Our hosts at the Gazebo Bed and Breakfast recommended a nearby restaurant in Saanich, BC, the Fireside Grill. Housed in an attractive, Tudor-style structure, it seemed to offer Creative Northwest-influenced dishes, just what we were seeking.
A new menu had just been introduced that day. This has not always yielded great results in our experience, but it looked good anyway. The appetizer page looked especially appealing, so we decided to create our meal from starters alone.
Here’s what we had:
An order of flatbread with the spread of the day. Nicely toasted and seasoned, the flatbread wedges were served with a blueberry cream cheese. Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Anyone who follows our culinary adventures should know that we’re not fans of sweet things, and we especially avoid sweet spreads (and sweet bagels for that matter). But we were WRONG. The fresh cream cheese had some goat cheese mixed in, and the blueberries behaved more as a savory (or should we say savoury?) herb than as a sweet fruit. A beautiful concoction; we were wowed.
Next, our salads: an organic green salad sprinkled with small roasted pumkinseeds for John, and a roasted red beet, lettuce and goat cheese salad for Mary. The only quibble was that a mix of beet types would have been even better.
Finally, as our main course, we both had the Organic Foie Gras and Qualicum Beach Scallops, with morel mushrooms and sweet peas. The foie gras and the scallops were delicious and perfectly cooked (we’re very picky about these). The sweet peas were a nice addition, again perfectly cooked. The morels were tasty, but perhaps they could have taken a less aggressive role in the dish.
All in all, an excellent meal. (John: A-, Mary:A-)