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  • MB 9:02 am on April 30, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bye bye, , reservations   

    Fid’s Last Hurrah 

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    This is basically a public service message for those of you who want to hit up Fid Resto before it closes later this month. Dennis, Monica and the team at Fid have announced their final batch of tasty events. Out of sheer laziness and want to get it out there asap, I present to you sections of their press release handily copied and pasted:

    On Saturday, May 11th, Fid Resto presents a Tango Brunch featuring tango music and dancing for all. Johnston and Bauche want to celebrate their love of the dance with many people’s favorite meal of the day. Also on Saturday, as part of Open City, they’ll be offering their popular Back Door Pad Thai throughout the day.

    Sunday, May 12th is Mother’s Day and Fid Resto offers their full brunch menu from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., plus a Mother’s Day Dinner menu from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

    Wednesday, May 15th has just been confirmed as the final Small Plates Night. This night has proven to be their most popular offering to date.  More than 20 innovative savory and sweet small plates are lovingly prepared by Johnston and his kitchen team, providing a truly memorable and customized dining experience.  Service begins at 5 p.m.

    Sunday, May 19th is the last night of service for Fid Resto.  Johnston and Bauche are anticipating a celebratory evening as they close up the business they have run for 13 years.  “We’re really hoping that folks will join us for one or more of our events this month… or just drop down for lunch or dinner anytime before we close.  We want to have a chance to say goodbye to our customers. It’s an important part of closing this chapter of our lives.”

    The restaurant will not be open for brunch on Saturday, May 18th, due to a private function. Because of the imminent closing of the restaurant, reservations(902-422-9162) for all of these special events are highly recommended, to avoid disappointment.

    BAM! Now go get your reservations settled, everybody.

     

  • MB 9:15 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , cutting edge, saltscapes expo,   

    Saltscapes: The Cutting Edge 

    Saltscapes

    For three days I walked down what my friend Iain called the “Trans Canada Emergency Exit”—the hallway that bypassed everybody’s favourite drive-thru, New Brunswick, and brought you straight to the other Atlantic Provinces in the sprawling back room of the Saltscapes Expo set-up at Exhibition Park. For three days I would always stop and take a gander of the projection of fish that hazily swam above on a gauzy strip of fabric. I honestly have no idea what they were promoting, but it’s one of my favourite images of the weekend. Good work, fish!

    The reason I was at Saltscapes for three days was to act as head judge of Taste of Nova Scotia‘s Cutting Edge Chef Competition, a black box competition that brought 10 chefs from across the province together to use some wonderful local ingredients and show off their skills and spontaneity in a lighthearted competition.

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  • MB 8:06 pm on April 8, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , tapas, ,   

    My Dinners with Albert: Tickets 

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    The third, and obviously final, Albert Adria restaurant I visited when in Barcelona was Tickets. Maybe it was wrongheaded to start with 41° and end with Tickets, but that’s what happened. And, ultimately, Tickets was my least favourite experience. By far. It’s not that the food isn’t terrific. In fact, it is terrific. But I found the kitsch a little overwhelming, and it felt a little more Britney Spears  than Barnum and Bailey when it came to the Circus theme.

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    • Andrew 8:27 am on April 9, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Whomever organized these dinners ought to have started with Tickets and graduated to 41°. The order would no doubt contribute to the disappointment because Tickets is more like lighter, whimsical fare in casual tapas bar format (in Adrià sophistication, of course) and 41° is essentially elBulli Lite.

    • MB 11:22 am on April 9, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      The windows for reservations are brief enough that we took what we could get when we could get it. If the reservations were easier to get, I would have definitely scheduled it differently. As it is, I just feel lucky that I managed to go to all three. And, frankly, no matter the order, my disappointment in some of the dishes at Tickets would have been unavoidable. Some of them were simply not great.

  • MB 8:09 pm on April 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , ,   

    My Dinners with Albert: 41° 

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    It was like having dinner inside a Stereolab song.  From the dots and loops, wow and flutter, and what were projections of des étoiles électroniques on strips of plastic that hung from the ceiling like small portals to otherworldly planets full of butterflies, statues and swirling starscapes, 41° is modern and whimsical, buzzing with the the same sort of cerebral experimentation and orchestration you find in the lush sonic swirl of Mars Audiac Quintet.

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  • MB 8:26 pm on April 6, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , nikkei, , , ,   

    My Dinners with Albert: Pakta 

    My friend Ron is a bit of a reservations savant. I can’t really think of a reservation that he has wanted that he hasn’t gotten. It’s not like he trips into them or anything like that — for the reputedly difficult reservations at restaurants like Frenchie or Momofuku Ko, he has definitely put the work in, making phone calls at what could be ungodly local hours or setting the proper Google alerts or whatever other subtle sleuth work is deemed necessary for each occasion. But the thing is: there seems to be no difficult reservation outside of his reach.

    And so, in Barcelona this past week, through a series of happy coincidences and well-timed legwork, between Ron, my friend Lisa and me, we were able to secure reservations at Albert Adria’s trio of Barcelona restaurants: Pakta, 41 Grados, and Tickets. Being the lucky fifth wheel who was vacationing at the same time as two couples, I somehow managed to be the luckiest of all, getting to all three restaurants for meals. Kristina started calling our vacation My Dinner with Albert, since we were basically sharing our lives over these dinners and we all consider ourselves as talented and interesting as Wallace Shawn. (We don’t. Because nobody is. That is, to put a pin in it, inconceivable!)

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    • Lindsey 2:25 am on April 11, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      how did you manage to swing a reservation at Tickets the week OF your visit??

    • Samantha 3:03 am on April 11, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Your photos from all three dinners are breathtaking! Sorry to ask such a tacky question about the experience, but…. is Pakta prix-fix? If so, what is the cost? There’s very little info online about the technical details of dining there, and since I’m visiting in May, I’m rather curious. Thank you.

      • MB 7:12 pm on April 11, 2013 Permalink | Reply

        Lindsey — we just paid really close attention to the websites and kept watching for the days to open for reservations. Part of it was dumb luck. With Tickets in particular it seems like you can perhaps chance getting in without reservations if you go early. Before dinner at 41 Degrees we actually went in for drinks without reservations. And it seemed like people queued outside didn’t all necessarily have them, either.

        Samantha — Pakta has tasting menus. There were two — one was around 70 euro and the other was around 90 euro. I think they are 16 and 24 courses respectively. There are drink pairings available as well, or you can get drinks a la carte.

  • MB 8:30 pm on March 14, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    Two Chefs, Two Takes on NS Food 

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    It was quiet inside Seasons by Atlantica when I arrived at 6:30pm on Tuesday. Aside from the row of tables flanking the restaurant windows, which eventually filled up with guests who had been anticipating the Iron Chef Atlantica event all day, the restaurant remained virtually empty. The bar was a little bit busier, with an almost midi-style tinkling of piano keys that filled up the space around the folks having drinks. The restaurant remains one of the city’s best kept secrets in some ways, perhaps a testament to Haligonians’ unwillingness to embrace hotel restaurants as must-go dining destinations.

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  • MB 6:56 pm on March 10, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Chef Frank Widmer, Chef Luis Clavel, , , Park Hyatt, Seasons by Atlantica, , Zurich   

    Iron Chef Atlantica 

    On Tuesday, March 12—that’s this Tuesday!—Taste of Nova Scotia is presenting an event called Iron Chef Atlantica at Seasons by Atlantica in Halifax. Wordily subtited ‘Two Chefs, Two Takes on Nova Scotia,’ the dinner is a bit of a collaboration and a bit of a showdown between Halifax’s Chef Luis Clavel (Seasons) and Chef Frank Widmer, the Executive Chef at the Park Hyatt, in Zurich, Switzerland.

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  • MB 11:14 am on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , blogs, , vote, we love halifax   

    Best of Food 2013 

    It’s time to vote for your favourite food things in The Coast’s annual Best of Food survey! Restaurants, chefs, servers, salads, sandwiches… make your opinions known! We definitely have our favourites, and I’m excited to vote. I’m also always excited to hear what other people think… so feel free to issue some spoilers in the comments here. Or tell us about the things you love and try to sway our votes!

    Passable is up for favourite food blog, so if you like what we’re doing, feel free to vote for us. Or vote for one of the other amazing local food blogs that make up what is a pretty lovely community here in Halifax. From the inside-the-kitchen and behind-the-bar perspectives of Feisty Chef and Dash of Dartmouth to great cooking and eating blogs like Food Je t’Aimée, Eat Halifax, Kelly Neil’s blog, and all of the other great sites, there are tons of great perspectives to look at. No matter what site you vote for, you should definitely check ‘em all out for the great food, photos and local pride.

    And while you’re at it, why not also check out Faces Magazine’s poll and vote for Subway for Best Sandwich in all of the land, because OF COURSE Subway is listed as a legitimate option in a local magazine poll about the best things in our city. OF COURSE.

     

    • Kelly Neil 11:47 am on March 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      I am thrilled to be in the company of such diverse and delicious competition! Best of luck to all!! ps – you mean the Subway Melt ISN’T the best sandwich in Halifax? ;)

  • MB 11:27 pm on February 28, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , foodwolf, , , savour food & wine,   

    Savour food & wine Show: A Photo Diary 

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    • Chris Burton 12:26 am on March 1, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks Melissa, great shots!

  • MB 11:25 pm on February 28, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , savour   

    Decadence: A Photo Diary 

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