All right already, I’ll review Cranberry’s!
2:47 pm | 3 Comments » |
I’ve had about half a dozen people e-mail and ask me to review this relatively new restaurant. I think Cranberry’s has been located in the Fairview Inn in Bridgewater for a year or more, but as far as restaurants go, that’s pretty new. I’ve gone 3 times. I’ve never reviewed it because my first visit, I ordered wrong. I should have read from the menu that I wouldn’t care for it. I didn’t feel it was fair to give them a poor review because of my poor judgment. The other time I went I had a spinach salad with chicken and cranberries. The salad was good but I like a more acidic dressing.
But this time, I went for the Create Your Own Salad. Kind of a genius idea, I think. Basically they found a niche of people who like eating a light lunch and catered to them.
The Create Your Own Salad works like this: You select your salad ingredients from a little list on your table. Choose a fresh lettuce base from four different varieties of greens. Then choose 6 items to top the lettuce. Things like pear, artichoke hearts, blueberries, walnuts, feta cheese, and cucumbers. There are 40 things to choose from, but what I listed are the ones I had. You have a choice of 12 dressings and for a fee you can add smoked salmon, grilled or jerked chicken, even lobster. I added shrimp which were outstanding. You can have it wrapped or add freshly baked bread. I chose neither.
I love this idea. It allows you to be creative. We’ve all had a salad where there was one ingredient that we left on the empty place. For me that’s red onion. I love red onion but not at lunch. I will say that given the choice, I would’ve probably added Blue or Goat cheese as instead of Feta but it wasn’t listed.
My bill was $16.00 plus tax. That included my wine and a cup of coffee. Pretty respectable I think. Plus we spent our lunch on the back deck by the pool. There was a welcoming breeze and no evidence that we were on busy Queen Street in Bridgewater.
If you love salad, create your own, but have dessert. My only regret was not ending with chocolate. A chocolate dessert should be mandatory with a salad.
3 Comments »
July 11, 2008
Synergy- Bridgewater’s Best Kept Secret
11:34 pm | No Comments » |
Here I am at 11:30 on a Tuesday. It’s like most Tuesdays at 11:30 and I’m absolutely famished. I always have great intentions to throw together a sandwich in the morning, but time escapes me.
I decided to go to Synergy. It’s my new favourite place for a sandwich. Synergy is a little café in the Bridgewater Plaza that fills a need to feed office workers and passerbies in the building. They also sell workout clothing and it ties into the theme of active lifestyles, healthy food. It’s more of a take-out sandwich bar that does allow for a bit of seating.
The menu is very small. They have a few different sandwiches, a soup of the day, they do fruit smoothie, some healthy muffins and Quest coffee. Their sandwiches are served on Lahave Bakery, cheese and herb buns, cracked-wheat bread or for a less “bready” option, you could have a wrap. Their sandwiches are served with a choice of tortilla chips and salsa or a small salad.
Today I decided to have their Greatest Loser Wrap, which ties into the weight loss contest next door at Heat Studio. It was chicken, roasted vegetables, hummus and honey mustard with a bit of cheese, wrapped and toasted. It was delicious and served with a small salad (more like a big garnish). I gave 6 dollars to pay for the meal and got change back. That’s how inexpensive it is.
I love how responsible this little café is. They could probably muck up their sandwiches with a bunch of processed meat. I’m sure they could charge $5 for a chocolate brownie and sell hundreds. But instead they serve only healthy, whole products. They stick to the basics and it seems to work, as there is almost always a line up when I go in.
One thing I notice even more than the incredible smells is the fact that this seems to be a place where friends gather. Some people are in suits as they are working, and others are in their workout clothes having just come from Heat Studio but they have one thing in common; the love of a great sandwich.
No Comments »
June 23, 2008
Floored at Fleur De Sel
10:18 am | 6 Comments » |
Recently a friend told me that Fleur De Sel serves brunch. I could barely contain my excitement. Admittedly, I don’t know all there is to know about food, but when it comes to brunch, I feel that I’m a qualified judge. I have eaten brunch at every restaurant on the South Shore that serves it. From hungry mans breakfast at the Platter House to French Toast at Trettoria Della Nonna, and everywhere in between, there’s nothing I love more than a great breakfast.
I’ve never eaten at Fleur De Sel, but I have always wanted to. The stars just never lined up. I’ve read about it, I’ve had friends dine there and it all just further tempted me.
So this Sunday morning my drive to Lunenburg was a bit different than most. I felt like I was going to a big event or a gallery of sorts. I chose to sit outside which was a delightful surprise. In my opinion, Fleur De Sel offers the most beautiful outdoor dining on the South Shore. The courtyard is lined with trees and lovely flowers. Tables are joined by a path of cobblestones, which would be perfect for a game of hopscotch if you felt so inclined.
The menu for brunch is extensive but my eyes narrow in on the Valley cured bacon and spinach benedict. I love anything with hollandaise sauce but it must be the real stuff. It always amazes me just how many restaurants serve fake hollandaise and think they’ve fooled us. I’ve written on blackboards with things that taste less chalky than some of the hollandaise sauce I’ve had. Needless to say, I was expecting the real deal at Fleur De Sel, and they did not disappoint. Velvety home-made hollandaise sauce tops perfectly poached eggs on freshly wilted spinach and sautéed bacon on toasted English muffin halves. I was unsure of how I’d feel about the spinach and the bacon together, but it was a welcoming combination. The freshness of the spinach was a great balance against the saltiness of the bacon. Plus the bacon was diced making it easier to eat. It was served with a fresh fruit salad and sautéed potatoes and onions, real potatoes. Again, you’d be surprised at how many places serve frozen McCains. My guests have Brioche French Toast and I had a taste. It was so good I was tempted to order it for dessert however I was really very full.
Our server was incredibility warm and friendly, kind of like your favorite cousin. Sensing my intrigue, she brought me the dinner menu. It looked really interesting and aside from the Foie Gras, there is nothing that I wouldn’t order. And it’s all surprisingly affordable. Certainly not for everyday, but comparable to what you’d pay at fine-dining restaurants on the South Shore.
And what a surprise- my brunch was $12. Yes, the real potatoes, fresh fruit, poached eggs, cured bacon and real hollandaise sauce was $12. The brioche French toast was $9 which was also served with a fresh fruit salad. If anyone thinks that you must be wealthy to eat at Fleur De Sel, I can attest, I have paid more for far less.
And probably the most impressive thing of all is that there was not one thing at our table that couldn’t be reused, except what was left on our plates, which was very little and is compostable. No coffee cream containers, sugar packages or plastic thingies. The maple syrup and cream were all served in adorable little bowls and pitchers. Had I brought a bigger bag they may have left with me. To me, that’s a big deal. It proves they care.
Fleur De Sel is my new favorite for brunch and my next quest for dinner.
Bon Appetit
M
6 Comments »
June 15, 2008
The Cheesecake Gallery, Beautiful Art and Food
9:22 am | 3 Comments » |
This evening I invited friends to join us at the Cheesecake Gallery in Mahone Bay. They’d never been before and after hearing my choice of restaurant, protested they weren’t in the mood for cheesecake or art. I explained that great food is offered in a gallery-like setting, as well as offering delectable cheesecakes for dessert, hence the name. But admittedly the name has baffled me a time or two.
None-the-less we all head out for our dinner. The atmosphere is charming. Vibrant art surrounds us in a bright airy room. And probably some pieces that you’d find in a kindergarten class, but as I always say, different strokes for different folks.
We start with a shrimp boat and mussels, which were beautiful. The mussels were served with 3 pieces of bread, which was odd, since we had 5 people at the table.
I had the cob salad which had grilled chicken (both warm and juicy), shrimp (again grilled, warm and delicious), fresh avocado, corn, red onion and chunks of blue cheese on a bed of greens. The dressing, whatever it is, is subtle, letting the ingredients of the salad speak for themselves. It was a delight to eat. Someone in my party had the steak, which was topped with blue cheese and caramelized onion and served with green and yellow beans and potatoes wedges. I had a small sliver as my friend refused to give up much of it, and I don’t blame them. It was incredible. We were far too full for the cheesecake for which the restaurant was named.
Our server was adorable. She was engaging, charming, offered suggestions and affirmation of good choices. My bill for 2 appetizers and 2 meals was $70- more than reasonable given the quality of the food.
I can offer no criticism except for the 3 slices of bread for 5 people. A happy coincidence however, had I had the bread I wouldn’t have been able to clean my plate. One thing that I would like to offer up, not only to the Cheesecake Gallery, but to all restaurants on the South Shore is this: It’s officially the summer. Your season is short-lived. Businesses everywhere are feeling the pinch of fewer tourists. It doesn’t become dark until later. You might want to consider serving dinner past 8 pm on a Saturday night. That’s just my opinion. What do I know? But I’ve been asked on the streets by people desperate to eat and spend money, just where they can eat past 8 or 9 pm. I hang my head and suggest Tim Hortons. While they have great sandwiches, it’s not quite what they’re looking for.
Bon Appetite
M
3 Comments »
April 21, 2008
Great Expectations.
9:57 pm | 9 Comments » |Tonight, I have a date with Trattoria Della Nonna. As I get ready I’m feeling like I’m going to the prom. Although this evening I’m sure I’ll be satisfied. My palms are sweaty and my heart is racing in anticipation of very good food. I feel like a big hockey fan going to see his favorite team, or a Josh Brogan fan holding VIP tickets. Usually I have a plan of what I will likely order before going to dinner. I either have a hankering for fish, red meat or something comforting like pasta. Tonight- I got nothin’. I’ve already had the salmon, halibut and the steak. They were all unspeakably good. So satisfying that I would have them all again, but I might like to try something new. And what if they’ve changed the menu? No need to panic. I apply another layer of deodorant just in case. There is only one big problem. Tonight’s dinner runs the risk of not coming close to my expectations. Again, very much like the prom.
With not a buoy or fish net to be seen, when you walk into this Italian restaurant you feel like you’ve left the streets of Lunenburg and enter Venice Italy. I’ve never been to Italy before, but I imagine this is what a restaurant there might look like. I feel like I’m greeted by a friend, a very good-looking friend. Good call on the extra deodorant. As if deciding on dinner wasn’t going to be hard enough, I have a choice of three beautiful levels from which to sit. The top level is closest to the brick oven where they make their pizza. I decide that I didn’t want pizza tonight, and sitting too close to the amazing smell might weaken my resolve. The bottom level, while cozy, is removed from all the action so I opt to sit in the centre level. Besides, I will check out the bottom level when I go to the washroom, which by the way, is like a gallery.
I start with a glass of red wine. I couldn’t tell you the name because it was far too difficult to pronounce. It was a Merlot, third one from the top and seven dollars. Fresh oven baked flat bread is brought to the table with oil and fragrant balsamic vinegar. I knew this bread was coming and that’s why I opted to not have an appetizer. But if I were to have one, I’d have the Caesar salad. It’s unlike any Caesar served on the South Shore. A grilled head of romaine drizzled with an authentic Caesar dressing and real Parmesan cheese. I can imagine that real Italians start most meals this way. Then I have the salmon with leek risotto and zucchini caponata. Really terrific! The salmon is done to perfection. The food is presented beautifully and well thought out. If you don’t like your food to touch, you might want to tell your server ahead of time, or maybe you could overlook that detail just this once.
I eat every last morsel on the plate even thou I’m completely stuffed. I know if I don’t it will haunt me tomorrow. Dessert isn’t in the cards for me, but I order a cappuccino and a spoon to try my guests tiramisu. I don’t even like tiramisu but love this.
My bill is reasonable. I mean I’ve paid more at a pub for steak and beer… domestic beer!
I sit back in my comfy chair and look around. People are jovial, the staff is having fun, corks are popping, and the smells are aromatic. It’s exactly as I picture a trattoria in Italy. I’m trying to be critical. I think you’ll never believe that I can be a critic if I don’t criticize. So in an effort to be authentic, I do have a criticism of Trattoria Della Nonna. The door to the outside, when it opens, gets a bit drafty. Even that they’ve tried to minimize with a screen.
That’s it, that’s all I got! Well, that and I would love to see a table in the corner filled with an Italian mob family like the Sopranos planning their next hit.
I’m a lot older and a bit wiser than I was at the prom, but this evening I ended feeling very satisfied.
9 Comments »
March 31, 2008
Choice, time, cost, check!
2:20 pm | 5 Comments » |
I recently had colleagues come from Halifax and offer to take me out to lunch. Who am I to turn down a free meal? Seeing as they were fronting the bill, I thought it was only fair that they pick the restaurant. I listed all the restaurants in Bridgewater. They wanted something familiar and Boston Pizza was the only one they had past experience with, so off we went for Exit 12.
I require different things from lunch than I do from dinner. It obviously must be satisfying, but it must also be under $15 and offer choice. The most important requirement however, is that from ‘sit my bum down to get my bum up,’ must be no more than 50 minutes. I think this is a reasonable time frame. That way I still have 10 minutes travel time to and from work to make for a modest lunch.
The great thing about Boston Pizza is that there are no surprises. It looks very similar to all the other Boston Pizzas. Of course, that’s the point. Having a business meeting and not liking your food, or having an obnoxious server can be a deal breaker. We sit down to a pleasant server and look over our menus, which resemble a short story. There was a lot of choice, but we really didn’t need it. We all knew what we were going to get. While the ribs on the menu were very tempting, I couldn’t do ribs for lunch. That is, not unless I have beer. Then I’d have to have a nap.
I love salads for lunch, but even with salads I have requirements. The lettuce, tomato and cucumber salads of yesterday are gone forever. My favorite salads have a fruit, a cheese and a nut on a bed of some kind of a green. Boston Pizza has a couple different salads, but I order the Taco salad, as I am in the mood for guacamole.
After lunch I order tea, but wish I’d ordered coffee, as it smells great. My tea is fine. The tea is served in it’s own ceramic pot. Before you question its relevance, you should first understand my hatred for the tin teapot. They never pour right
I don’t know what my lunch would have cost because my wonderful guests paid, but adding it up in my head, I estimate that it comes to just under $15 including a tip (I usually give the tax). And from ‘sit my bum down to get my bum up,’ would have been 50 minutes, but we sat and yacked for another 20 minutes.
I need to talk washrooms for a minute, as they are important and sometimes overlooked. Sure, these bathrooms are clean and spacious. More importantly, they have paper towel. I can’t stand the hand dryers sometimes found in restaurants but mostly in malls. I’m sure environmentalists around the world will start sending me hate mail, but I don’t care. If you’re not going to give me choice in how I dry my hand and offer only those awful hand blowers, the respectable thing you could do is supply me with some moisturizer lotion to repair the damage from the dryer.
Boston Pizza filled my lunchtime criteria. It was fine, good even. It wasn’t ‘knock my socks off,” but, if you can recall, ‘knock my socks off’ is not one of my lunchtime requirements. Boston Pizza got a virtual check in all of the virtual boxes and bonus points for paper towel and real teapots.
Bon appetite
M
5 Comments »
March 17, 2008
The view has changed. The chowder has not!
2:29 pm | 3 Comments » |
For months I’ve been anxiously awaiting the Salt Spray Café And Chowder House to rise from the ashes after the devastating fire. Because I have always been a huge fan of their chowder, I decide to go back in hopes that their chowder recipe was not destroyed along with their location. Nothing satisfies me more than a good chowder jam packed with stuff. Shrimp, scallops, salmon, lobster, oysters, nothing is off limits. I do however, caution the over zealous potato chef. I don’t mind potato in my chowder, but if they exceed the seafood 2:1 it’s no longer on the Zone diet. I love both tomato based broths and cream, but it must be creamier than 2% milk.
While The Salt Spray Cafe may no longer offer it’s guests the incredible view of the Mahone Bay harbour, I suggest you try to overlook that.
The old Salt Spray once had a missed-matched unpretentious charm, and I wondered how they would be able to replicate it. It’s cozy, still unpretentious, and just a bit ‘matchier’. The room in the back has a nautical theme, which is cute. Tourists will love it and this will solidify their belief that all locals fish.
The menu has changed somewhat. While it still has a lot of the old favorites like turkey dinner, they’ve added quite a bit. I have to admit, when I read deep fried food on a menu, I tend to… yawn. It’s just so predictable. You can get deep fried food almost anywhere. But as I read the words “deep fried clams and fries”, my heart starts to race slightly in excitement. I resist the temptation as I’ve come for the chowder, but I’ve made a mental note to come back to review them later. A neighbouring table got the clams and they look unbelievable! I believe I see they are served with home cut fries and I wonder if it’s too late to change my order.
The chowder is just as I remember it, creamy and full of stuff, and not the starchy variety. None of the seafood is overdone, which is often the case in chowder. The seafood is bite size and big enough that you can tell what you’re eating. The only thing that could have been improved upon is the roll. I’d rather pay a bit more and get a really good roll or bread. I love that they served butter with the roll. When restaurants serve my bread with margarine I tend to wonder what’s in the food. This is not a critique of the Salt Spray Cafe alone, but please, I beg of you, remove the butter from the fridge at the beginning of dinner hour. Serving a roll with hard butter is almost as bad as serving it with margarine. Almost.
Pies glorious pies. And yes I had one. Not a whole one…just a piece. There is just something about pie that makes you feel good. There is no better way to end a meal. Well, there is, but restaurants no longer allow smoking. You cannot go to the Saltspray and not have pie. It actually is one of the new 7 deadly sins. It’s right there with failing to recycle.
My recommendation: Start with the chowder. Then try the clams (or you’ll think about them until you do), and have a pie. It doesn’t matter which one. Not a whole one, just a piece.
Bon appetite
M
3 Comments »
March 12, 2008
The South Shore’s First Restaurant Review
9:21 am | 6 Comments » |I am now, and will forever be, a foodie. Wikipedia says that a foodie is someone who has an ardent or refined interest in food. While I would never consider myself to be refined, I do have a big interest in food. I love to try new restaurants and I consider myself to be somewhat of an expert in local cuisine. Just for the record, I have absolutely no credentials that make me an expert. My financial advisor would surmise that I spend far too much on fare at our many incredible restaurants. I assure you, Visa appreciates it.
I am not an extravagant person but in university, while my roommates were making elbow macaroni with powdered cheese sauce, I would spend $14 on a beautiful sliver of brie to adorn my Ritz crackers. I loved it. Every bite. And I felt no quilt. Maybe I couldn’t afford toilet paper that month, but damn that Brie was good. I can justify anything when it comes to food. But honestly I don’t believe that one needs to be really wealthy to treat them every now and again.
So I feel that the South Shore needs it’s own restaurant food critic. Not so much in an effort to keep restaurateurs honest, but to give you the consumer great value for your money. If you’re going to spend your evening and cash at a restaurant, there’s nothing more disappointing than coming away feeling…unsatisfied. The purpose of this little blog is not to criticize or belittle our hard working restaurant staff. On the contrary, I’m their biggest fan. My desire is to get you salivating.
Dining on the South Shore has never offered us a better variety. Sure we miss Mimi’s Ocean Grill, but not to fear. With Trattoria Della Nonna entering it’s second season in Lunenburg and an exciting new restaurant in Bridgewater (Cranberries), we have a lot to be excited about. But first we need to set some ground rules.
1- I may not post weekly. Some weeks I may eat at several restaurants while others I may survive on Cheerios.
2- In order to provide a truly honest critic I must maintain complete anonymity! Not because I am well known but because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in fear of what’s been slipped in my food. Therefore, restaurateurs and servers will never know when and by whom they are being reviewed.
3- Because every chef can have an off day, I will not be cruel, but I won’t lie. (I know that sounds bipolar).
4- Obviously my opinion might differ from others. Therefore I can’t take responsibility for your experience at a restaurant, either good or bad.
5- I may review the entire meal, part of the meal or just the coffee. Depends on how good or bad the coffee is.
So the next time you’ll hear from me, I will hopefully have had a great meal and a full belly or a good sense of humour.
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