what I ate on summer vacation

[Gourmondo]

While I haven't engaged in any boisterous PDA's with my lover on a public elevator, I did have a lot of fun on our vacation last week. This year took us to Nova Scotia. Herewith are a few food notes from the trip.

There was plenty of well-prepared food in Nova Scotia. Food is of course an essential element to a New Orleanian on vacation and I had the mistaken idea from some guidebooks that we would encounter few places that were able to adequately spice and prepare our foods. In fact, we found that many places are well-versed in the modern kitchen and even some very modest places had some fairly ambitious items on the menu. There are not a ton of fine dining establishments in most of the province, but there were lots of good places - either that or we were really lucky.

We spent most nights in B&B’s and the breakfast food was pretty good, especially the seasonal berries up there. Otherwise we mostly ate in free-standing restaurants. I had decided before the trip that I would be eating seafood twice a day and managed to pretty much fulfill that promise.

I had mussels several ways. There was he traditional white wine preparation, of course, but what I found interesting was that many places offered multiple aromatic bases for the steaming - thai curry, madras curry, provencal, tomato-basil, etc. One place in Lunenburg offered eight different preparations of the mussels alone. I particularly liked the curry versions. These were really good.

On the fish side, I had a couple of simple Atlantic salmon preparations that were very nice (one pan-seared and one grilled on a plank) along with a couple of rounds of the ubiquitous fish and chips, which was usually haddock - the cod has been over-fished. I also had a broiled halibut entree that was great.

I had several preparations of the local scallops, but the best version was the simplest – pan sautéed in butter. I have never cared much for scallops before, but every dish I had of them up here was great.

You buy alcohol here in provincial liquor stores that shut down about 5 PM. The liquor prices are very high for wines and spirits, unless it’s a Canadian product. I was unaware that there is actually quite a good bit of winemaking in Nova Scotia, and the local Rieslings et al., while not up to export standards, make a pretty good pairing with the seafood. There are several winery tours available, which we didn’t have time for. We did stop at the Glenora distillery, which alleges to be the home of North America’s only single-malt whiskey. If you’re particularly enamored of the experience, you stay overnight in the attached inn and dine in their restaurant. I am not a whiskey drinker so I can only tell you it seemed quite light and smooth to me compared to our domestic offerings. They get their (used) barrels for aging from Kentucky, BTW. As to beer and ale, Canada appears to have a lot in common with the US, where there are relatively few mass-market brews including Bud that you see everywhere, but a lot of very fine regional craft brews. The local favorite in Nova Scotia is Alexander Keith’s, which puts out a fine array of styles including a wheat, IPA, amber, a pils, a dark lager and several seasonals. One of the more atmospheric meals I had was working through the Keith’s on-tap repertoire on the deck at the Mug & Anchor pub in Mahone Bay while eating fried clams and taking in a race of sailing vessels participating in the Classic Boat Festival on the bay. This was much better use of time than accompanying Ms. Gourmondo on her antiquing forays.

I must not forget the lobsters of course. They are everywhere (including at least one gas station!) and I had them in almost every form imaginable – seafood chowder, lobster bisque, lobster linguine, lobster salad, lobster rolls, and of course the traditional boiled lobster, which we had several times. Probably the best was at a seaside place by the marina in Hall’s Harbour. You sit outside by the water, fog rolling in past the lighthouse, while the massive Bay of Fundy tides crash on the rocks below. You go in, get your lobster from the tank, pay for it and bring it to the kitchen where they take it from there. Superb experience and food. The lobsters are in all the supermarkets too and they can boil them up right there if you want one to go. And, yes, I even had a McLobster at the local Mickie D’s ($8 Canadian, if you were wondering).

The locals were uniformly friendly and most welcoming. Service tends to be a bit lackadaisical at times - they seemed very short on experienced servers - maybe they are all down in the States. As to non-food experiences, the hiking and whale-watching and scenery on Cape Breton Island is fantastic, as were the local Celtic music offerings in the evenings.

[edible complex]

great trip and report. and you came back to this heat and humidity, why?
I love Canada, especially Quebec, where you can find some nice French wines.
if you get a hankering for some curried mussels down here, go to Iris:
Mussels steamed with white wine, coconut, curry, and root vegetable chips
they're memorable.

[Gourmondo]

EC, I wasn't able to get everything in the note due to the 5000 character limit and part of what I edited out was that we had selected NS in part for the purported cool weather. The joke was on us, however, because it was quite warm there during our stay and many places have no A/C so we ended up doing a bit of sweating anyway!

It's been years since I was in Quebec (stayed in the venerable Frontenac). The French-speaking communities in NS are Acadians, as you probably know. There is absolutely nothing in common culinarily with their Cajun cousins (or much with the Quebecois for that matter), but the presence of Landrys, Boudreauxs, Aucoins, Robichauxs, etc. makes for a deja vu moment for sure, eh?

Thanks for the Iris tip. After the recent glowing review, I have already planned to check them out in the new digs.

[bigshot]

What a great refreshing review and post. Not a word about a tea party or the state of health care and how to solve it. Thank you very much. Your review made me want to pack my bag and head for the airport. I love western Canada, one of my favorite places in the whole world. Thanks very much for sharing with us who are stuck here in the heat.

[Oyster]

And, yes, I even had a McLobster at the local Mickie D’s ($8 Canadian, if you were wondering).

It really sounded like an exquisite trip! Everything in your great review sounded as a trip worthy for booking post haste!

I hate to even bring this up, but as you stated, I AM wondering...can you possible describe a "McLobster?" Is it as horrid as a "McRib?"

Apologize for the strange question, but yes...I was wondering...

[Gourmondo]

The McLobster is not so much horrid as it is rather tasteless and bland. It's actual lobster meat served on a bed of lettuce on a pistolette with the usual mystery sauce serving as the matrix. It's supposed to be their answer to a lobster roll, but it doesn't remotely hold a candle to the real deal, as you might imagine. That being said, I've eaten much worse at McDonald's, but I'm always interested in the local variations in McD's, ever since I found out they served beer at the ones in Germany many years ago. The ones in China have some strange stuff (hint to Americans: stick with the chicken).

The McLobster and other regional/national variations are recapped on this site:

http://www.gunaxin.com/the-mclobster-sa ... ness/14255

[EatinAintCheatin]

The ones in China have some strange stuff (hint to Americans: stick with the chicken).

Funny you should mention that. On my last trip to China a coworker had to have McD's after eating the local cuisine for 10 straight days. Well, wouldn't you know it. After eating a 1/4 pounder he got sick and spent the next 17 hours in his hotel room. And he wasn't worshiping Budha...
And another thing.. in China there is nearly no white chicken meat. Even at KFC, which is everywhere there, it's all dark.

Sorry, not trying to hijack...

[Yvette]

I must not forget the lobsters of course. They are everywhere (including at least one gas station!) and I had them in almost every form imaginable –

Probably the best was at a seaside place by the marina in Hall’s Harbour. You sit outside by the water, fog rolling in past the lighthouse, while the massive Bay of Fundy tides crash on the rocks below.

Your report was timely as I plan on being there in a few weeks.

I plan on eating lobster at least twice a day.

I have a question about the Bay of Fundy dining scene. I have written down your suggestion to go to Hall's Harbor, can you tell me exactly where it is. I also have a restaurant recomendation of The Reversing Falls Restaurant where you can watch the crashing tides and the tides reversing. Is this the restaurant which you speak? I am getting ready to make my reservations. The restaurant is located in St. John, NB

We also plan to travel to Sussex that day and get back in time for lunch reservations.

Any recs for Halifax?

[Gourmondo]

Hi Yvette,

Those are two separate restaurants. I don't know the Reversing Falls. The one I went to is: http://www.hallsharbourlobster.com/home.html. If you can get yourself to the town of Kentville on Hwy 1, it is a reasonably straight shot down Hwy 359 to the shore. There ain't a lot to the "town" of Hall's Harbour, so it's really just the restaurant you're headed there for (think Manchac and Middendorf's). Note that the last lobster goes in the pot at 8:30 PM so this is not a late night excursion. If you're planning on going in the evening, I would confirm that in advance, cause this place isn't on the way to anywhere else. If you're really interested in the tides, print out a copy of the tide tables (http://www.bayoffundytourism.com/tides/times/) for the location you are going to - there are TWO high and low tides per day. Note that unless you're in a location for over 3 hours you won't be able to see the full effect of the tides. We didn't have time to see the tidal bore - I was told it is most impressive only at that point of the month when you have maximal tidal volume.

There are a few wineries in that area, all 30-45 min. from Hall's Harbour. No big ass cabs to be sure, but visiting one might make a fun outing if you're so inclined, particularly if going to Grand Pre anyway to see the Acadian center, which I think is worth a stop, at least for a Louisianian. When you see what they left behind, I can only imagine what those poor people thought when they rowed into Bayou Lafourche in 1755.

http://www.lacadievineyards.ca/
http://www.blomidonwine.com/
http://www.grandprewines.com/
http://www.gaspereauwine.com/

The Nova Scotia forums on Trip Advisor have some very good advice that was spot on more often than not. Check it out if you haven't already.

Halifax was our last stop and we short-changed it to get more time in elsewhere, so I can't help you there, other than to say there are many restaurants near the harbor waterfront. PM me if I can be of further assistance. Y'all will have a great time.

[Oyster]

The McLobster and other regional/national variations are recapped on this site:

http://www.gunaxin.com/the-mclobster-sa ... ness/14255

Thanks Gourmando! That site was an eye-opener. I know one "speciality" item that would sell like crazy here...the Poutine from Quebec! Fries with gravy and cheese. Yikes!