Lisa Ahier - The Sobo cookbook : recipes from the Tofino restaurant at the end of the Canadian road

Copyright 2014 Arthur Joseph Ahier and Lisa Elaine Ahier

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ISBN: 978-0-449-01585-8
eBook ISBN: 978-0-449-01586-5

Book design: Five Seventeen

Published in Canada by Appetite by Random House, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, a Penguin Random House Company

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I would like to dedicate this book to my husband, Artie, who has put his own dreams on the shelf to help me realize mine. I would like to publicly thank him for the sacrifices he made for me to go to the Culinary Institute of America; for taking a risk on a food truck long before they were fashionable; for being Mr. Mom when my workload is insane; and for letting me take credit that clearly belongs to us both. Thank you for never giving up.

Tofino is a truly magical part of the world, blessed with ancient conifers, miles of rugged coastline and a rich, vibrant culture of First Nations, artists, fishermen and loggers, and folks generally looking to live a cleaner, simpler life away from the rat race of the big city. It is also home to SoBo, one of my very favorite restaurants.

I was first lured to Tofino in 1989 by my best friend, who invited me to camp at her parents cabin on Chesterman Beach. I instantly fell in love with the areas wild, infectious beauty; just being there felt like a whole different kind of alive. I have returned every chance Ive got over the years, always yearning for the sense of belonging and calm I feel in the vastness of all that space and intense beauty.

Around the same time as my first daughter was born, so was the first incarnation of SoBo, based out of a soon-to-be-famous purple catering truck. Our local friends raved about this cool truck serving up amazing and fresh comfort food. It was an instant hit with us wet and tired wannabe surfers, looking for a jolt of energy to feed our hungry, aching bodies. After a few years, SoBo outgrew their original space and moved the truck to the Botanical Gardens where they could expand to manage the growing crowds. I loved going at sunset, eating outside and marveling at the surrounding forests and art installations. My daughter and her friends, no longer babies, would wind their way through the labyrinth carved out of gnarled branches and salal with wild abandon. No adults allowed! Over time SoBo outgrew the truck altogether, and a few years ago they found their new and current home as a restaurant right in the heart of town.

SoBo is owned by Lisa and Artie Ahier and it is their kindness and warm familiarity that defines the energy of SoBo. Lisa and Artie and all of their staff are always ready and welcome to embrace the community through their doors. On more than one occasion, Ive burst into todays SoBo late in the day, asking for an entire key lime pie, tray included (which I promise to bring back, and always do), and Lisa will offer up some fresh rhubarb to take home along with it, when its still growing in their garden and theres none left in town to buy. I feel privileged to be a part of that world.

As for the food From the dreamy smoked salmon chowder to the fresh fish tacos laced with mango and blueberry salsa, SoBo always serves up the perfect combination of salty and sweet. Lisas cooking is infused with love, fresh, healthy ingredients and a subtle but sophisticated magic. It is the ultimate in modern comfort food, as she is not afraid to embrace the richest ingredients from her Southern rootslike the coveted and lusted-after polenta fries, which are heaven from a deep-fryer (but, after reading the recipe, I can see they arent quite as fattening as Id imagined!). If youre feeling more health-conscious, dishes like SoBo ceviche are lovely and light, and so befitting a warm summer night. Then theres the peanut sauce oh my. I could, and would, put that on anything!

I know this book will become a staple in my kitchena way to bring SoBo to me when I cannot get to Tofino and eat at the restaurant itself. But if you havent been to SoBo yet, for heavens sake get yourselves there as soon as you can!

Today SoBo is an aesthetically unassuming family restaurant that seats about 75 people in an open-concept dining room. There is a piano and a carefully considered wine list, but its nothing fancy. Its about as far removed from pretension as the rugged town of Tofino it serves. The strength behind it is the marriage of two exceptionally creative people, Artie and Lisa Ahier. Their kids, Barkley and Ella, are the same age as my own, and they cant get enough of each other. We grown-ups share an abiding passion for food, and over the years (and many late, wine-soaked nights) our two families have become very close. We stay with them whenever we make the trip to Tofino, and our house is theirs on the rare occasions that bring them to the big city of Vancouver.

We first met in 2005. Id come over on holiday with my wife and our two young sons, taking our old camper van across the Georgia Strait on a ferry from West Vancouver to Departure Bay, then driving across the spine of Vancouver Island on the often breathtaking Highway 4. I was writing about restaurants for a living (after nearly 20 years of working in them), penning weekly reviews for a local paper and feature articles for magazines. It was part of my job to suss out the best food in the province, but on this particular journey I wasnt looking to be wowed by anything except sunsets and sand. I was there to cook hot dogs over beach fires and roast marshmallows on embers while watching the stars make a fool of city life.

Early on day two we walked up the dusty road from our campsite to the Botanical Gardens, where we found ourselves alone in a quiet wilderness. The morning mist had lifted to reveal an elven paradise of lush gardens, moody waterfront and looming rainforest. The gardens were dotted with driftwood sculptures and crisscrossed by a labyrinth of trails that led to little clearings, gazebos and the rusted-out shell of an early 1970s bay window VW bus that was slowly but surely being claimed by the forest.

It was coming up on lunchtime when we made our way out to the gravel parking lot, which had nearly filled with cars. A line-up had formed at an old food truck across from the garden entrance. We hadnt seen a single person on our walk. Nor had we noticed the truck on our way in. Yet here it was, virtually surrounded by people. This was many years before the street food trend exploded, so I assumed it would be a lowly dispensary of bad burgers and greasy onion rings, run in an unhealthy, slipshod fashion. But we were famished, the fuel of our camp breakfast having long run out. I joined the long line.