Editor’s Note: This establishment is no longer located at the address below.

Beirut Express
787 Fort Street
Victoria, BC

J: Beirut Express can best be described as a hole-in-the-wall with murals showing off the beauty of the Middle East. The place was immaculately clean. To find tables with chairs next to them were sparse and what seating was available were near the front door.

Our seating arrangement wasn’t one of my best ideas when considering how cold it was outside, but Ed was never in any danger of a numb bum.

The radio played as we sat but it struck me as odd that the TV was also turned on. I didn’t see the point. We ordered-up and then retrieved our canned drinks from the cooler.

Curiously, they were dented.

E: I had to wonder what was up with that. Fortunately, we weren’t victims of cola exploding onto our faces, but when the baba ghanoush we ordered arrived a few minutes later, what I saw didn’t look appetizing at all.

I’m used to eating food with vibrant colours to highlight the details, not something sprayed out of Mt. Vesuvius.

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Out of the entire year, today is one of those days where tricks and treats run rampant. If you love to smoke food and savour candied delights—nibbling on smoked candy salmon is one great way to wind down the summer. You’re either fishing the days away or just preparing to hibernate.

Right now this is the season for salmon to come back from whence they came, and if you can catch a few, just what can one do with your haul?

Nigiri sushi? Sure, if you have the girth for it, but I’m thinking about the candied salmon my pal Brydon Parker gave me as a Halloween treat. They’re not going to last long. The tones of smoked hickory and maple syrup are tasty, and I have to see what else he’ll be cooking up.

But also check out local fisheries too. Any fresh salmon that’s now being caught are going to make for some tender delights. I’m on the lookout for local eateries offering freshly caught fish, preferably wild over domesticated.

Sadly, I’m not sure if James is going to join me; he’s been doing a lot of early hibernation and not even a picnic basket is stirring him. He’s certainly been a tough bear to awaken and I’ll just have to play a joke.

I’m going to carefully move him from his home in Jellystone to Yellowstone.

So either with him or not, I’m on the hunt for some wild salmon in the coming weeks.

Editor’s Note: This establishment is no longer located at the address below.

Pizza Zone
2571 Quadra St.
Victoria, BC

E: It’s just ice-cream James … really, it is. C’mon now, Island Farms?

Well, okay, I admit we needed something different after going to Young’s Restaurant but just to see a bloke turn into a tyke was amusing enough when we stopped in at Pizza Zone across the block.

They had a section offering soft ice cream that started at $2.50 for a cone. But what set James off were the bottles of cola. They were tiny. They were the old-style coke bottles from the 80’s.

J: They weren’t tiny. Tiny is Coke’s recent 6-pack of glass bottles. Now that’s tiny. These were my fond memories as a kid. These were the original bottles.

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Editor’s Note: This establishment is no longer located at the address below.

Chef Suzi in the Square
18B Bastion Square
Victoria, BC

For those people familiar with the Blue Carrot Cafe in Bastion Square, it’s sadly closed down. It had simplicity in its menu offerings and although they’ve left, I can’t say Elvis has left the building. It’s Chef Suzi who’s in the square now.

This new diner opened up Sept 09 and it comes complete with a ghost said to be haunting the place. That spirit is a playful one, even back when the Blue was there. It was chef Suzi who was adjusting the lights when I wondered why the lights dimmed for a moment.

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