If You Go to Ucluelet
Where to stay and where to eat.
Ucluelet: Tofino’s Humble Neighbour is Really Starting to Cook.
The Road Less Traveled
You can have your tropical winter getaway. Me, I’d rather find myself in front of a cosy fire, watching the waves crash on the shore and the rain lash against the windows while I sip a glass of wine and dream of a seafood dinner. I’d rather find myself in Ucluelet.
What? I hear you say. Don’t you mean Tofino, with its rustic-luxe resorts and award-winning restaurants?
Now, don’t get me wrong—I still love Tofino. But lately, when I’ve hit that T-junction on Highway 4, I’m just as often tempted to turn left instead of right. And it seems I’m not alone. For the first time ever, Air Canada’s enRoute magazine has chosen a Ucluelet restaurant as one of its “Top 10 New Restaurants,” with Pluvio Restaurant + Rooms listed fourth. More accolades will surely follow, thanks to a rapidly growing culinary scene.
Photo 1: Local spirits at Pacific Rim Distilling.
Photo 2: A local favourite: Zoe's Bakery Cafe.
Photo 3: Tasty drinks from Yayu Cafe.
Safe Harbour
“Tofino is a culinary destination. Ucluelet is still a place where people eat because they happen to be here. They don’t come here to eat,” says Warren Barr, the executive chef and co-owner of Pluvio restaurant + rooms. “But it’s starting to come around.”
“Ukee,” as the locals call it, has long been the smaller, working-class cousin to its touristy neighbour 40 kilometres up the road. Ukee’s population of just over 1,700 (compared to Tofino’s 1,900-plus) is scattered along a rocky peninsula that juts into Barkley Sound, ringed by a spectacular path called the Wild Pacific Trail, with the distinctive Amphitrite Point Lighthouse at the end of the road.
For more than 4,300 years this was home to the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) people, in whose language the town name means “people of the safe harbour.” In the 18th century, it was discovered by European explorers searching for the Northwest Passage; later, fur traders plied these rough waters, followed by other adventurers seeking lumber, minerals, fish and whale oil. Many were grounded here by the storms that pound this rugged coast; some even chose to stay.
Lately, the people who’ve decided to stay are young families and, increasingly, culinary professionals.
Among them is Ian Riddick, who in 2018 left a lengthy career as a hotel chef, most recently at Long Beach Lodge Resort, to open Heartwood Kitchen Food Outfitter in a historic yellow house on Peninsula Road. Here he creates elevated comfort food like his “famous baked oysters” in an open kitchen, happily wandering out into the dining room to chat with guests who quickly become friends. He does some catering on the side, provides picnic lunches for boat tours in the sound, and organizes the occasional pop-up when the mood takes him, especially in winter.
“In the winter, it’s about bringing the community together,” Riddick says. “That’s what I love about having this space. We don’t have to do ordinary food.”
“Ian opening was a nice changing of the guard,” says Barr. “And then there’s Frankie with his barbecue, and Zoë’s, and the new brewery as well.”
A Bit of Everything
“Frankie” is François Pilon, a former Quebecer who has opened a “resto-bar” that specializes in slow-smoked dishes like beef brisket and duck wings with hoisin sauce, along with a small but well-edited list of B.C. wines and clever craft cocktails. Zoë Jordan is the Wickaninnish Inn-trained pastry chef who owns the cheerful Zoë’s Bakery and Café, where locals swing by for coffee and a muffin in the morning, soup and sandwich at lunch and a loaf of bread to take home for later.
Joining these core members of the foodie community are Pacific Rim Distilling’s Luke Erridge, who uses natural yeast from Barkley Sound in his craft gin and vodka, and the owners of the brand-new Ucluelet Brewing Company, which just opened in an old church on Peninsula Road.
On the posher end of the hospitality experience is the contemporary-chic Black Rock Oceanfront Resort, which sits on a rocky outcrop with dramatic views of the sound. There are few better ways to spend a winter afternoon than sipping a glass of wine in Float Lounge and watching the waves crash in the surge channel below, unless it’s enjoying dinner in the elegant Fetch Restaurant next door.
Photo 1: Stunning view from Black Rock.
Photo 2: Relaxing in a beautiful room at Pluvio.
But most accommodation here tends to be of the humble B&B variety, or rental suites like the stylishly comfortable ones at Water’s Edge Suites, each with its harbour or marina view. Or, for something unique, there are four art-filled rooms at Pluvio, where guests can enjoy daily delivery of fresh-baked goods from Barr’s kitchen.
Barr and his partner Lily Verney-Downey moved to Ucluelet in January after several years of living in Tofino and working at the Wickaninnish Inn, where Barr was executive chef. They opened Pluvio in spring, in what was once Richard Norwood’s tiny French bistro, drawn to Ukee by its burgeoning culinary scene. “We wanted to be part of building something,” Barr says.
“I feel at home in Ucluelet after six months,” he adds. “Ucluelet isn’t too transient. It tends to be an older community that knows itself a bit more. They want to build a family, but still have access to all the great outdoors stuff.”
And, he says, “People are really happy to help. People are always smiling and saying hello.”
A Culinary Destination
At Pluvio, while Verney-Downey manages the front of house with a welcoming smile, Barr is making the same technique-intensive food he did at the Wick, only perhaps just a touch more accessible, a bit more casual.
He’s playing with Pacific Rim ingredients and techniques, with flavours that travel from Asia to his backyard: Dungeness crab lettuce wraps, perhaps, or slow-cooked Fraser Valley pork glazed with apple cider and garum, or maybe something with locally foraged elderflowers, cynamoka berries, wild mushrooms or shiso plucked from his rooftop garden.
“It’s a true taste of where we are,” he says, adding, “We’re hoping to be a draw. We’re hoping to become a reason to come here instead of, or in addition to, Tofino.”
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