Eat magazine march | april 2014 by EAT Magazine

EAT Magazine March_April 2014_Victoria_48_Layout 1 2/27/14 12:29 PM Page 17

Hanks

Heron Rock Bistro

Hanks - Untraditional BBQ | Unit G2A 1001 Douglas Street, Victoria | 778.433.4770 | fb (Hanks On Douglas)

Since 2005

Supporting Live Music Monday & Friday Evenings

All Bottles of Wine are $10 less on Mondays Oysters and a Pint on Fridays $15

Open 7 days a week! 9am-10pm Monday to Friday 8:30am-10pm Saturday & Sunday

Sunday to ursday 8pm-10pm Colin Hynes

Hank’s Pork Belly with baked beans and potato salad The lower end of Douglas St. has been fairly stagnant for the past while, with no new restaurants opening. Sure, there has been a host of fantastic coffee or tea shops, as well as a few franchises, but nothing that speaks to a foodie. That is until Hanks opened in the 1000 block. Tucked between an Avis Car Rental and a Blenz Coffee sits Hanks Untraditional BBQ. As you walk this section of Douglas, you can’t help but smell the delicious meat smoking, and your nose makes you bee-line for the front door. Hanks is originally from, and still is smoking in, Ucluelet (close to the surfing paradise of Tofino). It was originally intended as a dinner spot serving mains and desserts throughout the night. When Clark Deutscher and Francois Plion started Hanks, they had the vision that their Ucluelet joint would be a mainstay for dinner, but that when they opened in Victoria, it would be more lunch orientated. The two owners have different backgrounds from what you’d expect from a couple of barbeque lovers. Francois has worked in the restaurant industry for 14 years in Montreal, and was brought up with the French style of cuisine, but made a quick and easy transition to barbequing. Clark, on the other hand, came from a completely non-restaurant background, and was a management banker from Winnipeg. Clark was eventually transferred to Ucluelet, and from there he started to hone his BBQ skills and enter into barbeque competitions all over Canada and the United States. He and his teammates won quite a few accolades, including an impressive second place at the Oregon Chili Competition. Francois met Clark during his competition phase and soon they decided to open Hanks. They went with an “untraditional” BBQ, in the sense that they do not always cook the staples like pulled pork, but branch out and also do fish, un-common cuts of meat, using their own spicing inventions. In the Victoria Hanks, they go with a menu that rotates; there is a different dish each day, with some permanent favourites, such as a beef brisket sandwich, pork ribs, and oysters/mussels always cooking. All of the meats from Hanks come from Two Rivers Specialty Meats—Clark has been using their meat since he started entering competitions. When EAT visited Hanks, they had just finished smoking one of that week’s new dishes, a succulent pork belly. It was smooth and cooked to perfection, with a crispy crust on the outside and the perfect moisture content in the meat. It had flavours of cinnamon and cardamom, as well as chilies and pepper which combated any fattiness in the pork. Each dish comes with a scoop of potato salad and a dollop of beans. Hanks makes their potato salad with a hint of citrus to play off the meat; they also add some chili spicing to the beans to mesh with both the meat and the potato salad. If you are thinking “Where can I get lunch today?” go down to Hanks and try an untraditional BBQ. It’ll make you go back and try something different next week, and probably the week after that! E BY COLIN HYNES

50% oﬀ all Burgers and Sandwiches with purchase of a drink

250.383.1545 heronrockbistro.ca