Restaurant Review

We went out to dinner one night to escape our gravel coffin campsite to a place called ‘Jackfish Dundees Pub’.  (Technically in Charlie Lake – just ouside of Fort St. John)  It was one listed in the travel brochure and it had one overriding feature which sold us … it had a shuttle service!  (this is the only town I’ve ever been in that had that service – either people drink more here … or the cops are more militant about drunk driving).  Either way it suited us as then we didn’t have to un-hook the RV and then hook back up after dinner and drinks.  The only caveat … we had to get to the pub ourselves.  No worries … we’d call a taxi.  It was only 4 km to the pub from the RV park … should be only a few bucks, right?  Our taxi drove up in a drenching rain and we piled in to find a rather large-ish cowboy in the drivers seat.  A terse “Where?” and we were off.  (That was the last word we got from him!) The drive was hairy, with high speed, lurching turns and a driver more interested in looking out the side window (to see who’s doing what?) and looking down at the passenger seat than in the road ahead of him.  When we finally reached the pub and could open our eyes again, we saw the meter show a whopping $17.00!!  Oh well, I guess the ride was some level of entertainment so that’s fair.

The pub was welcoming and the server was nice and helpful.  We started out with beer and I must say that the northern reaches of our province could do with some craft beers.  All we can find in liquor stores and pubs is ‘big brewery’ (what we call ‘hoser beer’).  The best we could do was Rickard’s Red, so we settled in and began quaffing.  We chose to start with an appie – calamari – which can be hit or miss at the best of times.  This was definitely a hit!  Moist, crunchy – not chewy – and came with 2 dipping sauces.  Once that was eaten to the last crumb we ordered more beer and the main courses.  Bruce opted for the fish tacos which came 3 strong and were filled with yummy portions of nicely seasoned fish and other goodies.  I got a special of a bleu-cheese filled burger with deep-fried battered jalapenos on top.  To die for!  Add some sweet potato fries and I was hooked.

After a few more beer, the bartender drove us back to our RV … a much more uneventful ride than the first … and we called it a night.

Post update:

As far as we can ascertain, Jackfish Dundee’s is no longer in business, the owners closing the doors after 17 years in business Oct 16, 2015 .