Brasserie L'Ecole Restaurant

For our tenth wedding anniversary, and research for going to France next year, we went to Brasserie L'Ecole.

We've been to this wonderful establishment several times before and I have two words of warning. There are no reservations and its very popular. The doors open at 530pm but you aren't in a line near the door by 510pm, you have to wait for the next seating. Their signature dish is fries (cooked in very hot oil so that there is little residue of the oil and tastes like a potato should) drizzled in truffle oil with Parmesan, garlic and parsley...for $9...and can be shared with 4 easily. Perfect for when you're waiting at the bar for a table if you are late.

The owner is a sommelier so any wine they have is very good and includes many foreign beers as well.

The meals have generous portions and excellent taste. For our meal we shared the fries and a charcuterie plate. We couldn't finish the fries and still have room for a main and dessert so we took it home. My wife and I each ordered the same main, Tagliatelle pasta with pork ragout and olives. A wonderful combination and again, generous portions that we ended up taking some home. For dessert, we ordered at the beginning of our meal a cheese plate. It has to come up to temperature so you have to order it at the beginning. This was fantastic as well and included two superb blue type cheeses as well as two others, roasted hazelnuts, bread and honey. The bread they have here is the way French bread should be. Crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

So if you are in Victoria and feel the urge for French cuisine, try this place.

Ulla Restaurant

As a pre-tenth anniversary dinner, my wife and I went out for supper and a movie downtown, in Chinatown (one block in Victoria). My wife had been to Ulla before and enjoyed it so we chose it for me to enjoy. It didn't disappoint. Its at 509 Fisgard St; 250-590-8795.

Excellent West coast style is served with attention to detail. Each of our dishes had many ingredients but they were prepared differently with different vinegars/sauces/cooking...etc in order to make the dishes lively and promote depth in our taste buds.

The dishes seem small but an appetizer, main and dessert have the calorie intake recommended by Health Canada's food guide for calorie intake.

For a drink, since I was driving, was a cranberry type drink with cinnamon (a Casablanca something). Very tasty and refreshing.

We shared an order of the olives (edremit, gemlik, picholine and castelvetrano varieties). They were lightly cooked in a frying pan with a neutral olive oil. The heat brought out the best in the olives.

For an appetizer i had the octopus (black humus, olive powder, yogurt, bread crisp, pumpkin seeds, romesco). For those who have seen the excellent documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi", know that to have a tender octopus you need to massage it for a long time (45 minutes in the restaurant Jiro owns). This octopus could be cut with a fork. Each sauce added to the dish and were lovely in combinations. The cooked chickpeas were nice and tasty too.

As a main I had the herb crusted halibut (lemon quinoa, cherry tomato, zucchini, basil, artichoke puree). The fish was poached but poached to perfection. The lemon quinoa was also a highlight with me wondering how i could get it to taste like that (I normally cook it in a broth or with sesame oil added to the water).

For dessert I had chocolate three ways (chocolate cake, rice crispy crunch, dulce de leche cream, and aerated chocolate). They were delicious and an excellent end to the meal. The aerated chocolate tasted like what an aero bar should taste like.

For a movie we saw the Amazing Spider-Man and was not disappointed.

Musings - Summer Gatherings and BBQs

Over the last few weeks my wife and i have gone to two pig roasts. Each technique with preparing the whole pigs were different but both had the same two extra ingredients.

Great company and great food!

Both gatherings had a plethora of people and conversations were lively and engaging; always a factor in these type of events. For food, each BBQ brought a large variety of dishes that were either specialties or new favorites.

Although for one BBQ we brought pre-prepared sidedishes (because of other commitments) for another my wife prepared a chocolate-zucchini cake from our Re-Bar cookbook. The recipe was modified from the cupcake recipe and just poured into a cake pan rather than for cupcakes. Very delicious and I'm not just saying that because my wife made it. Re-Bar is a long-standing vegetarian restaurant in Victoria (since 1988) that makes wonderful no-meat dishes when you need that vegetable kick to your system. As a review of their cookbook, most dishes require above-average skill but the results are equally above-average.

Tonight we are going to another BBQ for our sci-fi/fantasy book club for our 150th book (Frankenstein-a great classic but the characters whine to much). We're preparing John Stamos's Greek marinated chicken recipe (tried to find the recipe on the TV Guide website as the magazine was where my wife found it but alas...the link is to a blog where i found it). Its marvelously good...and yes...its the "Full House" star John Stamos.Its his Dad's recipe actually.

So while the summer is still here in the Northern hemisphere (or you can pretend in the Southern), I advise you to gather some friends and family in order to share great conversation and great food. Its a recipe for success.

Canada Day

Happy Canada Day everyone!

I hope every Canadian, near or far, or wannabe Canadian has a safe and fun time today. In Victoria there's lots of events and celebrations with fireworks downtown near the Legislature buildings in the inner harbour. My wife and I are probably going to the Gorge road event where they close off the street (old cars on display, yard sales, stalls selling food and trinkets). 

For those who aren't Canadian, check out CBC's National coverage and CHEK for local Victoria coverage.