Thursday, June 26, 2008

Great New Restaurant

In a sparsely populated part of the country like this, restaurants have a very precarious lifespan. In the 7 years we've been in Lockeport, the "main" town restaurant has changed hands 3 times and is again for sale, one restaurant (slightly more upscale) and the B&B in which it was situated have closed, the restaurant/bowling alley combo has had 3 owners and was for sale again but now seems to be stabilized, and the restaurant with the "view" (which is seasonal) has a shorter season each year.

Out on Highway 103 in a much smaller town (Sable River) about 16km from us, a nice unpretentious restaurant existed until last year, barely hanging on because of the highway traffic and being 1 of 2 restaurants directly on the highway from Yarmouth to Hebb's Cross near Bridgewater. This place was the Grub'n'Grog - actually not at all what the name conveys but an average place serving typical hamburgers, club sandwiches, fish and chips sort of menu. It had been for sale all that time and finally sold to a couple from Alberta seeking a simpler life, the Zaaris.

Other than the hassles with assorted provincial inspectors and regulations as they rebuilt the restaurant, they have found that life in spades. Their place is called The Chef's Table and the owner is actually a very experienced chef; Moroccan in origin, he has worked throughout Europe and Canada. His menu is not extensive, but is certainly appealing.

We met our friends Sherm and Cindy there last night for dinner and had a truly lovely meal. Appetizers were shrimp cocktail (me with my lack of imagination and easily upset tummy), smoked salmon and pickled ginger salad (Wayne and Cindy), and smoked halibut (Sherm). There was a loaf of fresh hot bread for dipping in a red garlic and oil sauce. Our mains were pork tenderloin with caramelized apple slices and pearl onions with stuffed potato, carrots, broccoli, and pureed squash (me), 2 lamb curries with okra, served over rice (hot - Wayne, mild - Sherm) and Cindy had a scallop linguine with a turmeric sauce. For dessert, I had a mixed berry cheesecake and Cindy had creme brule - there were also 2 different trifles, zabaglione, peach melba and others I can't remember.

All of the food was very fresh, well prepared, delicious. One bill was $49 for 2, the other was $54. They still don't have a liquor licence but it wasn't missed.

Welcome to Nova Scotia, Mr. and Mrs. Zaari - we hope you stay a long time.

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