Red Fish Blue Fish. A Cod Dog and a View

Cod Fish Dog. Say no more. But there is more from this little shack on the harbour in Victoria. Look for the Sea Plane terminal and you are almost there. BTW its: Tempura cod + Irene's Bakery Hot Dog Roll + dill'd dijonaisse + tartar & pickled onions = heaven

I also had:

BBQ Fanny Bay Oyster Tacones. Golden shallot aioli + pea shoots + lemon pickled onions.

The Oysters were fresh, briny, pure ocean flavour.

Spicy Pacific Fish Poutine. Cuminy smooth silky.

I'm a big fan of the food shack or food cart concept. For the most part they seem to understand the importance of good quality ingredients prepared simply and honestly. At Red Fish Blue Fish the food is outstanding and 100 % Ocean wise, sustainable.

Grab your food, sit on the dock, take in the fresh salty sea air and enjoy.
Highly recommended

Check out this Red Fish Blue Fish Video on YouTube

Campagnolo Restaurant - Great Pizza

Campagnolo the back room

One of my favorite burgers in Vancouver is at Refuel in Kits. It's also a favorite more broadly as well. You can tell that there is a passion for food there, a passion for freshness and quality. It's not overdone it’s just good. Campagnolo is owned by the same people as Refeul. No burgers just Italian cooking here and easily one of the best pizzas in the lower mainland. Man, I am seriously craving one right now.

Pizza Prosciutto

The dough is chewy and crusty, the toppings are not overdone and then the while still piping hot the pizza is drizzled with good quality olive oil perfuming the whole restaurant with Adriatic aromas. The smells the flavor the look all reminds me of pizza you would get somewhere along the Adriatic coast, Italy or Croatia, your pick this is truly outstanding. I don't even care if the do anything else I'm going back for the pizza.

But wait there's more! Check out the home made charcuterie. I'm moving in next door at the Ivanhoe Hotel just to be close to this place. Yes it's a sketchy neighborhood but well worth the trip.

Charcuterie

Campagnolo has just expanded to a new location on Hasting at Nanaimo with Campagnolo Roma. I hope to check it out soon.

Octopus Salad my complaint: Not enough of it. There rarely is really, nor can there be, really.



Octopus Salad

 

The Pear Tree Restaurant

The Pear Tree Restaurant is a white collar establishment in a sea if blue. The Heights on Hastings in Burnaby is a great strip, coffee shops, mom and pop restaurants, Italian delis, specialty bakeries and of course my barber shop. Yes that's right a barber shop not a hair stylist. This strip is not trendy it’s almost small townie. Amongst all this hominess sits the Pear Tree Restaurant, dissimilar from the whole lot around it both outside and in. You could pick up the entire structure move it to Yaletown and none of the beautiful people down there would blink.

I've lived in this hood almost my entire life and I've always been curious but I've never eaten here. I guess when the special occasion meals come up there is always a new Vancouver restaurant with buzz or an old standard that wins out. I finally had an opportunity to dine, not eat rather dine at the Pear Tree and I'm happy I did. This is a really modern downtown restaurant located in the burbs. I don't usually write about the service, it's a hard job and people have off days, but here there was just a comfort to the service here that made it absolutely outstanding.
The food was good, really good, but not great. Let's call it slightly above average fine dining fair.

Pheasant:
I don't think I ever had pheasant before. Just OK, a bit gamey but maybe that's what it’s supposed to taste like. The bed of small black lentils was tasteless.

Pork belly:I've never had a bad pork, I'm mean really how can you screw up all that luscious fat. This one was really good, the mushrooms, white beans and spot prawns, let's call it a rag out, was a nice complement. I was craving a big thick slice of rustic bread to soak everything up and clean my plate.

A most excellent vanilla crème brulee finished the meal. I guess I got too excited at it’s arrival because I totally forgot to take a picture.

I enjoyed everything about the Pear Tree, or perhaps that a restaurant of this caliber can make a go of things outside of the downtown core. It's nice to have a place like this in the community.

Cafe Nuba, 146 E 3rd Ave at Main

We seek the freshest ingredients, organic and local when available and handpick them daily.

Nuba – Authentic Lebanese Food. Although I’ve never been to Lebanon, it’s on the list, I can believe their claim. The food is really good. Here for lunch I had the deluxe toasted lamb pita, with baba ghanooj, Macedonian feta, tabooleh and caramelized onions. Nice. I love baba ghanooj, although what’s the difference between ganooj and ghanoosh? This is one of the few places were you can taste the roasted smokiness of the eggplant. Many places don’t take the time to build this level of flavour. I purchased a container of the baba to take home with me. It went surprising well with the chewy San Fransisco sour dough bread I bought across the street from the bakery. How's that for fusion dining.

Nuba on 3^rd Ave. bills itself as Inspired by third world roadside cafes of the 1970’s. Really? I’ve travelled to the third world many times, granted not in the 70’s, and I can say with some certainty that this place looks nothing like a third world café. Well, maybe one operated by a Sultan on the Mediterranean coast. The café décor is bright, hip, modern and trendy. Nice, but not third world. I love marketing spin J

All meats are halal, non medicated and hormone free.

I look forward to going back regularly and working my way through the menu. Next time I am definitely trying the traditional style Turkish coffee.

  Thumbs up.