Kask

Plenty of delicious beer, excellent pub food to go with it at a fair price. Great atmosphere and great service. Good place to go any day if the week. I highly recommend the flights sample all the beers!

I’m going to be tapping into some obscure Jewish folklore on this one, folks; that’s how committed I am when describing the new restaurant that appeared almost out of nowhere.

But let’s get the obvious out of the way, I love, love, love Kask. I don’t care about spoilers, that’s the climax. Rosebud is a sled, it was Earth all along, Jacob’s been dead this whole time, and Kask is probably the best new restaurant to open this year thus far. And rising from the ashes of so many failed restaurants to come before it. I had thought this location was cursed. No less than four restaurants had closed the very same doors that Kask is opening. And the basic arrangement is similar, despite very little being carried over.

The owner clearly has a vision, an artistic eye, and it shows beautifully in the décor, the magnificent solid wood tables with soft yet chaotic lines that I admitted stroking a bit too fondly as to suffer curious eyes from my girlfriend. The reclaimed railroad track under the bar. The rustic but generous beige lighting. It’s creative but more importantly, not intrusive. I’m not fighting against the décor. This is a restaurant, first and foremost. Kask is doing right what so many before it occupying this space had done so wrong.

I had heard claims downtown was cursed, an aura of death over any trendy restaurant attempting to survive. But this is the city center; should it not be the heart? And clearly the boundary between death and truth is a single letter. In Jewish mythology, it’s an “aleph”, in Prince George, it’s a reverse “K”. (Yeah, Kask reverses the first letter)

That’s the golem legend, bringing back what I said from earlier. But for those not proficient in Jewish mythology or who hadn’t see that episode of X-Files, a golem would be brought to life with the inscribing of “Truth” on its forehead, but the removal of a single letter, turned the word to “death”. With that out of the way, and with probably the most jarring tonal shift imaginable, the service in Kask was amazing. Despite the restaurant just opening, like the day of, not a single employee was out of step. We were served by numerous jovial servers. The bartender, a genius, crafted a ten-glass beer flight. The chef forged nearly seven plates of perfection. The menu isn’t large, the servings are small, and the prices are reasonable, with not a single entry over ten dollars.

The Indonesian satay skewers of marinated chicken and toasted coconut with divine peanut dipping sauce. The country pork pâté seasoned with barleywine and allspice and served with warmed French bread and grainy Dijon mustard. But the piece de resistance were the mind-blowing pinchie tacos.

Tacos! Yes, I said tacos. The tacos were incredible. These are not Old El Paso shrink-wrapped hard shells designed to stand on end and hold a cubic foot of ground beef, but soft homemade discs holding pulled mole chicken, garlic aioli, aged cheddar, and pickled red onion. The only possible misstep was the burnt miso butterscotch lathering the Sundae waffle being overly salty. The churros redeemed the dessert.

It’s at this point I should come clean and admit I don’t like beer, having stated numerous times that I believe each bottle is made of at least one-quarter troll ejaculate. I must then concede to my proficient photographer and his praise of his flight. I did appreciate the solid wooden displayer it was served in. I had more than enough words of praise of the food, a menu undeserving for a pub…but that’s because Kask is not a pub. The servers made it clear to point out. The pair of televisions over the bar are bound to play only black & white movies. You will find no Coronas here, no Budweiser or Guinness on tap. Every one of the twenty-three options have personality—good or bad, they will be an experience. This is a tap house, and the options are plentiful. You will find Hoyne, Barkerville, Burnside, Driftwood, and Magic Hit, the latter my friend praised, oddly comparing it to kissing a stripper.

Okay, then.

My single and substantial fear with Kask is their follow-through. Will they keep this up? Will they remain uncompromising. They promise to change both the menu and the taps every month. There are no hallmarks to rely on. And that takes courage. What Kask is doing is audacious, brazen even, and I love that about them. I never want to see them cram tables to increase profit, thus making it impossible to carry a conversation. I don’t want there to be a UFC night. I want it to remain a social environment. I want a proper tap house/restaurant, and Kask is it.

It’s not a pub… if it was, it would destroy its competition. This place is amazing, with one of the best launches I have seen so far this year. Don’t’ screw this up.

Food: 4.5/5

Service: 5/5

Presentation: 5/5

Value: 4.5/5

Recommendation: 5/5