Shirley Delicious, aptly named

A quick post about one of our vacation faves, Shirley Delicious.  We were driving along the coast of Vancouver Island, and while walking along a jetty, we stopped to talk to a local lady and her two dogs.  She casually mentioned that we should get some great coffee at a place called Shirley Delicious.  Sounds good, but we don't drink coffee.  The plan was to find a fish and chips place.

Well, we ended up staying longer than we expected at French Beach, and our blood sugar had reached dangerously low levels by the time we left. At this point, we were barely lucid, we were snarling and snapping at each other, our situation was dire.  We nearly had to call for the Mounties.  Thus,  it was remarkable when my mind was able to faintly recall the A-Frame building we drove by on the way to the beach.  

It was, like so much of the island, in a picturesque setting.  Of course, even McDonalds on Vancouver Island was in a picturesque setting, so the landscaping was not enough to ensure this place would be memorable.

We entered and this very small A-Frame was fairly cramped.  There was room to walk up to the small counter and order.  The menu was on the wall.  Two nice young ladies ran the counter.  They were, shall we say, typical of the northwest.  They were "granolas."  For those who don't know them, granolas are cleaner than hippies, but still very earthy.  They were super friendly and were great at customer service.  

We started with a chocolate pistachio cookie and a chocolate almond croissant.  We also ordered sandwiches.

Since our visit to France, we haven't eaten many croissants.  Why?  Because they were too good in France.  It is commonly said - you shouldn't meet your heroes.  The common reason for this, is that our heroes, being human, invariably disappoint.  The foodie analog is - don't eat the best thing ever.  Why?  Because once you eat the best one, all the others will not be good enough.  After eating croissants in France, it has been hard to see the point in eating any local croissants, as they invariably disappoint.  Here, the chocolate almond croissant failed to disappoint.  We loved it.  It's hard to say whether it was actually as good as those in France, but if it wasn't, it was really darn close . The chocolate pistachio cookie was, while not pictured, delicious as well. [Editor's note: Amy has now read this post and says it was not a pistachio cookie.  It was, however, delicious and, surprisingly enough, gluten free.  A delicious gluten free cookie is hard to execute.  I equate it to a triple salchow in ice skating] At this point in the experience, we were a bit conflicted, because there appeared to be so many good baked goods.  I was secretly wondering if it was a mistake to even order a sandwich. Turns out, my fears were unjustified.

 

This isn't a great picture, but you can see the grain of the mustard, the herbs in focaccia and the greens.  It was delicious.  The bread, by volume and by depth of flavor, made the sandwich.  It was the star and the filling was the supporting cast. 

 

The ham was delicious, the cheese perfect and the grilled pineapple and onions, while concerning to read about, were delicious to eat.  These were sandwiches of legend (if there were legends about sandwiches).  

After eating these, we suffered a wonderful agony.  We had eaten some of the best foods we had ever eaten.  We loved the atmosphere (a local artist, with a unique pointillistic style was featured), the service was great, but we knew we may never be back and there were a lot of baked goods we hadn't tried.  There was a lengthy discussion about what we should do.  Clearly, the repercussions could be eternal and we would have to speak at length about our various options.  Fortunately, we have a transcript:

Me: That was great.  I think we should have some of the salted caramel cheesecake.

Amy: Ok.

 

Is it a looker?  Maybe not, but it was amazing.  The cheesecake was rich with a delicious crust and the salted caramel, of which a healthy portion of salted caramel was dolloped, was fantastic.  

Some people shy away from small places, obscure places, hole-in-the-wall places.  Why, because we just aren't sure if they will be good.  It is not an unreasonable tactic.  The odds that any particular place will be legendary or even memorable are against any particular place being particularly good.  This is especially true when there is not a lot of competition.  Shirley Delicious has no competition, so it has no need to distinguish itself from other places.  There is no evolutionary pressure to improve.  This makes Shirley Delicious all the more amazing.  It sprouted in the forest of Shirley, BC, with no competition or threat to its existence beyond the size of the local population (small) and the fact that it is fed by a small, two lane road.  The fact that this place turned out to be this good is the restaurant equivalent of a Trump kid turning out to possess empathy for their fellow humans.  Shirley Delicious is that amazing and that good.  That is all.