New Eats: Wolf in the Fog

From name to decor, new Tofino restaurant Wolf in the Fog is so well-suited to its simultaneously serene and formidable surroundings that, despite a very recent opening, it’s already hard to imagine the Island town without it.

The two-storey restaurant, all wood and windows, boasts cedar tendril light fixtures and a surfboard sunburst beneath high ceilings. Sunlight beams into the dining room over the bay, giving diners a breathtaking view to enjoy as they dip into vintage, cut-crystal punch bowls (if desired, guests can order a six-pack for the kitchen along with their meal, and doing so elicits audible cheers).

We started with celebrated chef Nick Nutting’s signature potato-crusted oyster canapé ($4)—a shoestring truffle fry embracing a bivalve like they’re the only things in the universe that matter (for the duration of a bite, they are)—before progressing to rare Albacore tuna ($16) plated with bright orange segments, summer tomatoes and guanciale (a bacon-y cured pork) and a seaweed salad with wild rice and daikon ($6). Mains are fish-and-forage focused: the salmon ($28) is wild and local simply because it’s best that way, accompanied by partially blossomed peashoots from nearby Medicine Farm, where a geographic fluke created a nurturing bubble of California-warmth. Corn-battered Jamaican fried fish ($17) adds localized diversity, buttery duck leg ($24) is topped with melting apricots. Order dessert—the sundae is a soda-shoppe fantasy and the summer parfait sees olive-oil madeleines tossed with lemon curd and fresh fruit under toasted meringue ($8 each).

Born from a passion for the region, Wolf in the Fog is one special spot within another, and not to be missed. —Adrienne Matei

Wolf in the Fog, 150 Fourth St., Tofino, 250-725-9653, www.wolfinthefog.com