Wickaninnish Inn, YVR Island

[cabrales]

I'd appreciate members' input on Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino, Vancouver Island. I've heard certain good things about the natural surroundings, but have not yet visited.

http://www.relaischateaux.com/site....ninnish

[Lesley C]

I'll be spending a week in the area this summer and will report back then. Maybe someone else has been there recently?

[Miss J]

Hmmmm. It's been a few years since I've eaten there, but it was where my parents took me for dinner on my 19th birthday. (Told you it was a few years...sigh.)

As I recall, the setting is superb. DO go at a time when you can catch the sun setting into the Pacific during dinner, and then walk down the beach in the moonlight after.

As for the food, I remember it being nice but nothing to rave over. Considering my age, lack of culinary experience and generally lack of world experience at the time, I think that's a pretty significant observation. However, since the West Coast has become increasingly fashionable since I left it (hmmm...maybe that's not a coincidence?), there's a very good chance they've upgraded their chef.

My parents used to moan about the lack of decent restaurants in mid & north Vancouver Island. There's a few places that have earned their official stamp of approval...I can ask them what they were, if you'd like.

Miss J

[cabrales]

My parents used to moan about the lack of decent restaurants in mid & north Vancouver Island. There's a few places that have earned their official stamp of approval...I can ask them what they were, if you'd like.

Miss J -- Thanks! Please follow up with your parents only at your convenience and only if you think they will have the places readily on hand.  

[Miss J]

Miss J -- Thanks! Please follow up with your parents only at your convenience and only if you think they will have the places readily on hand.  

cabrales - I'm putting my weekly phone call in tonight, so I'll try and remember to raise the subject. My parents can talk about food all night (well, I have to get it from SOMEWHERE) and I know they'll enjoy the opportunity to talk about restaurants they have known and loved.  

Miss J

[KMPickard]

I had the pleasure of having my birthday lunch at the Wickaninnish in December '01 - and,alas, it wasn't my 19th.

This is a restaurant that's definitely about place. The setting is breathtaking - the waves seem like they might break over your table. The food is almost secondary - it was expensive and more than OK but it didn't elicit many sighs of contentment.

While in Tofino we ate at "Raincoast" (for four nights running no less) and the kitchen didn't let us down once. It's small so I'd recommend a reservation.

Cheers,

Kathy

[Miss J]

And a little more...

cabrales, I'm so sorry it's taken me ages to get back to you. My parents have been quite difficult to get hold of since my mum started working and they STILL refuse to get an answering machine. (I'm going potty ringing them for weeks, and then having them ring me on a Sunday evening and complain that I haven't called in a while!   )

But finally, after a lot of unconsummated phone tag, I got in touch. They were a bit lean coming up with something off the tops of their heads, but these are the first two places that came to mind:

Sooke Harbour House

This has been around for a while, and I ought to have remembered it. Sooke is outside Victoria at the southern tip of the Island, and the Harbour House is a very fine restaurant known for it's fresh local ingredients and excellent wine list. My parents really enjoyed the tasting menu on their anniversary a few years ago, but you need to book it in advance. The Harbour House is also a guest house.

The Cedar Room at Tigh-Na-Mara

Not anywhere near the same league as the Sooke Harbour House, but reasonably good. I've been there many years ago, and recall that the local seafood was a good bet.

There's a third place that they absolutely adore, but they couldn't remember what it's called. It's in Parksville, and it's a bit of a labour of love - they're not even sure if it's still there. (My parents moved up north around four years ago, so they're starting to lose touch with some of the Island's dining options.) They're thinking about it!

And finally -

There's a place I've loved for years called Pagliacci's. It's on Broad Street in Victoria, and while there's many things it doesn't do well (cocktails, many of its own signature pastas, etc), I still find myself making a pilgrimage for their incredible, knee-tremblingly good cheesecake. My recommended strategy for dining at "Pag's" is to order a side salad with some of the (also very good) freshly baked focaccia, and then try to decide if you're going to have the plain cheesecake (perfect), the marble cheesecake (beautifully balanced), or the dark chocolate cheesecake (painfully good, and far too rich). And if you can wrench the recipe out of them, I'd be terribly grateful.  

Hope you're having a good trip!

Miss J

[cabrales]

Miss J -- I haven't made the trip yet (later this year), but many thanks for the suggestions!  

[Lesley C]

Miss J, thanks for the information. Readers should keep in mind that the places you mentioned are all quite far from Tofino, which is a five hour drive from Victoria.

[Miss J]

cabrales - you've just discovered the depths my dippiness can reach. For some reason, I thought you were posting to egullet whilst travelling...more proof of just how susceptable I am to convincing myself on ANYTHING.

Lesley - thanks for pointing that out. I'd been writing on the basis of driving ridiculous lengths in search of a good meal, which most people don't do when they're on holiday!

I'm afraid that (in my recollection) there simply isn't much in the way of truly high-end food closer to my old stomping grounds. When I was growing up outside Port Alberni (the 'gateway' town on the way out to the Pacific Rim villages of Tofino & Ucluelet), the standard by which all local restaurants lived or died was their pizza. That's to say, they had to serve it - it really didn't matter whether or not it was good. Therefore, we had a Greek restaurant that delivered pizza, loads of steak & seafood houses that delivered pizza, a German restaurant that delivered pizza, and a dining & dancing place that - yes indeed - delivered pizza. There were two attempts, in my memory, to open authentic Italian restaurants that did NOT serve pizza. They both failed, and were eulogised by my parents for years.  

There's a number of restaurants in Tofino - and when I worked for BC Tourism one summer as a high school student, I was taken out to a number of them - but I'm afraid really don't have enough up-to-date information to recommend anything. There's lots of emphasis on salmon though.

In fact, there's a number of places where you can get good hot smoked salmon in all sorts of cures, and I really recommend it. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I really like the salmonroni (cracked pepper smoked salmon) and the Indian candy (sweet-savoury smoked salmon). And the farmer's markets are great, too, if you've got the time and inclination to check them out.

One other observation - when I was last back in October, my parents took me to a chain that's been spreading wildly through the province. It's called Earl's, and it was surprising good for the price (both on a food and service level). Nothing fancy or particularly excellent, just decent well-prepared food and knowledgable service. A very good small town option. And I don't think they served pizza.  

Miss J

[Fat Guy]

There's a brand new restaurant in Tofino worth visiting: the Great Room at Long Beach Lodge, where the chef is a Texan named Lisa Ahier who used to work at Old Chatham Sheepherding and is generally a great lady.

Wickaninnish has one of the most beautiful settings on the planet, and the chef -- Jim Garroway -- is quite capable. Coincidentally, Jim and I just taped a segment for Go-Magazine that will air on CHTV Victoria at 6:30pm tomorrow (Tuesday), if you happen to be in the neighborhood. The food at the Pointe (that's the name of the restaurant) is relatively straightforward stuff sourced from mostly local ingredients, not because he can't do more, but because customers want it that way. It's a place to go for a non-aggressive celebratory or relaxing meal. You can get a whole Dungeness crab and eat it for a couple of hours and be very happy. It's pretty much Pac-NW spa cuisine, with a bit of extra flair to it than is normally found in the genre. But if you're looking for Pierre Gagnaire, try something else.

[cabrales]

The Travel & Leisure Reader Survey recently rated The Wickaninnish Inn as the #1 hotel in North America:

http://www.relaischateaux.com/servlet/com....atcher?number=1

Note three-star chef Boyer's "Boyer Les Crayeres" topped the worldwide list.

[Fat Guy]

The setting is beautiful but the Wick is simply not a top North American hotel in terms of its service or its physical structure. It's very nice, but it's second-tier at best. To build a hotel of that quality in that location is an effort worthy of some sort of award, but not this one.

I can certainly see Boyer topping the list; that's a damn nice property with everything going for it. Still I imagine there are fancy hotels in Madagascar and such that are nicer. My guess is that Boyer is a reasonable choice for "best hotel that middle-class people like Fat Guy can sometimes afford."

[cabrales]

I can see how Boyer might be best hotel in the world if cuisine is considered, although I would not necessarily arrive at the same conclusion. The grounds are truly beautiful, with many areas for quiet walks. I really enjoyed sleeping on the stone benches one finds in the back area of the grounds. I don't think the Aman or other similar properties in Asia have anything over Boyer, subjectively. Who needs a massive spa when one has a three-star kitchen?

Overall, I felt that the property is expansive, and yet well maintained. Where in Asia or North America does one find cuisine of the level obtainable at a number of French three-stars with rooms?