So glad you had some awesome meals. Truffle Pigs was on our list too, but we were never in the area at mealtimes. Bear Paw was highly addictive!

Thanks for the tip on Fred Plotkin's book. I just picked it up this afternoon at the local library. It is a fascinating read. I must admit that I rarely read the history of a place I am going to, as the guidebooks generally all but put me to sleep with their dull descriptions. But the history of this area is fascinating and Fred is an engaging writer.

LOL. I was absolutely not offended whatsoever by your comments. I was just giving you a little more background on us. We love wine, but are complete amateurs. I'm very happy to be guided by someone else who is much more knowledgeable, like you! And thanks for addressing the apparently taboo topic that I brought up. I just wasn't seeming to get anywhere with my research on which accommodations have the best breakfasts ;) and where is the best base for exploring the food and wine in the region.

You have all been wonderful and helpful on wine and food, but I'm getting frustrated trying to find where to stay, so I'm hoping you can give me some direction there as well. We are looking for a good location to see the region, comfortable queen or king size bed, good breakfast, and warm hosts that can guide us while we are there. Since we are starting over from scratch and the trip is barely over a month away, I feel like I need to get that squared away before I can move forward with the rest of the planning.

Thanks vinoroma! I don't know if you calling us early in our journey is accurate or just that we are not that well informed! We fell in love with chianti when we visited that region, and continued to discover other Italian wines we love as we visit each region, without much research. But I'm thrilled to have your list to guide me so that our journey in Friuli will not be haphazard!

vinoroma - Just read your trip report. Very helpful. Do you have a couple of favorite wineries to check out? My husband and I enjoy wine but are not very knowledgeable. I wouldn't even know where to begin with narrowing down wineries. Lodging and restaurants are my forte in research. Thanks!

OK, I just did a cursory review of Lidia's article and read a little about Invito a Pranzo, and we just may have to switch our plans as you suggested. It just so happens that I met Lidia 2 weeks ago when my husband and I dined at Del Posto for our anniversary. Can't wait to read your post about your visit, barberinibee. Thanks for the links!

I do LOVE Prosecco, but I'll take what you said under advisement and do a little research on Friuli. Thanks for your advice.

My husband and I will be traveling to Venice in October for a conference. We found a wealth of restaurant info on CH for Venice. When the conference is over, we are planning 3 nights in the Prosecco Wine region just outside of Venice. We will probably stay in Valdobbiadene. I haven't found any posts about this area. The towns on the wine route are Valdobbiadene, Follina, Molinetto della Croda, San Pietro di Fellato and Conegliano. We will have a car and will go to other towns in the area such as Asolo and Bassano del Grappa. Any recommendations on restaurants or favorite wineries in this area? We love good, local food, at any type of place from a hole in the wall to fine dining. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Sounds wonderful, CulinaryRD. We loved our time in Jasper too.

CulinaryRD, I thought I had posted our experiences in Jasper, but I don't seem to be able to find it. Tekarra was our best meal in the Rockies. We all loved it. Great food, warm service, pleasant ambiance. Although if I didn't have a rec for it, I never would have guessed that they would offer gourmet meals because it doesn't look like anything special when you are driving up. Here's what I posted on TripAdvisor: We dined here on our final night in the Rockies. Even though we enjoyed several good meals during our week, this far surpassed all of them. This service was warm and personal, and the atmosphere was relaxed and casual for food of this caliber. The food was inventive and creative, and all of the flavors worked. My son is still talking about his tomato/carrot soup. he and my husband loved their filets. My other son was able to get grilled chicken and French fries from the kids menu. I wasn't very hungry, so ordered Farm Market salad and an app of scallops and pork belly. Both were delicious. My husband also had a marvelous risotto for an app with habanero pepper and fiddlehead ferns. We shared a yummy chocolate souffle for dessert! We also enjoyed dining at Fiddle River. Can't recall the details of our meal, but I know we all liked it there. We also ate at the restaurant below Fiddle River called Downstream (I think). It was more of a bar atmosphere, very casual. The kids loved that they had a pool table. We had tzatziki, hummus, pretzel loaf and another app that I can't recall. The night we ate at Fiddle River, we played another round of pool in Downstream and had another pretzel loaf while waiting for our table. My kids would have gone back again for that. For entrees we had burgers and the like. Our other recommendation is to go to Bear Paw Bakery. We went there every day. Go early in the day for best selection. They have an amazing french bread that we ordered sliced. It was not a baguette, but the best loaf of white bread you will ever make a sandwich on (and I'm a die-hard whole wheat eater). We then went to Robson's market to get turkey and cheese. We also bought cookies and various other baked goods at Bear Paw and the coffee is great also. When they run out of something, that's it for the day. As for the rest of the trip, we went to Vancouver for 2 nights and then Vancouver Island for 3. We stayed in the Cowichan Valley in Cowichan Bay and had an amazing time. The food was awesome there, a foodie's paradise. I did a post trip report on Cowichan Valley on that board.

We just got home from our trip yesterday and I have to say that we LOVED the Cowichan Valley!!! I'm plotting my next trip back there already, but decided I need to go with other adults next time. My kids loved it also and I'm so happy we did this trip together, but I'd like to check out more of the wineries and do some of the prix fixe dinners. It wasn't worth the $75+pp to pay for my kids when they weren't going to necessarily enjoy what was served. So we did not partake in any of those options. Here's what we did do:
We arrived in Cowichan Bay in time for dinner our 1st day, so headed directly to Masthead. We had a lovely dinner. We were seated inside, but near the deck and could enjoy the fabulous views of the bay and sunset. While they don't have a kids menu, they did simplify the preparation of the chicken dish to my son's liking and also made him french fries. He was thrilled. I didn't take notes on our meals, so I don't recall what everyone ate, but I know we enjoyed everything. They did have a very reasonable prix fixe option that my husband ordered. I think he had asparagus soup to start that we all enjoyed. And I think this is where my older son ordered the Beef Wellington minus the foie gras. And I'm sure I had fish and salad. The service was excellent as well.
We stayed at the Affinity Guesthouse, which I highly recommend. Dwight and Vanessa are amazing hosts. They grow raspberries and blackberries on the property, and lucky us, the raspberries were in season during our stay. They incorporated them into our breakfast every day. We had raspberry crepes the first day, blueberry/raspberry scones the 2nd, and raspberry smoothies & jam on the 3rd. Of course we also had eggs, bacon, french toast, etc to round out each meal. My son wants them to make us breakfast every day and ship it! He's a bacon fanatic and they even made a trip to the butcher just for him to get some local bacon. And what was left over from breakfast they packed up for him to take on our last day.
On our 1st full day, we went kayaking on the bay, so stopped at Hillary's for soup and sandwiches beforehand. The sandwiches were prepared on bread from True Grain next door, and were delicious. We loved the soups too. After kayaking, we got ice cream at Udder Guy's, which was delicious. (After being in the Rockies, where Nestle's apparently has a monopoly, it was such a pleasure to eat good ice cream again!) We had planned to eat dinner that night at Amuse Bistro, but had failed to make a reservation and they were booked full. So we tried Terrain Regional Kitchen in Cowichan Bay (in the Oceanfront Suites). The dining room also overlooks the bay and there was live music the night we were there. Unfortunately, the ambiance was otherwise completely lacking. The restaurant needs a complete overhaul to match the food. We enjoyed our food, but service was off and I had trouble getting past the decor. I think they lease the space from the hotel property. Hopefully they will find another location or update this one so that the food and atmosphere match.
On our 2nd full day, we ate our way through the Valley! After breakfast, we headed to the Duncan Farmer's Market. It's a great market with lots of locally produced goods, edible and otherwise. Dwight and Vanessa recommended that we stop at Brenda's Baked Goods for the cinnamon rolls. They are small and were about 50 cents each and they were awesome! We bought several things from Brenda and they were all yummy. I probably would have overlooked her stand if it had not been recommended. They also recommended that we have lunch at Alderlea Farm and Cafe in Duncan. We had met Farmer John the day before when he stopped by Affinity, so were delighted to pay his farm a visit. I think they are only open Tues, Fri & Sat. Oh my, was lunch good. This was exactly what we were looking for. Everything was freshly prepared in an open kitchen, run by John's wife, Katy. We enjoyed 3 kinds of homemade soup, fresh salad, and quiche. And Katy made up a plate of chicken for my younger son (you're probably noticing a theme here!) I recall one soup was chicken noodle with veggies, and I think another was something curried. The 3rd soup was a chilled raspberry soup with berries from Affinity. The rolls that accompanied everything were also delicious. We sat at a picnic table just out back overlooking the fields. The desserts looked delicious, but we were saving up for our next stop. Someone during our trip had told us that we had to go to Saison Market Vineyard in North Cowichan. They are only open on the weekend. Saison had a beautiful display of scrumptious looking baked goods. We enjoyed a lemon tart on the spot, and part of a Callebaut Chocolate mousse cake. We wrapped up the rest of the cake and a strawberry rhubarb tart for later. (Notice I can't recall what I ate for dinner, but I could tell you every dessert!) I think it was now 3pm and we were having dinner at 6, so we cut ourselves off. Oh and somewhere during that day my kids allowed us a stop at 1 winery, so we chose Averill. My favorite was the blackberry port, which one of you recommended. We brought a bottle of that home. Can't wait to uncork that! For dinner that evening, Dwight and Vanessa run canoe trips from Affinity (I think they call it Gumboot Canoeing). We set out around 5pm and rowed over to Genoa Bay. We enjoyed a great meal out on the deck and then rowed back to the guesthouse. I highly recommend it whether you stay at Affinity or not. After our day of eating I wasn't that hungry. I had a delicious spinach salad and a little seafood chowder. I think it was the 3rd seafood chowder my family ordered on the trip. It was the most traditional one, which meant it was very rich and creamy. I preferred the lighter ones we had, but i'm probably in the minority on that. I didn't try them, but the fish and chips looked amazing. My older son had rack of lamb. I cleaned his bones and they were quite tasty. My other son had a turkey sandwich and my husband had the chicken entree. The chicken was quite good also. We skipped dessert here as well because we had accumulated a smorgasbord during the day. Dwight and Vanessa joined us and we still had leftovers.
On our final day we were headed back to Vancouver, so stopped at Hillary's for sandwiches and cheese to take with us for the ferry. My son ran into True Grain to stock up on pretzel croissants as well.
I also have to mention Rembrandt chocolates in Duncan. While we came across many wonderful chocolate shops on our trip, my older son is allergic to nuts and can rarely partake in anything from most shops. But he always has me ask about allergens anyways in hopes of finding safe chocolates. We hit the jackpot at Rembrandt. We spoke to the owner and she makes everything there and she is very careful about segregating ingredients and is careful about cross-contamination. Talk about a happy kid in a candy store!
So all in all, our trip to Cowichan Valley was awesome. Loved the food, loved the people, loved the vibe. I could easily spend a week there. I feel like we only hit the tip of the iceberg. Almost forgot, we had lunch at Pizzeria Primastrada when we arrived our 1st day in Victoria. This is how we like our pizza, so it was delicious! The fennel salad with citrus fruits was also quite delish. Thanks for all of your help and guidance making the most of our time in Cowichan!!!

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Genoa Bay Cafe
5000 Genoa Bay, Duncan, BC V9L 5Y8, CA

For our final two days in Banff, we finally made it to Canmore for dinner. The advice given by my fellow Chowhounders was accurate. Canmore is a better dining destination than Banff. The restaurants are better and it's less touristy. Rocky Mountain Flatbread lived up to the recommendations. We had a delicious salad and shared a pizza that was on special with pork tenderloin, goat cheese, figs and arugula. One son had the kids' mac & cheese, which he loved and the other had the kids' pizza, which was the perfect size. Wed night is Local's Night and even the tourist received 15% off of the food portion of their bill, which was a nice bonus. Tonight we at at O Bistro, which we found on our own. The place is somewhat small, but we had no problem getting a table. There are also a few tables outside on the sidewalk. Everything we had was a winner! My older son had the French Onion soup and Steak & Frites. My younger son had the kids' grilled cheese and fries. My husband and I shared a spinach salad, covered in seasonal fruit and goat cheese, with a fruity dressing. I had a curried shrimp and rice dish with at least 9 good size shrimp included, and DH had the pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes. Everyone was happy with their dinners and the service was the best we had received yet. The bistro is across the street from the School Bus Ice Cream, which we felt compelled to visit. The ice cream was nothing to get excited over, but we enjoyed the experience. The added bonus for us travelers, is that the laundromat was only a couple doors down from dinner and we could take care of that while enjoying our evening. Thanks for all of your help and advice. We head to Jasper tomorrow.

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O Bistro
626 8 St #2, Canmore T1W 2B5, CA

That explains why Bison didn't live up to earlier reviews. We ended up at Rocky Mtn Flatbread tonight, which was on our list. Everything was great! The host was warm and enthusiastic, the food was creative and Delicious. And best of all, it,s a nut-free restaurant. My son is allergic and he was ecstatic to know he could everything safely. This was our favorite dinner so far.

Thanks coffeegal43. We are actually here 2 more nights & finally heading to Canmore for dinner. I think we may try O Bistro. The menu works for my whole family.

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O Bistro
626 8 St #2, Canmore T1W 2B5, CA

Here's the start of our trip report:

Banff
arrived today. We stopped in Canmore on our way to Banff. We strolled for a bit and stopped in Mountain Mercator, where my DH thoroughly enjoyed an Illy latte & oatmeal cookie. The paninis look great and we'll keep it in mind for later in the week.
Tonight we wanted to be in Banff, so we headed to Bison, where we were underwhelmed at best. The food was overpriced and did not live up to the reviews. The service started out fine, but then we felt ignored.  The apps came out quickly & then we waited forever for the entrees. My favorite thing we ordered was the bison French onion soup. My DH and I also shared the shrimp & crab tacos, which was more like tuna fish salad. The seared scallop was barely seared and bland, but the risotto cake that accompanied it was tasty. For our entree, we shared the bison burger. It was fine except for the raw bacon on top. When my DH managed to flag down our waitress for the check, I was finally able to show her the bacon when she brought the check. She was disgusted as well by the raw bacon, promptly reporting it to the kitchen, and bringing us a revised bill, not charging us for the burger. So she redeemed herself. My two sons ordered steak, which was good, not great, especially because the fries were tepid and not crispy. For a $29 steak & fries, I expect better.  Hopefully Canmore will deliver on the promise of better food.
Day two, we enjoyed a lengthy hike and walked from the trails into town. It was about 1:45 when we reached Wild Flour and they were sold out of nearly every sandwich! We were quite hungry and saw lots of folks dining at the outdoor patio across the way. Turns out it was the downstairs tavern of Bison. Despite our experience the night before, we decided to give it a try. DH and I shared a pizza with grilled chicken, bacon (cooked this time!), pesto and goat cheese. It was quite tasty and satisfying. Our server brought over a big bottle of honey & another of chili oil, and explained that they were for the pizza. Hmmm? We gave it a try and have to say it was an interesting addition. Our sons had grilled cheese and a spicy tomato based soup, and a grilled chicken & bacon sandwich on a croissant. They were both thrilled with lunch. And one of the servers knew we just came off the trails and gave us a full pitcher of water, which we greatly appreciated. Post lunch we visited The Fudgery and were not disappointed. Everything looked yummy and fresh.
For dinner tonite we were tired, so bailed on Canmore. We decided to go to Coyotes as there was something on the menu for everyone & we weren't all that hungry. We started with the foccaccia & cornbread basket, which was delicious. It could have been even better if the bread was served warm. Then we shared the goat cheese salad & the tortilla soup. The salad was fine and the soup very tasty.  For entrees we shared a flank steak and a chicken with fresh tomatillo sauce. Both were nicely cooked and flavorful. 

Yes, we have 3 nights in Jasper, so we'll check that out. Thanks!

But I'm a mid-40's soccer mom! lol. But I appreciate the feedback on the food. And will keep that in mind. Thanks!

Are these in Canmore? The Mountain Market day is esp'ly appealing.

Thanks, vanderb! Had Truffle Pigs in my notes, but wasn't sure when I was getting there. But now I know!

Thanks, graemejw! Those sound right up our alley. I do recall seeing Crazyweed mentioned in other posts. We will have a car and 20 minutes is not a problem. We will def'ly check out Canmore.

My husband and two young teen sons are leaving Monday for Banff. We are spending 4 nights in Banff & 3 in Jasper. When I originally scoured Chowhound for our trip, I was looking on the wrong boards for this area, and decided to check again as I knew Chowhound would not let me down. At last I found the right spot. I've started to go through older posts, but with limited time left, I was hoping you'd help me out and give me some recs. The places that have caught my eye so far are Bison, Wild Flower, Barpa Bill's, Walter's and Tekkara. Are these good choices? Any others we shouldn't miss? Thanks!

All great ideas! Thanks for the non-culinary recs as well. I'll check out the links you gave me as well, GoaGirl. And thanks fmed for the English pub. Hadn't come across that one yet.

Cassie, that sounds fabulous! Looked up his website and it doesn't appear that anything is going on when we are there. :( I will check back again or try emailing them, since our visit is still 2 months away. It looks incredible!

Zenatta sounds like a great addition to our list. And I love the website you directed me to. Very helpful! And yes, the farmer's market is on our list. I love a good farmer's market!

Thanks, we'll look for it when we are there!

Thanks, saraWM, for all of your feedback! I'll check out Stone Soup Inn and the other places you mentioned. And we are absolutely going to Udder Guy's! I had a note on that from somewhere. And the Merridale Cidery is a must for my family! If you think of any other places by name, please post them.

My husband and two teen boys will be spending a few days in August on Vancouver Island. We are staying at the Affinity Guesthouse in Cowichan Bay. Travel & Leisure did an article last year on the Cowichan Valley that lead us to include a few nights here. Otherwise, we would have only known of Victoria. While the article mentioned a few places to eat: Craig Street Brew Pub, Deerholme Farm, Hilary's Cheese & Deli, The Masthead, and Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub, as well as Sooke Harbour House, I was hoping to get additional input on these spots and any others you may recommend. I tried researching on other threads on CH, but mostly came up with recs in Victoria, or Comox (which I doubt we'll drive that far). Any help would be appreciated. We love good food, especially locally sourced, seasonal ingredients and will venture to high end or hole-in-the-wall places or anything in-between.

We're also starting our trip in Banff & Jasper, if you have any restaurant recs for that area. Found plenty on info on CH for Vancouver! Thanks in advance!

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Harbour House Restaurant
607 Oswego St, Victoria, BC V8V4W9, CA

My husband and I are also traveling to Sicily in October. What have you come up with for your "special" meals? I've been doing some research and I'd love to hear what you came up with. We are staying in Ortigia and doing day trips in southeastern Sicily. The other replies to your post were helpful too.