The Pointe Restaurant

Four years before the pass

Clayton Fontaine works from the ground up at The Pointe Restaurant in Tofino, where the Executive Chef role grew out of time already spent at the pass. He joined the kitchen in 2019 as Sous Chef, after training at Northwest Culinary Academy and years of cooking shaped first beside his father. By 2023, the progression had placed Clayton Fontaine in the Executive Chef seat, leading a room whose menu has to answer to Vancouver Island before it answers to fashion.

The method is collaborative by necessity. Fontaine brings foragers, fishers and farmers into the rhythm of the kitchen, then lets the latest haul set terms for the plate. His own phrasing is direct: “Working with foragers, fishers and farmers to incorporate their latest bounty into our culinary program is always an inspiration.” At The Pointe, that means leadership built less around declaration than timing, restraint, and the discipline of adjusting to what the coast gives.

Spot prawns, tofu, halibut, lamb

The program moves through Table d’Hôte, a three-course structure, and a seasonal five-course tasting menu, with à la carte work elsewhere in the day. The signature register stays coastal: spot prawns when their short window opens, halibut, scallops, mushrooms, lamb, and a line of vegan cooking that includes fried tofu, teriyaki glazed tofu, avocado rösti, and orecchiette. The kitchen also carries housemade elements, from bread and butter to chocolate croissants and desserts, keeping the bench work visible even when the room is formal.

Fontaine’s cooking is described by its relationships as much as its dishes. He points to “the beauty and quality of what our Vancouver Island region has to offer,” and the menu follows that line without needing to repeat it. A tenderloin can carry sticky shank and dandelion pesto; a brunch plate can turn on sautéed mushrooms, toast, potatoes, greens, and fruit. The technique is not announced as a thesis. It arrives as seasoning, cut, heat, and a plate that still knows where the ingredient came from.

The room at the edge

The room sits inside a striking wooden structure at the Wickaninnish Inn, with floor-to-ceiling glass and 240-270 degree views over the Pacific Ocean, Chesterman Beach, and the surrounding islands. Natural light does much of the first work. Then the dining room takes over, bright and open, refined without losing the rustic West Coast character that keeps the place from feeling sealed off from the weather outside.

Service moves in a formal register, but the room stays conversational. Wine and cocktails carry their own discipline: British Columbia bottles sit beside international selections, and Howard's Wine Cellar holds the deeper part of the program, including over 100 Scotch whiskies. The point is not spectacle. It is proximity, the pass working within sight of Chesterman Beach, and the cellar waiting below in Howard's Wine Cellar.