Canada Week post #2 THE CLAY PIGEON in Victoria, B.C.!

Being in Victoria, B.C. on the day after Christmas this year, I woke up craving a serious breakfast. I could have eaten leftovers in the hotel room or grabbed a bagel or scone at a coffee shop, but I was looking for a SERIOUS breakfast. Something tremendous. So we decided to walk around until we found the perfect place. One thing I'll tell you, Canadians take their holidays a lot more serious than a lot of people here in the States. Why? Because there were many businesses closed for a SOLID WEEK after Christmas. On one hand I was surprised because of how busy that entire downtown area was with shoppers and so many shops were closed. Aren't these business owners worried about missing all these sales? Apparently they care more about spending time with their loved ones and I think that's a lesson we can all learn from them. But luckily the Clay Pigeon were open, because when we strolled by and saw this door...

That's about all it took to convince us. Well, that and I saw that they had a breakfast sandwich made on an apple fritter!

The Clay Pigeon is a cozy little spot on a corner. The people working were very inviting and they sat us in a great spot by the window that had a nice heater below it. I always dig it when a restaurant runs with their gimmick. This place had some excellent pigeon art.

Of course I ordered the Frittwich. For a moment I wanted the Captain Cruncher. Chicken battered with Cap'n Crunch? Sounds awesome. But the Frittwich was calling my name. So I ordered that with a large orange juice because THAT'S HOW YOU DO BREAKFAST.

The food came out pretty quick and from the second they put the plate down I was impressed. This thing looked tremendous! Egg, maple bacon, smoked cheddar, arugula, and a homemade apple fritter.  Potatoes on the side. I've made some pretty wild breakfast sandwiches before, but never on an apple fritter. Could it be as awesome as I was hoping?

From the looks of it, they took the fritter, sliced it clean in half and then grilled one side of each. One of my favorite parts of this is how the fritter itself couldn't hold in half of these ingredients. They are spilling out in every direction with the top of the fritter perched on it like a delicious little hat.

The Frittwich was beyond delicious. I was a little worried once I started eating it because I usually prefer my bacon to be a little more on the crispy (burned) side. But I forgot to ask. But since this thing was made with such premium stuff, I didn't even skip a beat, the bacon was still delicious. Plentiful amounts of cheese, and the fritter itself was soft and buttery with a blast of sweetness. Not only that but there were chunks of apple in it every so often too. This sandwich was one of those ones where you have to talk about it after every bite you take. It was that good.

But let's take a moment to give a shout out to these potatoes too. Perfectly crisped on the outside so you aren't dealing with any of that raw potato crap that some restaurants try to pawn off on you with your breakfast. My favorite part was the big pieces of sea salt on them. Each one burst with flavor each time you crunched one. These potatoes were top notch.

I was quite full by the time I got this far in, but fear not, I finished it. A sandwich this good demands to be finished no matter how full you are. If I had keeled over in my seat from a heart attack and was laying on the floor, I would be reaching for that last bite while the paramedics were trying to load me onto a gurney.

I also had a chance to try their Fromage Trois, which is basically a grilled cheese with smoked Cheddar, gruyere, and brie on sourdough bread. It came with a side of tots. Fear not, I didn't get two meals, my lady got this and she is always nice enough to share in the name of Fatguyfoodblog. Tots were perfectly cooked and the sandwich was VERY good.

I've never had a grilled cheese with that blend of cheeses so it was quite interesting. Not to mention on sourdough bread. Great, but no Frittwich!

In the end, if I lived in Victoria I feel like the Clay Pigeon would be seeing a lot of me. It's a great little spot with friendly waitstaff,  and awesome food. You can't go wrong with any of those things. All the food I tried was spectacular and honestly if I tried to come up with one bad thing about the place it would be that the orange juice was awful. I don't know if it was the kind that you make from a frozen can, or just some cheap brand, but it wasn't great. But after them introducing me to the wonders of the Frittwich, I wasn't even about to sweat it.

If you find yourself in Victoria anytime soon, stop in and tell them FATGUYFOODBLOG sent ya!

For more information on the Clay Pigeon, check out their website: http://claypigeonrestaurant.com/

Don't forget, Canada Week is still going strong so stop by again later this week for more!

Just in case you forgot where you can reach us online, here ya go:
EMAIL: Fatguyfoodblog@gmail.com
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/fatguyfoodblog
Twitter: @fatguyfoodblog
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Review by Rich Brunelle. He lives in Seattle, WA with a lady and cat and a plant named John Coffey. Like the drink, but spelled different.

Cheese Wizards Food Truck!

Since I moved to Seattle a year ago I've been trying as many restaurants, food trucks, bakeries and specialty shops as I can. There's maybe a million of them so I have my work cut out for me. But one there was one that I wanted to try over them all, that somehow eluded me. That one? The Cheese Wizards. Legend has it these wizards use forbidden magic to create some of the greatest grilled cheese sandwiches that this land has ever known.  I had seen the truck around, but usually parked for the night. Once it drove by me when I was out for an adventure and when I stopped to watch it pass, the driver looked over at me and tipped his giant wizard hat. Yes, you read that right. The wizard behind the wheel was wearing a giant wizard hat. 

So when I heard they were finally coming to my neighborhood I decided the time had come for FGFB to meet...

THE CHEESE WIZARDS. 

When I arrived they were still setting up, so I used this time wisely to creep around and take a good look at their truck. I have to say, there's a lot of food trucks out there that embrace their gimmicks, but none hold a candle to the Cheese Wizards. 

The bright yellow of the truck is so vibrant that it could easily be seen by even the most blind of cave trolls. The front of the truck is decorated with dual battle axes and owls.

Their logo is everywhere you look and for good reason. It's just about the greatest logo I have ever seen. Second only to our own, of course.

Their menu is fantastic. It's dubbed the Nom-Nomicon and features such wonderful sandwiches as, "The Goblin King, the Voldemortadella, the Forest Lord, and the original Cheese Wizard. The menu has a ton of great little hidden jokes and references. My favorite was where they call bacon their "Highest level flavor magic."

After much deliberation I decided to keep it simple so I got the Cheese Wizard with Bacon while my lady friend decided she wanted to take on the Voldemortadella.  The actual wizards themselves were awesome. Fun guys, joking around, answering any questions anyone had. They also gave out free hot apple cider. And here I thought they might just be conjurers of cheap tricks!

Once we ordered I was too excited. It didn't take long at all for our sandwiches to be ready. But in my brain it was a lifetime. I stood there like...

But when the head Wizard suggested we check out their sauce station, I instantly perked up. Sauces you say? Something every fat man loves? And so many that it needs a station? What manner of witchcraft was this guy spinning?

Not only was there an ornate sauce station, featuring six special sauces, (as well as some standard sauces in bottles),  but check out the artwork that accompanied them...

Adventure Time?!?! Could the Cheese Wizards be any cooler?

Oh, and just so you know, you have to milk your sauce of choice from this thing like it's a cows udder. Both cool and kind of gross at the same time!

Suddenly my name was called. My sandwich was ready. The Cheese Wizard in the truck handed it out to me like this:

And before I closed up the box he reminded me to grab a sauce before I left. I looked into the box and saw one, single sauce cup. Immediately I realized that they probably only give you one sauce per sandwich because it's mentioned on the menu. I didn't want to be the fat guy asking for extra sauce cups, so I approached the Wizards Sauce station with a little bit of sadness in my heart, knowing I could only try one...

But in the end I couldn't choose just one. So I squirted some of the Smaugs Smokey BBQ into the box, and filled the sauce cup with Merlins Magic Mustard Honey, closed up the box and began the journey home.  Why didn't we eat them there? No good lighting for pictures! So after a quick jaunt over the Misty Mountains, we got home and it was finally time to experience what the Cheese Wizards had conjured up for us.

Behold, the Cheese Wizard.  Heaps of Tillamook cheddar and lots of creamy Monterey Jack on buttery french bread. Plus I added bacon. The menu let me know that it's a "classic grilled cheese loved by apprentices and old maesters alike." I took one bite and I was like:

So. Good. The bread is perfectly cooked. Buttery and crispy on the outside. Inside, a ridiculous mixture of creamy cheeses and bacon. Every bite was perfect. It was the kind of sandwich that you savor. Every bite was slowly chewed so I could enjoy it.

After the first bite I was fully under the Cheese Wizards spell. Incredible all around. When dipped in the sauces it was even better. The mustard was sweet but had a nice bite to it and the bbq was dark and smokey. I wouldn't have wanted either sauce on every bite of this sandwich,  so I was glad I had the option to dip. Not that the sauces were bad, at all, but because the sandwich alone was so damn good. It was great to go from a bite with nothing on it, to one with sauce and back.

If I have one negative thing to say about Cheese Wizards it's gotta be the side salad. Listen, on Fatguyfoodblog, we're never going to praise salad. Not once, ever. Now, I understand they are trying to have a healthier option here to go with the cheese packed sandwich. Especially out here in Seattle, people are very conscious of what they eat. I also know that having a frialator in a food truck is a pain in the ass, which is why a lot of them don't offer fries. But the salad isn't the best fit for this, especially when you're taking your sandwich home. By the time you dig in, the greens are a bit warm and soggy and it's just weird. Did I eat mine? Yes I ate every bite. I'm not a fool, I know this body needs some green if it's going to run at 110% at all time, but I think I would have rather had a handful of chips instead of salad. Or...in a perfect world, some Tater Tots.

I also got to try a bite of the Voldemortadella, but I won't spend too much time on it because I didn't eat the entire thing. It was also a magical sandwich. The menu says it's "Provolone and Mozzarella, cream cheese, mortadella, salami, black forest ham, and herbed olive muffeletta." The stand out flavors in this were definitely cheese and olives. If you like olives, you would lose your mind over this. I found it to be a very unique and interesting bite. I might actually get this one the next time I visit the Wizards!

In the end, when we were finished and I'm looking back on my dinner with the Cheese Wizards over a pipe full of the halflings leaf, I have to say, I'm quite impressed all around. Not only is their presentation second to none, but the entire experience was fun, and the food was incredible. Some might say the price tag is a little steep for a grilled cheese sandwich, but I honestly wouldn't think twice about. Worth every cent.

So if you're cruising through Seattle and you spy that familiar logo on the site of a giant, yellow caravan covered in owls and axes, hop on your horse and follow it through the fields of Rohan and through the Fangorn Forest until it reaches it's stop. Tell them Fatguyfoodblog sent you! Then let the Cheese Wizards work their magic. Trust me, you'll be happy you did.

I give the Cheese Wizards a solid A!

For more information check out the Cheese Wizards online HERE and be sure to LIKE their Facebook page HERE.

How can you get ahold of the FGFB crew online? Here's everything you need to know!
EMAIL: fatguyfoodblog@gmail.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/fatguyfoodblog
TWITTER: @fatguyfoodblog
INSTAGRAM: @fatguyfoodblog

Review by Rich