Discover Sooke

Mrs. Discover Sooke and I decided at the last moment this weekend to give Chef Edward Tuson’s new restaurant in Sooke a try, which is properly named the Edge Restaurant.

In case you don’t know who Chef Tuson is, he’s the former executive Chef from the world renowned Sooke Harbour House Restaurant, and was there for many successful years building up the reputation of this world class fine dining establishment, an accomplishment well deserved on many levels.

More positive reviews have been written world wide of Chef Tuson and his kitchen crew at the Sooke Harbour House than not, and it was to my surprise and delight when I first heard the rumours that the newly vacant Fish Trap restaurant in downtown Sooke, BC was going to be the new home for Chef Tuson and his culinary talent.

What did we find? Did we enjoy this? Was it all that should be expected from this master at culinary cuisine in his newly opened restaurant?

Upon first walking into the Edge we were quickly greeted by two friendly staff pointing us to the dining area stating we could pick our own seat and table. An opening into the kitchen saw Chef Tuson, who isn’t difficult to spot if you know what he looks like,  hard at work with the rest of his staff.

The restaurant is comfortable, relaxed and was 3/4  just after 1pm on a Saturday afternoon. I honestly expected it to be much quieter than this since this is a new restaurant and advertising has been only word of mouth from what I know, but I suspect that the buzz around Sooke has people coming out to see for themselves what master Tuson is doing under the control of his own ship. Either that or they know a good thing when it comes around.

We were handed a one page menu, asked if we’d like anything to drink; which we both replied Iced Tea, and were left to mull over the options on the lunch menus. This isn’t a “full menu” by “family restaurant” standards, but rather a nicely paired menu given to showcase local and fresh food.

What was relieving to see was a menu of different sorts than the normal “pub fare”, if you would call it that. Let me rephrase that, it had well known and liked lunch fare, but each of these items had it’s own flair and culinary pizazz normally reserved for a 4 star restaurant. The items were unique and all of them sounded tasty.

One could tell that Chef Tuson had taken his many years of experience at the Sooke Harbour House, his life long experience at creating masterpieces, but created them at a pricepoint that the average family could afford. In fact, I said to Mrs. Discover Sooke that  the prices  might be a tad on the low side for the amount of talent and skill Chef Tuson and crew have. We were pleasantly surprised though.

Now, to the actual meal.

We both ordered the iced tea, which came as we were told, unsweetened. House made and fresh. It came with a small glass of  liquid sugar so we could sweeten our own beverage to our liking. Nice touch.

Next, we enjoyed the Caesar salad. As a self proclaimed Caesar Salad Connoisseur, I found it very fresh and one could easily tell it was homemade. The smoky bacon, freshly baked croutons and shaved parm cheese gave it away. Simply put, it was fantastic. However, I still feel Chef Tuson could still learn a thing or two about my Caesar Salad Dressing.

Mrs. Discover Sooke had the hamburger with paprika and fries. Good, very good. Chiabatta was fresh and tasty. I had to help her finish it as it was a large hamburger. She did think there might have been a little too much paprika in it, after eating 3/4 of it, but I wasn’t disappointed in finishing the last 1/4 for her. I suspect it’s just personal taste on that one. While we both love the taste of smoky paprika, I have a greater tolerance for that spice than she does.

I took on the, forgive me if I can’t remember the entire and correct name of this dish, Fusili pasta in a spicy red sauce with clams and sweet peppers?!?

Who cares. It was really good. The clams were cooked to perfection and I was given a lot, about 8-10

Let me also add this. These dishes are priced around the $12 mark. Yeah, really.

You are getting Chef Tuson inspired dishes for the price of a good meal in the Sooke area.

Would I go back? Absolutely.Would I recommend? Well, I am. So of course.

I hope this works out well for Chef Tuson and crew, he deserves it. This is just another step in the positive direction Sooke has been taking over the last few years.

Congrats Chef Tuson and Crew. We wish you the best, and we will return for more food, real soon.

For more information on the Sooke Area, please visit the official Discover Sooke website.

Filed under: Discover Sooke Raves on June 8th, 2009