Culinary Roadtrip: Mellow Sooke (EAT Magazine, spring 2011)
Sooke shines ever brighter as a culinary destination. With enRoute magazine naming Edward Tuson and Gemma Claridge’s the EdGe one of its top-10 new Canadian restaurants of 2010, the little penturban town can now boast three award-winning landmark establishments within municipal limits. Add a quaint Saturday summer market, backroad farmgates, fresh-roasted java at a sassy hidden-gem café, an Austrian-style bakery and several more good cafe lunch spots, and the town's on the roadtrip radar for many Van Isle foodies.
Consider these options for a weekend itinerary. Motor west from Victoria along winding and scenic Hwy. 14 (or bike here via the Galloping Goose trail). Stock up on field-fresh veggies, Cackleberry Hill Farm pies and Sheila Wallace’s organic granola at the Saturday market. Oxygenate body and soul by exploring land, sea and sections of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. If overnighting, book a room at the newly unboxed Prestige Hotel or one of three dozen B&Bs. Then reward the senses at your pick of dining establishments: big ticket by the sea at fabled Sooke Harbour House; charmingly candle-lit at Markus’ Wharfside; or funky Sooke chic at Tuson and Claridge’s lunch and dinner spot in the heart of downtown.
Other morning and afternoon options might include a visit to the Little Vienna Bakery for organic breads and European-style sweet treats. Around the corner, the Stick in the Mud serves the town’s best java while giving drop-ins the chance to match comic wits with owner Dave Evans and his ace baristas. Browse for used books and enjoy the soups at the Reading Room Café. Sign up for a workshop at Ahimsa Yoga with raw food maestro Green Kelly (aka Kelly Proctor). The renovated retro diner ambience at Mom’s Café has made it a Sooke institution. Folksy Thai, Mexican, Japanese and now Indian (namaste to Otter Point Bakery’s Narinder Singh) options are also available. Or phone ahead for takeaway from Rock Beach Grill when heading west past Kemp Lake Road towards Jordan River and Port Renfrew. Stop for a spell to sample Bob Liptrot’s mead at Tugwell Creek Meadery. And make a meal of it at Point No Point’s oceanfront aerie of a restaurant, home base for respected chef Jason Nienaber.
Sooke is rapidly evolving into an affordable bedroom community for Victoria commuters. By contrast, the town’s top culinary spots align neatly with the Sooke Transition Initiative, which champions sustainability and the grow/work/live locally philosophy of the worldwide Transition Town movement. Unlike the Cowichan, there’s not a lot of arable land here on the rocky west coast, but enough that suppliers like Mary Alice Johnson’s ALM Organic Farm, Candace Thompson’s Eagle Paws Organics and Rob and Josephine Hill’s Ragley Farm, among others, can deliver ample seasonal freshness. The Sooke Region Food CHI Society runs a mentoring program for new farmers and its website (www.sookefoodchi.ca) maintains a list of 20-plus area farms that operate as either farmgates or accept phone orders.
Frederique and Sinclair Philip, almost needless to say, gave Sooke its soaraway culinary credibility in the first place, anticipating trends more than three decades ago by transplanting the everyday norms of their experiences in France to what was then a humble five-room inn on the scenic edge of Whiffin Spit. New chef Robin Jackson abides by the code established by his predecessors who refined the Sooke Harbour House’s slow-food, fresh-sheet ethos: Tuson, Michael Statländer, Peter Zambri, Pia Carroll, Brock Windsor and René Fieger included. Raised in Northern California but with Vancouver Island roots, Jackson, 29, was born into a food family: his mum Joan, now a Metchosin resident, ran a cooking school and his uncles a charcuterie. He refined his kitchen chops in Taos, San Francisco and Anchorage (where he was executive chef at the upscale Sacks Café), studied environmental science and got passionate about foraging and shellfish cultivation at an Alaskan ecolodge. He’d long had his sights on Sooke’s Conde Nast-venerated inn, however, and after “being the persistent guy who kept showing up at the kitchen door,” he was hired as sous-chef by Sam Benadetto prior to the latter’s departure last year for Zambri’s in Victoria.
“This is nature’s gift to a chef,” Jackson says, sweeping an arm across an arc that takes in the inn’s edible gardens and the seascape beyond. “I have a little cottage on the water in East Sooke, so I harvest seaweeds and shore herbs on the way in to work, some days stopping at Ragley to pick up orders. Sooke is the best place a chef can possibly be on the west coast of North America with all the herbs, mushrooms, seaweeds and varieties of fish.” The new kid is likeable, knowledgeable and genuinely thrilled to be part of a crack team that includes head gardener Byron Cook (now overseeing the inn’s own Sooke Harbour Farm) and master pastry chef Matthias Conradi. Alumni like Tuson, meanwhile, are but a phone call away for advice and support.
The iconic Tuson, a bearded, nose-ringed salt of the earth type with a wry sense of humour, has settled into a hard-working routine at the EdGe, turning tables twice during busy lunch hours filled with loyal Sookies, then serving an evening trade drawn by menu favourites like his trademark crispy albacore tuna. He, Gemma and her young daughter live not far off on a three-acre farm with 300 fruit trees, a herd of heritage hogs and no less than five motorcycles. Their mission: To scale back their working hours to four days a week so as to handle “the ton of other work” that needs doing on the farm, says Tuson. It’s a distinct possibility given the restaurant’s A-list reputation, the surprise success of the lunch rush and a hands-on approach to makeovers (the chef, a fan of ex-rapper Vanilla Ice’s DIY reno show, is also the EdGe’s go-to handyman). New for 2011: Takeaway sausages and salami cured by the charcuterie master plus a comfy new banquette to serve summertime’s consistent line-ups.
Managing the work/life balance is also a priority for Markus Weiland and Tatum Claypool, who now reside in a matching blue home mere feet from the cottage-style restaurant they opened in 2004. “We’re here for the lifestyle, the climate and the community,” says Claypool as she pours a glass of Kettle Valley merlot to match a truffled yolk raviolo appetizer featuring a free-range egg from Amy Rubidge’s nearby Barefoot Farm. Like colleagues elsewhere in town, their ambitions with Markus’ Wharfside are modest; there is plenty enough joy and artisanal pride to be had in serving their base of repeat customers in pair of warm, cozy rooms certified as a B.C. Culinary Tourism Destination. The hillside property now features a vegetable and herb garden built by Weiland, known in particular among loyalists for his exceptional Tuscan-style seafood soup, risotto specials and panna cotta. At the next table are a pair of regulars-turned-friends who drop in routinely to share snapshots of grandchildren and stories with server/sommelier Tracy Wilson. “This place is like an extension of some people’s homes,” laughs Claypool, “so I guess that makes us a new kind of mom-and-pop.”
The local scene continues to evolve at a gentle pace. Dave Evans, who opened the Stick on the numerically significant 7/7/07, takes his coffee seriously (viz. last year’s addition of a roaster) and has also developed some unique food items (Acadian-style puff pastries, the grilled sandwich-style Stick Pop) that will soon utilize fresh herbs from a backdoor garden. At the Little Vienna, meanwhile, Albertans Susan and Michael Nyikes purchased the business from its founding owners in the fall, inheriting veteran baker Mario Desfosses in the process to ensure no change in the quality of Sooke’s near-daily organic bread and signature cinnamon rolls (aka “schneckes”). Expect to see more shelf items (jams, honeys, spreads) in the future. And a bistro menu will make good use of the Little Vienna’s arboured patio on Saturday nights this summer beginning May long weekend. Chalk up one more good reason to visit the little town with the big, beautiful foodie reputation.
Consider these options for a weekend itinerary. Motor west from Victoria along winding and scenic Hwy. 14 (or bike here via the Galloping Goose trail). Stock up on field-fresh veggies, Cackleberry Hill Farm pies and Sheila Wallace’s organic granola at the Saturday market. Oxygenate body and soul by exploring land, sea and sections of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. If overnighting, book a room at the newly unboxed Prestige Hotel or one of three dozen B&Bs. Then reward the senses at your pick of dining establishments: big ticket by the sea at fabled Sooke Harbour House; charmingly candle-lit at Markus’ Wharfside; or funky Sooke chic at Tuson and Claridge’s lunch and dinner spot in the heart of downtown.
Other morning and afternoon options might include a visit to the Little Vienna Bakery for organic breads and European-style sweet treats. Around the corner, the Stick in the Mud serves the town’s best java while giving drop-ins the chance to match comic wits with owner Dave Evans and his ace baristas. Browse for used books and enjoy the soups at the Reading Room Café. Sign up for a workshop at Ahimsa Yoga with raw food maestro Green Kelly (aka Kelly Proctor). The renovated retro diner ambience at Mom’s Café has made it a Sooke institution. Folksy Thai, Mexican, Japanese and now Indian (namaste to Otter Point Bakery’s Narinder Singh) options are also available. Or phone ahead for takeaway from Rock Beach Grill when heading west past Kemp Lake Road towards Jordan River and Port Renfrew. Stop for a spell to sample Bob Liptrot’s mead at Tugwell Creek Meadery. And make a meal of it at Point No Point’s oceanfront aerie of a restaurant, home base for respected chef Jason Nienaber.
Sooke is rapidly evolving into an affordable bedroom community for Victoria commuters. By contrast, the town’s top culinary spots align neatly with the Sooke Transition Initiative, which champions sustainability and the grow/work/live locally philosophy of the worldwide Transition Town movement. Unlike the Cowichan, there’s not a lot of arable land here on the rocky west coast, but enough that suppliers like Mary Alice Johnson’s ALM Organic Farm, Candace Thompson’s Eagle Paws Organics and Rob and Josephine Hill’s Ragley Farm, among others, can deliver ample seasonal freshness. The Sooke Region Food CHI Society runs a mentoring program for new farmers and its website (www.sookefoodchi.ca) maintains a list of 20-plus area farms that operate as either farmgates or accept phone orders.
Frederique and Sinclair Philip, almost needless to say, gave Sooke its soaraway culinary credibility in the first place, anticipating trends more than three decades ago by transplanting the everyday norms of their experiences in France to what was then a humble five-room inn on the scenic edge of Whiffin Spit. New chef Robin Jackson abides by the code established by his predecessors who refined the Sooke Harbour House’s slow-food, fresh-sheet ethos: Tuson, Michael Statländer, Peter Zambri, Pia Carroll, Brock Windsor and René Fieger included. Raised in Northern California but with Vancouver Island roots, Jackson, 29, was born into a food family: his mum Joan, now a Metchosin resident, ran a cooking school and his uncles a charcuterie. He refined his kitchen chops in Taos, San Francisco and Anchorage (where he was executive chef at the upscale Sacks Café), studied environmental science and got passionate about foraging and shellfish cultivation at an Alaskan ecolodge. He’d long had his sights on Sooke’s Conde Nast-venerated inn, however, and after “being the persistent guy who kept showing up at the kitchen door,” he was hired as sous-chef by Sam Benadetto prior to the latter’s departure last year for Zambri’s in Victoria.
“This is nature’s gift to a chef,” Jackson says, sweeping an arm across an arc that takes in the inn’s edible gardens and the seascape beyond. “I have a little cottage on the water in East Sooke, so I harvest seaweeds and shore herbs on the way in to work, some days stopping at Ragley to pick up orders. Sooke is the best place a chef can possibly be on the west coast of North America with all the herbs, mushrooms, seaweeds and varieties of fish.” The new kid is likeable, knowledgeable and genuinely thrilled to be part of a crack team that includes head gardener Byron Cook (now overseeing the inn’s own Sooke Harbour Farm) and master pastry chef Matthias Conradi. Alumni like Tuson, meanwhile, are but a phone call away for advice and support.
The iconic Tuson, a bearded, nose-ringed salt of the earth type with a wry sense of humour, has settled into a hard-working routine at the EdGe, turning tables twice during busy lunch hours filled with loyal Sookies, then serving an evening trade drawn by menu favourites like his trademark crispy albacore tuna. He, Gemma and her young daughter live not far off on a three-acre farm with 300 fruit trees, a herd of heritage hogs and no less than five motorcycles. Their mission: To scale back their working hours to four days a week so as to handle “the ton of other work” that needs doing on the farm, says Tuson. It’s a distinct possibility given the restaurant’s A-list reputation, the surprise success of the lunch rush and a hands-on approach to makeovers (the chef, a fan of ex-rapper Vanilla Ice’s DIY reno show, is also the EdGe’s go-to handyman). New for 2011: Takeaway sausages and salami cured by the charcuterie master plus a comfy new banquette to serve summertime’s consistent line-ups.
Managing the work/life balance is also a priority for Markus Weiland and Tatum Claypool, who now reside in a matching blue home mere feet from the cottage-style restaurant they opened in 2004. “We’re here for the lifestyle, the climate and the community,” says Claypool as she pours a glass of Kettle Valley merlot to match a truffled yolk raviolo appetizer featuring a free-range egg from Amy Rubidge’s nearby Barefoot Farm. Like colleagues elsewhere in town, their ambitions with Markus’ Wharfside are modest; there is plenty enough joy and artisanal pride to be had in serving their base of repeat customers in pair of warm, cozy rooms certified as a B.C. Culinary Tourism Destination. The hillside property now features a vegetable and herb garden built by Weiland, known in particular among loyalists for his exceptional Tuscan-style seafood soup, risotto specials and panna cotta. At the next table are a pair of regulars-turned-friends who drop in routinely to share snapshots of grandchildren and stories with server/sommelier Tracy Wilson. “This place is like an extension of some people’s homes,” laughs Claypool, “so I guess that makes us a new kind of mom-and-pop.”
The local scene continues to evolve at a gentle pace. Dave Evans, who opened the Stick on the numerically significant 7/7/07, takes his coffee seriously (viz. last year’s addition of a roaster) and has also developed some unique food items (Acadian-style puff pastries, the grilled sandwich-style Stick Pop) that will soon utilize fresh herbs from a backdoor garden. At the Little Vienna, meanwhile, Albertans Susan and Michael Nyikes purchased the business from its founding owners in the fall, inheriting veteran baker Mario Desfosses in the process to ensure no change in the quality of Sooke’s near-daily organic bread and signature cinnamon rolls (aka “schneckes”). Expect to see more shelf items (jams, honeys, spreads) in the future. And a bistro menu will make good use of the Little Vienna’s arboured patio on Saturday nights this summer beginning May long weekend. Chalk up one more good reason to visit the little town with the big, beautiful foodie reputation.