Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Spinnakers

There are days when events happen that depress you. I have loved Spinnakers since I first went there in 1986. I loved it in the 80s when I was at UVic because it offered the best beer in town. I have loved it since because it has a nice atmosphere, good beer and good food. Tonight it really disappointed me.

Sheila, Scott and I went there for dinner because I really could not think of anything to make. I have enjoyed eating there and so we all looked forward to our meal.

The meal was sub par. It was a disappointment that kept hoping would recover. Sheila and I had the nachos to start - for $17 and Spinnakers calling itself a Gastropub, I expected something beyond the ordinary. I expected perfectly executed nachos with a twist. Instead we got nachos that were thrown together. The cheese was not properly melted and in large clumps. They were in the bottom 20% of nachos I have had and not something a chef at a gastropub should have allowed out of the door.

My beer was good, a proper Hefeweizen.

My meal was a thin crust smoked salmon pizza with goat's cheese. It was awful. The pizza had no balance, the cheese was heavy and rich as was the salmon. The pizza was crying out for an acidic edge, a good vinaigrette. I sprinkled malt vinegar on it and this helped, a bit, but not enough to make it edible. The smoked salmon should have been a thin sliced lox style and not lumps. The cheese should have been an haloumi and not a cherve style one.

Sheila had a falafel burger. It was not well executed. Falafel should be crisp on the outside and have some grainy texture on the inside. Her burger was not nearly crisp enough on the outside and the inside was more like a paste than what it should be.

Our server was nice enough, but did not pay attention to us as the diners. He did not notice that I had not eaten most of my pizza. He did not ask us how the food was with enough time to answer. I could understand that slightly if they were very busy, but it was not that busy.

This experience is going to push me away from trying their food in future and only go there for the beer.

Spinnaker's on Urbanspoon

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