Andre's Pizza

I first went to Andre's a few years ago while staying in New Glasgow. At that time, I didn't know that there was a special Pictou County pizza, so we went in to the "seats" area and ordered individual meals. The food was fantastic- I still remember the taste of the maple curry chicken penne, a fantastic combination of flavours that we tried to replicate at home many times. Dessert was also fantastic- admittedly, I can't recall what the dish was called, only that it was some sort of chocolate cake that was amongst the best I've had. Last year, when I found out about Pictou County having a unique pizza, I went back to try it. The pizza is fantastic, a blend of cheeses and great pepperoni on really good crust. *Update: I had the good fortune of a friend thinking of me when passing through Pictou county this week, and bringing back some Andre's. The cheeses are fantastic, as I remember, blending really nicely together. The pepperoni is of a higher quality than you would find at a chain pizza place. The sauce, as is the way in Pictou county, is a brown sauce which I've been told is onion-based. The pizza is definitely spicier than it is in other places, with this great smokey after-taste. Overall, this is my favourite spot to eat in New Glasgow. The food is fantastic, and,if you eat in, it's decorated pretty neat, with ticket stubs on the tables from shows all over the continent.

Acropole

Pictou county pizza is special. This was something I learned last year, from a friend from Pictou county. So I tried it, liked it, and wanted more. A few weeks ago, I was back in New Glasgow and decided to hit up Acropole. It's located right downtown NG, with a big storefront and room to sit. The menu is short and simple, and the prices were reasonable (Large Pizza and a garlic fingers was about $30). The pizza was good, it had that Pictou county flavour that I like so much. My only complaint was the crust; I found it chewy, perhaps undercooked. The garlic sticks were also very good. I also very much appreciated that they were open late on a weeknight, saving me from dinner at another fast food joint.

Relish

Relish is becoming a bit of a New Brunswick institution. It's going all over the province, bringing the gourmet burgers, overenthusiastic staff, and great sides that started in Fredericton to people across NB, as well as to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and PEI. I've had the pleasure of visiting most of the Relish locations in NB. My most recent visit was in Moncton a few days ago, so I'll review it based off of that, before giving some more general info: When you walk in to Relish, they greet you loudly, as does the decor and general vibe of the place. The menu consists of a variety of gourmet burgers, available as either beef, chicken or veggie patties. I've never tried the latter two, but the beef is a high quality burger, to be sure. The menu can be confusing: burger prices are given for the combos, while sides are priced separately, although included in the combos. This makes it hard to tell how much you'd pay for the items separately, and directs you towards buying the combo. My favourite is the "L.A. is my lady", which combines flavours like avocado, peppers, and goat's cheese. It's fantastic with sweet potato fries. All of the burgers I've tried are really good, the restaurant is clean, the service is (generally), friendly, and the experience is fun. The caveat, however, is the price- the combo I described will set you back almost 18 bucks, which means it's not something you should consider "fast food", but rather "a nice dinner". Now, on to the various locations- each one has a signature burger, named in some local way. I haven't tried them yet, but they're a fun way to vary things up and make it worth checking out different locations. I really appreciate how widespread they are: after over a week eating every meal out in the Miramichi, we were ecstatic to see a Relish location (although it seems to have been forgotten on their list of locations!). The original Fredericton location is a nice little downtown building, which takes the whole experience very seriously (those who are shy or socially anxious should be prepared that they will joke around with you, very loudly). Moncton has a great, large spot right smack downtown (though I'd hate to park there during business hours- Moncton is notorious for bad parking), which is clean and very friendly. Saint John, however, I was less enamored with: the location is very convenient (though less so than Moncton), but small and less friendly. To my recollection they didn't call out your name or anything like they do in Fredericton which, although uncomfortable for some, is part of the experience. I say "to my recollection" because, despite repeated attempts, I didn't get to try Relish in SJ this year- twice I arrived around, though not at or after, close. The first time, about quarter to close, it seemed no one was interested in serving me, and they were already cleaning the grill. The second time, five to ten before close, they had already switched off the sign, turned off the grill, and told us they were closed. I'm a bit torn about this- on the one hand, we were near close, and it does take some time to clean etc. On the other hand, more upscale restaurants tend to treat their posted close time more as a last serving time; I've had places tell me they were reluctant to serve me so close, but I've never been told they flat out won't. Somehow, that doesn't seem to jive with the overall image. That said, I love Relish, and would recommend you go- yes, even in SJ.

Updated: Common's Creperie

Recently, I've finally had the opportunity to visit Common's Creperie, and decided that I would do a proper review, having visited only recently. Because this review is only based on one visit-as opposed to the several I had made a few years ago-I've decided to keep the original review below. I was very excited to finally get the opportunity to head out to Common's, having tried multiple times last year to do so, and even brought a family member along with me. The location and décor of the restaurant make for a nice spot to sit and have a relaxing lunch or dessert. The menu consists of crêpes, sandwhiches, and a variety of desserts. Savoury crêpes are paired up with soup (carrot ginger, curry squash, or soup of the day) or salad, and run between 11 and 13 dollars each (when ordered in the pre-made combinations). I chose the squash soup with a crêpe with smoked salmon, lettuce, sun-dried tomatoes and hollandaise sauce. The soup was very good-flavourful, with the curry nicely complimenting the squash rather than overpowering it. The crêpe, however, was somewhat disappointing-it didn't seem freshly made, there was far too much lettuce spilling everywhere, and the hollandaise sauce had no flavour to it. Overall, it was quite the let-down, and I decided not to get a take-out dessert as I had planned. I was torn while leaving. On the one hand, I had had some great crêpes there in the past, and knew that perhaps I didn't order the right one. At the same time, I felt that the crêpe I did have did not live up to the expectations I had developed. While I would no longer consider this my favourite restaurant in the Saint John area, I would still recommend it, and hope (and expect) that my next visit there will put it back to the top of my list.

My Original Review: I've been hesitating about reviewing this restaurant for a few weeks now, for one simple reason: I really desperately want an excuse to go back there. Common's is a real gem. While working in the Rothesay area last year, we drove up and down Hampton Road, looking for something a little less mass-produced for lunch, and spotted this cute little building on the edge of a park. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. Although decor isn't usually something that matters so much to me, this place merits a note- the restaurant is nicely decorated, with water being served in arts little glass pitchers, and a nice view of the commons. There's a good menu selection, and their soup and crêpe combos are what we decided on. Unfortunately, as I haven't been back this year (yet), I don't quite remember the names of what we chose, but everything we tried here was excellent. What's really nice is the combination of crêpe and soup (I chose carrot and ginger, and another option was available as well). Working on the road, it's not often that I get to have a lunch that actually leaves me feeling really healthy. We came back a few more times in a short period- it was that good- to try the desert crêpes. Again, although I can't recall the name of what I tried, it combined toffee and chocolate and was absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, their hours are a little limited Monday and Tuesday, which I learned the hard way- by making time both days to go. I haven't gotten to head to Common's this year, and I don't know if I will, but I sure hope I do, because it's one of my favourite places to eat in all of New Brunswick.

Café Archibald

I was excited to get back to Moncton to try out some new food. I don't really get out to Moncton as often as I do some other Maritime communities, so I was quite excited to get cracking on my list of places to try. After doing some research, Café Archibald came out on top of that list. The reviews were good, and crêpes seemed like just the right food for the evening, so I headed out. Their downtown Moncton location (there's also one in Dieppe) is a quaint little building on Mountain road. The staff were friendly, attentive, and very bilingual. I was impressed by the menu- a wide variety of things to try, with very reasonable prices. My pick was the French Crêpe, which consisted of black forest ham, asparagus, green onions and hollandaise sauce. I'm sad to say that I was actually really disappointing by this one- the combination sounded great, a lot of my favourite things, but the execution wasn't all there. The crêpe itself was good, but I found the hollandaise sauce lacking in flavour, and the asparagus pieces cut too small to really discern from the green onions, of which there were far too many. The whole thing actually left a bit of a poor taste in my mouth. Certainly, I would consider trying Archibald again. The staff were friendly, the place was nice and I really appreciate the bilingual service. I would, however, avail myself of one of the many other menu items; hopefully these are the ones all of the positive reviews were based on.

Sea Dog Pub

Shelburne is a pretty little town on Nova Scotia's South Shore, between Liverpool and Yarmouth. We pulled in just for lunch, and found that it was a little hard to find places to eat. The Sea Dog is located on the water, near a group of historic buildings that we actually came upon by accident while turning around. Sea Dog Pub has a fantastic location, with a view of the water and big patio to go with it. I highly suspect that it was the owner who served us- and extremely friendly man whom I saw chatting with all of his customers. As always, I was very happy to have a chance to chat a bit with the owner, find out a little bit about him and his restaurant, and the kinds of customers who come in. It very much gives a human face to an establishment, and makes you appreciate the effort a person puts in to run it- this is certainly that kind of place: the owner even came over to let us know he was going to go pick up more groceries. Very friendly and casual. I ordered the salt cod; admittedly, I didn't actually want it- I wanted to try one of the sandwiches, which looked fantastic- but a little voice in my head told me that this was the place to try a dish like salt cod, and boy was it ever right. The salt cod here is served in a very traditional style, chopped up with pork scraps (pork fat and cuttings) and bacon on top of mashed potatoes (which tasted freshly made). The combination was outstanding, with the flavours balancing out very nicely, and the potatoes making for a hearty, filling meal. Diced turnip and chow were served on the side, as was a roll. The roll was also a nice, traditional treat- oatmeal brown bread, a sweet sort of bread I haven't seen in other parts of the country. The price my food was a reasonable 14 dollars after taxes. My coworker had pan-fried haddock, which, although I didn't try it, he said was very good. The Sea Dog is definitely a place I would recommend to stop at for lunch on the way through. It's certainly not fast food- in any sense- but you can't beat the combination of a friendly owner, great food, and a beautiful sea view.

Papa's Pub and Eatery

We finished working and pulled in to Port Hawkesbury pretty late one night. By the time we got settled in a hotel and went to look for food, it must have been near 10 o'clock. Port Hawkesbury is a small town, and at that hour our options were pretty much limited to pizza, Chinese food, or fast food. Having had two of the three above fairly recently, I opted for pizza. You don't often associate a pub with good pizza, but Papa's was right across the street from our hotel. The staff were friendly to us, and we loaded up our pizza with a wide range of toppings, and added cheese sticks, hoping that it would be both enough food, and good tasting. Both criteria were more than met. We ordered one of the larger sizes of pizza which, with cheese sticks, came in around the thirty dollar range. The pizza was absolutely fantastic- I really couldn't believe how good it was. The toppings were fresh and very very plentiful, and the crust and cheese were just right. The slices were very generously proportioned, and we could barely finish all we had ordered. The cheese sticks were also fantastic. With this in mind, we took lunch a little earlier than usual the next time we came through Port Hawkesbury, just so that we could go again. There was something on the menu that I had to try. The restaurant calls it the "messy donair fry bake." I think of it as donair poutine - donair meat and sauce, on top of fries, with green onions and peppers, smothered in cheese then baked in the oven. And oh my God, did I ever make the right decision. This has to be one of the most delicious junk food meals I've ever had. The donair meat is made on site, and it shows. Donair meat, donair sauce, and cheese all come together very nicely and, although it's on their appetizer menu, really ought to be listed as an entrée. The total cost was around 13 or 14 dollars after tax, and well, well worth it. The only critique I will give is that the fries were maybe not the best I've had. But it hardly mattered, because what really shone in this dish were the donair meat and the cheese; you could almost even skip the fries.

Saltscapes

We were driving through Truro, on the way to Halifax, when we decided that we should probably grab lunch somewhere. "Hey, you never tried Saltscapes yet." It was true, I'd heard lots about this place, but I'd yet to try it. Saltscapes seems to fancy itself as a Maritime-themed restaurant. You get this as soon as you walk in the door: you're greeted by a large gift shop, selling all manner of Maritime-themed product. It's not at all kitschy as quite a lot of these products are, indeed, ones I've seen friends and family take suitcases full of on their way back to wherever they may live- but the store portion does remind me of the American restaurant chain "Cracker Barrel", which does a similar thing with the South as its theme. The restaurant was pretty quite when we got there, and we were seated quickly, with very friendly service. The menu continued on this theme-there was a wide range of classic Maritime dishes to chose from. I found the prices expensive, however, and between that and the presentation of the menu (including the fact that it was more or less entirely Maritime-themed) you could tell that there was a touristy vibe to the place. I chose the fish cakes, my coworker chose a chef's salad. It seemed most appropriate that we both drink tea. While you wait for your meal, you're served tea biscuits, and there's a little bottle of Crosby's Molasses (a New Brunswick company) sitting there waiting for you to dip the tea biscuits in. Tea biscuits are a big thing around the Maritimes, and certainly something you'll find in a tea room or at someone's house, but I'm not about to say that they're typical to serve while you wait at a restaurant (or necessarily a-typical)- it reminded me a little of putting an East Coast twist on serving bread or corn chips while you wait. They were, however, very very good tea biscuits, so you'll hardly be hearing me complain. The food itself was quite good. I ordered the half portion of fish cakes- which turned out to be one fish cake, and so it seemed like the sides I had chosen were more of the meal than the fishcake. The fishcake and chow were quite good, and I really enjoyed the pasta and cheese (this is actually on the menu as mac and cheese, but it's made with penne). I tried some of the chef's salad, and have to say that it was easily some of the best bacon I've had in my life. All told, Saltscapes has good food and service, and it certainly offers tourists the opportunity to get a look at a wide range of local products and delicacies. My only gripe is that the prices seemed a bit high. Update: I've left the original review intact, as it still very much stands as an accurate representation of my first trip to Saltscapes, and probable experience for many, but recently I took some friends there and had a bad experience worth blogging about. This time, it was for supper and not lunch. The restaurant was busier, and the staff clearly more flustered. First off, the cup given to me for my tea came dirty- full of ketchup caked on, which the waitress didn't notice until I pointed it out. She was friendly and apologetic about it, and grabbed another, which still had a speck or two of food matter on it, but I didn't complain. Then, where previously I had been told (and thus written) that tea biscuits automatically came with the meal, I was told this wasn't the case this time, so check before you order if that matters to you (as it did me). Finally, and perhaps the biggest problem, one of my friends was served the wrong side dish- a bowl of thickly sliced carrots and onions in place of a salad. While this was easily fixed, what struck me as quite unprofessional was that the waitress, at the end of the meal (albeit after my friend had stacked the bowl on his plate), actually came by and picked up the onions to remark on how odd they were. None of these were big issues, but they all made me question whether perhaps the restaurant doesn't handle a dinner rush as well as it does a slow lunch time.

Habaneros Modern Taco Bar

I'd seen the "coming soon" signs for Habaneros while visiting its sister restaurant, Cheese Curds, last year, and so, when it came time to grab some lunch while in Halifax for a day, I figured I'd grab some on my way out of town. The restaurant is set-up in much the same way: you order your tacos, then put a variety of toppings, some of them rather original (read: slightly strange). The vibe and decor of the restaurant, especially when compared to Cheese Curds next door, gives you the impression of a wannabe chain restaurant, which is unfortunate. It almost makes it feel like an instant business plan applied to a current trend in food. The first guy who served me was friendly and chatty; I ordered three tacos (since there was a deal on doing that), and asked if I could make them all different. He assured me I could, then passed me on to the next guy. I'm not sure if the next guy couldn't hear me, wasn't listening, or just ignored me, but making them all different didn't work so well, and eventually I gave up saying "one the first one" after he put everything on all of them. This was especially disappointing as I was the only customer in the place.

I did indeed like the food. Both the soft and hard shell tacos were great. I particularly liked the pulled pork- it was flavourful and tender. As far as the different toppings (salsas and sour creams) go, this was the point at which the second employee just put everything on all of them, so I didn't get to test out what each individual one tasted like. I wasn't, however, particularly turned off by any of them. Everything tasted really nicely.

I enjoyed the restaurant, and three tacos for around 8 dollars plus tax was a great deal. The server not listening to me, and the very cookie-cutter set-up don't, however, make me feel like going all the way back out to try it again, but I would probably stop by if in the neighbourhood.

Sense of Tokyo

Having read so many good things about Sense of Tokyo, I was anxious to give it a try. It's easy to be skeptical about this restaurant; I certainly was. When sushi is bad, it's bad, and I like to avoid going to any place that's not recommended by someone I know. It also seems really out of place where it's located, and had me wondering if maybe I was in the wrong spot.

As it happens, my skepticism was not at all warranted. On the inside, the restaurant was stylish, and the service was quick, friendly, and attentive. I ordered one of the obento boxes (around 17 plus tax), which came with miso soup, green tea, a variety of sushi and dumplings, a hand roll (or a small noodles), and ice cream. It's a lot of food, and if I were to have it again I'd probably order the noodles instead of the handroll, just for variety's sake. I'm not an expert on sushi or Japanese food at all- but I have had my fare share, and I can say that this is a restaurant I would take people to to impress them. Everything tasted fresh (you can see it being made behind the bar), and was very pleasing to the eye. The sushi was really flavourful, and the dumplings were good. I was also a big fan of the soup, and the green tea ice cream The staff were also super attentive, bringing the next course just when I finished the last.

I'll probably bring a few people next time and order a variety of different rolls; that being said, the obento was more than enough food, and offered a really good variety of sushi.

Taste of Egypt

I was walking uptown Saint John, around 8 PM, looking for something to eat, when I walked past taste of Egypt. I'd read about it online- it came highly recommended- and figured that it had been a while since I'd had Middle Eastern food anyway, so I decided to head on in and order some takeout.
The restaurant is very nicely decorated, and would make a great setting for a date, family dinner etc. But what really impressed me, before I even had my food, were the staff: they were so friendly and personable, that it was the kind of restaurant I wanted to come back to just to support a local business, and chat with the personable staff.

I'm really not an expert on Middle Eastern Food, so it's hard for me to comment on the authenticity or quality relative to other restaurants. I had the Key of Life Plate. The price, 19ish dollars plus tax, seemed steep, but there was so much food that I had it for dinner the next day as well, which did impress me. Certainly, it would be enough for two to share. The plate consisted of rotisserie chicken on humus, with a small salad. The food, at last takeout, was served with pita rather than utensils. For those unfamiliar with this style of dining, you basically scoop up the the food in the pieces of pita.
I thoroughly did enjoy the meal, although I think maybe rice would have been a good side to come with it.
 Overall, I expect to be back; I'm anxious to try other dishes. My only caveat is that, even if you do get a lot of food, you probably won't get away without spending 15 dollars or more, so make sure sure that you're hungry!

Sampan

Having lived in Hong Kong for a year, I became quite a fan of authentic Chinese food, and think of it as an entirely different type of food than our Canadian Chinese. Sampan falls in the middle of these two- it's the best Canadian Chinese I've had in New Brunswick, but it's also a little more authentic than anything else I've had here.

I tried the barbecue pork friend rice, with a Hong Kong Style Milk Tea- my two favourite dishes in Hong Kong. They were both really good- like I said, the best I've had in New Brunswick. It definitely still falls more on the Canadian Chinese side of things, but the food is fantastic, and the service is also some of the friendliest I've ever had.

For sure one of my favourites in Saint John