Why stay in Seattle when Canada is just a few hours away? I’ve wanted to go to Victoria since Damon and his parents went a few years back. It turned out that Brentwood Bay Lodge and Spa just outside of Victoria was a member of the Small Luxury Hotels for which we still had a gift certificate. So we booked ourselves on the Victoria Clipper, and headed to Victoria from Pier 69 in downtown Seattle. The Clipper was super convenient, dropping us off in Inner Harbour in Victoria within walking distance of the major sights.
On a co-worker’s dad’s recommendation, we sought out Il Terrazzo. Tucked away at the end of an alley was the restaurant, featuring a terrace as advertised. Since it was a cold day they had all the gas fireplaces lit and many of the heaters on. Damon had a yummy pizza with pancetta, avocado and other goodies while I had a baby spinach salad with pieces of baked portabello mushroom, prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts. The mushroom had been baked with herbed foccacia crumbs and was a nice crispy contrast to the greens.
After exploring Victoria on foot we rented a car and drove the 20 minutes out to Brentwood Bay. After relaxing in our room we went to the bar for drinks and an appetizer before heading to the restaurant for dinner.
Both the bar and the restaurant have the same menu, but the atmosphere at the bar was more sports bar and the restaurant was more subdued with a nice view over the water and the sunset. Damon had a linguine with scallops dish and I had an order of mussels. Both dishes were delicious- as was the pie with ice cream. Damon had the great idea to ask for the special ice cream flavor of the day (espresso flakes) instead of the vanilla on offer. YUM!
