The Anchor 3625 Dutch Village Road It’s just after 7pm at The Anchor. A guy with shaggy hair is behind a microphone “check, check, check”-ing out a quick soundcheck before settling in behind a keyboard as the night’s entertainment. The Anchor seems to pack itself with purpose outside of its basic function as a restaurant, […]
Restaurant Reviews
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Destination, Mappatura
Mappatura Bistro 5883 Spring Garden Road The map that led Terry Vassallo and Simone Mombourquette to Spring Garden Road has had a few twists and turns. Their path included a six-year stop in Lunenburg to run the front and back of house at the beloved Trattoria della Nonna, and a handful of years at Cafe […]
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Picnic packs personality
Picnic at Dart 127 Portland Street Tue-Sat 4-10pm Sat-Sun 10:30am-2pm There is a line in the movie The Haunting—the perfect 1963 version, not the terrible one from the ’90s where Owen Wilson is spoilered in a spoiler with a spoiler—that always makes me think of downtown Dartmouth. When Eleanor Lance, the walking goosebump protagonist, arrives […]
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Steak expectations at The Barrington
There are something like 30 million Google results for how to cook a perfect steak. Oil it, butter it, rub it, rest it, give it a hug and whisper affirmations at it. If anything in this world would ever prevent humanity from forming a hive mind, it will probably be true agreement over correctly eyeballing […]
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Maxim value
I just got back from Los Angeles (brag) and have a newfound appreciation for strip malls. If you’ve been to LA (like I have, brag), you know it is nothing but a series of strip malls punctuated by gas stations, movie studios and Baldwin brothers. Inside those strip malls are some seriously great restaurants. On […]
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Selling the sizzle
Hot Plate: The Sizzling House 1022 Barrington Street Mon-Sat 11:30am-9pm; Sun 12-9pm It’s funny to find hidden gems in a city as small as Halifax. You’d think all our treasures would be easily laid out for us, obvious in the crosshatch of our streets—which, frankly, aren’t exactly thick with dark corners and shadowy alleys. What’s […]
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Shuck’s sea fever
I went to Shuck wanting to love it. Expecting to love it, frankly. But I didn’t. It’s a good restaurant, but even with the creativity and rare-in-Halifax modernist point of view that chef Luis Clavel brings to the table, and as much as it tries to innovate, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel in a way […]
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Holding out for a hero
I was already sitting in the sunshine enjoying the salt-laced citrus tartness of Good Robot’s Goseface Killah when my friend Sarah walked onto their gastroturf with her new puppy, Penny. A puff of curly golden fluff, Penny delighted everybody within two feet of her before rolling around and tussling with a nearby basset hound. And […]
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Highwayman’s a driving force
My first experience at a Basque restaurant was in Barcelona, at the end of a rambling walk through El Born. A couple of barrel-aged voices, low and thick with fermented bravery, bounced off the curve of the narrow alley. Upon rounding the bend, we found two hoary old men, Garnacha sloshing around their glasses as […]
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Ewe oughta know about Black Sheep
If you look at the restaurant community as a family, Black Sheep is by no means the disgraceful brother or ne’er-do-well sister. It is run by a duo of chef-owners, Dave Woodley and John House, who previously worked together at Gio. Gio has long been a bit of a hidden gem, even if some of […]
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That’s a wrap
When I’m looking for a quick fix of salt air, beachy vibes and summertime snacks like fish and chips and soft serve in a classic, postcard-perfect Nova Scotia atmosphere, Fisherman’s Cove is my go-to afternoon trip. The boardwalk is a never-ending delight with squawking soaring gulls chased by soppy-pawed dogs, scrappy fishing boats and sunny […]
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Mad about Mateus
Mateus Bistro beckons, bright and orange, on Main Street in Mahone Bay. It’s a bright exclamation point on the end of a meandering observation, a dawdle of a drive down along the Lighthouse Trail as it wraps itself around the curves of the coastline. The south shore was made for summer. Fishing villages sit tucked […]