Author Archives: bcorbett907

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About bcorbett907

I'm a Calgary-based writer who enjoys exploring the landscapes, and menus, of western U.S./Canada

Chicken Sandwiches and the Chicken Man in Jasper’s Patricia Street Deli

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Patricia Street Deli owner Glen Leitch is a fun-loving guy

Patricia Street Deli owner Glen Leitch is a fun-loving guy

I’ll make things simple for you. When you walk up to the counter at Patricia Street Deli, in Jasper, Alberta, just order the chicken sandwich. Roasted on a back-wall rotisserie, the meat is moist, tender, delicious. It’s a most reasonable $8.25 for a substantial sandwich in a Canadian Rockies’ resort town.

Going down the sandwich assembling line

Going down the sandwich assembling line

Where you’ll have to make decisions is the toppings you load on the house-baked wheat or white bun. Maybe shredded beats and carrots, pickles, lettuce, sprouts, five kinds of cheese…. you get the idea. Make sure to add one or more of their spreads—say, cranberry chutney, pesto or chipotle.

Chicken sandwich with a lot of fixings on a house-baked whole wheat roll

Chicken sandwich with a lot of fixings on a house-baked whole wheat roll

As good as the sammies are, they may be eclipsed by an irreverent crew headed by chief jester and owner Glen Leitch. Have your wits and comebacks at the ready. The only bad news is you’ll likely have to eat your meal outside of earshot of this hole-in-the-wall, mostly takeout joint.

Actually, Patricia Street Deli keeps pretty simple hours... at least I think they do

Actually, Patricia Street Deli keeps pretty simple hours… at least I think they do

Patricia Street Deli
610 Patricia Street, Jasper, Alberta
Daily 10 am-5 pm
Patricia Street Deli on Urbanspoon

Clean Clothes and Great Java at SnowDome Coffee Bar in Jasper, Alberta

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Wash your clothes while you savour a fabulous java at SnowDome Coffee Bar in Jasper, Alberta

Wash your clothes while you savour a fabulous java at SnowDome Coffee Bar in Jasper, Alberta

It’s such an obvious concept, I’m surprised more enterprising businesspeople haven’t thought of it. I’m talking about a laundromat combined with a coffee shop. You’ve got a captive market of folks waiting an hour or more to clean their clothes. Might as well sell them a cuppa and maybe something to nibble on.

But Coin Clean Laundry in the mountain resort town of Jasper, Alberta has taken things a step further. The java in their SnowDome Coffee Bar is so good, you can happily go there with no intention of putting a load in—the quiet hum of all those stainless machines just an interesting backdrop while you’re sipping in a comfy chair.

You know owners Shelley and Sam are serious about their coffee when they’re using a high-end, custom-made Slayer Espresso machine, with its walnut paddles. (Slayers are made in Seattle by a company headed by Jason Prefontaine, whose family owns the Calgary-based Fratello coffee business; no surprise, Fratello beans are used here.) The robust Americanos were so good, I could never stop at one.

Comfy chairs with a barista operating the exacting Slayer Espresso machine in the background

Comfy chairs with a barista operating the exacting Slayer Espresso machine in the background

SnowDome also bakes some fine fruit muffins and cookies (try the Warden). They do charge for Wifi and to use the in-house computers but, hey, they are dealing with the tourist crowds. If you need to clean your body, too, after a weeklong backpack, there’s  coin-operated showers in back.

SnowDome Coffee Bar
607 Patricia Street, Jasper, Alberta
Daily 7:45 am-8 pm
SnowDome Coffee Bar on Urbanspoon

Across the street from SnowDome, Jasper Liquor Store & Wine Cellar seems a misnomer. I mean, sure, owner D.J. Bowen’s got a couple of thousand wine labels on hand. But what hooks me is the 700 kinds of beer in a spacious, refrigerated room. It’s one of the best beer selections I’ve seen in Alberta.

Just a small sampling of the 700 types of beer available at Jasper Liquor Store and Wine Cellar

Just a small sampling of the 700 types of beer available at Jasper Liquor Store and Wine Cellar

I’m enthralled with so many compelling ales, lagers, IPAs, lambics and stouts that I’m shivering when I emerge. The biggest find is a hopped mead from Water Valley, Alberta’s Fallentimber Meadery, the honey smoothing the hoppier tones and producing a drink that’s delightfully different.

Jasper Liquor Store and Wine Cellar
606 Patricia Street, Jasper, Alberta

Pie and More Pie at Hilltop Diner Cafe in Langley, B.C.

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Who can wait to tuck into this decadent flapper pie at Hilltop Diner Cafe in Langley, B.C.?

Who can wait to tuck into this decadent flapper pie at Hilltop Diner Cafe in Langley, B.C.?

It’s 11 am, and we’re just finishing a fine breakfast: Thick slices of cinnamon-swirl French toast and bacon and eggs with beautifully crispy hash browns. Burgers and hand-cut fries are just starting to appear from the kitchen.

Thick slices of French toast

Thick slices of cinnamon-swirl French toast

But the real show is just getting started at Hilltop Diner Cafe, in Langley, B.C., just east of Vancouver. Six-inch-high slabs of pie—lemon meringue, pecan, peach, strawberry-rhubarb and a fabulous flapper—are being loaded into cardboard takeout boxes, lifted onto plates and shoveled down gullets. Eleven varieties in all, plus some cheesecakes.

Sisters Andrea Zaiser and Sandie Parley are carrying on the operation of a diner that dates back to 1945, when the Fraser Highway was a major thoroughfare. It’s now a little off beaten track, though not far from the busy Trans-Canada east of Vancouver and along the way if you’re going to or from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal via Highway 10. It’s a good place to step back in time and enjoy a home-cooked meal, finished, of course, with a generous helping of pie.

Hilltop Diner Cafe is a good place to enjoy an old-fashioned, home-cooked meal

Hilltop Diner Cafe is a good place to enjoy an old-fashioned, home-cooked meal

Hilltop Diner Cafe
23904 Fraser Highway, Langley, B.C.
Daily 8 am-2:30 pm
Hilltop Cafe Diner on Urbanspoon

Superlative Salt Spring Island

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The Blue Horse Folk Art Gallery is what Salt Spring Island is all about

The Blue Horse Folk Art Gallery is what Salt Spring Island is all about

Salt Spring Island is the largest and most populous of the Gulf Islands, with 10,000 somewhat itinerant residents and this lovely description: “An argument surrounded by water.” No surprise, it’s home to an abundance of artists, witness a 30-studio tour spanning the island. The tour includes such epicurean delights as Salt Spring Island Cheese, Gulf Islands Brewing and Heather Campbell’s Salt Spring Island Bread. All the fixings for a great, waterside picnic.

To sample the many good eats without the driving, head to Ganges (the island’s biggest community), park your car and amble around. The spring-to-fall Saturday Market—vendors must “make it, bake it or grow it”—is famous but mobbed with people and cars. I prefer the smaller Tuesday version, which still features plenty of fabulous produce, such as Foxglove’s bursting-with-flavour orange cherry tomatoes and strawberries.

Perhaps the most colourful place for a meal is Tree House Café, where the outdoor tables are wrapped around an enormous plum tree, with stacks of blankets to stave off the harbour chill. Somewhat pricy lunch highlights include the veggie burger and lamb meatball stew.

The tables at Tree House Cafe are nestled beneath the branches of this huge tree

The tables at Tree House Cafe are nestled beneath the branches of this huge plum  tree

Tree House Cafe
106 Purvis Lane, Ganges, Salt Spring Island
Daily 8 am-10 pm
Tree House Cafe on Urbanspoon

In artsy Ganges, you’ll find good coffee shops on nearly every block. My aesthetic picks are Cafe Talia, in a lovely old, wood-sided telephone exchange, and Blue Coffee Can (aka Slow Espresso), a mini-shipping container, owned by Mt Maxwell Coffee Roaster (“We roast coffee as an excuse to drink more coffee”). Salt Spring Coffee‘s roasting operations have been kicked off the island, but they still run a shop in town, featuring a killer apple-blackberry pie. In a nod to islanders’ health consciousness, many of these coffee emporiums serve power spheres, delectable little uncooked treats featuring carob, peanut butter, coconut and the like.

Cafe Tali is in an old telephone exchange building

Cafe Talia is in an old telephone exchange building

Mt Maxwell Coffee is served at this little Ganges shack

Mt Maxwell java is served at this little Blue Coffee Can shack

All hands on deck for this luscious blackberry pie at Salt Spring Coffee

All hands on deck for this luscious apple-blackberry pie at Salt Spring Coffee

At Jana’s Bake Shop, the wonderful smell that greets you at the door makes you want to order pies, butter tarts or chocolate walnut brownies. It’s small-batch baking, so get there early before it’s all gone. Just south of town, El Loco Taco is a Mexican food truck, in the Seabreeze Inne parking lot, serving up bountiful burritos like a marinated pork with lime-pickled onions, pineapple and a Baja sauce that packs a punch.

At Jana's Bake Shop, this fragrant fruit pie has already been sold, alas

At Jana’s Bake Shop, this fragrant fruit pie has already been sold, alas

In Gulf Island communities like Salt Spring, folks must often pursue two or more occupations to make ends meet. For Fernwood Road Cafe co-owner Jennifer Shaw, it’s more about the lives she left behind, including one as a corporate lawyer, to fulfill a dream of running an eatery with husband David. Sure, it means 16-hour days, but she still gets to practice her cake-decorating skills, wear shorts and Crocs and enjoy an “office” view overlooking a seaside pier.

Co-owner Jennifer Shaw is running the espresso machine and tiny kitchen at Fernwood Road Cafe

Co-owner Jennifer Shaw is running the espresso machine and tiny kitchen at Fernwood Road Cafe

Good, reasonably priced breakfasts here include baked egg dishes and thick slices of whole-wheat French toast. Oh, and if you see a regular without a shirt, don’t worry. It’s just one of the island characters.

Whole-wheat French toast at Fernwood Road Cafe

Whole-wheat French toast at Fernwood Road Cafe

Fernwood Road Cafe
325 Fernwood Road, Salt Spring Island
Daily 9 am-5 pm, except a 10 am opening on Saturday
Fernwood Road Cafe on Urbanspoon

Fabulous Farm Gate Store on B.C.’s Mayne Island

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Farm Gate Store on B.C.'s Mayne Island is a wonderful combination of grocery and eatery

Farm Gate Store on B.C.’s Mayne Island is a wonderful combination of grocery and eatery

Here’s how good the grilled sandwiches are at *Farm Gate Store, a little place along a country road on Mayne Island, one of B.C.’s southern Gulf Islands. While delivering the sandwiches to our shaded picnic table, our server slips and drops them onto some construction dirt. She sheepishly heads back inside to make them afresh. Me? I would have just wiped them off and dug in.

The caramelized onion sauce brings this fantastic ham-eggplant sandwich together

The caramelized onion sauce brings this fantastic ham-eggplant sandwich together

What makes these meat or veggie sandwiches ($7 apiece) so delectable? Layers of ham, melted Havarti, truly ripe tomatoes and wilted eggplant, all loaded onto Seeded Hearth bread, from Victoria’s Portofino Bakery. The clincher is a sauce of caramelized onions, balsamic vinegar and cream cheese, bringing everything moistly together. A similarly moist, dense carrot and coconut muffin, in a rectangular shape, finishes off our scrumptious lunch.

The carrot and coconut muffin is a mini loaf

The carrot and coconut muffin is a mini loaf

Farm Gate’s logo sums things up: “Local people supporting local agriculture.” The place is indeed a  hangout, islanders chatting amongst themselves and with owners Don and Shanti while picking up plump berries, bunches of basil and organic lamb and chicken, nearly all of it from nearby farms. The farm, too, is where Shanti grows and cuts flowers for stunning bouquets that sell for only $11.

Co-owner Shanti arranges her farm-cut flower bouquets, a bargain $11

Co-owner Shanti arranges her farm-cut flower bouquets, a bargain $11

This is what a country store should be: local, friendly, exceptional.

Farm Gate Store
568 Fernhill Road, Mayne Island, B.C.
Daily 10 am-6 pm, except 10 am-5 pm Sunday

Folks (and Seagulls) Flock to Victoria’s Red Fish Blue Fish

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Finally reaching the front of the line at Victoria B.C.'s Red Fish Blue Fish

Finally reaching the front of the line at Victoria B.C.’s Red Fish Blue Fish

Driving into crowded downtown Victoria is good practice for standing in line at celebrated Red Fish Blue Fish—a recycled cargo container on a wooden pier in the city’s inner harbour—unless you strategically arrive near opening or closing. Otherwise, be prepared to wait for up to an hour, while enjoying the marine life around you.

Putting the finishing touches on tuna tacones

Putting the finishing touches on tuna tacones

The good news is the wait is worth it, the line moving slowly because each meal is made to order. The halibut and chips ($14 for a substantial single piece) is outstanding, the fish bursting with fresh-caught flavour and juiciness beneath a somewhat greasy, crispy batter. The albacore tuna tacone, seared till just pink and wrapped in a little tortilla stuffed with slaw, pea shoots and lemon-pickled onions and seasoned with spicy spot prawn mayo, is equally good.

Despite the crowds, Red Fish Blue Fish is still paying attention to the little details that add up to great, fresh fish meals.

There are some fries buried beneath this huge piece of halibut

There are some fries buried beneath this huge piece of halibut

Red Fish Blue Fish
1006 Wharf Street, Victoria, B.C.
Daily 11:30 am-7 pm (3 pm if the weather’s inclement)
Red Fish, Blue Fish on Urbanspoon