5 minute read
Summer on Spring Garden
The East Coast’s busiest street is chockablock with things to see and do
BY DARCY RHYNO
Halifax’s Spring Garden Road is one of the main west-east arteries into the city’s downtown, relatively short at about eight blocks, bookended with busy Robie and Barrington streets. There’s tons of history, dining, and retail in these few blocks.
Just off Robie Street, a pair of dining options hint at the variety to come. Across the street from the classy, Italianthemed Mappatura Bistro is the LGBTQ+ owned and operated Glitter Bean Cafe. This co-op is as much a community hub as a pleasant cafe that serves fair trade coffee, sweets, and light lunches.
A lifelong love affair with the Halifax Public Gardens, a national historic site, pulls me into the formal Victorian gardens beneath tall shade trees and bordering wrought-iron fence. It takes up a block, providing a retreat from the bustle of the city since 1874. I follow the path of many pedestrians, tempted off the sidewalk into the gardens at one corner to emerge through the main gate at the other. Inside, I meander amongst the serpentine flower beds, exotic trees and shrubs, and features like statues, fountains, the duck pond, and the central bandstand.
Soft piano music wafts through the rhododendrons. Intrigued, I follow it to a grey-bearded man seated in a sunny spot, his fingers flitting across the keys of his electric piano. After I listen for a few minutes, he smiles and introduces himself.
“Name’s Peter March,” he says. “I live in the apartment building across the street.”
I ask why he likes living in the heart of Halifax on Spring Garden Road.
“Where do I start?” he laughs. “There’s a beautiful park opposite me. I volunteer here because I’m retired. And God keeps this spot sunny for me.” March says he plays here every afternoon almost year-round, as long as the temperature is above freezing. He tells me about the convenience of walking to his bank, a grocery store, the magnificent library, and his favourite restaurant, La Frasca Cibi and Vini. “This is all within a 20-minute walk.”
Suddenly, he breaks off mid-sentence and gives a joyous shout in greeting to an old friend. They launch into lighthearted conversation, so I leave the two to catch up. From the main gate, the sidewalk traffic at South Park Street is suddenly shoulder-to-shoulder. Cars, buses, and taxis inch along the busiest five blocks in Halifax. From fast food and chain fashion shops at street level, to shopping malls, to independent eateries, pubs, and art shops, this stretch attracts people with its sheer variety and density.
Many storefronts have come and gone over the years, but one stands out as an anchor, an icon of Spring Garden Road since 1982. At the corner with Dresden Row, Jennifer’s of Nova Scotia, painted a shade of blueberry and adorned with a small mural of familiar city and provincial landmarks, is filled with Atlantic Canadian arts, crafts, preserves, books, jewelry, and clothing.
From there, the walk turns into a history lesson. A statue of the controversial Winston Churchill caught mid stride sits on a grassy resting spot across the street from the Halifax Provincial Court. The sturdy columns around the arched doors and windows of this classic sandstone building, completed in 1863, are topped with carved lions and faces. Spring Garden Road ends at three national historic sites, the towering Saint Mary’s Basilica, Government House (the residence of Nova Scotia’s lieutenant-governor), and the downtown cemetery known as the Old Burying Ground, with its unique concentration of gravestone art, now restored as an outdoor museum and park.
Enjoy a variety of cuisines from the many restaurants along the street.
On my way back up Spring Garden, I pause before the new Halifax Central Library, a magnificent example of modern architecture that’s won awards and public admiration. The multi-coloured glass exterior resembles a loose stack of books. Inside, a labyrinth of central stairways reminiscent of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts twists and turns up five storeys.
Back on the street, the restaurants have stirred my appetite. I visit Chicking, a Korean-style chicken restaurant. I order the Galbi sandwich, a fried chicken thigh burger with spicy mayo, pickle, coleslaw, and knight sauce, a version of bechamel.
After a short wait, I’m off with my takeaway lunch to the Public Gardens in search of a shaded bench to enjoy my lunch in this peaceful Spring Garden Road setting, a highlight of summer in Halifax.
La Frasca Cacio e Pepe
By Sam Paikowsky, executive chef at La Frasca Cibi & Vini on Spring Garden Road.
Ingredients
9 oz (250 g) Pane e Circo’s fresh fettuccine
2 tbsp (10 mL) freshly cracked black peppercorns
1/3 cup (95 mL) Pane e Circo pecorino (grated)
1/2 cup (120 mL) butter
2 X 4 oz (115 g) beef tenderloin
Instructions
Season beef tenderloin generously with salt and pepper. Pan-sear to preferred doneness. Rest 5 minutes after cooking to keep juicy.
To a pot of salted, boiling water, add fettuccine. Cook 2-3 minutes until just tender. Reserve 1 cup pasta water before draining.
In a dry pan on medium, toast some cracked black peppercorns until fragrant. Add a ladle of hot pasta water to pan. Simmer gently, reducing by half.
Add cooked pasta to pan with toasted pepper and pasta water. Toss in 3 tbsp each pecorino and butter. Stir and toss pasta continuously until cheese and butter melt into a creamy sauce. Add more pasta water if needed.
Twirl pasta onto plates and garnish with remaining pecorino. Slice the beef tenderloin and arrange on pasta. Serve immediately.
