Halifax Recommendations

[merlin]

Chromedome:

Enjoyed reading your Halifax posts..unfortunately that trip back east fell through so will have live vicariously through the posts of others who are more fortunate.

Maples surprised me. I know that they had been closed when we visited a few years back. I thought it had had something to do with a fire. In any event they were open when were actually in Hlfx. By that time Micheal Smith was long gone. We had a good meal in their multi-tiered dining room and had thought that they were putting the final touches to a wine bar in the entrance area.

A lot of fine dining [unlike when I lived there in the late '70'...mind you I would not have been doing any fine dining back then apart from a "Midtown steak" <?>, an order of fried peps and a cold Moosehead...the original red label not the Moosehead Special, etc. etc.]...can you believe that they are going to put a high rise where the Midtown currently operates incorporating a "new" Midtown?

The Iona area is beautiful. I recollect early visits to Cape Breton in the '60's where a lot of the "older" folk spoke gaelic fluently and even later on when one visited the senior' residence in Baddeck for example.

Do you have good recipe for molasses cookies? One of the fondest memories of my godmother who lived in Cape Breton were the "care packages" of molasses cookies that she mailed to me when a student at Dal and then later when I moved to Alberta. The reference to the Highland Village brought it back as I bought one there.

Are you in the restaurant trade out here in Alberta now that you have left the Maritimes? If so, where?

[jayhay]

I agree with your recommendation of Halliburton House, Chromedome. We stayed there on our first trip, & are going to be there this time as well. Perfect location & nice rooms. Haven't eaten there yet, but maybe this time.

[reverendtmac]

...can you believe that they are going to put a high rise where the Midtown currently operates incorporating a "new" Midtown?

Oh my sufferin' Christ.

I'm finally moving back home in September, and this is the reception I get? Two and a half years in Regina dreamin' about gettin' a jig's dinner there, and...and...

...well, as long as O'Leary's is still goin' in Saint John and they don't close Tom's on Spring Garden, I'll survive, but...that is really, really sad news

[chromedome]

That was a real kidney shot for me, too. I wasn't at the Midtown more than once or twice, but knowing it won't be there anymore (even worse, that there will be some ghastly travesty of a "new Midtown" in its place) is a bad jolt. How the hell do you replace the smell of a half-century of stale beer and cabbage?

(For the non-cognoscenti, the Midtown is a classic example of a pre-Archie Bunker style corner bar, not nearly classy enough to be called a pub. They pour lots of beer and serve blue-collar food in an unmistakeably "coveralls and workboots" atmosphere.)

Reverend, I feel for you. I spent two years in Regina in my late teens. It was the longest decade of my life.

Oh, and an important point about fine dining in Halifax, which I'd forgotten to mention earlier. Whether it's our Scottish heritage or just old-fashioned frugality, $30 CDN (about $20 US, depending on the exchange) seems to be the "hard ceiling" for entrees in Halifax. Michael Smith was able to charge more...for a while...as was Bacchus at the Sheraton...for a while...but $30 seems to be the price at which people stop coming.

A nice bonus for our south-of-the-border friends.

Merlin: I know what you mean about eating well in Nova Scotia in the 70's. I was a kid then (I'm 40 now) and when I was growing up, there were only about five vegetables known to homo NovaScotianus: potatoes, turnips, carrots, cabbage, and onions. There were peas and beans, of course, but peas came in a can and beans were dried. Zucchini and broccoli were strange and exotic things which might perhaps be found in an ethnic store.

And yes, I work in the restaurant business here in Edmonton. I worked long part-time/short full-time hours at the Unheardof during my schooling at NAIT; and now that I've graduated I'm dividing my time between full-time hours at the downtown Sunterra Market and part-time evenings and weekends at Unheardof.

That amounts to three days off per month, give or take (not allowing for stat holidays) but I'm rather enjoying the notion of having four paydays a month. Helps pay down those student loans, and all.

Perhaps on Monday I'll open up a "week in the life" thread; we've had a few of these work blogs lately and I've found them interesting.

[chromedome]

Throwing my two cents' worth into your new Newfoundland thread reminded me that I'd neglected to mention a few worthy artisan bakers to check out in Halifax.

Boulangerie la Vendeene is located in Mahone Bay on the South Shore, but comes to town for the market at the Brewery on Saturdays. Their breads are all organic, and very old-country in style (Marc is an old-country French-trained boulanger). I've had most of their breads, and they're very good.

Didier Julien, another French boulanger located on the South Shore, has two permanent outlets in Halifax. One is on Dresden Row, just off Spring Garden; the other is in the Hydrostone Market in the North End (just blocks from my former home, and a stone's throw from the current Keith's brewery). Julien's has decent coffee and Euro-style pastries, as well as the breads.

The Ginger Bread Haus, in the South End (a few minutes' walk from Halliburton House or the Granite Brewery) is owned and operated by a former instructor from the Culinary Arts faculty at the NSCC. They specialize in Mittel-European pastries and European-style coffees. It's a good 'un.

Oh, and on the subject of coffee I'll mention Java Blend Coffee Roasters, just north and west of the Commons on North St. They were my favourite place to buy coffee when I lived in Halifax. They've been family-owned since 1938, with the third generation currently acting as roastmaster and a fourth generation now in incubation. They roast their coffees in small batches, daily, and offer organic and/or fairly traded coffees which will knock your socks off. This is their website. Their organic dark blend was my standard daily dose, but I've also enjoyed about half of the coffees in their line (they've expanded the line greatly since I moved away).

They are Greek, so expect some triumphant Euro 2004 memorabilia.

Oh, and while my fogbound brain is free-associating, the Bluenose laundromat is just a couple of blocks from Java Blend. George and Maria (also Greek) are the sweetest people. The Bluenose is a little community, where everybody knows everybody else. If you're going to need your clothes washed, where else would you take them but the city's best laundromat?

[jayhay]

Amazing suggestions...everything from jig's dinner to laundromats!