The Village - now feeding Royal Oak

The Village Cafe has now opened its second location. The original is located in the Estevan village, in Oak Bay, just a hop, skip & a jump away from Willow's Beach. Location number two is in Royal Oak - in the Shady Oak Plaza (a small set of stores across the street from the Royal Oak shopping centre). It's just past the Petro-Canada gas station, if you're driving north on Royal Oak Drive.

Another revolving door of a location (who remembers Cakes by Mary-Ann? Man, those were great cakes!) - but I'd lay bets that the revolving ends now. The inside has been renovated and is bright, modern and open....

Tacofino - YAX, then YVR, finally YYJ!

Tacofino has finally landed in Victoria....and it hasn't taken long for the food truck aficionados to 'suss it out. They opened on a Monday and with a few tweets and Facebook posts - there are small line-ups forming by the Thursday we're there for lunch.

Tacofino started in Tofino and then opened another truck in Vancouver. Their third meals-on-wheels is back on the island, landing smack dab in the middle of the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre parking lot. They also bring their own seating - with 3-4 picnic tables to enjoy your tacos (or burritos) at. Note: this is the back parking lot, off Quadra, in behind the police station (hey, how did the police get so lucky with a taco truck in their backyard?).

We join the line-up and start targeting lunch selections....

Donuts - the new cupcakes in town

We've had the cupcake craze happening in Victoria for several years now (the stores run the gamut - big, small, vegan, tv show tie-in, you name it). It wasn't like cupcakes didn't exist before this proliferation about five years ago - but the grocery store versions were mere shadows of the gourmet goods getting iced today. And now, I'm quite sure, the next big thing is gaining momentum - doughnuts. And like the aforementioned barbie-sized cakes, these are not your garden-run timmy's old fashioned plain.

In the name of exhaustive research, I will endeavour to try as many as I can (read: before I have to move the notch on my belt). To start off - I've hit two purveyors recently - Doughboy Donuts and Yonni's.

Doughboy Donuts can be found at some of the nicer coffee shops around town, but also Saturdays at the Moss Street Market. Inside the courtyard, tucked in the corner, the day's offerings are on display, each identified on the butcher paper covering the table.
**UPDATE**
Doughboys is currently not creating their fabulous donuts - but hopefully we'll see them around soon.

Doughboys Donut Stall at Saturday Moss St. Market

Doughboys Saturday Selection

On the two occasions I've visited the stall (research people, research!)...it's a steady stream of people coming...and the inventory doesn't last long...

Charelli's & Co. - say Cheese...sandwich.

Charelli's is a great little cheese shop in Oak Bay (well, truthfully it's on the edge - across the street is Victoria) - but it's not quite in my 'hood, and I find I don't get there as often as I'd like (which could be daily, but I'd settle for once every couple of weeks). And now I really need to get to them more because they have a tiny cafe to go along with their amazing cheese shop & deli.

The original cheese shop was two doors to the left from where it is now and they've turned this spot into Charelli's & Co. It's a lovely little counter/restaurant open for breakfast and lunch (2863 Foul Bay Rd, Tue-Sun, 8am-3pm). The menu changes weekly and is posted on their facebook site, if you want to pre-plan your attack.

This was my third attempt at eating here - the first time we arrived at 3:10....the next time we got in the door, clutching our debit cards and read the "cash only" sign. So onto lucky visit number three - we're through the door, seated on stools with menu items picked from the blackboard above the "kitchen".

Breakfast items look and sound great (skillet eggs with creamed spinach on this week's menu and the granola in the giant glass jar adjacent to our bar stools is chock full of dried fruits and nuts). Today some of their offerings include five different sandwiches, pizza and a ploughman's platter for two. We begin by wetting our whistles with glasses of homemade ginger and lemonade with fresh cilantro.

Homemade Ginger Lemonade with Cilantro

We settle on two sandwiches - a Brie & Pear and a PB PB & C.

Taco Justice League - showing your hunger who's boss

Bring on another food truck! We may not have many of these mobile-kitchens in Victoria, so we're slowly trying to hit them all (or at least a good chunk of them). My last truck post was Refiner Diner, and now we're stepping into the ring with Taco Justice League.  You can find them in the Wellburn's parking lot on Cook Street, near the corner of Pandora.

Taco Justice League Food Truck

It's a small menu...but everything sounds good, so it's still a hard choice...