Fresh, local fare and dishy drag shows are on the menu at this fabulous lounge.
It’s not that Clark Deutscher really needed another project. After all, YAM’s 2024 Chef of the Year already oversees three restaurants: Hanks, Ate and Nowhere *A Restaurant. But here he is, dishing up an “old school diner brunch” and happy-hour snacks at Friends of Dorothy, Victoria’s popular LGBT2Q+ lounge and bar.
“They were doing a drag show featuring a Filipino performer they’d brought in from Edmonton and they asked if we could do the food because we’d just opened Ate,” says Deutscher, whose wife Jonna’s Filipino heritage is celebrated at the Douglas Street eatery. The crowd loved it so much that FOD owner Rudy Tomazic asked if the Deutschers would be willing to do all their food. “It was a really fun space and we couldn’t say no.”
And so began the community collaboration called Somewhere *A Restaurant at Dorothy’s.
Located in the former Willie’s Bakery on Johnson Street, FOD is all about inclusivity in a space fabulously decked out in punk-meets-kitsch-meets-the-Sun-King décor, where guests gather to sip colourful cocktails, check out the drag performances and enjoy some great dining.
“We just get to play with food, with smaller bites and snacks, so that lets us throw fun things at the wall,” Deutscher says. That might mean a “Pig Mac” pork slider on housemade ciabatta, tomato tostadas made with MAiiZ tortillas or a Moroccan-style lamb shank. There’s even a nod to Willie’s much-missed maple bacon, scratch-made from Island-raised pigs. In fact, as much as possible is made with fresh, local and seasonal ingredients.
“It will change constantly and that’s the fun of it,” Deutscher says. “People are eating, they seem happy, so that’s good.”