Summer is off to a great start following our remarkably mild winter.
I have already enjoyed some fantastic corn on the cob, blueberries, and strawberries, all of which I usually relish much later in the season.
It has been a genuine pleasure to buy and eat tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes. If you’ve ever tried to find a decent one in the middle of February, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Despite their bright red veneer and the strategic, residual presence of vine segments to make them seem fresh and desirable, winter tomatoes are genuinely awful; they’re pasty, granular, flavourless and harmful to the increasingly precarious reputation of their entire species.
Tomatoes are available in the winter, of course, because the market demands them. Indeed, the tomato, a seasonal fruit like any other, has become a staple item on shopping lists.
Now look, I’m a live and let live kind of guy, but I have to say, when I see someone doling out $8 for a paltry handful of insipid fruit in the winter, I can’t help but think they’re contributing to the systematic rejection of seasonal eating, an ages-old but now sadly rare approach to food consumption that embraces the best of what is available locally when it is in season.
This is why I so appreciate the menu philosophy of Bowen Island Pizza Co., the newest addition to Lonsdale Quay’s dining offerings.
The small pizzeria and deli does not have a permanent menu but rather creates their dishes on the basis of what is freshest in available raw ingredients.
It helps that the deli counter of the business is stocked with artisanal cheeses and cured meats, requiring owner and chief pizza chef Melanie McCready to simply reach over and pluck her inspiration from a few feet away.
Drawing from the wide selection of local produce in the summertime seems like a no-brainer, but I am genuinely interested to see what BIPCo. (the truncated naming convention used on the restaurant’s website, and one which I will employ here for brevity’s sake) does in the sparser autumn and winter months.
In the meantime, however, I was quite content to occupy one of only half a dozen or so seats at BIPCo.’s modest Quay installation and tuck into a summer pizza creation.
BIPCo. sells pizza in quarters, halves or whole pies. I opted for the latter, a 12-inch feast priced at a reasonable $16. When you order a whole pizza, you can opt to sample two recipes at once, each occupying half the pie.
I ordered just such a combo, featuring the shop’s signature pear and brie recipe with caramelized onions and roasted garlic on one half, and another of the day’s chalkboard offerings, chorizo, kale and fresh tomato, on the other.
Pizza production at BIPCo. is swift and efficient. Within five minutes of ordering, my pizza was ready; thermonuclear hot from the forno, sliced and presented on rustic wooden boards.
The crust of my pie, the true make-or-break component of any pizza, was wonderful, alternately chewy and crispy, thin in a bubbly, Neapolitan sort of way, and delicious in its own right. The crust is made from organic, unbleached flour sourced from Chilliwack-based Anita’s Organic Mill.
I appreciated the spirit of simplicity that informed the signature pear and brie portion of my pizza.
The classic pairing of pear and cheese found a good expression on this pie, however, for my taste, the roasted garlic was just a touch overpowering.
The brie used on the pizza was clearly young, its subtle creaminess struggling to assert itself over the other, headier and more pungently aromatic flavours. Still, for meatless pizza, it was eminently satisfying and a welcome alternative to the more common Margarita. The chorizo half of the pie packed a bold wallop of flavour, its spicy, tangy sausage marrying beautifully with coarse chunks of tomato and delicate leaves of kale. I made short work of the pizza, taking two of the eight slices home for my kids to try.
As yet, BIPCo. is not licensed, but I hope that one day perhaps they will explore this option. It occurred to me a few bites into my meal that a frosty beer from neighbouring business Green Leaf Brewery would be a welcome addition and would certainly fit with McCready’s commitment to locally sourced goods.
I also indulged in a couple of selections from BIPCo.’s excellent, well considered deli counter, which features a commendable number of local items, clearly identified as such for the customer on small placards.
I opted for a whole stick of fennel salami prepared by Steveston’s D-Original Sausage Co., purveyors of old school German cured meats and sausages, a company whose excellent wares have found favour in a number of Vancouver’s top restaurants.
The air-cured salami, which I promptly tucked into when I arrived home, was easily one of the best I’ve eaten in years, rich and moist, perfectly seasoned, and packed with round, refined flavour; I highly recommend it.
Along with the sausage I chose a small container of Sicilian Castelvetrano olives. These bright green, fruit-forward olives boast a very mild brine and allow you to fully appreciate the complexity of their flesh.
My order of pizza, salami and olives was $35 before gratuity. Bowen Island Pizza Co. is located on the ground level of Lonsdale Quay. bowenislandpizzaco.com
Chris Dagenais served as a manager for several restaurants downtown and on the North Shore. A self-described wine fanatic, he earned his sommelier diploma in 2001. Contact: [email protected].
