By Jennifer Dart

From humble beginnings in a purple catering truck, SoBo (short for Sophisticated Bohemian) has become a small-town restaurant with a big reputation.

The first year it was opened in the Beaches store parking lot in Tofino (behind Live to Surf), SoBo was named one of Canada’s best new restaurants by EnRoute magazine (2003). The accolades have followed owners Lisa and Artie Ahier all the way to their new home in the Conradi Building (at the corner of Neill and First Sts, a short walk from the Shore).

Chef Lisa is a Texan who met Artie, from New Brunswick, when they both worked on a yacht in Florida. Among their shared interests were good food, travel, nature and wildlife. It’s no wonder they eventually wound up on the west coast of Vancouver Island. First though, they worked at a wildlife reserve and a ranch in Texas, and an inn in upstate New York. They visited Sooke Harbour House and were advised to visit the Tofino/Ucluelet area, where they said they found themselves home.

Once here, Lisa and Artie helped open two resorts in the area before they decided to focus on Lisa’s unique southern influenced cuisine and set out their own shingle. The SoBo truck quickly became a gathering place for locals. I remember listening to live music while waiting for my fish tacos in the first or second year SoBo was open. From the Beaches lot, the truck moved to the Tofino Botanical Gardens for a couple of years before settling in to the new digs in town.

With the move, and the increased kitchen space, Lisa and Artie were able to offer a sit-down dinner service to complement their ever-popular lunch menu. Also new to SoBo is an outdoor wood-oven for pizzas and a stock of fresh frozen take-away soups.

SoBo’s menu is full of the ingredients the Ahiers believe in like free range poultry from Cowichan Bay farms, oysters and other shellfish from Outlandish Shellfish Guild (Gulf Islands), cheese from Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, local seafood and bread, and much more.

Their menu reflects the distances they’ve traveled and includes a touch of the south mixed with decidedly west coast ingredients.

Lisa is now one of the directors of the Tofino-Ucluelet Culinary Guild, an organization focused on ways to make local sustainable ingredients more accessible to the west coast. She has also become involved, through the TUCG, in the lunch program at Wickaninnish Community School, where her two children attend.

For more information visit the SoBo website or call 250 725-2341. SoBo will be open February 12 if you’re in town and are looking for a great dining experience that’s within walking distance from your condo at The Shore.

Photo Credits: sobo.ca

Tags: SOBO Restaurant, The Shore, Tofino, Tofino-Ucluelet Culinary Guild, TUCG

This entry was posted on Friday, February 18th, 2011 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Tofino Activities, Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.