About 20 years ago, before I moved to Victoria, I offered to take a visiting friend to breakfast at a wonderful restaurant I had found. He is a fellow who travelled a lot for work and his response at the time was, “I am so tired of hotel food, I’d rather go somewhere else.” I understood his sentiment. I too liked to travel and agreed that hotel dining often seems like an afterthought, an underwhelming way to draw a few more dollars from patrons’ pockets. But Victoria is a different kind of city. Some of our most wonderful restaurants are located in hotels: The Breakwater at the Days Inn, Fathom at the Grande Pacific, Aura at Laurel Point, Q at the Empress, the Courtney Room at the Magnolia, Faro at the Oak Bay Beach Resort, Swans and, I must confess it’s one of my favourites, the Blue Crab at the Coast Hotel in James Bay. There is a timeless elegance about the Blue Crab with its impeccably attired, professionally courteous waitstaff, comfortable red wood furniture, cabinets, panelling and mouldings above a coordinated navy and coral herringbone carpet offset with light blue upholstery and glass panels. The dining room consists of terraces arranged before large plate-glass windows that draw in the full panorama of Victoria’s busy Outer Harbour. Songhees’ condominiums are directly across the water, Green West Bay is to the left, and downtown can be glimpsed over and beyond the Laurel Point Hotel to the right. One can watch the comings and goings of the Victoria Clipper, the Coho, of seagulls and seaplanes. Our host beckons us down to a table set right against the glass for an IMAX-like immersion in that view. I arrive with friends for a Friday dinner. The menu is organized by Ocean, Land, and Farm to accommodate all preferences. Of course, there is crab (local Dungeness and Alaska king), and local island oysters. Local-sourcing is a fundamental principle at Blue Crab. One of us orders the New England (creamed) style Clam Chowder ($16), which I’ve sampled before and consider one of the best in the city, but this time, I opt for the West Coast Steamer Pot ($25), and I share a Chef’s Salad ($20) with another friend. Now, a “Chef’s Salad” may not seem the best choice to pair with seafood. The name, almost everywhere, refers to a meal-sized mountain of sliced ham and turkey, shredded cheese (cheddar, Swiss and/or blue), sliced boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, black olives and crumbled bacon served over lettuce, cucumber, carrot and bell peppers. But this is not that. Blue Crab’s Chef’s Salad features blueberries and feta served over mixed greens. That’s it. A much simpler salad, and a delightful prologue to my “Steamer Pot” of mussels in their shells, prawns, salmon and B.C. ling cod all served with leeks in a Bouillabaisse broth sprinkled with basil and parsley and accompanied by three points of garlic toast for soaking up all that delicious broth. Blue Crab opens every day at 7 a.m. for breakfast, serves weekend brunches from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and closes its kitchen at 9 p.m. Blue Crab Seafood House | 250-480-1999 bluecrab.ca 146 Kingston St. Victoria
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