Until North America’s massive economic gut popped a button four years ago, fine diners ate in a different league than Haligonians. Living in a reservations-only land of futuristic foods and fantastic ingredients, they spent small fortunes on tasting menus and, compared to the unskilled people who made fast food and the uncouth people who ate […]
Andy Murdoch
Andy Murdoch is an awesome guy.
Posted inFood + Drink
7 under $7
Passage to the Caribbean Am I the only one who finds Caribbean food overpriced? I love it, but how can a plate of curried stew made with cheap cuts of meat often run me up to 14 bucks? Passage to the Caribbean, in the old Starlite Cuisine location on Cornwallis Street, bucks the trend. The […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Ladies who lunch
One granny holds out a plate of uncooked pastries to an audience packed into a small kitchen in St. Andrew’s Community Centre: “In Arabic, we call them orsh boulabl. In English, I don’t know.” Several grannies weigh in: Bird’s Nest! They are called bird’s nests! “My English is no good,” the cook says ruefully. No, […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Welcome to the supper club
What do you think about holding a dinner here one night? Renée Lavallée pitched that to the owners of Dartmouth’s Two If By Sea Cafe a year ago. Neither Tara MacDonald nor Zane Kelsall had professional restaurant experience, but they loved the idea. The rest, as they say, is history. Not only do these three […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Foggy notions
A few years ago, word crept up to me of a chef who held amazing private dinner parties in Hubbards. As his wife worked in television, some of their friends were the media cognoscenti, so stories of these elaborate meals traveled up the shore to Halifax. That’s where Larry Fogg’s reputation started for me. Question […]
Posted inFood + Drink
A fine Habs-it
A true diner—any diner worth its salt—is like a hockey team. Your hockey team. Nothing they do is good enough. The coffee’s always lousy, the eggs are undercooked (again), they burn your grilled cheese, yet for some reason you keep going back. But lord help the critic who pans it. They’ll get an earful about […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Delizioso!
“I have two rules in the kitchen,” Luigi Velocci, president of the Italian Canadian Cultural Association on Agricola Street, tells me. “Use the best quality ingredients, and you have to be authentic. You gotta get San Marazano tomatoes. If you can’t get them, don’t do it. We make out own sausages, pasta and sauce. Same […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
By the books: Seattle Central Public Library
If Halifax Public Libraries CEO Judith Hare had hired Rem Koolhaas to do our library, the diamonds up the arses of people like Herald editors, Peter Kelly and Darrell Dexter would have suddenly gotten much harder. At least, that’s what happened to many folks in Seattle when Koolhaas’ name appeared on the design list for […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
More library lessons learned
Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library Why ask a librarian from rural Nova Scotia for advice? Well, city slicker, because Eric Stackhouse, chief librarian of the Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library, is a few steps ahead of us. His library system, along with a local architect and multiple community partners, are in the homestretch of building a new 16,000-square-foot library […]
Posted inLifestyle
Let’s talk about that elephant in the closet, BC.
When the fabulous Geist magazine published some of the guidelines of “how to talk to dignitaries” written by the City of Vancouver, DIGRESSION: (excerpt from protocols) “As Protocol Host you have the opportunity to promote Van– couver to the dignitary. Take this opportunity to highlight First Nations culture, museums, City history, public art, etc.” and […]
Posted inLifestyle
Four giant todgers?
“Four totem poles rise up,” (pause) “a trifle conspicuously.” Aw, man: a must-read, the Guardian’s brilliant but brutal send-up of the opening night. Yes, we are an earnest bunch sometimes, and the big dicks and faded stars onstage were worthy of a snide, world-weary snicker from London town. Still, it’s pretty rich seeing them take […]