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The Coast | News, events, restaurants, concerts and Burger Week for Halifax, Nova Scotia
Home of the Best of Halifax Reader's Choice Awards, the award-winning independent newspaper covers the Halifax news, politics, events, concerts, movies, restaurants, and nightlife scene.
You are the most wonderful type of human being. Although I can’t seem to sum it all up into one word, I can honestly say I enjoy everything about you. Your devilishly handsome bearded face, the way your voice sounds when you sing, your big-spoon cuddle skills, the way you support everything I do, how…
As I was driving down Connaught in my silver Saturn you, an older gentleman, were crossing the street at a marked crosswalk. I was not on a phone, smoking, eating, drinking or playing with my radio. I was, however, blinded by the sun reflecting off the wet and slippery road and panicked already about being…
[Image-1] Lets take a second here to talk about the d-bags who are constantly driving 20 under the speed limit. I know sometimes you may think that it’s your world and hey, we’re just living in it, but some people base the time they leave for work in the morning on how long the commute…
Over the next few weekends, the opportunities to get on top of your naughty and nice lists are pretty endless. You can shop while it’s dark out on Spring Garden, or hit up Black Friday insanity at the malls, or revel in the handmade beauty of one of the city’s killer craft fairs. If you’re…
This was almost a Love, almost. A certain coffee chain just released a new offering, dark roast. As I’m usually a fan of their regular brew I had to try it out. Unfortunately for them I was not impressed. So that night my girlfriend gets home and it turned out she had bought a pound…
You asked me if I went to the concert but I sadly had to say no. I wish I could have said yes, because if I was there I would have seen your smile from across the arena and quickly came over to chat. I am just so thankful for the time I did get…
[Image-1] I spent most of my adult years living in some of the larger cities in the world. Now I live in Halifax and as a pedestrian having walked these larger cities, I understand your plight—fearing for your life against drivers who drive too fast, don’t look where they are going and are generally too…
The band that we will continue to claim as our own into infinity (and why shouldn’t we?), Sloan, come home to the Marquee Ballroom on March 7 in support of their 11th album, Commonwealth. Tickets go on sale Friday, November 28 at 10am, $24.99/$29.99 day of and include all the usual, infuriating, fees. Available at…
[Image-1] We get a lot of press releases during our day. Some of them are useful, others not so much. Presented without judgment or context, this past month’s weirdest releases. Santa’s post office getting busier and busier! Canada Post wants children to believe in a festive arctic wizard, but not that he’d have access to…
Yesterday, Taste of Nova Scotia celebrated our province’s culinary industry and some of the people who make it so darn great with its annual Prestige Awards, which were presented during the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia’s tourism summit. Here are all the beautiful people and places who took home the hardware: Innovative Product of…
To the beautiful woman that was at max plums with her mother after the concert.. We could have talked for hours but it was closing time and you had to go. I can’t get you off of my mind and was hoping that maybe just maybe you would pick up the paper and think of…
Did you ever think that maybe he just wasn’t that into you? —stop complaining about your ex’s and maybe you’ll all be a lot happier
So I enjoy my homemade submarine sandwiches quite dearly. I always heat a half one at a time for 43 seconds in the microwave. This has always worked out well and the cheese comes out nice and warm and not all messy and dribbly. I wrap each half sub individually in cling wrap as I…
[Image-1] My complaint goes out to a certain “news” publisher that consistently prints vulgarities and swear words and then distributes them to places that could have any random child pick it up and read. This does nothing to help our youth, or ourselves. If it is worth printing remove the vulgarity. Also, the section with…
Promoting his upcoming album Take It Home (scheduled for release February 10 via Universal Music), Tom Cochrane is on a cross-Canadian tour at probably the best time of year to drive giant vehicles on the road, mid-February to mid-March. Good news is he’s stopping in Halifax March 6 at Casino Nova Scotia (8pm). VIP ticket…
Thank you not only for your warm smile when I got on the bus but also for checking in with the elderly riders to make sure they didn’t miss their stops. Also for getting off the bus all together to carry off one woman’s walker and then taking her hand and helping her down the…
Just when I was thinking how tired I was of driver, bicycle, and pedestrain bitches in the Coast, I have one of my own! This is directed at one bad driver so the rest of you can take a valium. To the driver of a small navy blue wagon: your driving sucks! On Friday morning…
[Image-1] I’m hoping that the next generation will rebel by rejecting their parents’ generation’s obsession with the so-called smartphones. There are far too many people walking, driving and just plain standing in the way while they selfishly fiddle with their devices. There are also physical issues. I used to work with a guy who was…
The babelicious fashions at Vivacious Vixen Apparel (6092 Cunard Street) will be gracing the racks at a brand-new Dartmouth location in the very near future. Owner, designer and seamstress Brittany Connors, says she chose 86 Portland Street because the area is becoming its own little shopping district. “I have two friends with businesses on Portland,”…
[Image-1] The city should pay a monthly stipend to cyclists, or maybe just offer them some discounts around town. After all, they’re unclogging our roads, promoting a healthy lifestyle and staving off global warming. What we shouldn’t do is force cyclists to purchase a license to ride. That’s what Dartmouth councillor Gloria McCluskey wants the…
[Image-1] A letter to Councillor McCluskey: I was recently informed that you are seeking advice from city staff regarding a potential licensing scheme for bicycles in Halifax. As a resident, voter, and regular cyclist, I must confess that I see this idea as troubling. Cities around the world are working hard to ensure cycling is…
[Image-1] I seen you on the bus a few times and waiting for bus. You always wear earphones and sometimes look grumpy. Most times you are dancing along to your music and look like you have a lots of confidence. I wish you would look at me to see your pretty eyes. I like you’re…
Recently, in an attempt to accomplish some Christmas shopping (if I dare use the C-word) , I darkened the doorway of a certain retail establishment for the very first time. This very successful business caters to a certain physical and spiritual practice that is purported to induce a calm meditative approach to life. Given that,…
Despite the rain last night, I walked three kilometres to the opening of the cinema-inspired art show, Class of ’84, at The Dart Gallery (127A Portland Street), running now until December 7. It rules. 1984 was a huge year for film, owning blockbusters like Terminator, Gremlins, The Karate Kid, Ghostbusters, This is Spinal Tap, Indiana…
Last night’s 2014 Creative Nova Scotia Awards ceremony forged on despite the rain at the Halifax Seaport Market. Hosts Jackie Torrens (writer/actor/documentarian/journalist) and Megan McDowell (comedian) hosted the ninth annual event, where lucky prizewinners took home big bucks (and, you know, the respect of their peers). Scott Macmillan took home the $18,000 Portia White Prize…
[Image-1] The person running into pedestrians in Halifax is a male, in his forties, driving through rush-hour traffic near the end of his work week. He’ll probably hit a woman in a crosswalk who’s between the ages of 21 and 30. That’s averaging out the most recent figures from Halifax Regional Police on vehicle/pedestrian collisions,…
Music has a transformative quality. It’s like time travel. Last night at Sarah McLachlan’s two-act concert at Scotiabank Centre (formerly known as the Metro Centre), I returned to my teenage years, nostalgia-soaked. A time when I quaked with aliveness and felt raw yearning for experience, I wanted the moon, stars and whole night sky to…
Subletters are always a gamble, but in the case of Kent McGuire it was a perfect fit. He became fast friends with fellow Dalhousie student Nikki Richards in 2008, when he moved into a house full of her close friends. It stayed that way for about a year, before Kent finally asked Nikki on their…
[Image-1] It’s been an eye opening six years since musician Nick Halley moved to Halifax in 2008. Between swinging jazz and sacred choral music, Halley has found a musical niche in the Maritimes that’s hard to find anywhere else. On Saturday, Halley is conducting the King’s Chorus in their fifth anniversary performance. With the Chorus,…
Inside the Berman Zebrafish Lab, Jason Berman and his team work to discover new and improved treatments by studying diseased zebrafish cells. It’s a useful tool in trying to design better therapies. “Zebrafish have very similar genes to us and have very similar cells to us,” says Berman. “And they’re also transparent, which means we’re…
[Image-1] A hefty ticket for violating a questionable bylaw has reignited an old Halifax battleground. Recently Justin “Jupiter” Wiles of Berzerker Lion was stapling his band’s poster to a power pole at the corner of Hunter and Cunard Streets when a police officer turned his vehicle around to talk to him. The officer asked him…
[Image-1] Dartmouth teenager Rehtaeh Parsons’ attempted suicide and death drew international outrage, eventually galvanizing public and political action against cyberbullying and sexual assault. She would have been 19 this December. Her mother, Leah Parsons, has shared some of Rehtaeh’s writing and art. The paintings were made in her “darkest moments,” Leah Parsons says, “as she…
Owner Afishionado Fishmongers, 2530 Agricola Street “In travelling, I realized the main connection between people was food, it transcended nations,” says Hana Nelson, who studied international development, and then a master’s in agriculture in Europe, before arriving back in Halifax. Passionate about the purveyors of our food, this fall she opened Afishionado, an small-scale fish…
Founder and former chef, Scanway Catering It was back in 1980 when Unni Simensen opened Scanway Catering. “Everybody called me Mr. Simensen,” she says, laughing. “There weren’t too many women.” Simensen has always been a perfectionist, even when it made things difficult. “I had to get a few things sent from the market in Boston…
Sculpture and painting is perfectly matched in the Michael Lewis exhibit Recent Work: Canvas and Wood. Lewis, a local woodcarver and painter, combines his two loves so well in this eclectic, mesmerizing exhibition. His previous shows in Halifax had a knack for mixing the two different art forms together and this exhibition is no exception.…
Owner, EDNA, 2053 Gottingen Street Owner, jane’s next door, 2053 Gottingen Street Jane Wright got her first job at 13, in grade nine, at Ernie’s Truck Stop on Highway 31. “In a polyester, two-piece, blue waitress outfit with white shoes. It was $1.45 an hour,” she says. Her daughter, Jenna Mooers, also started out in…
Owner and chef, Mary’s African Cuisine, Seaport Farmers’ Market, 1209 Marginal Road and Noblemay Catering Mary Nkrumah has been cooking for over 15 years— taking notes from her mother, a caterer, and then studying culinary at home in Ghana—but for the last seven she’s made a name for herself and her dishes in Halifax. After…
WHO THEY ARE Seamus Erskine, Billy Taylor-Habib and Siobhan Martin brought their Zappa-influenced experimental sound to Halifax from Toronto in November 2013 and promptly recorded an EP, the profoundly prog All Debit No Credit, with Joel Ryerson. Adding Matt Gallant on drums for live shows, The Brood became Casino Nova Scotia’s band-in-residence after winning a…
Baker The Canteen, 66 Octherloney Street “It’s meditative. I think it’s one of the most refined things you can do,” Jessica Best says about baking. “I feel like the measure of a really good baker is consistency in everything you take out of the oven.” Best’s crusty sourdough is, in a lot of ways, a…
In the age of Instagram when everyone thinks they’re a great photographer, why is it still so important to invest in a pro photographer? Hiring a pro takes a lot of the stress off of your day. Professionals are well equipped to not only capture amazing moments and portraits, but have the experience to handle…
Conversationalist (Night Danger) For all its tailored complexity, symphonic nuances and thoughtful studio production, there are primitive elements on In-Flight Safety’s 10-track album Conversationalist, released in September on Night Danger Records and mixed by Gus Van Go in New York (The Stills, Hollerado). The band’s third record appears five years after We Are an Empire,…
Assistant brewmaster Garrison Brewing Company, 1149 Marginal Road “At the end of the day being able to create something that you put in a glass and see someone really enjoy—it’s a pretty gratifying thing,” says Kellye Robertson, who, while still studying brewmaster and brewery management in Niagara, won Garrison’s Ultimate Brew-Off in 2013 and landed…
Best Caterer GOLD Kitchen Door Catering SILVER Certainly Cinnamon BRONZE Scanway Catering Kitchen Door is sure to bring you the right ingredients to make your dream menu a reality—especially the local ones. Chef and owner Patty Howard says, "Kitchen Door Catering has become known for our unique menus, customized to each couple. We really try…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Scorpio (Oct 23-Nov 21) Many people use the terms “cement” and “concrete” interchangeably, but they are not the same. Cement is powdery stuff that’s composed of limestone, gypsum, clay with alumino-silicate and other ingredients. It’s just one of the raw materials that is used to make concrete—usually no more than 15 percent of…
Photographer and food stylist kellyneil.com In just over five years, Kelly Neil has come out of seemingly nowhere to become one of Nova Scotia’s favourite food photographers. “I am fuelled by learning,” she says. “I don’t have any formal training and every time I pick up my camera, set up lights, move a piece of pasta…
What inspired Make Merry Events? Hours spent poring over life’s beautiful details lured Jillian into the world of weddings, where the table settings, meals and garments are always lovely. Many of the whimsical things she found weren’t available to rent in Halifax. Krista and Jillian have been good friends for many years, perhaps in part…
Q I am a 30-year-old trans guy, on T since college, happy and comfortable with my sexuality. However, I can’t find any helpful health info on a fetish I’ve developed: I insert needles directly into my clit, maybe an inch and a half in. I’m not talking through it, like a piercing, but into it,…
Chef de cuisine, enVie, 5775 Charles Street You could call Lauren Marshall a Top Chef contestant. A vegan chef. A teacher. A holistic nutritional consultant. There are a lot of things that make her an incredibly creative force in Halifax’s food scene, but she’s not into labels. “What I love about what I do is…
The “it’s five o’clock somewhere” sentiment rings true at Obladee (1600 Barrington Street) these days—you no longer have to count down the minutes until 4pm for the doors to open here. After four years in the game, the downtown wine bar decided it was time to make a change, and amping up its menu to…
If Myles had not been in the basement listening to the pseudo-sitcom ridiculousness going on upstairs, he might have seen what some of the roommates looked like in the flesh for the first time ever. He would have caught Sarah and Gertraud in a real unanticipated bonding moment, the kind of relationship-strengthening exercise that only…
Managing director Devour! The Food Film Festival As a teenager, Lia Rinaldo got a job at the legendary Wormwoods Dog & Monkey Cinema, which led to the Atlantic Film Festival. “All of a sudden I blinked and 20 years had passed. It was a life in film and I never really planned on it,” she…
I’m paranoid about stress-related breakouts. Leading up to my wedding day how can I prepare my skin to look its very best? Water, water, water! So important. Staying hydrated is number one. Breakouts usually happen—most women are under a lot of stress the final days leading up to the wedding. If a breakout were to…
This time last year, Time published a cover feature titled Gods of Food that came under major fire, and rightly so, for its serious lack of women. It’s “pantheon” listed 13 “gods,” nine of which were men or groups of men, and its international chef family tree was 100 percent pure dude. In response, Eater…
Owner The Wooden Monkey, 1707 Grafton Street and 40 Alderney Drive “It was an a-ha moment,” Lil MacPherson says. When Hurricane Juan struck Nova Scotia, a storm of concerns about food security hit her hard. “To me the very foundation of business, life, a province, a country is to make sure you have enough food…
1.White O’Hara Garden Rose: There is something about the O’Hara Garden Rose that makes my heart skip a beat. I love its soft, romantic look and that it has the slightest hint of blush. This is the biggest, showiest bloom of the bouquet. I generally make my garden-style bouquets with a definite front and like…
Manager and server Morris East, 620 Nine Mile Drive A lot of people say that the secret ingredient to any great recipe is love, but for Jennie Dobbs and her Morris East restaurants, the secret to greatness just might to be Amber MacLean. With a decade of experience as a server under her belt, MacLean…
Owner and manager, Le Bistro by Liz, 1333 South Park Street Liz Ingram-Chambers gets emotional when she talks about Le Bistro. “It’s my way of taking care of people, my way of making people happy.” After entering the scene as a server in college, she fell for the industry and the relationships she built with…
“I spent a lot of time with Barbie dolls as a kid and I think this is just an extension of that,” laughs Melanie Peters, owner and curator of Halifax’s newest source for wedding attire, Honeybee Vintage Bridal. “I think I had more clothes than I did Barbies. And all I did was change them,…
Owner and chef Dharma Sushi, 1476 Argyle Street Ami Goto was hired as a server at Dharma Sushi five days after she arrived from Japan in 1998. It was her first foray into restaurant life and, in the beginning, just a way to pay her bills. Flash forward a few years and her boss, Hideki…
Owners, Made With Local, madewithlocal.ca It didn’t take long for co-workers/gym buddies Sheena Clark and Kathy Cooper-MacDonald to take their friendship to the next level and become badass business parters, snowballing their “wouldn’t it be cool if” idea into Made with Local. They’ve gone from making granola bars for farmers’ markets in lobster pots in…
The picturesque ceremony marrying Sheryl Chisholm and Matthew Quinn on the Crystal Cliffs beach in Antigonish was 12 years in the making, longer if you count the fact that the couple met when they were only children. A few months after their 10-year anniversary, well ahead of the commitment curve, Matthew proposed on a sunset…
Pastry arts instructor, NSCC A pastry chef since 2002, Annaleisa Scigliano trained at NSCC before working at restaurants like Fox Harb’r Resort and Gio. Since 2012 she’s been teaching baking and pastry arts at NSCC’s Kingstec campus in Kentville. “I always felt like I was training anyways when I was working,” she laughs. She credits…
Food writer and editor 1928-2014 On March 15 of this year, Marie Nightingale passed away after a battle with cancer. The obituary she wrote for herself was “Marie says goodbye.” The legacy she wrote for herself was Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens. You really can’t talk about food or cooking in Nova Scotia, the…
After four years together and two weeks apart, Tassia returned home from a family vacation to find Shawn on one knee with an empty box, “knowing I always wanted to choose my own,” says Tassia. They finally decided on a beautiful ring together, and the couple approached wedding planning much the same way. “Planning was…
Head chef Prince George Hotel, 1725 Market Street Originally from Malaysia, Bee Choo Char has been in Halifax for a little over 16 years. She has spent 15 of them diligently working her way up the ranks at the Prince George Hotel. “I started from the bottom,” she says. “I slowly moved up from prep…
Owner, The Food Wolf, @thefoodwolf Natalie Chavarie isn’t overstating when she says her role in developing food truck culture in Nova Scotia has been a pivotal one. In just over two years with The Food Wolf, Chavarie has done more than bring southeast Asian street food influences into Halifax’s culinary scene. “I see a really…
Love is blind to lobster-style sunburns and high fashion aircasts, or at least it was for Jess Healy and Shauna Neary. The two met while coaching at a hockey camp in 2005, and instantly connected despite any injuries or rosy cheeks. After living in Halifax and Houston then Halifax again, and growing their fur family…
Owner and manager Field Guide, 2076 Gottingen Street One of the best things about Field Guide is talking to Ceilidh Sutherland about the menu. She’s friendly, informed, honest and a true joy to chat with. “My passion is people,” she says. “Learning to talk to people, learning what people want.” Strong entrepreneurial spirits led she…
Owner and chef The Canteen, 66 Ochterloney Street Renée Lavallée seems, at first glance, like a bit of a badass. She’s tiny and strong. She’s loud and she laughs a lot. Her big, fawn eyes are keen and observant. Her mouth slashes into a wicked grin at a moment’s notice. That first impression is wrong,…
Shelly Maynard and Mark Foley mastered the art of meeting in the middle on the first day they met. After arriving on the pier of the Saint John ferry, Shelly and her best friend bumped into Mark—a med school classmate of Shelly’s friend who was waiting on a ferry to Digby—and “it was love at…
Director of communications and events Taste of Nova Scotia For almost seven years with Taste of Nova Scotia, Christine White has been on the ground at almost every food event you can think of, organizing, developing, volunteering, cheering and giving people in the food sector all the support they could hope for. A graduate of the…
Co-owner of The Bertossi Group (The Bicycle Thief, il Mercato, La Frasca Cibi + Vini, Ristorante a Mano) Stephanie Bertossi says it was a fluke that she ended up in the food industry. “I moved to Calgary and I had to get a job,” she laughs. “And I just never looked back.” Since then, she’s…
If jazz drums are Birdman’s major flaw—it’s a short list, and they 100 percent are—the opposite applies to Whiplash, a thrilling drama about a jazz drum student (Miles Teller) under the thumb of a masochistic instructor (JK Simmons). Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, who is all of 29, Whiplash is essentially a two-hander about…
Owner Kwacha House Cafe, 3450 Dutch Village Road You’ll be greeted by instant warm vibes upon entering the lime green building that holds Fairview’s Kwacha House Cafe. That homelike quality has a lot to do with its decor—colourful walls, bright patterns, beaded curtains, cozy seating and African art—but its also a direct result of the…
Co-owner and baker Two If By Sea, 66 Ochterloney Drive “Some people get really excited about fish tacos, I get really excited when I can pay my HST,” laughs Tara MacDonald. Funnily enough, the creator of one of the greatest foods in town, the Two If By Sea croissant, says it takes a lot more…
Remember mumblecore, the film movement that combined lots of earnest conversations, verité shooting style, indie rock and naturalistic performances? Launched the careers of Greta Gerwig and Mark Duplass? Andrea Dorfman was doing mumblecore back in the ’90s, before anyone thought to name it something dumb, with defiantly sincere films that culminated in her debut feature…
Winemaker, Gaspereau Vineyards “The story goes—and it’s true!—that I wanted to become a doctor,” says Gina Haverstock. It was the year 2000. Haverstock started a summer job at Jost Vineyards while studying for entrance exams. “I just fell in love with the idea of winemaking. How different grapes can make different wines,” she says. “I…
The Cake Lady, Seaport Farmers’ Market, 1209 Marginal Road In the Spring, Ingrid Dunsworth—The Cake Lady—met Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. “We had a good conversation and he said he really enjoyed and appreciated how I decorated and how fresh all my cakes looked.” She sent a package to London, and was invited…
