250-590-7656, solomans.ca, 542 Herald St., Victoria. |
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Drink
: Shake, Muddle & Stir
The perfect vodka stingers, gin fizzes and their forgotten ilk have been resurrected.
Disappointed in the cocktails being served in the city, Solomon Seigel, a self-proclaimed
cocktail aficionado and son of Victoria restaurateur Howie Seigel (of Pagliacci’s
fame) opened a 45-seat location devoted to the art of the drink. Solomon’s
is a long narrow room, in the heart of Old Town and the Design District, featuring
banquette seating and a bar where Solomon and staff shake, muddle and stir old-school
cocktails using quality spirits and fresh citrus. Natural soda and tonics are
from U.K.-based Fentimans and small plates of artisanal cheeses, charcuterie and
other nibbles provide perfect accompaniments.—Shelora
Sheldan |
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| 250-733-2035, organicfair.com, 1935 Doran Rd., Cobble
Hill. |
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Food
: Sweeten the Pot
Organic Fair Farm, set on five picturesque acres in the Cowichan Valley, offers
visitors a multi-sensory experience with its pond views, heritage breed hens,
organic botanicals and vegetable gardens. Owners Kent and Marisa Goodwin—a
farmer and a herbalist, respectively—produce an extensive line of Organic
Fair label products, all sold at the farm. These include steam-distilled essential
oils, decadent dark chocolate bars, teas, triple-infused organic vanilla sugar,
old-school ice cream and fresh, baked-on-site goods made with Red Fife wheat.
(The lavender shortbread is killer.)—Shelora Sheldan
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| 250-361-1256, stilldesign.ca, 538 Pandora Ave. (by
appointment only), Victoria. |
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Decor:
Still Designy After All These Years
On the top floor of a brownstone in Victoria’s Chinatown you’ll find
Still Design, which features an ever-changing collection of vintage and original
designer and architect-designed furniture, lighting and objects spanning the 1950s
and ’60s. Owners Robert Kidd and Linda Giles are both artists and avid collectors.
Their showroom is like a designers’ who’s who of the mid-century modern
era, defined in part by its palette of materials like teak, bent plywood, fibreglass
and leather. According to Kidd, these pieces “can easily blend with a modern
or antique theme.” From a Hans Wagner teak dining set to an Eames Billy
Wilder chaise lounge or Canadian-designed Lottie lamps, the emphasis is on quality
and authenticity.—Shelora Sheldan |
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| 250-388-5739, 2002 Fernwood Rd., Victoria. |
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Garden
: Everybody Must Get Stone
Strongback Gallery partners Adam Warrington and Rick Thomas can work big in small
spaces. In this case, we’re talking about the tiny 400-square-foot space
in which they design their towering, interlocking brick and stone creations. Forget
kitschy pink swans: the gallery’s sculpture and furniture offerings tend
towards the marble and limestone or sandblasted slate and concrete-dipped steel
end of the design spectrum. This is more than mere lawn decor. Says Warrington,
“With stonemasonry, there is a finished product for people to admire, or
criticize, just like any other work of art.”—Meaghen
Ng |
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250-370-1524
1524 Shasta Place
Victoria |
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Stay
Villa Marco Polo
The elegant Villa Marco
Polo B&B recently unveiled it’s penthouse spa and healing space,
which true to its name evokes the grandeur of a Far East journey. Carved Chinese
rosewood chairs are the pedicure stations while adjoining pampering rooms offer
massage and body wraps using locally sourced spa products from Silk Road and seaweed-based
Seaflora. Cozy window nooks with Shangri-La views of the Olympic Mountains invite
après-massage meditation or imaginings of your own voyage to exotic locales.
—Shelora Sheldan |
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Tearoom, 250-382-8528
Gallery, 250-382-7750
792 Humboldt St
Victoria |
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Eat
Tearoom
Fine art prints by 20th-century masters happily co-exist with Silk Road teas and
pastries at Winchester
Galleries’ recently opened third location, which boasts a Mela’s
Tearoom (an outlet of Café Mela, Elizabeth Levinson and Caroline Macey-Brown’s
Humboldt Valley establishment). Colourfully cushioned ballroom chairs are set
around marble tables for two, where you can opine on Warhol, Lichtenstein and
Chagall while enjoying petit dejeuner and light lunches. Precious petit fours
have a Marie Antoinette feel, so let us eat cake! —Shelora
Sheldan |
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552 Pandora St.
250-294-1127 |
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Eat
Habit Coffee
In the era of the laptop most cafés are filled with people having meaningful
heart-to-hearts with their MacBooks. Not at Victoria’s Habit Coffee and
Culture, an institution for those seeking quality java and compelling dialogue.
The local haunt was designed for owner Shane Devereaux with discourse in mind:
“A lot of people ask ‘Where are the tables?’ but it actually
seats about 45. The design is about communal sitting; it’s about people
relaxing together and conversing.” Chances are a stop at Habit will have
you bantering with someone new. Coupled with top-of-the-line, ethically produced
coffee, it won’t take long for Habit to become a habit. —Susan
Hollis |
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101, 1660 McKenzie Ave.
250-384-9463 |
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Shop
Metro Liquor
Shopping in British Columbia’s state-owned liquor stores can evoke images
of 1981 Warsaw with their uniform selections and uniform pricing. Thankfully private
merchant Metro Liquor is seeking
to evoke more Florentine charm with its location in the new Tuscany Village residential
development. The space was designed by the late Vancouver designer Rob Kay and
features northern-Italian woodwork with a drop-down cathedral ceiling—a
perfect setting for the store’s large concentration of Italian varietals.
In addition there will be weekend in-store tastings and a resident sommelier.—Shelora
Sheldan |
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250-746-7664
1725 Cowichan Bay Rd.
Cowichan Bay |
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Eat
True Grain
After perfecting the art of stone-grinding organic and heritage wheat, True
Grain’s Jonathan Knight and his team turned their attention to issues
of food miles (the distance it travels to your table) and food security. He sought
out Tom Henry to grow an experimental plot of heritage Red Fife wheat on his farm
near Metchosin. The resulting harvest became Knight’s weekly 30-mile bread.
Encouraged by this initial venture, the two are working with a farm closer to
the Cowichan Bay bakery to grow six hectares of wheat. We eagerly await the five-mile
bread!—Shelora Sheldan |
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250-544-8217
6170 Old W Saanich Rd.
Victoria |
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Drink
Winchester Cellars
Saanich’s Winchester
Cellars views the cocktail hour as the next fortified mountain to conquer.
Armed with Vancouver Island’s first distiller’s license and a Jules
Verne-esque hammered-copper-pot still, Ken Winchester has crafted Victoria Gin,
the first handcrafted gin made in the West. Infused with 10 organic botanicals—including
rose petals, coriander and juniper—it’s a complex and elegant elixir.
The first release of 3,000 bottles has local barkeeps asking just one question:
shaken or stirred?—Shelora Sheldan |
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250-857-6566
6991 East Saanich Rd.
Saanichton |
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Eat
Sugarboy Bakery
In the world of pastry chefs (and who wouldn’t want to live in
that world?) D’arcy Ladret, with stints at Sooke Harbour House and Whistler’s
Bearfoot Bistro, is something of a star. Now Ladret is taking his experience with
fresh and local ingredients and opening a retail store, Sugarboy
Bakery, where the public can buy his artisanal cakes, cookies and desserts.
Sweet.—Neal McLennan |
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250-590-5098
300 - 3 Fan Tan Alley
Victoria |
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Artist
Christian Barnard
Christian
Barnard, a Victoria landscape designer, creates “living sculptures.”
A recent graduate of London’s Inchbald School of Design, Barnard selects
plant material based on its architectural and naturalistic characters, choosing
native and non-native species for their texture and form. His modern layout approach
uses squares over curves, with the wild and the formal co-habitating. Wild grasses
will be juxtaposed against clipped boxwood cubes, or contained within concrete
planters designed by Barnard. He describes his plant styling as using “broad
brush strokes.” And by using plants that require less water and maintenance,
Barnard creates a landscape that is not only innovative but sustainable. —Shelora
Sheldan |
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250-294-5594
purecause.com
Victoria |
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Home
PureCause Consulting
A self-described health crusader, Linda Bowen of PureCause Consulting believes
that healthy living goes hand in hand with the environment. Advising homeowners
and businesses, she transforms living and working spaces to make them greener.
Bowen pinpoints off-gassing culprits in the home—such as worn carpeting
or old mattresses —and replaces them with eco-luxe beds, organic bamboo
bedding and non-toxic wool carpets—improving air quality. All products are
sourced from eco-friendly Canadian businesses with an aesthetic and design savvy,
making this a cause to celebrate. —Shelora Sheldan |
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250-885-9346
Victoria |
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Shop
Kristin Bond
After a successful nine-year stint making costumes for the film industry, fashion
designer Kristen Bond is
now devoting her time to creating fantastical one-of-a-kind scarves. The works
take form with multiple layers of silk charmeuse. Varying coloured silks are incorporated
for a painterly effect and sculptural texture and depth is achieved through art
stitching and frayed deconstruction. Rusts and oranges might suggest the wings
of a monarch butterfly, while fluttering shades of red evoke a blossoming rose.
Depending on the size of the piece, each can be a flouncy flourish or a flowing
cape-like wonderment perfect for a wedding. Bond’s work is available across
Western Canada and custom pieces can be ordered directly from her Victoria studio.—Shelora
Sheldan |
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250-412-1122
1974 Oak Bay Ave.
Victoria |
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Shop
Lazy Susan's
Oak Bay gets a jolt of whimsy. Tweedy Oak Bay just got hit with a fresh dose of
fun, now that Lazy Susan’s has arrived. Co-owner Susan Doyle has festooned
the store with the same colourful and creative products as her Vancouver south
Main St. location. Doyle and daughter and fellow co-owner Nicole Proom give a
modern twist to icons of the ’50s and ’60s mixed in with vintage collectibles.
Typewriter keys become rings and bracelets, men’s ties are fashioned into
hair bands, and vintage fabrics get reborn as carry bags. Retro greeting cards
and fun doodads abound, including whimsical accoutrements for your bicycle: bells
embellished with Catholic saints offer en-route protection, while the removable
bike baskets—lined with Mexican oilcloth—have luggage straps to help
transport both basket and groceries. —Shelora Sheldan |
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3690 Shelbourne St, 250-381-3488 |
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Shop
Place: Design and Function
Edmonton-born designer Trish Puckett had one clear idea
in mind with her most recent endeavour: fill a niche in Victoria’s market
by creating a furniture-and-accessory shop that reigns supreme with functional,
thoughtfully sourced objects. The end result is Place:
Design and Function, a showroom that’s chock-a-block full of design
finds. A curved Kartell bookshelf lines the wall alongside quirky colour-by-number
photo art clocks, while Molo fanning paper stools (yes, this is coiled paper strong
enough to sit on!) and a selection of up-and-coming cult favourites— little
plastic Unipo toys—round out the collection. Enter through the back door
and you’ll be greeted by another surprise: an in-house art gallery that
showcases local artists.—Katie Nanton |
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250-725-4236 or 800-663-6449
201 Main St.
Tofino |
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Stay
Cable Cove Inn
While Tofino’s setting may be the prescription in itself, a new spa offers
Ayurvedic therapies to enhance the West Coast experience. Cable
Cove Inn, perched above its private beach, looks out to the open Pacific and
owners Ram and Sonya Tumuluri have transformed their once quaint bed and breakfast
into an inn with healing properties. Get cozy in one of the seven rooms—some
with carved cedar beds—kitted out in Asian silks and featuring fireplaces,
deck-side hot tubs and the Cove’s all-natural skin care line, Sattva. The
newly opened Ashram spa combines massage techniques with Ayurvedic treatments
and yoga, for one-hour, half-day or weekend detoxification therapies. For food
therapy, book the lone table in the special dining cabin, set above the tide line.
Ram, also a trained chef, prepares three- to-five-course dinners utilizing the
area’s seasonal bounty. —Shelora Sheldan |
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250-544-8217
6170 Old West Saanich Rd.
Victoria |
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Drink
Winchester Cellars
Saanich’s Winchester
Cellars views the cocktail hour as the next fortified mountain to conquer.
Armed with Vancouver Island’s first distiller’s license and a Jules
Verne-esque hammered-copper-pot still, Ken Winchester has crafted Victoria Gin,
the first handcrafted gin made in the West. Infused with 10 organic botanicals—including
rose petals, coriander and juniper—it’s a complex and elegant elixir.
The first release of 3,000 bottles has local barkeeps asking just one question:
shaken or stirred?—Shelora Sheldan |
| |
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250-384-8111
721 Government St.
Victoria |
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Stay
Fairmont Empress Hotel
Ever a bastion of imperial history, the
Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria is celebrating its centennial year. Since
its construction in 1908, the hotel has been known for its architectural beauty—a
combination of Elizabethan, Jacobean and Gothic styles mixed into a French chateau
model. Now you can take a slice of that history home. During the hotel’s
recent renovation, the old floors of the world-famous tearoom (which draws more
than 100,000 guests per year) were spared the scrap heap. Instead the historical
boards went to a local woodworker, who will create tables and tea trays made from
the reclaimed wood to be used and sold at the hotel.—Susan
Hollis |
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250-386-8721 or 800-663-7667
680 Montreal St.
Victoria |
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Stay
Laurel Point Inn
The Laurel Point Inn, a favourite
of film celebrities, upped the boutique quotient with a recent room makeover by
Vancouver designer Robert Ledingham. Rooms in the modernist south wing—designed
by architect Arthur Erickson in 1989—are awash in creams, chocolates and
burnt orange with contemporary flourishes like mega-thread-count bedding, leather
furnishings, flat-screen TVs and custom luxurious throws from Andrew Morgan. Spacious
marble bathrooms with soaker tubs and peek-a-boo showers offer plant-based bath
products from Molton Brown of London—a line otherwise available only at
Holt Renfrew. You can extend the experience at home by picking up more of Molton
Brown’s all-natural line—including the celestial maracuja sugar polish—
in the hotel’s gift shop.—Shelora Sheldan |
