Crab, Of Course

Following our picnic in "downtown" Tofino, we managed enough of an afternoon coffee and a nap to be refreshed come sunset time. Considering the bottle of Pinot Noir that was enjoyed at lunch, we (surprisingly?) didn't open another bottle on the beach.

OK, admittedly, we did have a martini during the actual sunset, but that's for another blog and another time.

We simply took advantage of the incredible setting and soaked up the ocean air. Then we had to take off for Boo's "we're not going to miss this" dinner - crab.

We were a tad surprised to find out that crab wasn't going to be an automatic on all the restaurant menus. Not sure if it was a matter of our visiting on the shoulder season for tourists or whether crab fishing just wasn't all that plentiful at the moment, but we needed to do a little restaurant hunting earlier in the day. We could have special ordered crab at the Long Beach Lodge, but we thought it might be nice to try another spot in town since this was our last night in Tofino.

We decided on Shelter. The restaurant was very nicely appointed and it was certainly well-patronized, but it was about as dark as it could get. Low lighting may be a girl's best friend in public, but having to read the menu by braille was a bit much. Good thing we knew we wanted crab and the wait staff was friendly and attentive.

220. 2007 Alderlea Pinot Gris (Vancouver Island)

The Wine List was rather limited and, once again, I was surprised to not find much of a selection of Island wines - especially since we were even drinking white tonight with the crab and Thai seafood. There was, however, a bottle of Alderlea available, so we decided to take another try since we relished the Marechal Foch the night before.

A couple of glasses and I was quickly becoming a burgeoning fan of the winery. Two wines in two nights and the Pinot Gris was just as enjoyable as the Clarinet. I guess if we're not going to find many other Island wines around, we can at least continue to enjoy Alderlea.

Too bad the German gentleman at the table next to us wasn't quite as pleased with his evening. He certainly raised our eyebrows when he complained, through three separate staff members, about the fact that he could neither understand, nor enjoy, the fact that his potatoes (baby) had not been peeled. Apparently, if he'd wanted the taste of dirt, he wouldn't have to pay restaurant prices to do so.

Once our German neighbour had left though, the opportunity to chuckle about and discuss his concerns became an interesting conversation starter - to the extent that our Aussie server felt comfortable enough to even tell us about his granny who used to let go SBD's at the family dinner table.

All in all, how can a crab dinner, a tasty Pinot Gris, good laughs and tall Aussie tales be anything but a grand, old evening?