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M A Y 2 O 1 5 | V A N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E 113112 V A N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | M A Y 2 O 1 5
*** THE VANCOUVER-BASED SAJE TRAVEL
KIT KEEPS YOU ENERGIZED AND HEALTHY WITH AROMATHERAPY FORUMULAS LIKE
ARRIVE REVIVED AND EATER'S DIGEST ($39.95, saje.ca)
IMPERIAL AMBITIONSThose windows just above the word “Empress”? Yup, you can stay there; views are killer
WORLD STAGEPull up a pew at Stage for thought-fully selected by-the-glass wines from B.C. and around the world
ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALLEmpire Donuts has been a local secret since it opened for delivery only, but its cakes are now available at select cafés
SUDS CYCLEA Pedaler tour hits founding brew pub Spinnakers. If you make it there, order the e!ervescent new Ortega Blonde wine/ale mashup
T H E GOODS N e x t D e s t i n a t i o n s
�F I E L D T R I P
Twelve tasters later, I’m ready for a little sit-down, so bike returned, I retreat to the Empress’s Bengal Lounge, where a Port Authority (Maker’s Mark, port, and bitters, all barrel-aged) and Morgan Wil-son’s elevated pub fare (pork sliders, hand-cut crisps) animate the happy hour menu. (Later, it’s all G&Ts and Raj-era curries beneath the mounted tiger skin.)
For dinner (sticking to the healthy theme), I hit Foo Asian Street Food (769 Yates St., 250-383-3111), a more rigorous version of hometown hero Noodlebox adjacent to the hotel, where Indian paneer and Thai curries sit beside octopus salad and sweet-and-sour pork belly, the heat and sweet nicely handled by a curated selec-tion of local craft brews.
I spend Day 2 browsing through Chinatown, having a hearty omelette at Jam Cafe (542 Herald St., 778-440-4489) in the
!a half-dozen gastown app-maker bros are selfie-ing their
way across the strait, which would be annoying except 1) flights with Harbour Air (harbourair.com) are only 35 minutes long and 2) those views. Leaving at 9, I’m still in time for second breakfast when we drop into Victoria’s Inner Harbour, so I climb all of two blocks to the Gold Lounge at my hotel, the Fairmont Empress Hotel (721 Government St., 866-540-4429; from $259), for grill-your-own burritos, mini crois-sants, and that bespoke tea blend. Overlooking the parliament build-ings, I consider the day’s options.
I feel ready to take on the world, or at least 6.5 kilometres of it, in the company of Kyra McLeod of The Pedaler (719 Douglas St., 778-265-7433), which owners Paul Rayman and Rosemary Lee set up in 2013 to o!er bicycle tours along culinary and historical lines. We helmet up for the three-hour Hoppy Hour Ride ($89), travelling along city streets and over the still-under-construction Johnson Street Bridge (hold on!) to old-school brew pubs Spinnakers (the city’s original, from 1984; 308 Catherine St., 250-386-2739) and Swans (from ’89; 506 Pandora Ave., 250-361-3310), plus Moon Under Water (circa 2010; 350 Bay St., 250-380-0706), where owner/brewmaster Clay Potter tours us behind the scenes.
old Herald Street Café spot, and checking out the Victoria Pub-lic Market (1701 Douglas St.) for knick-knacks and Vikram Vij’s new Sutra. Feeling adventurous I even hit up two much-discussed new cafés in industrial Rockland (a sketchy five-minute drive from downtown): Wheelies Motorcycles Café (2620 Rock Bay Ave., 250-995-9359), a custom bike shop overrun for killer grilled sand-wiches, rocket-fuel espresso, and housemade espresso gelato sand-wiched between brownie slabs and rolled in candied pecans; and Second Crack Co!ee Lab (2612 Bridge St., 250-634-2680), an oh-so-serious retail space for a whole-sale roaster that also happens to purvey the city’s on-trend Empire Donuts, made by Melanie Laverick for home delivery by the dozen.
Several brewery tastes later, dinner. So many options, but I elect to cab it to Stage (1307
Gladstone Ave., 250-388-4222) in leafy Fernwood. Gold winner in this magazine’s Best Victoria cat-egory (see pg. 94), this cute neigh-bourhood brasserie (exposed-brick walls, a worn floor of narrow wood planks) serves killer share plates (think local charcuterie, Sooke-caught trout with bacon and crème fraîche, salads of purslane and sheep sorrel) and a smart B.C.-for-ward wine list, including a dozen
chalkboard specials by the glass.I’m stu!ed, but we have to put a
nose into the recent farm-to-table rebrand of Ulla. OLO (509 Fisgard St., 250-590-8795) is Chinook for “hungry,” explains owner/bar-tender Shawn Soole, godfather of Victoria’s vibrant cocktail culture, as he mixes up digestifs for our party. Each eerily suits its recipient.
Maybe a last nightcap at tonight's hotel, the Rialto (653
Pandora Ave., 800-332-9981), just a few blocks up the way. A 2009 rebuild of the storied (but deteriorated) Hotel Douglas, the Rialto now does restful boutique accommodations and a great hotel bar, Veneto Tap Lounge, as smack downtown as you could hope.
Stump gin (from Phillips Brew-ing down the street) in hand, we toast city founder James Douglas in the remains of his namesake hotel. VM
A Capital EscapeEver dream of moving to Victoria? Start by learning how to forage. Judging from menus studied on a recent 48-hour dine-around, hard-harvesting is the new Island pursuit. Or just go: fly, and you can still be back in time for spin class on Monday by john burns
PART & PARCELFoo’s just-opened sib has a changing
daily menu of beau-tiful proteins (trout tartine) and world grains like farro ri-sotto. 2656 Quadra St., 778-406-0888.
Partandparcel.ca
OLOA drink and dessert
at the bar is fine, but on the next trip serious investiga-
tion is required into the modern-ist farm-to-table
menu. 509 Fisgard St., 250-590-8795. Olorestaurant.com
CATEGORY 12 A mad scientist
brewer in darkest Central Saanich? Sign us up! 2200 Keating Cross Rd.
Category12beer.com
N E W K ID S O N T H E B L O C K
M A Y 2 O 1 5 | V A N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E 113112 V A N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | M A Y 2 O 1 5
*** THE VANCOUVER-BASED SAJE TRAVEL
KIT KEEPS YOU ENERGIZED AND HEALTHY WITH AROMATHERAPY FORUMULAS LIKE
ARRIVE REVIVED AND EATER'S DIGEST ($39.95, saje.ca)
IMPERIAL AMBITIONSThose windows just above the word “Empress”? Yup, you can stay there; views are killer
WORLD STAGEPull up a pew at Stage for thought-fully selected by-the-glass wines from B.C. and around the world
ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALLEmpire Donuts has been a local secret since it opened for delivery only, but its cakes are now available at select cafés
SUDS CYCLEA Pedaler tour hits founding brew pub Spinnakers. If you make it there, order the e!ervescent new Ortega Blonde wine/ale mashup
T H E GOODS N e x t D e s t i n a t i o n s
�F I E L D T R I P
Twelve tasters later, I’m ready for a little sit-down, so bike returned, I retreat to the Empress’s Bengal Lounge, where a Port Authority (Maker’s Mark, port, and bitters, all barrel-aged) and Morgan Wil-son’s elevated pub fare (pork sliders, hand-cut crisps) animate the happy hour menu. (Later, it’s all G&Ts and Raj-era curries beneath the mounted tiger skin.)
For dinner (sticking to the healthy theme), I hit Foo Asian Street Food (769 Yates St., 250-383-3111), a more rigorous version of hometown hero Noodlebox adjacent to the hotel, where Indian paneer and Thai curries sit beside octopus salad and sweet-and-sour pork belly, the heat and sweet nicely handled by a curated selec-tion of local craft brews.
I spend Day 2 browsing through Chinatown, having a hearty omelette at Jam Cafe (542 Herald St., 778-440-4489) in the
!a half-dozen gastown app-maker bros are selfie-ing their
way across the strait, which would be annoying except 1) flights with Harbour Air (harbourair.com) are only 35 minutes long and 2) those views. Leaving at 9, I’m still in time for second breakfast when we drop into Victoria’s Inner Harbour, so I climb all of two blocks to the Gold Lounge at my hotel, the Fairmont Empress Hotel (721 Government St., 866-540-4429; from $259), for grill-your-own burritos, mini crois-sants, and that bespoke tea blend. Overlooking the parliament build-ings, I consider the day’s options.
I feel ready to take on the world, or at least 6.5 kilometres of it, in the company of Kyra McLeod of The Pedaler (719 Douglas St., 778-265-7433), which owners Paul Rayman and Rosemary Lee set up in 2013 to o!er bicycle tours along culinary and historical lines. We helmet up for the three-hour Hoppy Hour Ride ($89), travelling along city streets and over the still-under-construction Johnson Street Bridge (hold on!) to old-school brew pubs Spinnakers (the city’s original, from 1984; 308 Catherine St., 250-386-2739) and Swans (from ’89; 506 Pandora Ave., 250-361-3310), plus Moon Under Water (circa 2010; 350 Bay St., 250-380-0706), where owner/brewmaster Clay Potter tours us behind the scenes.
old Herald Street Café spot, and checking out the Victoria Pub-lic Market (1701 Douglas St.) for knick-knacks and Vikram Vij’s new Sutra. Feeling adventurous I even hit up two much-discussed new cafés in industrial Rockland (a sketchy five-minute drive from downtown): Wheelies Motorcycles Café (2620 Rock Bay Ave., 250-995-9359), a custom bike shop overrun for killer grilled sand-wiches, rocket-fuel espresso, and housemade espresso gelato sand-wiched between brownie slabs and rolled in candied pecans; and Second Crack Co!ee Lab (2612 Bridge St., 250-634-2680), an oh-so-serious retail space for a whole-sale roaster that also happens to purvey the city’s on-trend Empire Donuts, made by Melanie Laverick for home delivery by the dozen.
Several brewery tastes later, dinner. So many options, but I elect to cab it to Stage (1307
Gladstone Ave., 250-388-4222) in leafy Fernwood. Gold winner in this magazine’s Best Victoria cat-egory (see pg. 94), this cute neigh-bourhood brasserie (exposed-brick walls, a worn floor of narrow wood planks) serves killer share plates (think local charcuterie, Sooke-caught trout with bacon and crème fraîche, salads of purslane and sheep sorrel) and a smart B.C.-for-ward wine list, including a dozen
chalkboard specials by the glass.I’m stu!ed, but we have to put a
nose into the recent farm-to-table rebrand of Ulla. OLO (509 Fisgard St., 250-590-8795) is Chinook for “hungry,” explains owner/bar-tender Shawn Soole, godfather of Victoria’s vibrant cocktail culture, as he mixes up digestifs for our party. Each eerily suits its recipient.
Maybe a last nightcap at tonight's hotel, the Rialto (653
Pandora Ave., 800-332-9981), just a few blocks up the way. A 2009 rebuild of the storied (but deteriorated) Hotel Douglas, the Rialto now does restful boutique accommodations and a great hotel bar, Veneto Tap Lounge, as smack downtown as you could hope.
Stump gin (from Phillips Brew-ing down the street) in hand, we toast city founder James Douglas in the remains of his namesake hotel. VM
A Capital EscapeEver dream of moving to Victoria? Start by learning how to forage. Judging from menus studied on a recent 48-hour dine-around, hard-harvesting is the new Island pursuit. Or just go: fly, and you can still be back in time for spin class on Monday by john burns
PART & PARCELFoo’s just-opened sib has a changing
daily menu of beau-tiful proteins (trout tartine) and world grains like farro ri-sotto. 2656 Quadra St., 778-406-0888.
Partandparcel.ca
OLOA drink and dessert
at the bar is fine, but on the next trip serious investiga-
tion is required into the modern-ist farm-to-table
menu. 509 Fisgard St., 250-590-8795. Olorestaurant.com
CATEGORY 12 A mad scientist
brewer in darkest Central Saanich? Sign us up! 2200 Keating Cross Rd.
Category12beer.com
N E W K I D S O N T H E B L O C K
