“I just really love making salads and make sandwiches every day for my kids,” says Renée Lavallée of the inspiration behind her sandwich shop The Canteen (66 Ochterloney Street, above her landlords at Two if by Sea) which opens this Monday, March 24.
“I wanted something simple. I want to be able to talk to customers and be able to interact with people. I want to enjoy my job. I’m going to be 40 this year, I think I deserve to have my own way. And after 20 years of cooking I deserve to come in and if iIwant to make a brisket sandwich, than god be it.”
She says the open concept, 20-seater spot will offer an always changing, seasonally-inspired menu of a handful of sandwiches (with all bread and buns made by hand, in-house) and salads and a couple of soups. As the resto develops she hopes to also offer take-away family meals—say spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread and Caesar salad, or a roasted chicken dinner—that people can pick up and bring home.
Above all she hopes to feed off the TIBS energy, and make The Canteen a community hub. “I’ve living in Dartmouth for nine years,” says Lavelee. “I’m excited to work down the street from where I live.”
The Canteen will be open Monday through Friday, 10am-7pm and Saturdays 10:30am to 2pm.
