There’s an almost elegant simplicity to what father and son team Leo and George Christakos, are doing with Ace Burger—the bar burger joint feels retro, but is also very forward-thinking. While the other new burger shops in town have all taken on the hip fast food models of chains like Five Guys and Shake Shack, […]
Melissa Buote
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Top 3 of 2012: Edible Matters
“We want to evoke nostalgia,” says Chris Burton, executive chef at Edible Matters. “We try to mix traditions of old with some of the flare of the new, and capture what Nova Scotia is really about.” Edible Matters is like your mother’s kitchen, if your mother was Alice Waters. From family dinners to casual lunches […]
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Top 3 of 2012: Jincheng Chinese Cuisine
Yaeko Kawabata and Michelle Zou are blowing around the dining room of Jincheng in the tailwind of a lunchtime rush. Spicy sauces left in drips and splashes on now empty plates, scattered remnants of a birthday party that hunkered down at one of the big, round tables in the bright dining room, are still floral […]
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Burger’s the word
“No matter what part of the city you live in, now you have a chance to eat a better burger,” says Chris Tzaneteas, co-owner of Flipburger. The Clayton Park restaurant is one of the four players in this year’s great gourmet burger rush, along with Agricola Street’s Gus’ Pub-based Ace Burger Company, Quinpool Road’s chain […]
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Compliments to the Chef
The blank faces of storefronts in a strip mall can sometimes seem like a police line-up: not one of them might be guilty of anything, but as your eyes cruise down the line, you can’t help but feel more than a little unsure. A strip mall might very well be the natural habitat for delicious […]
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Up to Pars
Pars Restaurant specializes in northern Iranian cuisine, serving unique, delicious dishes with exceptional flavour. by Melissa Buote Pars is a small, family-run restaurant with a menu influenced by the typical restaurant fare you might find in Tehran, as well as the home cooking from the northern provinces of Iran that run into the Caspian Sea. […]
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Mix master
Jeffrey Van Horne brings an old-school touch of class to drinking in the city through his posts at The Bicycle Thief and Untitled Eats. by Melissa Buote With his Lindberg-era under-cut and Hercule Poirot-meets-handlebar moustache, rower-turned-bartender Jeffrey Van Horne looks like he fell out of a photo of the Paris Crew and into a lithograph […]
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Muddling through
Made With Love, a Canada-wide mixology competition, hit Halifax this month, bringing a lot of inspired drinks and thoughts on cocktail culture. by Melissa Buote As house music thumped its way around the maze of rooms at The Halifax Club last week, bartenders from around Halifax shook and stirred, muddled and mixed their way through […]
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So you’ve decided to have Katrina Roberts make you a drink
“Start with fresh ingredients and quality spirits,” says Katrina Roberts as she mixes a simple syrup infused with fire-roasted plums into one of Morris East’s signature cocktails, the Nova Libre. Roberts, wine and beverage director at Morris East, has built her reputation on the use of fresh and fragrant ingredients, like spry sprigs of rosemary […]
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Life of pie
Piatto Pizzeria’s char is up to par, but a lighter touch would plant it firmly in Italian trattoria territory. by Melissa Buote As soon as you walk in the door of Piatto Pizzeria, you are welcomed by the gaping, fiery grin of the pizza oven. It’s a show piece that is done a bit of […]
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Use your noodle
Autumn is the perfect time for a restaurant that specializes in soup to come into its own. So I expect that Truly Tasty Ramen & Dumplings is happy to see the leaves piling up on Quinpool Road. Stephanie and I wander into the restaurant for a late evening dinner and are greeted warmly in the […]
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Bright Brea
Here’s the thing about Dartmouth: it isn’t just the little triangle of streets caught up between Alderney Drive and Ochterloney Street. Sure, everybody hearts that part of Dartmouth, but where are the love letters to Woodlawn, Port Wallace and Portland Estates? “Um, that letter must be lost in the mail,” says everybody. OK, not everybody. […]
