C100B X West Coast Fishing Club
Wrapping up the season at Langara’s best salmon lodge, and who’s up next.
The humpbacks were still about, the bald eagles had yet to move inshore, and the Chinook salmon and halibut were still biting. And come dinnertime, there was scallop crudo, the slices standing vertically, slotted as if in a toast rack between layers of daikon, peak summer tomato and shiso. Then, smoked sablefish with dill and horseradish broth, a lusciously tender beef short rib with ancho mole, and a vanilla cheesecake with macerated strawberries.
Such is the daily routine at the West Coast Fishing Club’s The Clubhouse on Langara Island, in the northern Haida Gwaii, when for the last three trips of the fishing season in early September, Canada’s 100 Best sends some of its favourite chefs to be guest chef for a night – and get some great fishing in, too.
This year, Kristian Eligh and his pastry chef, Dominique Laurencelle, at Marilena in Victoria got things started over Labour Day weekend (with the menu above). Patrick Kriss followed with Tim Yun, his chef de cuisine from Alo in Toronto, for a stellar meal that began with tuna, uni and tomato dashi, included A3 wagyu striploin with maitake and spinach, and ended with truffled Délice de Bourgogne cheese. Next Rob Rossi (Osteria Giulia, Giulietta, Sammarco) came out from Toronto to cook Dungeness crab risotto with bottarga and sherry, and local halibut with caviar beurre blanc. The fishing was stellar throughout. And the weather held – mostly.
For the 2026 installment of C100B at WCFC, expect Rafael Covarrubias from Hexagon, in Oakville; Jérémie Bastien from Monarque, in Montreal; and Alex Chen with Roger Ma from Vancouver’s Boulevard. See you there?
– Photography by Anne-Marie Jackson