For highway motorists hurrying to catch a scheduled sailing at Earls Cove, their passage over a land bridge six kilometres south of the ferry terminal takes just a few seconds.
In that fleeting moment, northbound drivers catch their first glimpse of the forested shores of Ruby Lake. Its sun-warmed expanse stretches westward to the salt chuck of Agamemnon Channel. Swimmers surfacing at nearby Dan Bosch Park praise the sweetness of Ruby’s waters.
The roadway’s narrow berm separates the lake from a freshwater pond. Turtle Lagoon’s oblong expanse reaches southeast through lush wetlands toward the Iris and Billy Griffith Nature Centre. An amber sign cautions drivers that Western painted turtles regularly amble across the pavement.
The approach to Ruby Lake Resort—situated in 60 acres of lush vegetation around the lagoon—is an enfolding embrace. By the time a visitor enters the carpark for the La Trattoria restaurant, cultural bearings are loosened.
Remote, romantic and rustic? Cosmopolitan, continental and chic?
The cacophony of artworks that line the property's perimeter provide the answer: it’s everywhere, everything all at once.
In fact, the land bridge between the lake and lagoon is an apt metaphor for a quintessentially Canadian resort with an unmistakably Italian imprint. After celebrating its over 30 years under ownership of the Cogrossi family, its cross-cultural appeal is more pronounced than ever.
When Aldo Cogrossi visited the facility in 1993, he saw nothing but potential. The guest lodges and a greasy-spoon diner, erected over the preceding sixty years, were derelict. The lagoon’s trademark swans had disappeared, victims of poaching.
“The place was like a disaster,” Aldo recalls. “It was for sale that winter and it was so cold. The lake was frozen with the snow. That is what it looked like when I bought it, and I said this is my place, man.”
He was in his late twenties, from Italy’s northern Lombardy region, and spoke only a few words of English. As a volunteer game warden in the countryside around Milan, he had developed an affinity for wildlife.
Apart from a grandfather who was a chef, neither he—nor his brother and parents who joined him in the venture—had any experience running a restaurant. “Some of my friends said, ‘you guys are crazy’,” he remembers.
His parents, Antonio and Gabriella Cogrossi, still live at the resort, and his mother, in her ’80s, oversees the books. His brother Giorgio is still a partner.
Aldo never returned to Italy. His reconstruction and expansion of the resort property began immediately.
The ramshackle restaurant and hotel office got a facelift, using locally-cut timber. Mid-century guest bungalows were supplemented by meticulously-engineered cottages, cabins and tenting platforms. A carpenter and welder who ran a Port Mellon sawmill constructed an amphitheatre for live events. At the structure’s centre is a living 800-year-old Douglas fir.
The resort hosts dozens of weddings, reunions and corporate events each year, and the singer Joni Mitchell has been a regular guest—her artwork adorns the restaurant walls.
Across the highway, where the resort fronts Ruby Lake, Aldo built a park to memorialize his grandmother, Ester Sarti. Bright-coloured rental kayaks and canoes are queued for launch. On a platform nearby, Aldo’s wife Brigit leads yoga classes that overlook the lake’s tranquil waters.
“For me, because I come from Europe, when you hear a rooster in the morning, it’s a sign of life," says Aldo.
He laughs off the rare complaints he’s received about early-morning wakeup calls from the three resident roosters.
Some 150 birds—chickens, turkeys, peacocks—roam in aviaries around the Ruby Lake property.
“Aldo loves his birds,” says restaurant manager Tanya Massullo.
Massullo has been a part of the Ruby Lake family for over 25 years, overseeing the restaurant and their staff. Co-ordinating day-to-day operations and the international staff team is handled by Brigit Cogrossi and newly trained office manager Samantha.
For Aldo, family is the operative word.
“I’m never going to sell this place,” he says. “It’s going to be a legacy. In this place, all the birds and animals depend on us. It’s an oasis. Where do you fi nd another better place than this? You live in harmony with nature. You’ve got your family, you’ve got your food, you eat well and interact with people: here is an education.”
Aldo and Brigit raised three sons on the property, each shouldering the physical demands of resort operations. Their youngest, Paolo (now in his mid-twenties), followed Aldo’s example of culinary self-instruction in the busy kitchens of the La Trattoria restaurant.
“We have to be not just a chef,” says Aldo, “but be responsible for feeding people and also be sustainable. You have to know all the fish and where they come from, and work with a small group of fishermen. Every year, it’s an evolution.”
The restaurant serves authentic Italian pasta and fresh burrata cheese, restocked fortnightly by airplane from a specialty supplier in Vancouver. Aldo's pièce de résistance—marinated wild salmon he smokes over cherry wood, fused with farfalle pasta and tossed in a light cream sauce—has won vocal admirers among the resort’s clientele. The resort’s menu has developed a following among overseas guests who are predominantly from Italy, Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom and China.
Fresh-baked bruschetta (with tomatoes and basil grown in the resort’s thriving greenhouses) pairs with a stunning array of main dishes. Alberta-raised wild boar (served as a tenderloin grilled over open flame) has become one of the restaurant’s signature entreés.
Unsurprisingly, the wine list favours Aldo’s terroirs in his native Italy and vineyards from his adoptive homeland of British Columbia.
The distinctive gastronomy of La Trattoria and its surrounding ecosystem have developed a healthy symbiosis. In June, the resort plans to reprise its Chefs in the Woods extravaganza, a collaboration between Culinary Team BC and Chef Aldo himself. The annual event began in 2015 to provide competitive experience for a dozen fledgling chefs while raising money for nature projects on the Ruby Lake premises.
The bounty and beauty of the area’s wetlands are integral to the resort's vision. Aldo donated dozens of acres to the neighbouring nature centre, which is a project of the nonprofit Loon Foundation (originally known as the Ruby Lake Lagoon Nature Reserve Society).
Perched on the restaurant verandah, guests can witness beavers and otters frolicking in the lagoon.
Despite the Edenic environs, Aldo and his team drive an aggressive program of expansion. The resort’s new canvas-sided glamping units provide a comfortable setting for well-heeled tenting. Expanded washroom facilities will be ready this spring in anticipation of large-scale event bookings.
“We’re upgrading the cabins, building a new road, making the gardens bigger,” says Aldo, sprawled on a coarse-grained wooden seat in the restaurant after regaling lunchtime visitors with tales of the resort’s three-decade transformation. “Every year I think I’m done, but every year I can’t stop.”
Accommodation and dining reservations can be arranged via the Ruby Lake Resort website at rubylakeresort.com.
