DINING OUT    JACK SPEARMAN Times Colonist:  January 29th, 2004 ****1/2

Ratings * Serves food ** Needs work *** Worth a visit **** Very good ***** Superb

 

Flavours of these dishes bring a grin of delight.

It’s usually a good sign when a restaurant has some of those ‘Where to Eat’ in Canada stickers on the front window.  The Wesley Street in the Old Quarter of Nanaimo has one for each year dating back to 1996.

But the last time I ate there, three years ago, I was left wondering just a little bit about those stickers.  Well, no more.  In the interim the popular Nanaimo restaurant has changed owners and Gaetan Brousseau and his wife Linda Allen have returned The Wesley Street to its ranking among the elite in the mid-Island.

The fare is contemporary West Coast and the atmosphere is one of tasteful but subdued elegance.  Nestled in the Old Quarter a few blocks above the harbour, the setting is upscale but relaxed.  Wear your Sunday best or go casual – you’ll see both here.

The week night Sharon and I visited, Brousseau was working the floor alone.  He sat us down at a table by the window, deftly plucked the crisp white napkin from the table setting and presented it with a twirl and a flourish.

Brousseau and Allen took over The Wesley Street a couple of years ago.  In earlier lives, they had worked at the Silva Bay Resort on Gabriola Island and at the Granite Rock in West Vancouver.  In the kitchen, they have hired chef Daniel Caron, whose résumé includes stints at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa and the Banff Springs Hotel.

The emphasis here is on Island produce.  The chicken comes from the Cowichan Valley, the pork is raised this side of the Strait and the oysters are from Ladysmith – you get the idea.  You can drop a pretty penny here.  Some entrées are on the higher side of $25 and it has perhaps the most extensive wine list in the mid-Island.  (Brousseau trained as a sommelier in Bordeaux.)

But at the same time, the owners have taken into consideration those on a budget.  This night, there was a three-course table-d’hôte on offer for something like $22.  On weekends, there’s a four-course meal for $35 a person.  And the wine list has a number of more modestly priced bottles and half-litres.  (They also host a number of special events – for example, this Friday night, they have a five-course French special, with wines, for $75 a head.  You can keep tabs at www.wesleycafe.com.)

Back to the task at hand.  There are nine appetizers in the dinner menu.  All sounded marvelous, but Sharon settled on a plate of seared tuna with red curry paste, chive aioli and Japanese garnish.  Being in the mood for something green, I went for the spinach salad with warm balsamic vinaigrette.  Both were outstanding – not only in terms for flavour but in their artful display.

(One thing you’ll notice here is that the kitchen doesn’t pay much attention to having all the dishes match.  The colour of the food seems to be the main factor in the selection of the plate, so one course can arrive on a blue plate with Japanese motif while the next comes on something in gleaming Euro white.  All quite charming.)

Sharon’s seared tuna was moist and delicious and almost melted at the touch of a fork.  She was all smiles.

Generally, I’m not a fan of warm dressing on a salad (heard too many bad jokes about cooks burning the lettuce, I guess).  But this made me a convert.  The balsamic vinaigrette was full of freshly sautéd mushrooms and crumbled pancetta, all underpinned with a not-too-sweet splash of maple syrup.  The colours were brilliant and the melding of flavours approached the grand.

I was intrigued to see pork chops on the list of entrées.  At most upscale restaurants, you generally see tenderloin, while down market, you gets ribs.  The noble pork chop, alas, is too often overlooked – unless you’re at a truck stop and get them (gack) with half a can of apple sauce on the side. 

At the Wesley Street, a thick chop is slit into a pocket and stuffed with apple, figs and pine nuts.  It’s grilled just past pink and presented with an array of vegetables (chard, carrots, cauliflower and a wedge of scalloped potatoes) with a splash of pear chutney on the side.  It’s always marvellous when flavours and textures dance in your mouth – but this chop did more than some clunky two-step.

It was a tango on the tongue – slow, sensuous and darned near seductive.  Sharon’s bouillabaisse was a generous helping of salmon, tuna, prawns, mussels, scallops and clams in a saffron-tinted broth underpinned with fennel.  Unlike other places, there was no layer of bread beneath the broth.  She, too, was dancing.

Remember those smiles about the tuna?  Same grin here.  And this from a girl who has had bouillabaisse many times before.  By now, we were getting rather full but had just enough room for dessert and coffee.

Sharon ordered a crème brullée which she announced as dandy.  At the end of a good meal, there’s nothing quite so satisfying as whacking the back of a spoon through the sugary crust into the cream below.  I had a wedge of lemon curd – not too sweet and not too large.  Both were fine ways to end a superlative meal.  Our bill, with wine and taxes but before gratuity, was $125.

We’ll dance back.  But if we go on a weekend, we’ll be sure to make reservations.