LUNCH pages

Here's Rochelle (getting ready with the Demerara sugar), her cappuccino, and my Fruit Shrub ("fruit-infused vinegar with botanicals and soda"; yum) ...and then out came our Breakfast Hash. Nourishing.

Lunch at an unexpected gem in Port Alberni called Pescadores Bistro – their version of a bloody mary named something we can't remember, a classic Eggs Benny, and Oysters very lightly cooked with hollandaise over a bed of fresh spinach. NICE combinations.

   This is the kind of restaurant with a graceful middle-aged waitress who calls you "Hon", where there are signs like

MISSING
Husband, fishing
pole, and dog.
REWARD for dog

So where's lunch? We asked our pilot where we'd find a hearty fresh seafood lunch, and he said "My house! But I didn't thaw the fish..." And then sent us to Sobo, somewhat off the beaten tourist track and an obvious  favorite of locals.

Rochelle had the special Tuna Melt, while I gorged on Polenta Fries with what they call Caesar sauce, Smoked Fish Chowder, and Steamed Clams and Mussels, washed down with No Boats on Sunday Cider.

Omigod, I was full!

Downtown San Francisco is, for this old timer, a shock – a blend of very new and some old familiar (but somehow changed, a terrible beauty is born.)

Walked to Yank Sing. Yum.

. . . Hiro Ramen, a new visit for us, and a good one. We're lunching sparingly, because this is an eat, eat, play, eat day – kinda the Ashland Experience for us, whose at-home restaurant palette is pretty limited. Oh, dear, all the new restaurants we don't get to try out!

Having recently seen Ramen Heads we were eager to try something other than what comes out of a package, and Rochelle found this one in Ashland. The broth was mild, deep; the ingredients bathing in it were hearty and delicious – looked just like the movie (although I'm betting 'the real thing' in Japan is an order of magnitude more nuanced and delicious!) Our friends liked it too; we passed a lovely lunch discussing The Tempest, that we'd all seen the night before. I was surprised that they shared our perception that much of the dialogue was hard (or impossible) to understand – the Brando syndrome? the amplification, and an unhealthy interaction between some actors' voices and enunciation? Would we encounter the same indoors with King John?

Stay tuned . . .

Lunch from a place called Napa Farms that served all its over-priced but fresh and thoughtfully prepared food items in little plastic coffins. When we were finished, we were left with an admirable pile of trash.

The outstanding dish was a vegan Caesar Salad with something called 'seed parmesan.'  

This is a big, fascinating city. We roosted here in the West End next to English Bay, where we stayed last time we were here, in 2015 really like the area. Beaucoup ethnic restaurants – we can now proudly claim to have eaten the Canadian National Fast Food: poutine. Potatoes, cheese curds, and gravy; optional additions (as here): chicken, but let your imagination run wild. Originating in Quebec, La Belle Patate prides itself on serving the most authentic Quebecoise poutine in Western Canada. It's Canada's answer to the hamburger.

next group : Port Hardy