#2367 - Next Door Gastropub, Port Angeles - 12/2/2013

The Next Door is the first bar/restaurant from a brother and sister with limited experience in the business, named after their Dad's furniture store up the road where he met their mother, and offering mostly standard items of the contemporary neighborhood bar menu like wings, burgers, tacos, salads and sandwiches. All of this, set on a main drag of Port Angeles, would have led me to expect a nice place with a really mediocre menu in a boring setting -- but the Next Door delivers much more than that. Of course Of course I'm irresistibly biased toward any joint that prominently features a silhouette Bigfoot on a bicycle, but even if that were not the case, I would be quite happy with their inventive and tasty takes on pub food staples and the fun and friendly vibe of the place. It's a swell little stop.

113 W 1st St, Port Angeles, WA 98362 - (360) 504-2613               
Est. Sep 14, 2011
Web site: extdoorgastropub.com - facebook
Reviews: peninsuladailynews - urbanspoon - tripadvisor - yelp

#2366 - Bard & Banker, Victoria, BC - 12/2/2013

Large, gilded, and ornate, the Scottish gastropub "Bard and Banker" inhabits an ornamented, 1885 bank building, and takes it to new levels of grandiosity. It is owned by Matt McNeil's Victory Pub Company, which owns additional lavish pubs Penny Farthing and the Irish Times. They feature 30 taps, a 16-bottle Enomatic wine storage system, and boast the best selection of Whiskeys in Victoria. If you are in the mood for chandeliers, polished brass, etched glass, framed pictures of the old country, and cover bands singing 70s pop songs, this is the place in Victoria for you.

1022 Government St, Victoria, BC V8W - (250) 953-9993                
Est. June 2008 - Building constructed: 1885
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: bardandbanker.com - facebook
Articles ranked: eatdrinkvictoria - nomss - cornichon - twohungryblokes - victoriainperson - urbanspoon - yelp - tripadvisor

#2365 - The Guild Freehouse, Victoria, BC - 12/1/2013

The Guild is a newish, tony, British style pub with a formal sort of setting, and somewhat upscale takes on familiar comfort foods from the UK and Canada. You can choose Welsh Rabbit, Scotch Eggs, Bacon Poutine, or Beef and Mushroom Pie. Or a glass of bacon.

While wondering why every meal doesn't just start with a glass of crispy bacon strips, we were there for only a (liquid) cocktail, and were pleased to find that they make a reasonably good one. They also have 12 pretty good local beer choices on tap along with about 40 bottle choices.

1250 Wharf Street, Victoria, BC V8W 3H9 - (250) 385-3474
Est. 2013
Previous bars in this location: Chandlers
Web site: theguildfreehouse.com - facebook
Reviews: victorianfood - urbanspoon - yelp

#2364 - Nautical Nellie's, Victoria, BC - 12/1/2013

A nice seafood joint.

1001 Wharf Street, Victoria, BC V8W 1T6 - (250) 380-2260
Est. 1997
Web site: nauticalnelliesrestaurant.com - facebook  
Reviews: vancouverislandstyle - victorianfood -  yelp - tripadvisor

#2363 - Big Bad John's, Victoria, BC - 12/1/2013

What does one say about Big Bad John's? One thing that we probably should not say too much about -- for anyone who might be still to visit for the first time -- is that every table has a potential surprise. But you won't be thinking about that when you enter -- you'll be staring at the amassed notes, bills, IDs, bras, and collected gallimaufry of hillbilly bric-a-brac that covers virtually every inch of the place (including the floors if you count peanut shells).

BBJ's has been like this since 1962, when the owner figured a joint that looked like it was run by Li'l Abner's trashier cousins would seduce visitors up from the Seattle World's Fair. The manufactured dive is actually the lounge of the Strathcona Hotel, and started its life as the swanky Strathcona Lounge, the first post-prohibition cocktail lounge in British Columbia.

Big Bad John's, Victoria, BC

What it is now, well, you really just have to experience. And if you haven't yet done that, uh, just take a look at the pictures. Some folks criticize the place as not "authentic," which seems to make about as much sense as using that argument against Disneyland. Others say it is not a real "dive," which just make me curious about their definition of the term. They've been selling cheap booze in a shabby setting for over 50 years. Whatever it is, if you like dive bars or just joints with a lot of character, it is the can't-miss bar stop in Victoria.

Big Bad John's, Victoria, BC

Favorite yelp review opening line: "I have a hard time being objective when discussing BBJ because every time I go there, they kick me out!"

Big Bad John's, Victoria, BC

Big Bad John's, Victoria, BC

Big Bad John's, Victoria, BC

919 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC V8W 2C2 - (250) 383-7137
Est. 1954 - Building constructed: 1912
Previous bars in this location: The Strathcona Room
Web site: strathconahotel.com/BigBadJohns.aspx - facebook
Articles ranked: timescolonist - timescolonist - horsingaroundvictoria - 20somethingcollegelife - dinehere - stylusmagazine - yelp - tripadvisor - your-restaurant-sucks - mygola

#2362 - Irish Times Pub, Victoria, BC - 12/1/2013

Irish Times, Victoria, BC

Since I told you about the murder of the owner of  the Garrick's Head Saloon across the street, I might as well pass along the story of architect of the grand old Bank of Montreal Building, which now houses Victoria's Irish Times Pub. From the City of Victoria's Self-Guided Walking Map:

'One of British Columbia’s most famous architects, Francis Mawson Rattenbury, designed the Bank of Montreal building (now the Irish Times Pub) and Victoria’s Parliament Buildings. Rattenbury divorced his first wife Florence in the 1920s after commencing a scandalous affair with a much younger woman. Shunned by their friends, the new couple married and moved to England where she soon fell in love with their 19-year-old chauffeur. One night not long after, her new lover took a carpenter’s mallet and clubbed Rattenbury to death! Though charges against her were dropped, she committed suicide a few days later by stabbing herself and falling in a river."'

Undissuaded by the bloody history of our neighbors to the north, Matt MacNeil (Bard and Banker, Penny Farthing) has installed here an opulent palace of gleaming brass, etched glass and dark wood which was recently named one of the top 12 Irish bars outside of Ireland by the paper that inspired its name.

I have never been to Ireland, but when I imagine the sort of Irish pub I would most enjoy, it is a cozy, timeworn, little place far removed from the grandiosity of this kind of place, with its two country clubby floors hosting 190 seats (80 more on the patios in summer). Nevertheless, they have some very nice beer choices, sufficient food options, and it appears to become a fun place when thanks to the crowds and live music seven days a week. The Irish Times article cites the "craic" of the place, i.e. the air of mischievous merriment. I'd still prefer a small neighborhood joint myself, but any bar with craic makes the world a better place.

1200 Government St, Victoria, BC V8W 1Y3 - (250) 383-7775
Est. 2004 - Building constructed: 1896
Web site: irishtimespub.ca - facebook
Reviews: timescolonist - cbc.ca - douglasmagazine - yelp - urbanspoon - beeradvocate 

#2361 - Garrick's Head Pub, Victoria, BC - 12/1/2013

Garrick's Head Pub is said to have been established in 1867 and to be among the 12 oldest bars in Canada and the second oldest in British Columbia. Given the typical inaccuracies in such articles for the one area I know fairly well (Seattle), and considering the complexities often overlooked  -- Was it under the same name? Was it always in this building? How long were the interruptions to business as a bar? Etc. -- and having seen no primary sources and no strong historical sourcing, I accept these claims with caution. However it does appear that a Garrick's Head Saloon was established here December 31, 1867, remained that until at least 1914, and operated under various other names until fairly recently. (Interruptions as a licensed bar would have minimally included prohibition in British Columbia from 1917 through 1921.)

In November 2012 the small pub hidden in the back of the building expanded into the large, bright space between itself and busy Government Street. Another bar downstairs has closed -- this was Churchill's, which we were informed was a biker bar known for drugs and underage drinking. These days Garrick's is a locus of the craft beer community, with 55 choices on tap and a standard bar food menu of burgers, salads, nachos, etc.  The staff are casual and friendly.

In back the old wood burning fireplace still burns below a mounted elk head, and like every respectable building of its age, it has been found to harbor ghosts. One of these is said to be the spirit of Mike Powers, onetime owner of the joint, "a big, hard-drinking, loud-talking Irish immigrant who spent a fair bit of time in Victoria brothels." (timescolonist) At 3am on the morning of October 1, 1899 Powers was clubbed and beaten, and he died 4 days later. Unlike the many criminals hung here in Bastion Square after a final meal across the street from court house in Garrick's Head Saloon, the attackers of Mike Powers were never identified. But they were described as a man and a woman dressed as a man, the latter said by some to be an ex-wife of Powers' and by others another man's wife whose fidelity Powers had publicly disparaged.

In any case, we saw no ghosts on our visit, and with the expansion of the cozy little room into a bright, high-windowed, tourist-beckoning hub of beer sophistication, it's hard not to believe that the spirit of old Mike Powers has not finally moved on.

1140 Government St, Victoria, BC V8W 1Y2 - (250) 384-6835
Est. 1867
Web site: garrickshead.com
Articles: timescolonist - mojdehsami - flickr - dinehere - where.ca