! SUPPORT LOCAL SMALL BUSINESS!!!