The good folks behind Hanks have secured the 750 sqft unit right behind them at 1001 Douglas Street in downtown Victoria. That might sound like a tiny space but it’s about twice the size of Hanks. With it, owner/chef Andrew Mavor is planning to open a new, 30 seat restaurant called Nowhere.

They took possession of the little spot on March 23rd and hope to have it open before the third week of May. The photos Mavor sent over show the raw space, but if you put your imagination hat on you might see the pair of booths that seat 6 people, the three tables that seat 4, and the six bar stools that oversee that cooking. Knowing the spirit of Hanks, I think we can also expect a ‘no reservations’ policy, loud (but good) music, endearingly bullshit-free service and a near-total dedication to scratch cooking.

I extrapolate thus because the concept, Mavor tells me, will be similar to Hanks, minus all the meat. Expect big, bold flavours, uncommon and undersung seafoods, and lots of vegetables. “We are going to have a small menu of 10 items that we can get year round” Mavor says, adding that the dishes will change every few months but the proteins will largely stay them same. There will also there be a list of daily specials. Here are examples of some of the dishes we might see…

Side stripe shrimp, nduja and hefeweizen butter, aged farmhouse and olive oil biscuit

Dungeness crab and pig head cake, tomatillo, habanero emulsion, escabeche

Roasted trout, fermented sauerkraut cream, pommes dauphine disk

Savory clams, white verjus and roasted garlic sage butter

Octopus ragu, ground octopus, tomato, pecorino, chili, egg yolk pasta

Ricotta gnocchi, straight from Italy burrata, charred scallion, pancetta, white wine and hazelnut

The bar will pour from four beer taps, an ever-changing wine list of about 20 bottles focused on the Pacific Northwest, and a cocktail card of nearly a dozen drinks anchored by new world spirits.

Hours are being set as Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm until 10pm. Take a look at the build process so far…

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