It’s been a while since an island restaurant outside of Victoria has gotten this much buzz. Online and print publications will occasionally gesture to joints on the Pacific side, but rarely farther North, and somewhere deep in my former line-cook lizard brain there is a suspicion that someone got comped for it. Gigi’s Oysters is different; it’s us lizards that have been talking to each other over drinks, on industry Podcasts like Track and Food, and through a food truck window where a total champion told me, “oh yeah, go there.. That’s where I would be right now!”
Kitchen people appreciate simple yet profound indulgences like no-one else, so it was high time for my wife and I to swing by downtown Comox and slurp up the vibe. What a vibe we found waiting! Half an hour before opening on an unassuming Thursday afternoon and the line was all over the sidewalk. Even the host seemed surprised by the weekday turnout and asked if he could snap a picture.
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My parents are coming from Ontario to visit so we’ve been busy this week cleaning up the yard, trimming back the encroaching forest and sowing the last crop from the garden so when they arrive they’ll have a place to lounge in the sun and something to snack on. I intend to do quite a bit of grilling for them, but not every meal. Here and there I’ve packed away freezer bags full of pre-made nibblets for the nights when we’ve had a bit too much adventure.