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.