Bar Bricco

We're pretty spoiled living downtown - So many options. The newest of which is Bar Bricco, Daniel Costa's newest addition in a still growing little stretch between 103rd and 104th on Jasper Avenue. I stopped by with a friend a couple weeks ago to check it out, and we munched away on a large plate of cheese and fennel salad, alongside a Negroni and grappa.

Since then I've been back twice - once for a belated birthday dinner, and another for drinks and snacks. Both times I've ordered the egg yolk ravioli... Make sure you order the egg yolk ravioli. And order a little bread (if you didn't save any from your meat or cheese dishes) to help soak up whatever remaining ricotta/brown butter/egg yolk is left on that plate.

The salumi tasting plate with homemade porchetta, and delicious Iberico ham, prosciutto and mortadella is wonderful if you're feeling carnivorous, and don't skip on the fennel salad or the house ricotta.

In addition to that Negroni, they have a lengthy lists of grappa, and of course, wine. Though I'm not a wine drinker, I enjoyed a glass of sparkling red (Lambrusco) the other night that I wouldn't hesitate to order again.

This is a bar, and they don't take reservations, so if at all possible, get there at six when they open to score seats at the bar or one of three tables. A groups of us (4) arrived around 7pm on a Wednesday and waited for about a half-hour before being able to grab seats... and there were people behind us.

Bar Bricco
10347 Jasper Avenue
Wed-Sun {6pm - 1am}

The Tapa Bar - Victoria BC

I didn't have my camera with me when we stopped at The Tapa Bar in Trounce Alley for lunch this past Monday, but I just wanted to do a quick post on it. I'll include a couple random tourist shots that we took later in the day, to break things up a bit.

Tapas style or 'social eating' seemed to be all over Victoria. Smaller plates allowed us to order a few things instead of just one or two, and it also meant we could share most of our food, which we usually end up doing anyhow.

Martinis happened to be on special (Martini Mondays - all martinis are $5), so I tried a 'Pasione'... I can't completely remember what was in it, except that there was tequila and it had a cinnamon rim (and yes, I only had one). Anyhow, it was recommended to me by the server and it was good.

Charles - does not like having his picture taken

For food, we chose the tostada with goat cheese, salsa verde and mushrooms ($8.5), the halibut ceviche ($8.5), the roasted leg of duck in mole sauce ($9) and pork riblettes in a spicy peach sauce ($8.5).

The ceviche arrived first, and while both Charles and I liked the intense flavours of the chile, lime and cilantro, something seemed a little off with the texture of the halibut, as though it had maybe been sitting in the acid a little too long (it was verging on rubbery). Our other three dishes came just after we finished up the last of the ceviche. The tostada's flavours were excellent, with a nice, fresh hit of goat cheese through the rich mushrooms. Both of us liked the sauce on the riblettes - sweet and spicy is a killer combo, but the pork itself was so so. The roasted duck leg in mole sauce was the one that we both raved about for the rest of the day. Smoky, sweet and spicy mole sauce with lots of sesame seeds topping a perfectly roasted duck leg.

We both liked The Tapa Bar and wish we would have chosen to spend a lazy evening there, versus a bit of a rushed lunch. However we tried to linger as much as possible, Charles with his beer, and me with my martini. But we will still need to head back to sample more of their lengthy menu... hopefully on another Martini Monday.

The Tapa Bar
620 Trounce Alley
250.383.0013
Hours: M-Th (11:30am - 11pm), F-S (11:30am - midnight), Su (12 - 10pm)