Stage.

I am an especially odd man.  When I enter a restaurant, I try my darndest to find out what the restaurant does best and like a crazy person, I order that.  Weirdly, I do not walk into Paradise and order risotto with a side of spaghetti, then offer the assumption of meatballs to my husband.  Like I said…odd man, in more ways than you can count.

For a very long time in this restaurant, someone would slam a menu shut and stomp their feet because we did not have mezcal.  Frankly, this would make my wee tiny belly grow robust with a hardy chuckle every time.  But even the best jokes get tired when told too often.  Mezcal has been put on to the backbar to ensure the happiness and well-being of all those around us.  

Alipus San Baltazar is up first.  

Don Cosme Hernandes & his son are small family farmers that make their regional San Baltazar Mezcal in collaboration with a local distillery in the highlands of Oaxaca.  There are no binding contracts in this deal, no exploitation, and no George Clooney.  They combine tradition with modern hygiene & safety.

The distillery not only helps the Hernandes’s with paperwork/certification and access to far away markets such as Victoria BC, where people pay the premium necessary to make this product a viable living.  The distillery also helps them with other issues such as the disposal of the immense waste.  

It is the industry standard to produce 10-12 litres of Vinaza for every litre of Mescal produced.  This very toxic wastewater can severely contaminate the local soil and water supply if not properly disposed of as is the case with many of the more industrial Agave products.  The distillery also helps the Hernandes to ensure that the 7-15kg of wood burned, per 1 litre of mescal made, does not come from the rapidly expanding illegal industry logging the Oaxacan Forest to distinction.   

In an attempt for even greater sustainability, the Hernandes’ also use cultivated Agave Espadín rather than the overexploited wild Agave of the region.  

My new joy is conformity, so it is the great pleasure of my life to bring Mezcal to a place called Bistrot L’Stage.  Temper tantrums be mourned.

Bourdain claimed the pig to be the noblest of creatures, believing the path to true happiness came through the goodness of his provisions.  In recent times it has been repeatedly claimed that dog is man’s best friend.  If I ventured to guess, that claim has origin in some John Wayne cinematic colloquial (apparently, I’m wrong, it was an 1870 law case over a man’s dog that had been shot).  It is true the dog is an unwavering companion.  But no beast has done for man as the noble pig has.  He has been with us since the very beginnings, stood by us through all our awful acts and bad, bad hygiene. He never leaves us, never disrespects us even when we disrespect him as we most definitely do today, he’s still here at our side nourishing us as only he can.  

Melted, crisped, rendered, caramelized, pork tastes like every great feast you’ve ever had, reminding you of why we gather around tables in the first place.  It is comfort and sin, ritual, and decadence, past & present.  

Come pay homage to both its generosity and nobility, maybe even say a few words as you dig into his deliciousness.  

Respected, even I dare say, loved fat Porch chop, charred, sliced, served with aged sauerkraut and house made mustard is on the menu daily at Bistrot L’Stage.

Look at those damn Cheeks!  Granny pinchers!  Meet Dylan, my man, my Chef de Cuisine

When Matthew announced he was leaving, I wept uncontrollably for days but he picked me up off the floor & the two of us spent months scouring this side of the Rockies & beyond for a replacement.  There did come a point where the inside of my thigh began to smell of New Zealand Sauv B..  But in the nick of time - like a saviour from above (or just Denver) - HE arrived in the most nonchalant, no big deal, way possible. Which I am learning is just his way

Obviously, I would never hire a chef that wasn’t an immigrant.  This one climbed the south wall via Southern Colorado. His resume is a forest unto itself, the majority of which consists of some of my favourite Vancouver locals’ spots including but not limited to Livia, Mackenzie Room & Autostrada group.  Matthew found him putting up meals at Bar Tartar & I could not be happier

He was excited to move to Victoria & embrace the lifestyle here.  He’s charmed by American Food Fare, in awe of Classic French Brasserie/Bistro culture & most comforted by rustic Northern Italian food classics.  But most importantly, he shares my vision of what L’Stage can be

I had mad mumbles for some time about the direction of the restaurant, “Stage needs to grow into a neighbourhood Bistro” was my Tourette’s for months on end.  No one listened.  The staff just ignored the unhinged lunatic lurking in the corner.  But Dylan gets me - he knew what I was talking about before I even said it

Now I walk into the shop in the morning & there he is, alone in the restaurant, quietly working on about 10 different projects.  He politely raises his head just enough to say hi then returns to much more important things than me which always puts a smile on my face

He spent years making pasta for some of the best pasta houses in Vancouver, now he’s doing it here in Fernwood.  He’s also been working these past several months to bring forth some bigger, iconic, yet simple & delicious bistro dishes to round out the bottom part of our menu.  Both of us want to allow for a more complete dining experience should one have a few friends that wish to dine like its 1992

Most folks know that the BC Government makes the lion’s share of the profit from liquor sales in BC.  What most don’t know is that independent import agencies do the lion’s share of the work to generate that profit and take a minimal share of the profit for themselves.  The import agencies that L’Stage works with are all local small family style businesses, similar in size to our restaurant.  

Many of these mom & pop businesses are currently being forced to pay warehouse rent (at a government controlled warehouse) for American products they bought to sell to the BC Government before the Government banned those products from their shelves overnight & without warning to the agencies.  The cost of storage is not being reduced while they are caught in the middle, but rather doubling as is the warehouses policy for long term storage.  

This is the least of these agencies’ problems, as the Governments dispute with its own employees has now seized their entire cashflow yet leaving them to be crushed by warehousing fees for their entire inventory.  Legally there is no adapting or pivoting as the government is the only customer they are permitted to sell to. Lack of cashflow and piling bills is a death sentence for any small business.   

These actions are soon to result in bankruptcies and foreclosed mortgages for at least a few of these folks.  So regardless of any BC citizens political affiliations or views on either the banned American products or the BCGEU strike, we should all be aware of the consequences of our government’s actions especially when done for political reasons as we are the politics and thus accountable for these broken businesses.  

Maybe we as a people feel that is a price of doing business, maybe we don’t, that’s up to each of us individually.  But we should all be aware of such facts when we go into a voting booth next.