YAM magazine’s Best Restaurant Awards 2024 celebrate Greater Victoria, B.C.’s exciting food scene, judged by an independent panel of chefs and food experts.
BY CINDA CHAVICH | PHOTO BY JEFFREY BOSDET
Best West Coast Contemporary: Wild Mountain Food & Drink
1831 Maple Avenue South, Sooke | $$-$$$ | wildmountaindinners.com | Reservations strongly suggested
Chef Oliver Kienast and sommelier Brooke Fader are champions of our local food shed and everything on the plate at their Sooke restaurant tells that seasonal story.
With a massive wood-burning oven turning out perfect pizzas and fire-roasted vegetables and meats, Kienast lets the Island ingredients shine. Start with their own housemade charcuterie — creamy duck liver mousse, pork-and-fig terrine, air-dried bresaola — with bulk kelp crackers or polenta fries.
Try the Cowichan beef tartare, fire-roasted Metchosin pork chop or handmade pappardelle with oyster mushrooms. Finish with single-origin Peruvian chocolate pudding, served in a Mason jar and paired with a housemade digestif.
Kienast and Fader are food leaders and collaborators, championing B.C. wines and spirits, Slow Food and Slow Fish, Island farmers and artisans, and reflecting the Island food community with style.
Runners-up:
Bray’s West Coast Tapas + Wine Bar