Tallgrass Ranch
Grass-raised and grain-finished Angus, graded Canadian Prime. We buy whole primals and break them down in-house.
Ingredients
Know the rancher.
Know the boat.
Nearly everything we cook comes from within a day's drive or a morning's sail. Here's who we buy from, and why.
The aging room
Time is an ingredient
Every steak spends at least 45 days in our glass-fronted aging room, lined with pink Himalayan salt at 2°C and 80% humidity.
Moisture leaves and enzymes work slowly. The beef loses almost a third of its weight and gains a deep, nutty, almost blue-cheese intensity you can't fake. You can see the room from the bar, so ask to take a look.
Our partners
From the land & the water
Partner names are illustrative for this concept. The regions and practices are real to Vancouver Island and coastal BC.
Deep Bay Shellfish
Beach and tray-grown Pacifics from the cold, clean waters between Denman Island and the Island shore.
The Northern Light
A family-run longliner out of Prince Rupert. Fish are bled and iced on deck and reach our kitchen within 48 hours.
Fulford Valley Farm
Pasture-raised lamb grazed on salt-air hillsides. Mild, sweet and nothing like the imported kind.
Sooke Harbour trappers
Hand-pulled traps, strict size and sex limits, delivered live every morning.
Mount Newton Growers
A cooperative of five small farms supplying our greens, alliums, roots and herbs from April through October.
What's in season
We only serve what's at its best. Glowing bars mark the peak weeks, and seafood is shown in slate.
| Ingredient | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oysters | peak | peak | peak | peak | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | peak | peak | peak |
| Dungeness crab | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | peak | peak | peak | peak | in season | in season |
| Spot prawns | out of season | out of season | out of season | out of season | peak | in season | out of season | out of season | out of season | out of season | out of season | out of season |
| Halibut | out of season | out of season | in season | in season | peak | peak | peak | peak | in season | in season | in season | out of season |
| Wild sockeye | out of season | out of season | out of season | out of season | out of season | out of season | in season | peak | in season | out of season | out of season | out of season |
| Albacore tuna | out of season | out of season | out of season | out of season | out of season | out of season | in season | peak | peak | in season | out of season | out of season |
| Dry-aged beef | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season |
| Salt Spring lamb | out of season | out of season | out of season | in season | peak | peak | peak | in season | in season | in season | in season | out of season |
| Wild mushrooms | out of season | out of season | out of season | in season | in season | out of season | out of season | out of season | in season | peak | in season | out of season |
| Island greens | out of season | out of season | out of season | in season | in season | peak | peak | peak | in season | in season | out of season | out of season |
Nothing wasted
Trim becomes tartare and burgers for staff meal. Bones become the jus. Fish frames become chowder, and halibut cheeks become a Tide Hour special when we have them.
Kitchen scraps go to a Saanich compost co-op, and our oyster shells return to Baynes Sound to rebuild reef habitat.