For many aspiring food entrepreneurs, the biggest obstacle to turning a family recipe into a business isn’t a lack of ambition, culinary skill or even customers. It’s finding somewhere to cook. Or at least, cook legally. While Nova Scotia’s farmers’ markets are filled with entrepreneurs selling everything from traditional international dishes to locally inspired specialty […]
Mark DeWolf
Mark DeWolf has been a fixture in the Canadian food and wine scene for more than 25 years.
Posted inFood + Drink
Meet the people behind Nova Scotia’s spirits at Scotian Distillery Festival
A great spirit can tell you a lot about where it comes from. In Nova Scotia, that might mean local ingredients in the bottle, but it also means the choices of the person who made it: what to distill, how to shape it, and when it’s ready to share. On Oct 10, The Scotian Distillery […]
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West Coast Chocolatier Heads East
After years of requests from customers in Atlantic Canada, Vancouver-based Purdys Chocolatier will open locations in Halifax, Dartmouth, Fredericton and Dieppe on Sept. 4. For nearly 120 years, Purdys has operated primarily in Western Canada and Ontario. Maritimers have largely had to order online, travel elsewhere or rely on friends and relatives to bring home […]
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Eliot & Vine Resists Easy Labels
I arrived at Eliot & Vine, located on the corner of Cunard and Clifton Streets in Halifax, on a surprisingly wet summer afternoon. It was the kind of day that makes oysters and a glass of wine feel less like an indulgence and more like a gastronomic shelter. Between 4 and 5:30pm, the restaurant offers […]
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Wild at Heart: Nova Scotia’s Overlooked Superfood
Nova Scotians love to talk about local food and drink. While we fly under the world’s radar in many regards, when it comes to our local food (and, increasingly, drink), the name Nova Scotia carries a certain amount of reverence. I can still remember watching the original Ghostbusters film at the old Oxford Theatre in […]
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The wines I’ll be drinking this summer and why
People ask me about wine all the time, but two questions come up more than any others: What’s the best value? and what’s the best wine for summer? The truth is there isn’t one. Wine doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The same bottle of Bordeaux that thrills me at a winter tasting with fellow wine […]
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Simplicity, generosity, hospitality: Trattoria Vesso’s key ingredients
Walk into Trattoria Vesso on the corner of Hollis and Morris Street in Halifax at lunch and you’ll see exactly what a trattoria is supposed to be. A business meeting unfolds beside a family with young children. A couple shares a pizza while another table passes around antipasti before bowls of fresh pasta arrive. A dock worker […]
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Lofty expectations: A night at Via Condotti
When a restaurant is launched by The Bertossi Group, the hospitality company behind establishments such as The Bicycle Thief, Amano, Il Mercato, Water Polo, Matadora and Pane e Circo, there are certain expectations. When Via Condotti arrived recently, it did so carrying lofty ones. The Bertossi Group does not lack bravado or confidence, and its […]
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Rooted in rural: The Lupin dining experience
There is a particular kind of ambition that rarely announces itself loudly. It does not arrive with sleek dining rooms in major cities or celebrity partnerships. Instead, it appears quietly, often at the end of a gravel driveway, or in the case of Lupin Dining & Pantry, attached to a family home on Nova Scotia’s […]
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Michelle Ashley’s Bakery: sharing a North End secret
There is something quietly compelling about the North End of Halifax right now. It is not just the restaurants that get the big headlines, but the smaller, more personal spaces that feel discovered rather than marketed. Places that rely less on spectacle and more on craft. Tucked into that North End rhythm is Michelle Ashley’s […]
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Public: Walking the café and bistro line
In the light-filled space that once housed Fawn at 1589 South Park Street, Public Café, Bakery and Bar has emerged. According to Shannon Bruhm of RCR Hospitality, the team behind Public, the goal was straightforward: “We wanted to create a comfortable community watering hole where people can drop in for coffee, pastries, lunch, dinner, or […]
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Following a culinary dream with a pinch of Saffron & Salt
For many people who love food and hospitality, the dream of one day opening a space dedicated to cooking, sharing knowledge, and celebrating great ingredients quietly lingers in the background. For Nicola Gillis, that dream eventually took shape in Halifax with the opening of Saffron & Salt, a thoughtfully curated cook shop and cooking class […]
