Bistro 28

More and more, young chefs are taking the plunge, opening up their own place, cooking food they'd like to eat, in a place where they'd like to eat it in.

Such is the case with Sam Chalmers, chef and owner of Bistro 28.* "We're a little laid back but, we take our food seriously," says Chalmers of his 34-seat bistro he opened two years ago at age 28.

"Everyone has their own niche," he says, "and I wanted to cook what I would want to eat if I was dining out. Everything on the menu is there because I want it to be there. I like seasonal and local but I will outsource for the best ingredients."

A lover of blues and a collector of hats - he currently owns 30 - Chalmers's Bistro 28 has a kind of an understated elegant feel: blues playing in the background, custom recycled wood tables, candlelight and abstract paintings.

Housemade chips are presented for each table and formidable cocktails set the stage perfectly. Hello, bourbon sour!

A quick read through of the menu and you'll realize that Chalmers is a shameless carnivore. "I don't have the obligatory vegetarian item on the menu," he says, "so I ask that people phone ahead if they have dietary restrictions." That way he says he can make something creative and fresh for the customer. That means you, vegetarian.

While everyone and their uncle has pork belly on the menu, Chalmers sets his apart by roasting it, deep frying and tossing it in a mixture of black pepper, sea salt and star anise. A shot of lemon juice brightens up the whole thing, making it sheer delicious evil.

Hello, coronary care unit!

Chalmers also digs global cuisine. Dishes from New Orleans and Spain - two cuisines sorely lacking in Victoria - make appearances on the menu.

With spot prawns in season, Chalmers makes a punchy and luscious Spanish-influenced prawns pil pil with olive oil, chiles and garlic finished with a lemon-parsley gremolata.

And spot prawns also feature prominently in the New Orleans-style boudin blanc, Bistro 28's version of summer sausage. The classic rice, ground pork and shrimp sausage finds basmati rice - first cooked in spot prawn stock - with a gentle spicing of allspice, fennel, celery seeds and a bit of duck fat accompanying the pork and spot prawn chunks. Quickly pan roasted, it's served over greens in a chile-lime-cilantro vinaigrette.

That addition of a hit of salt on top adds balance to the whole dish, a plump and juicy little number.

Another unusual dish I enjoyed recently was the pan-fried pork loin, breaded and fried schnitzel-style, served with milk-braised fennel and onion and mustard herb cream sauce. The fresh fennel and baby spinach salad provided a refreshing counterbalance, and the big Spanish white anchovy, a salty-fishy hit.

Wow!

*Update: Bistro 28's website is apparently being revamped. Meanwhile, Sam Chalmers has opened up a new restaurant, downtown, Black Hat by Bistro 28. That website is operational.

Summer Cocktails with Hibiscus Flowers

Big glass jars and icy pitchers of agua de jamaica are a common site throughout Mexico. Classified under the agua fresca umbrella, this refreshing beverage is made from dried hibiscus flowers. It's deep crimson in colour with a tart flavour offset by sugar - sometimes too much.

It makes a spectacular ice tea served in tall frosty glasses and easily lends itself to adventures in the kitchen with the addition of other ingredients from mint to ginger, or for those with adult tastes, agua de jamaica adds a festive touch to vodka, gin or tequila-based cocktails.

My go-to recipe uses two cups of hibiscus flowers to six cups water. Add one cup sugar or other sweetener (honey, white grape juice, piloncillo for an authentic touch, or flavoured sugar syrups that some of you budding mixologists will have on hand). Adjust the sugar to taste.

Bring the mixture to the boil and let steep off the heat for at least two hours. Strain, extracting as much of the juice from the flowers as possible.

Pour over ice with a splash of soda, or in this case use for a twist on the margarita. It's best with a silver, or reposado in a pinch, but no anejo.

We played around with ratios: 1 1/2 oz. tequila, juice of one lime, 1/4 oz. triple sec, agua de jamaica to top the glass.

Refreshing!

It provided ample fuel hovering over the barbecue waiting on chicken marinated in lemon juice and zest, chilie, garlic, olive oil and fennel seeds.

And was welcome with a round of queso fundido served with hot corn tortillas.

Pitch Perfect at the Blue Note

While the Duchess of Bedford staved off that "sinking feeling" with afternoon tea, others might entertain the notion of a dry martini. I, on the other hand, like to keep my options open.

Lately, afternoons have found any sinking feeling cured at the doorstep of the Blue Note Cafe. Owned by Michael Simmons and Gerry Burke, the cozy corner cafe in James Bay is quickly garnering devoted fans for Burke's exquisite baking and Simmons's talents as a welcoming host.

Both gentleman are well known and respected in the restaurant trade - Simmons as a waiter, most recently at Cafe Brio, and Burke as a baker - and the two have honed their skills in places throughout Vancouver and Victoria.

The menu offers light breakfast and lunch fare, wraps like ginger chicken or pesto chicken, egg salad and grilled cheese sandwiches and a kick ass potato salad with Stilton and walnuts, or a grilled chicken Ceasar.

But I'm focussing on sugar.

Here they are: Ginger Girls, shown on the right, is a chewy lightly gingered number, so great dunked in a mug of 2% Jazz roast coffee. Then there is the Chocolat Chocolate Cowboys, also chewy with a delicate snap and chock full of oats, walnuts and Callebaut milk chocolate chunks.

They are easily the gateway drugs to stronger fare, specifically, the three styles of bars that Burke and Simmons keeps secured inside a display case.

Nanaimo bars are made gluten-free with almond flour standing in for the usual graham cracker crust, and the Peanut Crunchy finds a peanut and rice krispie crust topped with a layer of dark Callebaut chocolate and a healthy sprinkling of roasted hazelnut and pecans, and finally, their signature James Bay Bar. Here lies a peanut butter and rice krispie crust topped with a chocolate custard followed by a milk chocolate ganache. The crust is a melt-in-your-mouth affair that tricks you into thinking of less calories, and is a cross between a Reese's peanut butter cup and an aero bar. The next two chocolate layers, lightly sweet, yield easily to a fork and pair perfectly with coffee.

Welcome to your new addiction.

The Blue Note Cafe is located at 201 Menzies in James Bay. Open 7 days a week, Blue Note can fix any sinking feeling from 6 am to 6 pm.