When it came to opening his own restaurant after working at Vancouver’s Le Crocodile and Lumière, chef Vincent Fraissange had his eyes set on Tofino, the small Vancouver Island town best known for its surfing beaches and ecotourism opportunities.

“I hadn’t even been to Tofino, but I knew there was food in Tofino and a demand for food in Tofino,” Fraissange told the Georgia Straight. “Then when I came up here a couple times and ate out, I was surprised by how good the food was and kind of taken aback.”

Fraissange now runs the Spotted Bear Bistro, one of the many local restaurants participating in Tofino and nearby Ucluelet’s first Feast! event this month, a 29-day series of culinary events. For more info visit the Feast BC website. “We thought we’d do a Dine Around,” Fraissange said, referring to Victoria’s annual event. “So all restaurants do their own stuff, from fish-and-chip shops that do two-can-dine-for-$29 to the Wick[aninnish Restaurant] that does dinner for $49.” Feast! includes weeks celebrating health-conscious salmon, crab, spot prawns, and food and wine, with dozens of classes, meals, contests, and demonstrations scheduled.

The event, which runs from May 8 to June 4, is attracting restaurateurs and chefs from outside Tofino, including Vancouver’s Nico Schuermans from Chambar, Angus An from Maenam, and J. C. Poirier from Campagnolo.

“I think everybody likes Tofino in general,” Fraissange said. “It’s a really good getaway for somebody in the city, and then they see how passionate everybody is here about food.”

Tofino’s fast-growing dining scene is one of the reasons why the Tofino-Ucluelet Culinary Guild was started last year. TUCG connects restaurants, grocery stores, fishers, farmers, and suppliers to make fine Island dining more feasible.

“Basically, shipping out here costs a lot, and a lot of the restaurants were using the same special farmers, fishermen, and foragers,” Bobby Lax, community food coordinator for TUCG, told the Straight. “The trouble was getting it out here and having it dropped off to each restaurant.”

The solution was to have one person source products on the Island and have them delivered to Tofino in one trip, which helped cut down costs. TUCG is also involved in community events, including a Mother’s Day brunch and a monthly cooking class in elementary schools called Grade School Gourmet.

“At any community event, we’re not just serving hot dogs and hamburgers,” Lax said with a laugh. “We want it to represent the talent that we feel we have in the community.”

Tofino’s chefs will have another chance to show off their skills during the Tofino Food and Wine Festival from June 2 to 5. Now in its ninth year, the festival showcases B.C. wines and island farmers and attracts attendees from across the province as well as Alberta and California.

“It’s an outdoor festival in the middle of a rain forest. It’s really the location of the event that’s the main attraction,” organizer Kira Rogers told the Straight, referring to Tofino’s Botanical Gardens. “There’s all these pocket gardens, little nooks where we set up five or six different stations of food and wine. Once you get inside, it’s quite intimate and the food quality that gets put out is outstanding.”

New to this year’s festival is a bubbles event, showcasing B.C. sparkling wines and oysters from Quadra Island and Salt Spring Island. The oysters caught nearby only add to the dining experience of Tofino, where fresh seafood is the focus of almost every dish.

“For a really small community, you’d be surprised by how much good food there is,” Fraissange said. “I’d say it’s pretty close to bar none in B.C. Maybe not; maybe it’s just because I live here, I’m partial.”