Hobbled by a broken leg for the past few months, Ive sorely missed my regular dining crawls. So when I was able to ditch the crutches last weekend (in favour of some strappy sort of space-age torture contraption my doctor ironically calls a walking boot), I made the most of it by hopping aboard The Queen of Nanaimo to dine at Bodega Ridge on Galiano Island and Ulla in Victoria. Both have strong Vancouver connections and Id been to neither before.
Bodega Ridge |120 Manastee Rd., Galiano Island | BodegaRidge.com|
This rustic retreat an assortment of dreamy cabins on an expansive, rural property overrun with deer (my kids spotted 23), recently enlisted the help of chef Nico Schuermans of the Dirty Apron, Chambar and Café Medina to oversee their entire food program.
One of his protégés, Mook Sutton (a familiar face at Chambar) prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each were predictably superb.
Hearty bacon, fresh salmon, spiced cylinders of pork loin, steaks drizzled with dark chicken jus, squid stuffed with risotto loaded with shrimp and chunks of chorizo made it like dining on Beatty Street only in the middle of an arbutus forest with faint wafts of wet, Gulf Island dust replacing Porsche exhaust.
Ulla |509 Fisgard | 250-590-8795 | 250-590-8795 | Ulla.ca|
Over in Victoria, few things had changed since my last major recon mission for WE, save for a new eatery that Ive been excited to try since it opened to rave reviews last year.
A charming effort in the citys diminutive Chinatown from former Vancouver hands Sahara Tamarin (ex-Cibo Trattoria) and chef Brad Holmes (ex-Chow, West), Ulla did not disappoint. Id even go so far that it leads the ranks of those restaurants in the capital that are worth getting on a ferry for.
Having spent many years toiling in Victorias restaurant trade, what struck me about the room straight away was how different it was from the rest.
The atmospheric norm for the citys popular restaurants is dark and frenetic with tightly spaced tables and harried service what I call the The Pagliaccis Effect (so-called after the permanently packed serial disappointer on Broad Street). Ulla was like dining on a cloud of cool contentment in comparison.
The flow and look at Ulla are both representative of how Victoria can meet the modern without surrendering its identity. The wooden table tops are set far apart under high ceilings, from which hang dandelion puff light fixtures.
There is room for the service to glide, which it does (unhurried but always on time). The broad and high window frontage brings in plenty of evening light to play on the stark white walls and the bright, soothingly looming canvas by Vancouver artist Charles Forsberg (his work is also displayed at Boneta in Gastown).
Even better than the service and ambience was Holmes food, which displayed a playfulness and confidence uncommon in a town where big box chains are increasingly stifling taste and creativity.
My wife and I made short work of his Momofuku chicken starter that saw wings brined, smoked, confited and fried similar in style to how theyre prepped in the Manhattan restaurant that inspired them ($9). These were crisp on the outside and lashed with a saucy treatment of sake, soy and mirin; the meat, nearly unspooling off the bone and pleasantly dissolving on the tooth, leaves one wondering why chicken wings everywhere arent prepared in such a fashion.
We then battled spoons over a hot and bright green soup of freshly whipped English peas (in season now) studded with little croutons and poked with a dollop of smoky crème fraîche ($9). The texture was delightfully smooth and the taste summery.
Main courses were passed back and forth. I enjoyed the short rib steak, which arrived enlivened by a dark, wet lacquer of black garlic jus. The slices were flatly arranged in todays fashion (no tower plating here) and set among the contrasting textures and complementing flavours of pillowy potato gnocchi, little screws of good quality bacon and curls of garden-fresh garlic scapes ($26).
The chicken, plated in two guises one cut cooked sous vide and the other fried in the Japanese karaage mode was also a winner ($26). It came plated on a smear of pea puree next to plump tortellinis and a miniature pitcher of jus licked with sherry and thyme (to be poured to ones discretion and taste).
This was modern food exquisitely prepared by a steady-handed, well-schooled chef with an obvious passion for high quality ingredients of local origin.
The dishes are on par with what we see in our better restaurants here in Vancouver, but werent so effete in their presentations. Each one I tried so titillated and surprised that I left wishing I wasnt so full so that I could go back in again.
My high expectations were exceeded at every turn.
Envy is not a feeling I often have when I visit my old hometown, but I most certainly do envy Victoria for Ulla.
