F O R P E O P L E W H O L OV E H A L I FA X
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VOLUME 29 NUMBER 4
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NOVEMBER 12, 2021
THE 27TH ANNUAL READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS
2021
Best Of Halifax
Doctor Strang
Inside you’ll find hundreds of gold, silver and bronze winners, including restaurants, artists, shops, services and our cover star, Nova Scotia’s COVID hero
SURE THING: WILLIAM PRINCE
DEFINITION: ESSENTIAL WORKERS uh·SEN·chl WUR·krz Persons doing vital manual labour, customer service or other jobs for minimum wage, who are disparaged by politicians despite keeping society afloat. Some choose between food and shelter while living on $12.95 an hour, when current estimates for a living wage in Nova Scotia are between $18.45 and $22.05.
Juno winner William Prince brings his treasure trove of country-tinged folk songs to The Marquee complex for two shows this Sunday. Expect everything from spot-on Charley Pride covers to originals that beg to compare his vocals to a young Johnny Cash. A direct descendant of the historically significant Chief Peguis, Prince’s music distills a sense of time, place and lineage that’s generations deep in each note. It’ll strike you to such depths, too. Sunday, Nov 14, 3pm & 7:30pm, The Marquee Ballroom, 2037 Gottingen Street, sonicconcerts.com, tickets $39.13
DATA POINT
506,152
VOLUME 29, NUMBER 4
“My father’s people are Pres- PUBLISHED NOV 12, 2021 On the cover: This portrait bytarian and my mother’s of the city's Best Halifamous Person was created by the great people are Baptist, so we’re Meghan Tansey Whitton. not very good at talking about our emotions. But I am Contents The City 4 Arts ShopTalk 6 Free Will Astrology utterly clear within myself Cover Story: Winners of the Savage Love Best of Halifax awards 9 that the step we’re taking today is the right step.” —Former United Church minister and current Nova Scotia NDP leader Gary Burrill on what it felt like to announce he’s stepping down as leader
Number of votes cast in this year’s Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards—people just like you picking their favourites. In comparison, there were 247,051 votes cast in the entire HRM election last October, to choose 16 councillors and the mayor.
Into the bestaverse
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hen The Coast started the Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards, our goal was simple. We wanted to give Haligonians a way to choose and celebrate the greatest things about this great city of ours. That was nearly 30 years ago. Back then, nobody knew anything about technology. It was something that helped send humans to the moon, and made vinyl records obsolete with the arrival of the compact disc. The idea that technology could be used to share dance moves was science fiction stuff. Even by those standards, the debut Best of Halifax poll was primitive. We asked people to cast votes by writing words on a page in The Coast’s newspaper version, then send it back to Coast HQ for counting. How did we expect people to do that? By ripping that page out of the paper like apes. Or with scissors. Scissors! At the risk of sounding like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, imagine a technology so rudimentary it would harness humanity’s amazing opposable thumbs in an effort to
force two blades together against a third, softer object, rather than allowing those thumbs their greatest expression—sharing videos to Facebook. Or Instagram. Or with WhatsApp. Any way, really, except YouTube or any other product or service owned by that other sprawling company with its own meaningless name. (Bing it if you must know more.) In the three decades since the first Best of Halifax, technology’s evolution has meant amazing things. Today’s world is a place where vinyl is the most profitable music format. A meeting of antivax folks has more combined computing power in their phones than those NASA nerds had in the original mission control. That really puts things in perspective. The BOH evolved too, completely and totally changing. What used to be a way to celebrate Halifax while risking paper cuts and scissor mishaps, has become a way to celebrate Halifax with exclusively online voting. Truly incredible.
Issue 1,255
FOR THE RECORD
Technology aside, the biggest change in BOH history happened last year due to the pandemic. With Halifax in various circles of lockdown limbo for most of 2020, we limited the Best of survey to questions about how people were coping with COVID. Now for 2021, I’m proud to announce Best of Halifax has changed again, returning to its standard form. The disease isn’t far away— Doctor Strang’s portrait on this BOH issue’s cover, in honour of his inaugural win as Best Halifamous Person, makes that clear. But it’s not the only thing that matters this year. Inside this issue are gold, silver and bronze awards in categories from Best Comedian and Best Gym to the city’s Best Restaurant. Hundreds of winners chosen by thousands of Coast readers casting more than half a million votes. These awards are the brightest examples of a vibrant, multifaceted Halifax. From a COVID monoverse in 2020, we are returning to the bestaverse! Although it’s best to simply call it the Best. —Kyle Shaw
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2309 Maynard Street, Halifax, NS B3K 3T8 Phone 902-422-6278 Fax 902-425-0013 Email coast@thecoast.ca The site www.thecoast.ca
EDITORIAL Editor Kyle Shaw (editor@thecoast.ca) Arts & Entertainment Editor Morgan Mullin (arts@thecoast.ca) Staff Reporter Victoria Walton (vic@thecoast.ca) City Reporter Lyndsay Armstrong (lyndsay@thecoast.ca) Reporter Chris Stoodley (chris@thecoast.ca) Copy Chief Andrew Bethune Social Media Manager Oriol Salvador (oriol@thecoast.ca)
SALES & MARKETING Director of Sales and Marketing Christa Harrie (christah@thecoast.ca) Account Executive Haley Clarke (haley@thecoast.ca) Ticket Halifax Manager Lindsay Cory
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OPERATIONS Office Manager Audra McKenna (audram@thecoast.ca) Distribution Team David MacPhee and Bob Mitchell Publisher Christine Oreskovich (christineo@thecoast.ca) The Coast is essential media for Kjipuktuk/Halifax. Through fact-based and fearless journalism we provide a way in for citizens to find community, disrupt systems that govern us and show up for local culture. We are responsible to our readers and membership who share our belief that a free and independent press can build a just and thriving city. The Coast is published by Coast Publishing Limited, the newspaper version printed locally on recycled stock with 23,000 copies distributed throughout Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford. Mailed under Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40027554. Please return undeliverable addresses to the Distribution Department, 2309 Maynard Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3K 3T8 (email distribution@thecoast.ca). Staff and management of The Coast neither advocate nor encourage the use of products or services advertised herein for illegal purposes. All rights reserved. © 2021. Independent and locally owned, founded in 1993.
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 3
4,224
EDITED BY LYNDSAY ARMSTRONG SEND TIPS TO NEWS@THECOAST.CA
The number of hours (equal to 176 days, or six about months) that Spring Garden Road will be closed to traffic during its demolition and redesign...IF the project wraps on time.
Development design rendering view overlooking at the new Granville Park fountain. SUBMITTED
COGSWELL THAT ENDS WELL
“Massive” Cogswell redevelopment coming for 2025-2026 The $122.6 million project promises new housing for 2,500 people, a transit hub and four new parks. BY LYNDSAY ARMSTRONG
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he redevelopment of the Cogswell Interchange, billed as the biggest city-building project in Halifax’s history, is expected to finish in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Once parcels of developable land at the site have been sold, the work on building housing can begin. Construction will break ground this winter on the rebuild that mayor Mike Savage says will bridge a gap between peninsula Halifax’s north end and the downtown core. “Make no mistake, this is a massive project,” Savage said of the $122.6 million plan during a
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press event on November 2 at Granville Mall. The huge build will turn 16 acres of underutilized road infrastructure into an attractive area with a new road system and land ready to be developed. The city says the planned new neighbourhood will have room for commercial tenants and residential space for 2,500 people. The project promises dedicated bike lanes, multi-use trails, four new parks, a transit hub and more than 500 new trees planted. The price tag for the project has risen $27.4 million since a $95.7-million bid from Dexter
Construction was accepted by council. A staff report says the extra costs are because construction costs are higher now than when calculated for the project estimate and inflation. “Much” of the project’s costs are expected to be recovered through the sale of land and property tax, Savage said. While it’s touted as a "historic" HRM build, it’s not the most expensive to date. The Halifax Harbour Solutions project, completed in 2011, was by far the most costly, at $333 million to build enough sewage treatment plants to
make Halifax a city where every single toilet flush doesn't go straight into the harbour. The Cogswell Interchange was built in 1969 as the first part of a planned waterfront freeway called Harbour Drive. (Imagine bulldozing Historic Properties to make room for a Cogswell-grade roadway extending along the waterfront towards Point Pleasant Park.) In the face of strong public protest, the Harbour Drive idea was axed by city council in 1971, abandoning Cogswell to be a highway on-ramp without a highway. Talks for redeveloping the interchange began as early as 1997. HRM hired John Spinelli as the Cogswell redevelopment project director in 2015. Savage said big activity will begin at the Cogswell Interchange site in 2022. Halifax can expect that in the coming months infrastructure for utilities will start to be built, Dexter Construction will create a base at the centre of the 16-acre site and bypass roads will be established, he said. Once construction is complete, before the end of 2026, Savage said “we will start to see a new neighbourhood take shape, reconnecting downtown with the north end and the waterfront, and adding much-needed housing.” The new development will also “support a district energy system” supplying renewable energy from the Halifax Water wastewater treatment facility to heat and cool buildings. “This project is designed to represent the aspirations of our community,” Savage said. “To be a prosperous growing city that cares about its environment, and the wonderful mix of people of all kinds who contribute to the life, culture, and personality of place that we believe sets us apart.” There are no details yet on what the planned housing development on the site will look like, just that space is expected to fit 2,500 people. It's unclear how much of these units will be affordable, but Savage said there’s room for the city to get involved in “deeply affordable” housing in this development. The city says it will continue to share project details through public announcements, web updates and a mobile app. a
The City CLIMATE
PC climate crisis targets exceed campaign promises, but do they go far enough? New legislated environment goals are positive, but lack urgency, Mabiza says. BY LYNDSAY ARMSTRONG
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he PCs were quick to do something the government before them didn’t: put specific legislated climate change targets into action. Environment minister Tim Halman says the 28 goals, which include ending the use of coal for electricity by 2030, achieving net zero by 2050 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 53 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, proves the government is ready to take action. Iain Rankin’s Liberal government introduced a similar environmental target bill while in power, but it was never proclaimed. Unlike the previous Liberal bill, the PC one has its targets written into legislation. Halman says this gives the climate change reduction plan more teeth. Noreen Mabiza, the Ecology Action Centre’s energy coordinator for sustainable communities, says she’s pleased with the proposed legislation, which promises to use 80 percent renewable energy by 2030, and reduce Nova Scotians’ solid waste disposal rate to no more than 300 kg per person per year by 2030 (down from about 400 kg of trash) but the PCs' plan still falls short of what’s needed. “We’re thrilled to see the wide-ranging tar-
Noreen Mabiza, energy coordinator for sustainable communities with Ecology Action Centre says she's thrilled to see the new climate change targets, even though they don't go far enough. SUBMITTED
gets that are being embedded into legislation. Now we need accountability, follow through and immediate action to address the climate and biodiversity emergencies,” Mabiza says. “So we see today as a good start, but it’s not enough.” Mabiza would specifically like to see the government’s plan for how it will achieve these targets. Halman said a provincial climate change plan, which will lay out specifically how goals will be met, will be shared in spring 2022. But that could be six months from now, making Mabiza concerned about the plan’s lack of urgency. “I want to see more immediate action from the government,” she says. a
LEGISLATURE
Premier apologizes for implying minimum wage work not “real” 52 percent of the working Nova Scotians make $15 an hour or less. Houston said people don’t want minimum wage work.
I
n a tense back and forth with NDP leader Gary Burrill, just a week before he would announce stepping back from leadership, premier Tim Houston explained why hiking minimum wage to $15 an hour isn't a priority. "What I'm focused on is the economy of this province and making sure that every Nova Scotian has an opportunity in this province and sees themselves as being able to thrive right here in Nova Scotia. And it's not driven by the minimum wage. I don't know many Nova Scotians grow up thinking, ‘Boy, I hope I make minimum wage when I grow up.’ That's not the way people think. They want real jobs,” Houston said Nov 4, in response to the NDP’s push for a $15 minimum wage. Houston was quick to apologize. He explained that in the heat of the moment he chose the wrong words, and that what he really meant was “better” jobs.
Minimum wage in Nova Scotia sits at $12.95 an hour, though living wage in most of the province is well above that. In Halifax, the hourly pay needed to live is $22.05, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Living wage in Annapolis Valley is $21.30, it’s $21.03 in the South Shore, $19.20 in the northern region of the province and $18.45 in Cape Breton. But across the province, 390,000 people—52 percent of working Nova Scotians—make $15 an hour or less, according to Statistics Canada figures. Jobs within this pay bracket are in wideranging industries, including but not limited to continuing care, retail, early childhood education, food service and home care. And of course, the wage divide is gendered—60 percent of the below $15 hourly earners are women. It can be inferred that the wage divide in Nova Scotia is also impacted by race, though that data isn’t readily available. —LA
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ShopTalk Send tips to shoptalk@thecoast.ca ALL SORTS OF OPENINGS
HRM’s first Filipino bakery B
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aking is one of Sharon De Leon’s passions, but her career in preparing Filipino breads and pastries began almost accidentally. For years, it had always been her side gig, where she’d fulfill orders at home whenever she found the time outside of working as a professional chef. But now she’s made baking her full-time commitment with the opening of Bedford’s Filipino bakery and cafe, Tinápe (72 Gary Martin Drive). “We’re the first—established one:bakery and cafe with a Filipino twist here in Halifax,” says De Leon, sitting beside her husband and Tinápe co-owner Sundy Gernale. “We’re excited to offer what we can as part of our profession being chefs.” The duo opened their Tinápe storefront on October 31. Its name has two origins according to De Leon. It’s a general term used in the Filipino province of Pampanga—where Gernale grew up—that means “bread.” It’s also a portmanteau of the Filipino words “tinapay,” which also means bread, and “kape,” which means coffee. The bakery and cafe specializes in traditional Filipino breads such as pandesal and ensaymada. It also offers other baked goods such as monggo bread, a bread filled with sweet red bean paste; ube cake, which uses the flavour of purple yam; and sans rival, a cake that incorporates layers of cashew meringue and French buttercream. On top of that, Tinápe offers a Filipino frozen dessert drink called iskrambol, various classic sandwiches served on pandesal and several espresso-based drinks. “Our own beans that we serve here in Tinápe is custom-made by Java Blend,” Gernale says. “We picked the flavour notes from the
Tinápe owners Sundy Gernale and Sharon De Leon
Luke’s on the rise
Speed round
Since starting last spring, Luke’s Small Goods has gathered a strong list of restaurant clients for its handmade breads, pastries, preserves and charcuterie. Plus every Saturday, Luke’s sets up shop in the Halifax Brewery Farmers’ Market. Now the business is building on its success by launching a new cafe storefront in the heart of Halifax. Get ready for Luke’s Small Goods to open its doors at 2393 Agricola Street in late November or early December. Luke’s four owners—husband and wife team Luke and Hannah Gaston and Highwayman restaurant/bar co-owners Michael Hopper and Adam MacLeod—are focusing the new shop on simplicity, take-away items and accessibility. Its products will include sweet pastries, deli items, spreads and, of course, freshly baked sourdough bread. “It’s sort of a philosophy of mine that bread is meant to feed communities,” Luke says. “If a bakery is in a community, every single person in that community should be able to go there and be able to afford to buy those breads.” —CS
In October, Woozles Children’s Bookstore left its longtime Birmingham Street location. But don’t worry. The shop reopens in the Quinpool Road area (6013 Shirley Street) later this month. | On the Halifax waterfront, the Queen’s Marque development is launching two ventures that put a five-star spin on local art, architecture and food. First up is Drift, the restaurant in the Muir hotel; led by heavyweight Canadian chef Anthony Walsh, it’s due to open mid-November. Then comes the Muir itself, welcoming guests to harbourside luxury from December 10. Find both at 1709 Lower Water Street. | Team Coast is hungrily watching constuction progress at Lou Pécou—the artisinal pizzeria being built at 5567 Cunard Street shares a back wall with our office. Its fall opening has been delayed by the pandemic. | Finally, former Kitsune chef/owner Ami Goto is back in action with The Lone Wolf Food Co., a brand-new Japanese food service focused on pre-ordered takeout and catering. —Victoria Walton
Philippines, like dark chocolate, caramel and nutty flavours. “We call it Barako. Barako is one of the common coffee beans in the Philippines, that’s why we take that name in our shop.” Out of all the baked goods at Tinápe, De Leon and Gernale want to focus on sharing what’s probably the most common Filipino bread, pandesal. Its slightly sweet flavour is balanced out by other subtle flavours—a taste that De Leon says is new, but well-received, by customers new to Filipino cuisine. “We want to put the Filipino pandesal on the market so they might think, ‘Oh, this is from the Philippines,’” Gernale says. “The French have the croissant, the Indians have the paratha. If we think about pandesal, ‘Oh, that’s from a Filipino baker.’” —Chris Stoodley
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 7
H
alifax, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways. Over 110 categories of local excellence have been awarded in The Coast’s 2021 Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards, voted on by 30,835 Haligonians—with 506,152 total votes cast. All that math adds up to one thing: you love this city by the sea as much as we do— from the Dartmouth spot which is only a few wins away from Hall of Fame status to the first-time-recognized DJ who keeps downtown’s dance floors hot. When Joel Plaskett sang “Love This Town,” who knew it’d be such a relatable theme, ringing on in our hearts decades on? Turns out, all of HRM did. Turn the page for all of this year’s solid gold (and silver and bronze) winners.
VOTED BY HALIFAX WRITTEN BY LYNDSAY ARMSTRONG, MORGAN MULLIN, CHRIS STOODLEY AND VICTORIA WALTON
The Coast’s Best of Halifax survey was made possible with support from Atlantic Lottery.
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 9
2021
Best Bakery GOLD
LF Bakery
BEST OF
2063 Gottingen Street SILVER
Birdie’s Bread Co. 380 Pleasant Street BRONZE
Two If By Sea 66 Ochterloney Street
If you’ve tasted their chocolatine, sourdough baguette or gruyere cheese croissant, it will come as no surprise that LF Bakery has won Best of Halifax’s gold for Best Bakery. The Laurent Marcelled bakery serves specialty french baking to Halifax’s north end. The bakery’s manager wants to extend a thank you to the restaurants LF works with and their strong base of customers for “being so supportive and open to new things through the years.” What makes LF’s baked goods so special? The ingredients, of course. “We deeply care about the quality of the ingredients we use from all over the world,” manager Viola Egger says. “We think you can taste every single one in our breads, pastries and sandwiches.”
Best Bar GOLD
1645 Argyle Street SILVER
Good Robot Brewing Co. 2736 Robie Street BRONZE
Stillwell Beer Bar 1672 Barrington Street
Best Barista GOLD
Keegan Blue, Almonak 5659 Almon Street SILVER ALEXA CUDE
Food & Drink Awards
Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub
BEST CHEF
GOLD Renée Lavalle, The Canteen 22 Portland Street
Renée Lavalle hails from Shawville, Quebec and studied at George Brown College in Toronto, but she has called Nova Scotia home for the past 13 years. She was reached by The Coast between lunch and dinner service on the day of a new menu debut at The Canteen, and she took the time to emphasize that deciding on the new food to showcase is a team effort. “We’re like a big dysfunctional family here, so it’s a lot of sharing ideas. It’s all about the time of year, figuring out what locally we can use, what products we have,” Lavallée says. With more than 20 years in the industry under her belt, the Feisty Chef launched The Canteen on Ochterloney in 2014. Lavallée is best known for delicious culinary creations that include local food and her ardent support for small farmers. She says she doesn’t know for sure why she won gold for Best Chef, this year for the fourth time, but she’s “so happy and honoured” and it all goes back to her team and loyal customer base. “It’s all about the amazing team and customers who have supported us since day one.” SILVER Brad George, Dear Friend Bar 67 Portland Street BRONZE Lauren Marshall, Real Fake Meats 2278 Gottingen Street 10 • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 •
Dan Weir, Weird Harbour 1656 Barrington Street BRONZE
Jenna Oosterholt, Bliss Caffeine Bar 1451 South Park Street
Best Barista winner Keegan Blue says his favourite drink to make is an 8oz cappuccino with a tulip of milk foam on top. “It’s one of the first ones you learn but it looks pretty good,” he says. It’s not just Blue’s coffee-pouring skills that landed him the win. It’s also an undeniable charisma and charm. His friends first made the BOH nomination as a joke, but soon Blue realized he actually had a shot. “I can’t believe I won number one,” he says.
#BOH21
“There are definitely some better baristas out there but I will take all the fame and glory.” Having first learned the art of coffee at Starbucks, Blue “climbed the ladder” to spend 10 months at Dilly Dally, which he said has “a great vibe, great food and great coffee.” He now works at Almonak.
Best Bartender GOLD
Nicki Brown, Good Robot Brewing Co.
liners, for the hospitality industry, for kitchens,” says Counsil. “And for customers, for small communities, for people in general. It’s very thoughtful on their end, we really appreciate it and just know that we’re trying to pay it back.”
Best Chicken Wings
Best Brunch
1726 Grafton Street
GOLD
The Canteen 22 Portland Street SILVER
Ardmore Tea Room
2736 Robie Street SILVER
6499 Quinpool Road BRONZE
Anisa Francoeur, Dear Friend Bar
Cheeky Neighbour Diner
67 Portland Street BRONZE
Abel Glass, 5 Social 1740 Argyle Street
Best Bedford Restaurant GOLD
6024 Quinpool Road
Best Burger GOLD
Darrell’s Restaurant 5576 Fenwick Street SILVER
Battery Park Beer Bar
Il Mercato
62 Ochterloney Street BRONZE
1595 Bedford Highway SILVER
899 Portland Street
Birch & Anchor
Side Hustle Snack Bar
367 Bedford Highway BRONZE
Best Burrito
Finbar’s Irish Pub
Habaneros Modern Taco Bar
1595 Bedford Highway
600 Windmill Road SILVER
Best Breakfast GOLD
GOLD
Burrito Jax
Ardmore Tea Room
5215 Blowers Street BRONZE
6499 Quinpool Road SILVER
5668 Cornwallis Street
Edna
Dee Dee’s Ice Cream
2053 Gottingen Street BRONZE
Best Butcher Shop
Pür & Simple
Gateway Meat Market
189 Hector Gate
667 Main Street, Dartmouth SILVER
Best Brew Pub GOLD
Good Robot Brewing Co. 2736 Robie Street SILVER
Battery Park Beer Bar 62 Ochterloney Street BRONZE
Stillwell Beer Bar 1672 Barrington Street
Co-owner of Good Robot Brewing Co. Josh Counsil chalks the north end brewery’s win up to being a values-oriented organization. After years of pushing campaigns like Pints for Pro-vaxxers and discounts for first responders, Counsil says “what we do, how we do it and what we stand for is a big piece.” Good Robot thanks its customers “a million times over” for voting the brew pub BOH gold after the pandemic has made it hard to stay afloat. “It’s been a tough year for front-
GOLD
Two Boys Smokehouse & Deli 984 Cole Harbour Road BRONZE
Getaway Farms 5544 Kaye Street
Best Caesar GOLD
Stubborn Goat Gastropub 1579 Grafton Street SILVER
The Canteen 22 Portland Street BRONZE
Black Sheep 1496 Lower Water Street
Best Cafe GOLD
Two If By Sea 66 Ochterloney Street SILVER
Dilly Dally Coffee Cafe 6100 Quinpool Road BRONZE
Selby’s Bunker 1090 Cole Harbour Road
GOLD
The Pint Public House 1575 Argyle Street SILVER
HFX Sports Bar & Grill 1721 Brunswick Street BRONZE
Freemans Little New York, Grafton Street
Best Chowder GOLD
The Canteen 22 Portland Street SILVER
The Esquire 772 Bedford Highway BRONZE
Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub 1645 Argyle Street
Best Cidery GOLD
Lake City Cider 35 Portland Street SILVER
Chain Yard Urban Cidery 2606 Agricola Street BRONZE
Annapolis Cider Co 388 Main Street, Wolfville
While some may long for a storefront in downtown Halifax, Poet Comeau says she’s a “super proud Dartmouth girl” at heart. “I see it more as an opportunity. I get to be the only Dartmouth cidery,” the Lake City Cider owner tells The Coast by phone. “Dartmouth was always in our business plan. Lake City is a passion for cider but it’s also a passion for where we live.” Comeau says it’s been a challenging year for anyone in the service industry. Lake City was lucky to remain open through COVID. “That was a huge benefit,” she says. “But still, you know, it was still hard for the uncertainty of it all. But we flipped the switch to home delivery, and we’ve tried to be as accessible as possible.” Comeau thanks retail manager Russell (the sole original hire still on staff) and lead production manager Joe for their hard work, as well as the customers who voted for Lake City. “There’s not many times we get patted on the back a little bit. So it feels really nice to be recognized that way,” she adds. “We feel so thankful that people like what we do and like our products and support us in what we love to do, which is just make some really great cider.”
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 11
BEST OF HALIFAX
BEST NEW RESTAURANT GOLD
Dear Friend Bar 67 Portland Street
Dear Friend opened its doors in July 2020 and has received well-deserved attention ever since. “We were overwhelmed with how much we were nominated for,” says co-owner Matt Boyle. He attributes it all to his staff. “They’re the ones that are greeting every guest, making the food and making the drinks and serving people,” Boyle says. Dear Friend mainly markets itself as a cocktail destination, but Boyle says head chef Bradley George has made magic in a small, non-traditional kitchen with limited equipment. “I think he’s really just at the tip of the iceberg,” Boyle says. “I think we’re going to see, for a long time, him being one of the best chefs around.” SILVER
Hermitage 1460 Lower Water Street BRONZE
Easy Street Diner 3625 Dutch Village Road
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Strangers are just Dear Friends you haven't met yet. Here are the staff who make Halifax’s Best New Restaurant happen, from left: Matt Boyle, Mark Bradbury, Ling Jie Xue, Marika Bouchard, Evan McNeil, Ian Grimshaw, Carter Macdonald, Jeff Van Horne, Brad George, Marta Ess, Patrick Fulgencio, Michael Firth, Bronwyn Langstroth JAMES MACLEAN
#BOH21
Best Clayton Park Area Restaurant GOLD
Mezza Lebanese Kitchen 278 Lacewood Drive SILVER
Tako Sushi & Ramen 480 Parkland Drive BRONZE
The Lower Deck 1887 Upper Water Street
cup on the way to the office, to sip a latte with a tinder date, or to hit you with the caffeine you need hungover on a Saturday morning.
Best Craft Brewery GOLD
Good Robot Brewing Co. 2736 Robie Street SILVER
BRONZE
Cheeky Neighbour Diner 6024 Quinpool Road
Best Donair GOLD
Tony’s Donair 2390 Robie Street SILVER
Randy’s Pizza, Agricola
Garrison Brewing
2380 Agricola Street BRONZE
GOLD
1149 Marginal Road BRONZE
5246 Blowers Street
Lot Six
North Brewing Brewing
1685 Argyle Street SILVER
899 Portland Street
Best Cocktails
Dear Friend Bar 67 Portland Street BRONZE
Best Dartmouth Restaurant GOLD
Julep
The Canteen
1688 Barrington Street
22 Portland Street SILVER
Best Coffee GOLD
Mic Mac Bar & Grill
Java Blend
219 Waverley Road BRONZE
6027 North Street SILVER
352 Pleasant Street
Dilly Dally Coffee Cafe
John’s Lunch
6100 Quinpool Road BRONZE
Best Desserts
Apartment 3 Espresso Bar
Antoinette’s Cheesecakes
833 Sackville Drive
250 Baker Drive SILVER
Whether you’re more of a Fog City roast gal or a Northender roast pal, you’ll probably agree the best coffee in the city is served at Java Blend Coffee Roasters on North Street. Java Blend, which first started roasting and selling coffee more than 80 years ago, is this year’s gold winner for Best Coffee. The coffee shop was started by Theodore Sideris in 1938 and it’s been a staple of the eorth end community ever since. It’s the spot to get a
GOLD
Sweet Hereafter Cheesecakery
Johnny K’s
Best Farmers’ Market Stall
Best Fish & Chips
Noggins Corner
352 Pleasant Street SILVER
GOLD
1031 Marginal Road SILVER
Bliss Bowls 2 Ochterloney Street BRONZE
Roma’s Cheese (Ciro) Seaport Farmer’s Market, Pier 22 Pavillion
Best Fine Dining GOLD
Bar Kismet 2722 Agricola Street SILVER
Da Maurizo 1496 Lower Water Street BRONZE
6148 Quinpool Road BRONZE
Bicycle Thief
The Middle Spoon
Bar Kismet, the intimate north end restaurant with exceptional and creative seafood dishes, has won gold for Best Fine Dining. Bar Kismet’s co-owner, Jenner Cormier, says all credit for the fine dining win goes to the Kismet team. “It’s all because of the staff, the credit belongs to them,”
1563 Barrington Street
Best Diner GOLD
Ardmore Tea Room 6499 Quinpool Road SILVER
Armview Restaurant & Lounge 7156 Chebucto Road
he says. For restaurants like Bar Kismet, the pandemic has presented a “nightmare” at times. “It seems like every week, every month, there are a new set of challenges,” Cormier says. “But I think the best part has been seeing the staff smile, and seeing some of our guests come back in through our doors was pretty heartwarming after being closed for so long.”
1475 Lower Water Street
GOLD
John’s Lunch Pleasant Street Diner 205 Pleasant Street BRONZE
Freddie’s Fish & Chips 8 Oland Crescent
The homepage of the John’s Lunch website reads “The Coast’s gold winner for ‘Best Seafood’ and ‘Best Fish & Chips’ for over a decade,“ and that’s true again this year. Originally opening as a diner in 1969, John’s Lunch has been the king of fish & chips for decades in Dartmouth. Through the ages it’s seen ownership change hands from John Sarganis to Stratos Baltas, and now to his niece Irene Baltas and Kathy Hilchey. These two are the first women owners and are also both longtime employees. But somehow, despite the awards, the ownership changes and the countless meals served, the small lunch counter maintains that small-town
diner vibe and always-busy feel even through all that. The quality of the seafood hasn’t gone downhill either.
Best Fish Cakes GOLD
Mic Mac Bar & Grill 219 Waverley Road SILVER
Black Sheep 1496 Lower Water Street BRONZE
Evan’s Fresh Seafood 2 Ochterloney Street
Best Fries GOLD
Bud The Spud Spring Garden Road & Grafton Street SILVER
be working alongside each other in the kitchen, just like original owners Bud and Nancy True did in the ’70s. The quality of the fries, however, will not change. LeBlanc tells The Coast the secret is a combination of “quality potatoes cut fresh in the truck, fresh oil, paying attention and cooked for each customer.”
Best Greek Restaurant GOLD
ela! Greek Taverna Restaurant 215 Chain Lake Drive SILVER
Mezza Lebanese Kitchen, Barrington
Willy’s Fresh Cut
1558 Barrington Street BRONZE
5239 Blowers Street BRONZE
6208 Quinpool Road
Stubborn Goat Gastropub 1579 Grafton Street
After seven years being responsible for carrying the torch of running the Bud The Spud food truck, Jody LeBlanc sold the business in August 2021. “People expected a certain quality of fries and a certain food truck experience when they visited Bud,” LeBlanc says. “It’s kind of like I was the caretaker of that. So I tried to treat the experience the same as if it was 1985, not 2021.” The food truck closed early for the season in August but will reopen, this time under new ownership, next year. LeBlanc describes new owners Kathleen and Kyle as a “younger couple” in their 30s who will
Blue Olive Greek Taverna
Best Hotel Restaurant GOLD
Chop Steakhouse & Bar 1680 Grafton Street SILVER
Gio 1725 Market Street BRONZE
Tempo food+drink 1875 Barrington Street
Best Ice Cream / Gelato / Frozen Yogurt GOLD
COWS 1891 Upper Water Street SILVER
Dairy Bar 5688 Spring Garden Road BRONZE
Flynn’s Dairy Bar Fun & Shakes 1365 Hollis Street
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 13
BEST OF HALIFAX
Best International Grocer
Wolfville SILVER
Pete’s Fine Foods 1515 Dresden Row SILVER
11143 Evangeline Trail, Wolfville BRONZE
Tian Phat Asian Grocery
Luckett Vineyards
209 Bedford Highway BRONZE
1293 Grand Pre Road, Gaspereau Valley
GOLD
Indian Groceries 2585 Robie Street
Best Italian Restaurant
Best Pan-Asian Restaurant
GOLD
Ristorante a Mano
Cha Baa Thai Restaurant, Queen Street
1477 Lower Water Street SILVER
1546 Queen Street SILVER
Il Mercato Trattoria
Talay Thai Halifax
1595 Bedford Highway BRONZE
5164 Morris Street BRONZE
GOLD
Bicycle Thief
Buta Ramen
1475 Lower Water Street
5190 Morris Street
Best Late-night Food GOLD
Willy’s Fresh Cut 5239 Blowers Street SILVER
Freeman’s Little New York, Grafton Street 1726 Grafton Street BRONZE
Smoke’s Poutinerie 5236 Blowers Street
Best Middle Eastern / Persian Restaurant GOLD
Mezza Lebanese Kitchen, Barrington 1558 Barrington Street SILVER
Tarek’s Cafe 3045 Robie Street BRONZE
Lemon Tree 805 Bedford Highway
Best Milkshake GOLD
Flynn’s Dairy Bar Fun & Shakes 1365 Hollis Street SILVER
Cha Baa Thai‚ this year’s gold winner for Best of Halifax’s new Best Pan-Asian Restaurant category‚ has been serving up delicious curries using fresh ingredients since 2007. Cha Baa means hibiscus in Thai, and it was chosen as the restaurant’s name because it’s a “cheerful and delicate tropical flower. It’s a symbol of the friendly hearts and genuine character of the Thai people,” reads the restaurant’s about page. Cha Baa delivers its food around HRM with its own delivery service and offers an unbeatable lunch special. The resto serves customers at four locations, two in Halifax with one each in Bedford and Dartmouth.
Best Pasta GOLD
Ristorante a Mano 1477 Lower Water Street SILVER
The Vines Pasta Grill
The Chickenburger
4 Panavista Drive BRONZE
1531 Bedford Highway BRONZE
1595 Bedford Highway
Five Guys 1630 Argyle Street
Best Nachos GOLD
Finbar’s Irish Pub 1595 Bedford Highway SILVER
Il Mercato
Best Patio GOLD
Stubborn Goat Beer Garden 1599 Lower Water Street SILVER
Birch & Anchor
79 Alderney Drive
Best Pizza Slice GOLD
Yeah Yeah’s Pizza, Dartmouth 66 Ochtorloney Street SILVER
On The Wedge 1595 Bedford Highway BRONZE
Sicilian Pizza 5245 Blowers Street
Because the menu at Yeah Yeah’s Pizza isn’t very extensive—five regular pizzas plus a rotating weekly special—the shop depends a lot on taste. “Just quality ingredients, done well, New York style,” says owner Josh Nordin. Priced around $5 a slice, the most popular are the margherita or pepperoni, as well as the special which can range from “classic Italian flavours to Big Mac pizzas” Nordin says. Yeah Yeah’s won’t reveal all its secrets. “We bring in really quality pepperoni from a place that I’m never going to tell anyone,” says Nordin, but he chalks the BOH win up to the staff, including “the heart and soul of the place,” Sal Mosca. “He’s been with us since before we opened. He makes dough, he works service, everybody knows him.”
Best Poutine GOLD
Willy’s Fresh Cut 5239 Blowers Street SILVER
Cheese Curds Gourmet Burgers + Poutinerie, Windmill 600 Windmill Road BRONZE
Smoke’s Poutinerie 5236 Blowers Street
Best Pub Food GOLD
Mic Mac Bar & Grill 219 Waverley Road SILVER
Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub 1645 Argyle Street BRONZE
The Lower Deck
367 Bedford Highway BRONZE
1887 Upper Water Street BRONZE
Stillwell Beergarden
The Old Triangle Irish Alehouse
5688 Spring Garden Road
5136 Prince Street
Birch & Anchor 367 Bedford Highway
Best Nova Scotian Winery
14 • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 •
Lightfoot & Wolfville
BRONZE
Stone Pizza
Best Pizza Pie GOLD
Yeah Yeah’s, Dartmouth
GOLD
66 Ochtorloney Street SILVER
Benjamin Bridge
Morris East, Vernon Street
1966 White Rock Road,
1984 Vernon Street
Whether you’re in the mood for a lobster supper, tasty brunch, seafood platter, a burger or a steak, the Mic Mac Bar & Grill is the place to be. A longstanding Dartmouth favourite, it’s the winner of this year’s gold
#BOH21
Selbys bunker
using local ingredients wherever possible. “If there’s a family that comes through our door and someone’s a vegetarian, someones’ vegan, someones’ glutenfree and someone’s a meat lover, we want our menu to be welcoming for all,” she says. Bower says the resto keeps doing what it does because of its loyal customers and excellent staff. “We have been here for 17 years and we’re so thankful,” she says. Now, as the resto finds its stride following 20 months of changing pandemic restrictions and rules, Bower says the Wooden Monkey team is getting back into doing what they love most, which is innovating and experimenting with new menu items. “This is the fun part, especially getting to try the new food,” she says.
1090 Cole Harbour Road BRONZE
Best Wine List
BEST WINE LIST GOLD Obladee, 1600 Barrington Street JESS EMIN
award for Best Pub Food. The spot is so special it was the location for a Dartmouth couple’s 2017 wedding, as CTV reported at the time. The couple chose the unusual wedding destination to celebrate their first date at Mic Mar Bar & Grill. Pub food could be the secret to everlasting love.
SILVER
Best Restaurant
Lion’s Head Tavern
GOLD
Holy Moly Tea
Obladee
Best Trivia Night
1600 Barrington Street SILVER
GOLD
The Board Room Game Cafe 1256 Barrington Street SILVER
The Canteen
3085 Robie Street BRONZE
22 Portland Street SILVER
991 Windgate Drive
Bicycle Thief 1475 Lower Water Street BRONZE
Antojo Tacos + Tequila 1667 Argyle Street
Best Ribs
Beaver Bank Station
Best Use Of Local Ingredients GOLD
The Wooden Monkey, Dartmouth
GOLD
40 Alderney Drive SILVER
Mic Mac Bar & Grill
The Canteen
219 Waverley Road SILVER
22 Portland Street BRONZE
Upsteet BBQ Brewhouse
Bar Kismet
612 Windmill Road BRONZE
2722 Agricola Street
Beaver Bank Station 991 Windgate Drive
Best Sackville Restaurant GOLD
Beaver Bank Station 991 Windgate Drive SILVER
Kaiser’s Sub & Sandwich Shoppes 799 Sackville Drive BRONZE
Tom’s Family Restaurant 585 Sackville Drive
Best Tea GOLD
World Tea House 1592 Argyle Street
GOLD
114 Woodlawn Road
Best Vegetarianfriendly GOLD
The Wooden Monkey, Halifax 1707 Grafton Street SILVER
enVie A Vegan Kitchen 5775 Charles Street BRONZE
Heartwood 6250 Quinpool Road
The Wooden Monkey may have won gold for Best Vegetarian-friendly, but it is not a veggie-only eatery. “Our goal has always been to have something for everyone,” co-owner Christine Bower says, which always means
Bicycle Thief 1475 Lower Water Street BRONZE
Bar Kismet 2733 Agricola Street
Obladee celebrated its 11th birthday this fall with the title of Best Wine List. Owner Heather Rankin is quick to declare the list is “not one of those old school, library wine lists. Those things are becoming kind of relics. It’s more of a list that’s frequently changing.” Rankin describes some wines as off the beaten path, either recommended by employees or found by herself. “I’ll often talk to the staff about what they’re drinking, what they’re really enjoying,” she says. But some are also requested by customers. “They come to me and say we’re really missing a full -bodied red option, people are really asking for that,” says Rankin. “Or they say people are really liking this price point, can we get a few more like that.” Obladee says it’s humbled to win BOH, “there are a lot of great wine places out there in the city, places I like to go and drink wine,” says Rankin. “So we’re always excited when we win this. And," she adds, "because it’s voted by the public, it’s one of the most meaningful awards to us.”
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 15
Best Barber GOLD
Robyn Ingraham
BEST OF
60 Queen Street, Dartmouth SILVER
Cedric DeChamp AKA Ceddy The Barber 14 Highfield Park Drive BRONZE
Jeremy Naugler 6451 Quinpool Road
JAMES MACLEAN
City Living Awards
2021
It was Robyn Ingraham’s birthday when she found out she won this year’s Best Barber award, and she instantly thought it was one of the best gifts she’s ever received on her birthday. “It’s very nice to have that recognition,” she says. “This award will hopefully bring more people in...I just want to bring more people to my coworkers and to myself.” In September 2020, Ingraham opened Devoted Barbers & Co. with two of her best friends in downtown Dartmouth. She won Best Barber once already, in The Coast’s last Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards in 2019. Back then, working for Sailor Bup’s Barbershop, she thought the shop’s popularity was something that helped her. But now, with her own business under her clippers, she’s ecstatic that her clients genuinely recognize her skills. “It was nice that it wasn’t just the shop itself, it’s the people in the shop,” she says, adding that she didn’t expect to win since she didn’t really advertise it on her social media. “It was just super humbling.” Now eight years into her career, Ingraham is overjoyed that she’s able to make her mark as a woman in a male-dominated industry.
Best Barbershop GOLD
Legends Barbershop 14 Highfield Park Drive SILVER
Oddfellows Barbershop
BEST INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT GOLD @aliciamccarvell
“I think the cool part about comedy online is that it’s allowed people to create within a safe space of their home,” says Best Instagram Account and Best Comedian gold winner Alicia Mccarvell, explaining her not-so-atypical-in-2021 introduction to professional laugh-getting. Mccarvell, who makes viral TikToks with titles like “if my vagina was a car, what type of car would it be?” (alongside sincere, celebrated content about mental health and self love), aims to make people “laugh after a hard day,” and is a local manifestation of the wave of women comics who exploded on social media during the pandemic. Mccarvell is already proving her talent will last beyond what’s trending: She recently made her acting debut as a supporting role in the Jonathan Torrens’s new Bell Fibe series Vollies, which follows the misadventures and non-happenings of a group of rural volunteer firefighters. “I’m very lucky that yes, my platform on TikTok is 3.3 million and on Instagram’s over 400,000. But it’s not the numbers,” she adds. It’s about the laughs and “the people and the fact that I get to walk the streets of Halifax and have people stop me and tell me that I’ve helped them see their body in a different light.” SILVER @HalifaxNoise BRONZE @dal_memes
6451 Quinpool Road BRONZE
Devoted Barbers & Co 60 Queen Street, Dartmouth
Best Bike Store GOLD
Cyclesmith 2553 Agricola Street SILVER
Train Station Bike & Bean 5401 St Margarets Bay Road BRONZE
The Bike Pedaler 61 Portland Street
16 • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 •
#BOH21
Best Business Giving Back During The Pandemic
Best Corner Store
Good Robot Brewing Co.
1365 Hollis Street SILVER
GOLD
2736 Robie Street SILVER
The Canteen 22 Portland Street BRONZE
Evolve Fitness
GOLD
Flynn’s Dairy Bar & Convenience Jubilee Junction 6273 Jubilee Road BRONZE
Atlantic News 5560 Morris Street
Hope Blooms
This year’s gold winner for Best Corner Store is really much more than your typical corner store. Flynn’s Dairy Bar & Convenience is the spot to satisfy all of your unique candy cravings. Need an A&W root beer ice cream syrup for your sundae? They’ve got it. Looking for Cardi B’s Jerk BBQ Chips from Rap Snacks? Flynn’s has you covered. Or maybe you’re an adventurous snacker and you’re after Lil Nitro’s World’s Hottest Gummy Bear. If that’s you, you know where to go. The spot is also responsible for the most decadent and overthe-top milkshakes Halifax has ever seen.
2346 Brunswick Street BRONZE
Best Councillor
3667 Strawberry Hill Street, unit 220
Best Comics Store GOLD
Cape & Cowl Comics & Collectibles 622 Sackville Drive SILVER
Giant Robot Comics 114 Woodlawn Road BRONZE
Monster Comic Lounge 2089 Gottingen Street
Best Community Project GOLD
Halifax Mutual Aid Mini Shelters SILVER
Taking BLK Gottingen
Halifax Mutual Aid is a largely anonymous group. Because of that, spokesperson Campbell McClintock doesn’t even know how many volunteers are involved. But another number comes readily to mind: This year, they’ve collectively built 15 crisis shelters, small wooden structures for unhoused residents at a cost of about $1,400 each. McClintock says HMA’s project has shown just how easy it can be for people to get involved and make a difference. “It’s definitely cool if people think this community project has been impactful in our community,” he says. “The goal of this is to draw attention to a very simple solution that regular community members can bring to the table about such an urgent issue facing all of us.” It all started as a grassroots organization, people coming together who wanted to create change. “We don’t have to wait around for the government to make decisions. We can act on this,” McClintock says. “So if this inspires other people to organize as well, I think that’s a really incredible thing.”
GOLD
Lindell Smith SILVER
Tim Outhit BRONZE
Tony Mancini
North end Halifax councillor Lindell Smith has won gold for HRM’s Best Councillor in his second term. Thirty-oneyear-old Smith represents Halifax Peninsula North on council. He is a lifelong north end resident and cofounder of Centreline Studio, a non-profit recording studio for youth looking to express themselves through art and music. When first elected in District 8 in 2016 at just 26 years old, Smith was the first Black councillor to represent Halifax in 16 years. Smith is a very busy dude, serving as a member on more than 10 communities boards and HRM committees, including the North End Business Association, District 7 and 8 planning advisory committee, the Council on African Canadian Education and community advisory committee. The Coast received numerous requests to remove Best Councillor from this year’s vote. Some Haligonians expressed frustration with how the city has handled growing communities of
unhoused people, and in particular the shelter siege. Our news coverage dives into this issue deeply, but for the Best of Halifax poll it didn’t feel right to change the ballot when voting was already underway. Instead, we recommended that Haligonians express their displeasure for council‚ and their contempt for the idea there might be any good people on council‚ by not voting in this category at all. If there was a major drop in voting numbers for this category, that would have been the story of the Best Councillor award, but online voters supported the category as strongly as ever. Halifax has affirmed Smith’s mandate as Best Councillor.
Best COVID briefing quote GOLD
“Stay the blazes home,” premier Stephen McNeil SILVER
“It is not the time to go to Costco for sandals that you heard were in stock,” Doctor Strang BRONZE
“And when this has passed may we say that love spread more quickly than any virus ever could,” Doctor Strang
Best Dog Groomer GOLD
Jollytails 6390 Lady Hammond Road SILVER
Prim & Pupper Pet Grooming 2310 Gottingen Street BRONZE
Dapper Dogs 1658 Bedford Highway
Best Esthetician GOLD
Natalie MacDonald, Blair Beauty Bar 6247 Quinpool Road SILVER
Stacy Landry, Adorn Salon + Spa 1308 Saint Margarets Bay Road BRONZE
Andrea Bowness, The Ten Spot Halifax 5165 South Street
It was winning the BOH gold award in 2018 that inspired Natalie MacDonald to go out on her own and create Blair Beauty Bar. The former Waxon esthetician now has her own shop on Quinpool Road. “Best of
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 17
BEST OF HALIFAX
Halifax Kicked my ass into starting my own shop,” MacDonald tells The Coast. “And it’s been way more successful than I’d ever imagined.” With seven years as an esthetician under her belt, MacDonald specializes in body waxing, brows and lashes, but prides her shop as being gender and body inclusive. “I don’t have gendered service lists, I’m trying to create a vibe that doesn’t really exist in Halifax yet,” she says. “Anybody can come in, get a wax, they’re welcome. They don’t have to misgender themselves just to book a brow wax.” MacDonald thanks all her clients for supporting her through the pandemic. “Lockdown was so hard but my clients showed up for me in such a big way,” she says. “I actually took on a bigger expansion during lockdown. So in the next couple of months there’ll be some other people, but for now it’s just me.”
Best Fitness Instructor GOLD
Alan Dalton, Evolve Fitness
are amazing.” Along with his twin brother Mitch (who has won Best Trainer). The Benvies have grown Evolve from its opening in 2009, starting with just four clients, into what it is today. “We care deeply about our clients and our community and putting the clients first and doing the right thing for the person rather than making business decisions,” says Matt. “We’re pretty fortunate we’ve got great personal relationships with our clients and have clients that have become great friends. It’s more community than business.” COVID forced Evolve to create a full-time fitness program, which was “not necessarily fun, it was challenging,” says Matt. But it also “strengthened relationships with a lot of clients too, because we kind of needed each other through COVID.” Matt says of his company’s growth that “it’s not some overnight success, it’s 12 years of hard work, ups and downs,” but in the end “I’ve enjoyed the journey.”
3667 Strawberry Hill Street, unit 220 SILVER
Best Hair Salon
Nicola Cameron, RStudios
3136 Isleville Street SILVER
2470 Maynard Street BRONZE
Hannah Kovacs, MOVE EAST 6130 Quinpool Road
Best Flower Shop GOLD
My Mothers Bloomers 2086 Creighton Street SILVER
Audrey’s Little Shop of Plants 102 Portland Street BRONZE
The Flower Shop 1705 Barrington Street
Best Gym GOLD
Evolve Fitness 3667 Strawberry Hill Street, unit 220 SILVER
RStudios 2470 Maynard Street BRONZE
SpinCo 1453 Birmingham Street
It’s the seventh year in a row winning gold in BOH for Evolve Fitness. But co-owner Matt Benvie says, “I don’t really believe in being the best gym because I think all gyms that help people 18 • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 •
Best Hairstylist GOLD
Andrew Quinn Chapman, AQC Salon 5954 Spring Garden Road SILVER
Karly Hodder, Tidal Hair Lounge 3136 Isleville Street, unit 201 BRONZE
Iesha Parsons, Satin Salon 19 Alma Crescent, unit 201
Best Home Decor Store GOLD
The Posh Pearl 171 Main Street SILVER
The Independent Mercantile Co BEST BUSINESS GIVING BACK DURING THE PANDEMIC GOLD Good Robot Brewing Co. JAMES MACLEAN
Thornbloom 1459 South Park Street The Posh Pearl in Dartmouth has worked very hard to be “the best little store around” stocked full with all the interior decor, rugs and runners, lighting and
furniture you could need to decorate any sort of home. Store manager Ryan Baker is surprised and thrilled the shop took home the gold in Best Home Decor Store. Baker wants to send a big thank you to the warm Dartmouth community that welcomed the Posh Pearl three years ago. “That’s so amazing. We really owe it to all those who’ve given us this amazing support.”
GOLD
Tidal Hair Lounge AQC Salon 5954 Spring Garden Road BRONZE
Virtue Hair Salon 44 Marketplace Drive
Over the past 20 months of pandemic-related closures and adjustments for the salon and personal industry, Tidal Hair Lounge’s owners say they’ve found a silver lining. “We’re really loving the chance to have one on one time with our clients,” Lindsay Algee, co-owner of the Isleville Street salon says. She owns and operates Tidal with Cara MacInnis. The boutique hair salon won gold in The Best of Halifax’s hair salon category. Because of COVID the shop is only working with existing clients and appointments are scheduled to limit the number of people in the salon. Algee says they’ve been feeling the love from the community through these changes, and says the salon’s excellent clients and passionate staff deserve credit for the gold win. “Our team is really the greatest,” Algee says.
2091 Gottingen Street BRONZE
BEST GYM GOLD Evolve Fitness AKRAM HAMDAN
Best Independent Bookstore GOLD
Venus Envy 1727 Barrington Street SILVER
Woozles Children’s Bookstore 6013 Shirley street BRONZE
Bookmark 5686 Spring Garden Road
BEST SECOND-HAND CLOTHING STORE GOLD Guy's Frenchy's Sackville THE COAST
While the shelves of Venus Envy are filled with dildos and leather, there’s also a growing section of the store that stocks books of all sorts. You'll find children’s books on gender, books on race, decolonization and queer and trans-authored fiction and non-fiction. Owner Marshall Haywood says “since we opened in the early 2000s we’ve always been a book store as well as a sex shop.” Venus Envy is “thrilled” to report that its book sales over the past few
years have been higher than ever. Each book in the shop is chosen with care, making each sale as special for the seller as the buyer. “It’s just so it’s so gratifying to create a curated selection of books to have and to be so well received,” says Haywood. “To have people come in and say like ‘Wow, what a great collection.’”
Best Indie Gift Shop
GOLD
The Black Market Boutique 1545 Grafton Street SILVER
The Trainyard 137 Portland Street BRONZE
The Independent Mercantile Co 2091 Gottingen Street
Best Jewellery Store GOLD
FireWorks Gallery 1569 Barrington Street SILVER
The Black Market Boutique 1545 Grafton Street BRONZE
House of Moda 5431 Spring Garden Road
For Shannon Snelgrove, manager at FireWorks Gallery on Barrington Street, it’s the sense of community they bring to their customers that sets them apart as the Best Jewellery Store. “Even though Halifax is a city, it’s almost like a small community of people,” she tells The Coast. “I think it’s making sure that we establish long term relationships with people. That makes all the difference when it comes to brand loyalty.” FireWorks sells “a lot of engagement rings,” many of them coming from local or Canadian artists. But COVID increased the number of custom jewellery requests, and the wait time for pieces increased as a result. FireWorks took it all in stride. “When everybody shut down, we definitely kept going,” says Snelgrove. “Some of us were still here. Some of us were working at home, delivering pieces to clients’ doors. You just change the way that you market and/ or sell to your clients.” Snelgrove credits gallery owner Judy Anderson with keeping the lights on through the pandemic “and having faith in us that we could drive sales even through this tumultuous time.”
#BOH21
Best Manicure / Pedicure
Todd’s Southend Car Care
growing a wider social media following, which was good for expanding the customer base. “We’re getting people from New Brunswick, Cape Breton and PEI every day.” The business owner says he wants to continue to make Halifax proud and is “honoured” to have won, thanking his customers for giving him the BOH votes. “They’ve pushed me through this whole COVID thing,” Connors says. “This is just the added bonus, that people really do appreciate what I do for them.”
5368 Inglis Street BRONZE
Best Moving Company
GOLD
Spirit Spa 5150 Salter Street, unit 200 SILVER
The Ten Spot Halifax 5165 South Street BRONZE
Honey Bee Beauty Bar 2594 Agricola Street
Best Mechanic Shop GOLD
Mighty Auto 6437 Lady Hammond Road SILVER
Chad Kennedy Autopro 102 Albro Lake Road
Best Men’s Clothing Store
GOLD
Two Men and a Truck SILVER
Mundens Moving
GOLD
45 Lovett Lake Court BRONZE
EastCoast Kicks
Able Movers
60 Queen Street, Dartmouth SILVER
Best New Business
Biscuit General Store 2050 Gottingen Street BRONZE
tREv Clothing 60 Queen Street, Dartmouth
While EastCoast Kicks is primarily, as the name implies, a shoe store, owner John Connors says he also has “six or seven local brands of clothes” in the awardwinning store. This includes local brands like bronze winner tREv Clothing, as well as some of the well-known bigger names like Supreme and Nike, and pre-owned brand name clothing. Connors says the pandemic meant a transition to online shopping, but it also meant
GOLD
Bliss Caffeine Bar 1451 South Park Street SILVER
Dear Friend Bar 67 Portland Street BRONZE
Satin Salon and Nail Bar 19 Alma Crescent
Best Place For A First Date GOLD
Halifax Waterfront SILVER
The Board Room Game Cafe 1256 Barrington Street BRONZE
Halifax Public Gardens Spring Garden Road & Summer Street
Best Place To Volunteer GOLD
COVID-19 testing sites SILVER
SPCA Nova Scotia 5 Scarfe Court, Dartmouth BRONZE
Feed Nova Scotia 67 Wright Avenue
This year’s gold winner for Best Place To Volunteer is the same force that kept Nova Scotians as safe as possible throughout the pandemic: COVID-19 testing sites. The volunteer-run testing program led by Dr. Lisa Barrett is unlike anything else in the country. Beginning with its first testing pilot in November 2020 at The Dome, the motivated and caring volunteers “set the tone” for an incredible experience, testing site lead Barb Goodall says. “The vibe at the testing site has always been so good,” she adds. The COVID testing volunteers are a vibrant community of people who want to help keep their friends and family safe, Goodall says, and they have been leaders in directing and planning the province’s testing plans. “It’s been the secret sauce to a big, big impact for Nova Scotia’s pandemic response. And it’s really volunteer-led,” Goodall says. Several thousand Nova Scotians have volunteered at different testing sites and they have swabbed enough noses to complete more than a million tests. “It really has become this amazing community with a diverse
group of people who know each other now and keep coming back! I have to send the biggest thank you to these volunteers,” Goodall says. She also wants to extend a thanks to the droves of people who lined up to be tested.
SILVER
SILVER
James Dwyer, Engel & Volkers
Soul’s Harbour Mission Mart
Best Plumber
GOLD
GOLD
Tammy Buchanan Small Jobs Plumbing SILVER
Down East Plumbing 61 Golden Rod Lane, Grand Desert BRONZE
Dimitri’s Plumbing
Best Public Art Or Mural GOLD
Dartmouth Positivity murals SILVER
Downtown Dartmouth’s “The Neon Mural” 161 Portland Street BRONZE
Freak Lunchbox side mural 1729 Barrington Street
Best Public Space GOLD
Halifax Waterfront SILVER
Halifax Public Gardens Spring Garden Road & Summer Street BRONZE
Point Pleasant Park 5530 Point Pleasant Drive
Best Real Estate Agent GOLD
Rob Scanlan, Royal LePage Atlantic 610 Wright Avenue
1901 Gottingen Street BRONZE
Rosie Porter, Royal LePage Atlantic 7071 Bayers Road, unit 102
Best Record Store Taz Records Halifax 1521 Grafton Street SILVER
Taz Records Dartmouth 45 Portland Street BRONZE
Obsolete Records 2855 Agricola Street
Taz Records owner Jimmy Donnelly insists he has no idea why the shop won gold for Best Record Shop. “I don’t know, Halifax. The Coast readers keep saying we’re great. But it has nothing to do with me or how I run the place,” Donnelly says by phone from the shop. “It’s all the staff I give the credit to.” Despite the new challenges posed by COVID-19, Donnelly says he feels lucky things are pretty much business as usual at Taz Records. It helps that customers can browse a deep inventory in their online shop now. “There’s anxiety everywhere, but I try to ignore it. There’s adjustments, sure. But we’re doing good!”
Best Second-hand Clothing Store GOLD
Guy’s Frenchy’s Sackville 12 Murdock MacKay Court, Lower Sackville
5568 Cunard Street BRONZE
The Loot 5781 Charles Street
The one and only Frenchy’s left in the Halifax Regional Municipality has been crowned king of vintage vendors by Coast readers this year. Though it might be far from the plus-size goldmine at Guy's Frenchy's Liverpool location or the inevitable good fit guarantee at the beloved chain's self-proclaimed "flagship store" in Digby, Halifax treasures its lone outpost of the uniquely Nova Scotian chain. A call to the Guy’s Frenchy’s head office went unanswered, but you can get yourself immersed in the wonderful feeling of wheeling around an overflowing red shopping basket via our March 2019 article Finding Frenchy’s. As Morgan Mullin wrote, Frenchy’s is both “the perfect metaphor for the survivalist narrative of Nova Scotia” and “a way to battle consumption culture by using things others have thrown away...We're forever being peddled thinkpieces on the death of the small town, the slow-rotting atrophy of culture in rural areas, the idea that no one spends money anywhere that isn't Amazon. Here, amidst all that, towns across this province are carrying on, choosing not only to continue but to thrive—each one with a Frenchy's as part of their commercial core."
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 19
BEST OF HALIFAX
BEST HALIFAMOUS PERSON GOLD Doctor Strang
Doctor Robert Strang laughed when he heard he’d won gold for Best Halifamous person. The chief medical officer of health has been the constant star at hundreds of COVID-19 briefings, alongside three different premiers over the 20 months he’s been guiding Nova Scotians through the pandemic. The top doc says he’s consistently overwhelmed by the appreciation and affection he’s received from Nova Scotians. “There’s been lots and lots of expressions of support in various ways. Through cards, emails from people all over the province and even beyond,” Strang tells The Coast. Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer hasn’t taken more than “little bits” of time off since the pandemic began, which included his brief time away while being treated for skin cancer in New Brunswick. “In the summer I was thinking maybe in the fall I’d take a break. But it’s not turning out that way,” he says with a laugh. Strang says he can’t picture taking a proper vacation until COVID-19 has reached the endemic phase. “My role is to be directly involved in the response to the pandemic. So until we’re through that I couldn’t justify stepping away for any period of time,” he says. Strang is cautiously optimistic that during 2022 things will be calmer on the pandemic front. Strang says he knew his chief medical officer job comes with a public communications role. It was that way for him during H1N1 and he’s spoken publicly about opioid overdoses, cannabis and tobacco in press conferences before, “but I never really anticipated what this part of my role would look like when responding to something like the COVID pandemic,” he says. And while he’s the most notable member of Nova Scotia’s public health team tackling COVID-19, Strang is quick to remind us that he’s just one piece of a massive, dedicated pandemic-fighting crew. “I’m in the public eye simply because of my role. I represent hundreds of thousands of people in the health care system and across government. They have all worked tirelessly and with great compassion‚ I represent all those many, many people,” he says. The doctor credits his colleagues for running incredibly effective vaccine and testing programs in particular. Having had to make difficult decisions over the past 20 months, he has felt the criticism for those public health calls. In September a small group of anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers went so far as to demonstrate at Strang’s Fall River home. Despite the challenges, the chief medical officer says it’s been more good than bad. “The negative is vastly outweighed by support, and that’s been there since the first wave.” Strang extends thanks to his community in Fall River and those in his church who have been looking out for him and his family. “People have understood the pressure on my family and they’ve come together to support us in many ways, through meals and other ways.” SILVER Alicia Mccarvell
MEGHAN TANSEY WHITTON
BRONZE Elliot Page
20 • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 •
"The more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am...the more I thrive,” said Halifax’s own Elliot Page, announcing he’s trans and uses he/they pronouns in a 2021 tweet. One Oprah special and Time cover later, Page’s coming out has been global news—and his hometown couldn’t be prouder.
#BOH21
BEST ACTIVIST ORGANIZATION GOLD Out of the Cold
Out of the Cold began seeing changes to its operating model as soon as the pandemic began. “There was a recognition that folks outside were a concern for public health” says executive director Michelle Malette. It meant a lot of changes, but for one, immediate funding was available. “That meant there was an opportunity to be inside and have a hotel model,” says Malette in a phone call with The Coast. “And the organization took some time over the summer and decided that we didn’t feel we could go back to being that overnight drop-in space.” Out of the Cold has struggled with finding a permanent space but is currently operating out of the Gray Arena in Dartmouth, serving up to 30 people at a time. “We’ve been going back and forth with the city and the province on trying to secure a space,” says Malette. “But we’re hoping in November. We’ll be moving into a full time model. And we’re very excited about that.” Malette says that OTC has worked on connecting with the community through social media and Monday night street feeds at the old Spring Garden library, as well as “having conversations about housing and folks being unhoused.” She attributes the BOH recognition to that, as well as the increased attention the pandemic has drawn to the housing crisis. “We’re always a little bit under people’s radar,” she says, “But we’re so important, we’re so essential to the community, because we work to fill all these gaps for people that are really underserved.” Some of the Out of The Cold crew, left to right, Emma Greer, Gus Richardson, Eric Jonsson, Michelle Malette, Kaylie MacKeen, PB Nicholson, Rachael Gardiner, Campbell McClintock, Stephanie Milne and Natalie Narvey. ALEXA CUDE
SILVER Adsum House 2421 Brunswick Street BRONZE Halifax Mutual Aid Society
Best Spa
SILVER
SENSEA Nordic Spa
craziness brought by, the tension created by COVID,” says Debeaumont. “And I hope we bring that to life where they can just let it go and come back home reloaded.“ He chalks the BOH wins up to the team at Sensea: “Our sound belief is that we do our best to just care. That’s our only rule here, we want to provide as much care as we can to every single guest.”
40 Sensëa Road, Chester SILVER
Best Tailor
GOLD
SENSEA Nordic Spa 40 Sensëa Road, Chester SILVER
Spirit Spa 5150 Salter Street, unit 200 BRONZE
Vitality Medi-Spa 5424 Doyle Street
Best Staycation Spot GOLD
White Point Beach Resort
GOLD
SILVER
Gabe Squalor 6103 North Street BRONZE
Scott Forbes 121 Portland Street
Best Trainer GOLD
Mitchell Benvie, Evolve Fitness 3667 Strawberry Hill Street, unit 220 SILVER
Hannah Kovacs, MOVE EAST 6130 Quinpool Road BRONZE
75 White Point Beach Resort Road, Hunts Point BRONZE
Mic Mac Tailor
The Quarterdeck
Sherzad’s Tailoring Shop
7499 Lighthouse Route #3, Port Mouton
1496 Lower Water Street BRONZE
Best Twitterer
When Christophe Debeaumont opened Sensea Spa just outside Chester, NS in January 2020, no one knew the pandemic was lurking just around the corner. “We started with COVID pretty much,” says Debeaumont. “It’s been difficult times for all small businesses.” But COVID and all its accompanying stress and complications also gave Haligonians more desire than ever to reconnect with nature and their bodies. So Sensea took off, quickly becoming a must-visit destination. “They need an escape, they need to take a pause from the
Daniels Tailors
@HalifaxRetales
5657 Spring Garden Road
SILVER
21 Micmac Boulevard SILVER
Best Tattoo / Piercing Joint GOLD
Darling Tattoos 2590 Oxford Street SILVER
Adept Tattoos & Body Piercing Studio
Emily Herman, Emily Herman Fitness GOLD
@Halifaxnoise BRONZE
@Tim_Bousquet
Best Up-and-coming Community Leader GOLD
Kate MacDonald SILVER
5525 Cornwallis Street BRONZE
DeRico Symonds
Outlaw Country Tattoo
Suzy Hansen
6103 North Street
6080 Young Street
Best Tattoo Artist GOLD
Helena Darling 2590 Oxford Street
BRONZE
Being nominated for this award was a bit of a shock for Kate MacDonald. “It wasn’t until I was looking for people to vote for it
that I even saw that I was nominated,” she says. MacDonald has long been at the fore of local advocacy for BLM, street checks, housing, policing and Indigenous sovereignty. And while many of these issues were on people’s minds this year, MacDonald says the fight isn’t over. “We’ve got a lot more room to push for the type of lives that we deserve,” she tells The Coast. “We can plan for and demand that we have all of our needs met, people deserve that and it’s possible, we’ve just got to work for it.” The branch manager of the north branch library also facilitates antioppression and anti-racism training. She’s thankful to partner Kordeena Clayton, the Clayton family, and her “African Nova Scotian heavy hitters, you know who you are” for helping her along the way. As a young activist, MacDonald is nowhere near done. “I still feel like I have a ways to go, I still have so much to learn,” she says. “Maybe the next ballot you’ll see my name on is for mayor, who knows.”
Best Women’s Clothing Store GOLD
Sweet Pea Boutique 1542 Queen Street
Best Yoga Instructor
“It may not be ideal, but I get messages all the time from people who say (my classes) saved them during the pandemic,” Winters says. “I’m just forever grateful that they continue to invite me into their lives.”
Stefanie Winters
Best Yoga Studio
Biscuit General Store 2050 Gottingen Street BRONZE
ANA + ZAC 2576 Agricola Street
GOLD
SILVER
GOLD
Lindsay Umlah
Shanti Hot Yoga Halifax
BRONZE
5508 Spring Garden Road SILVER
Estelle Thomson
A global pandemic isn’t something that is going to stop Stefanie Winters from doing what she does best. Prior to COVID, the yoga instructor was blazing through each week by teaching up to 20 in-studio classes. But when Nova Scotia shut down for quarantine, Winters started worrying about paying her bills. That momentary lapse of stability motivated her to take matters into her own hands. Within a single day of reaching out to her circle on social media about continuing smaller-scale classes, she had dozens of people express their interest in virtual classes. Now, the yogi teaches one in-studio class a week and offers roughly 750 pre-recorded online classes at wintersyoga.com. She says running a business has been a new exploration, but it’s a model that’s working.
R Studios 2470 Maynard Street BRONZE
Oxygen Yoga and Fitness 5410 Doyle Street
For more than a decade, Shanti Hot Yoga has been invigorating the local yoga community with a range of classes suited for all ages and skill levels. “We feel incredibly grateful for our wonderful community of students who continue to show up and support us,” says manager and lead teacher Kyla MacKinnon. Uriel MacGillivary opened Shanti’s first studio in 2010 in Dartmouth. Roughly three years later, Shanti expanded by opening another location in Bedford. Its newest studio‚ which can now boast that it is this year’s Best Yoga Studio winner‚ opened in 2015 in the core of downtown Halifax, on Spring Garden Road.
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 21
2021
Best Blues Artist / Band GOLD
BEST OF
Garrett Mason SILVER
Charlie A’Court BRONZE
Willie Stratton
Best Comedian GOLD
Alicia Mccarvell SILVER
Hello City Improv Group 2203 Gottingen Street BRONZE
Travis Lindsay
Best Country Artist / Band GOLD
Brooklyn Blackmore SILVER
Amanda Riley BRONZE
Farewell Town
Best Cover Artist / Band GOLD
Signal Hill SILVER
The Mellotones BRONZE
Amanda Riley
BEST BOOK
GOLD
House of Eights Dance Studio 1533 Barrington Street, 2nd Floor SILVER
Unleashed Studio 245 Waverley Road BRONZE
Ruckus
AKRAM HAMDAN
Music & Culture Awards
Best Dance Company / Group
GOLD
Butter Honey Pig Bread, Francesca Ekwuyasi
Francesca Ekwuyasi should, by now, be used to blue-sky phone calls delivering pinch-me good news. After all, her debut novel was a Giller Prize longlister, a critical darling at The New Yorker and the Globe and Mail and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award. Yet, when Ekwuyasi answers The Coast’s phone call to learn Butter Honey Pig Bread has been voted the year’s Best Book, she’s so elated she can barely reply. “I’m so excited and grateful and surprised,” she says, an audible smile forming. Why, exactly, does the book resonate so strongly with readers? “Maybe because it’s just about people being messy? I don’t know. It’s a book about relationships‚ and moving through pain and the hope of reconciliation and peace,” Ekwuyasi hypothesizes. “Or, maybe because one of the main characters is in Halifax and really having a relationship with the city.” SILVER The Last Time I Saw Her, Alexandra Harrington BRONZE Our Best NS Adventure Journal, Jen Meza 22 • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 •
It doesn’t take a beat for Abady Alzahrani, owner and manager of House of Eights, to summarize the magic the Barrington Street dance studio distills in its devotees: “There’s not many places where you can twerk or touch yourself or pretend to be all these different characters and laugh and cry in a room of other strangers that you might not know and feel okay to do that, and feel safe to do that,” he says, speaking by phone with The Coast. “Just having that space for them to do all those things is what makes things so great here.” It’s the second time the almost-three-year-old business is taking home the gold in the Best Of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards: “I would say the past couple years have been a bit of a roller coaster, just like any
#BOH21
name Neon Dreams— are proving that when it comes to being on the come-up, there will always be a higher plane to ascend. Case in point? While the rest of us have been spending the last year working on sourdough starters, these two (who, lest we forget, got their start in band class at Sackville High School before hitting the studio with the likes of Waka Flocka Flame) have been topping the charts in South Africa, snagging a spot on Canada’s largest Spotify playlist and winning their first-ever Juno for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. At least Coast readers can always brag that we knew the boys back when: Neon Dreams has been nabbing gold in the Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards since 2015.
IAN SELIG
Best Film / TV Actor GOLD
Elliot Page
BEST PODCAST
SILVER
Johnathan Torrens
GOLD
Nighttime podcast
BRONZE
Jordan Bonaparte’s true crime and mystery podcast continues to provide sickly-stickly nightmare fuel for ears across HRM, with topics in its over-90-episode-deep archive ranging from incels to ghosts to government health and safety cover-ups. Its overthrow of longtime category winner Sickboy Podcast—after five years of placing silver and bronze—feels like a symbol for Nighttime’s growing acclaim: Now nationally syndicated on Global AM radio, the show’s ascent to the moon feels both inevitable and like it's just starting. SILVER Sickboy Podcast BRONZE The Weekend Roundup
small business—but the dance community has been really supportive and really incredible throughout this time,” Alzahrani adds.
Best Dancer GOLD
Cavell Holland SILVER
Kelsy Gillis BRONZE
Ariel McDonald
Best DJ GOLD
DJ Skeeter-B SILVER
DJ IV BRONZE
DJ Okay TK
He spins wax at Kai Brady’s Fancy Dive Bar and The Pint, splicing smooth R&B with dance-floor-heating hip hop. Delivering tunes that can keep up with Pabst-fuelled frosh and seasoned barflies alike is no easy task, but
Halifax believes Skeeter-B is the one for the job—who else can you depend on to weave an EDM beat into some of Eve’s best bars? Dethroning the long-winning DJ IV, who was one win away from Hall of Fame status, makes Skeeter-B’s win even more spicy.
Best Drag Performer GOLD
Elle Noir SILVER
Zara Matrix BRONZE
Haus of Rivers
Best Electronic Artist / Band GOLD
Neon Dreams SILVER
Rich Aucoin BRONZE
KittyBass
Adrian Morris and Frank Kadillac—the duo behind the
Ursula Calder
Best Filmmaker GOLD
Tyler Simmonds SILVER
Shelley Thompson BRONZE
Taylor Olson
When The Coast asks Tyler Simmonds why he thinks people tend to connect with his films so strongly, he replies easily: “I honestly think it’s just authenticity. It’s very real. I don’t really fabricate anything,” he says. The director has long built emotional resonance visually through close-up shots and slow-motion cuts. “It’s really important for me to get images that really touch people,” he adds. When it comes to his latest release, the Lead With Love series, he says the inspiration behind the film, for himself and his collaborators, came from talking “about what the world needs right now. At that moment in time, last year, I think, or early this year, we felt that there was just so much division happening in the world. So much fighting between people because of the social justice issues that were going on, and also we were in a pandemic. So we sat down, we were like, We need
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 23
BEST OF HALIFAX
to inject some positivity into the world. So we came up with this idea to talk with local people who really went through some hard challenges but instead of them lashing out getting angry about those experiences, which would be valid, they decided to turn it into careers helping people.” It was exactly what Halifax needed.
Best Folk Artist / Band GOLD
Rose Cousins SILVER
Willie Stratton BRONZE
Hillsburn
By now, you might be thinking that gold-winning folkie Rose Cousins must be sick to death of hearing about how hard her 2020 album Bravado slaps: She has the Contemporary Roots Recording of the Year Juno to prove it, after all. The 12-track effort, which delved into the subtle but significant differences between loneliness and being alone, felt both timeless and timely as lockdown descended—but
24 • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 •
for Cousins its marmaladebright brand of folk will keep striking a soothing minor chord. “I’m obviously really proud of the record and there’s definitely been some dark moments where it’s kind of like, how do you honour a project without the normal tools? Without being able to stand on a stage, or behind the merch table and actually interact with the people who support you most?” Cousins told The Coast when we chatted with her on Instagram Live back in June. “But really, people have really shown me a lot of support, whether it’s buying merch or sending me notes of encouragement.” Now, she can count her latest Best of Halifax win in that list of bolsterings.
Best Gallery GOLD
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia 1723 Hollis Street SILVER
The Discovery Centre 1215 Lower Water Street BRONZE
Argyle Fine Art 1559 Barrington Street
Best Hip Hop Artist / Band GOLD
Classified SILVER
Atay & Jax BRONZE
Quake Matthews
Best Jazz Artist / Band GOLD
Holly Arsenault Trio SILVER
Andrew Jackson BRONZE
Morgan Zwicker
Best Metal Artist / Band GOLD
Black Moor SILVER
Orchids Curse BRONZE
Botfly
“I think it’s kind of funny to us because we haven’t done anything in so long,” says bassist/vocalist Brycen Gunn, when he hears Black Moor has won Best Metal Band for the fourth year running. The band hasn’t seen much of each other during the COVID-19 pandemic: “I’m hoping we can be in
the same room by the end of the year"—a sentiment both relatable and achievable. But, there’s something about Black Moor’s brand of metal—”the illegitimate love child of Iron Maiden and Megadeth,” as Gunn describes it—that keeps people coming back, no matter what: “There’s a lot of people that Black Moor means a lot to—and I think that’s why we keep winning this, even though we never mention it, or the other guys probably barely even know it’s been happening,” Gunn says, adding he was a fan of the band in his high school days before joining its latest lineup. “I used to call it a heavy metal institution," Gunn adds, explaining how Black Moor's stature has reached ever higher since its early 2000s inception. "It’s just part of the east coast heavy music history and culture," he explains. "If you get involved in that world in the Maritimes, you become aware of Black Moor, as one of the bigger names to have done it in the area.”
Best Music Video
GOLD
“Queen” The Town Heroes SILVER
“Cool Kids” John Snow ft. Staks BRONZE
“Never Too Late” Advocates of Truth
Best New Artist / Band GOLD
Maura Whitman SILVER
Pillow Fite BRONZE
Avery Dakin
In one sense, it feels a little off to call singer-songwriter Maura Whitman and let her know she’s won Best New Artist. After all, the 20-yearold is such a prodigy that the prestigious Gordie Sampson Songwriting Camp broke its no-teens-allowed rule to let her attend at 17. By 19, she was co-writing with the likes of Port Cities alum Breagh Isabel—and these days, she’s leaning into a poppier vibe, collaborating with former Neon Dreams member Corey Lerue on a slew of addictive singles that intimate Adele
and Ariana Grande as influences. But the term “emerging artist” is a spectrum, and Whitman is more than happy to make the most of it while forging her artistic mark. “I feel like I’ll always be working on what I want to sound like, that’s just a constant process you go through as an artist,” Whitman says. “But yeah, I think from gaining some experience with other songwriters and figuring out that I think pop is what I enjoy writing and what I like to sing, that’s helped me figure out what music I wanna make.”
Best Pop Artist / Band
GOLD
Neon Dreams SILVER
Good Dear Good BRONZE
Maura Whitman
Best Punk Artist / Band GOLD
Like A Motorcycle SILVER
Sleepshaker BRONZE
Booji Boys
#BOH21
IAN SELIG
BEST THEATRE ACTOR GOLD Nathan Simmons
Back in grade school, Nathan Simmons was too shy to audition for the school play: “I couldn’t do it. But then, all the classes got to come and watch it. And I remember watching it...and seeing everyone have so much fun up there. I felt so bad that I didn’t have a chance to do what they’re doing.” He’s come a long way since these days (when he left the auditorium at intermission), landing an ensemble role in Neptune’s 2020 play Controlled Damage and performing a scene-stealing turn as Tyblant in Eastern Front Theatre and Shakespeare By The Sea’s recent sold-out run of Fat Juliet. All along the way, he’s been having just as much fun as his old schoolmates did. It’s about keeping “characters separate but also, for me, keeping them true and honest,” explains Simmons when asked why his work resonates with fans—and how the emerging actor has made a name for himself so impressively fast. “People in the audience can believe it’s not a character but a person up there.” SILVER Stuart Legere BRONZE Becca Guilderson
Best R&B Artist / Band
For Local Music
SILVER
Roxy & The Underground Soul Sound
101.3 Virgin Radio
BRONZE
GOLD
SILVER
Aquakultre BRONZE
Reeny Smith
Best Radio Show GOLD
Virgin Mornings Turk, Megan and Amateur Alex SILVER
Q104 BJ & The Q Morning Crew BRONZE
CBC Mainstreet
Best Radio Station
GOLD
SILVER
Q104 BRONZE
105.9 Seaside FM
Best Rock Artist / Band
Maura Whitman Michael S Ryan
Best Songwriter GOLD
Joel Plaskett SILVER
Mo Kenney
GOLD
BRONZE
Matt Mays
Nicole Ariana
SILVER
The Town Heroes BRONZE
Adam Baldwin
Best Solo Artist
Best Visual Artist GOLD
Kristen Herrington SILVER
Estelle Thompson
GOLD
BRONZE
Adam Baldwin
Sarah Cresswell • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 25
MUSIC AND ARTS NEWS EDITED BY MORGAN MULLIN SEND TIPS TO ARTS@THECOAST.CA
Cluttered won Loud Recording of the Year at Nova Scotia Music Week earlier this month. HAYLEY FRAIL
MUSIC
Cluttered comes home Matty Grace’s newest punk band already has serious buzz. Now, it finally has a hometown gig. BY MORGAN MULLIN Cluttered w/ Gemstones, Juice Girls, Desperate Times Nov 20, 8:30pm, Radstorm, 2177 Gottingen Street, $10/PWYC
“I
joke that the only thing I'm good at is playing music,” Matty Grace says. Hers is a quiet, deadpan delivery belying the anthemic, fuzzed-out punk that’s made her newest band, Cluttered, a nationally buzzed about act in less than a year—a meteoric rise fuelled in part by Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace anointing the four-piece “rad” in a tweet. “Everybody's good at lots of things and people are multifaceted,” she adds. But, music “is the thing that I've always felt the most passion for.” She’s right. People are more than their work, even the prolific Grace, whose dedication to her craft means she’s forever summiting self-imposed everests, like the time she penned an entire 18-song album in 48 hours. A veteran of the city’s music scene since 2006 (Grace’s resume includes work in local punk bands like Modern Cynics, Future Girls, Fat Stupids and Weekend Dads), Grace is as excited about her new band as music critics across the country are: “Cluttered is kind of the band I’ve always wanted; Like, the style of music I've always wanted to make. It takes a lot from a lot of the things I've learned from other bands, and how to write songs and
26 • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 •
everything, and puts it into a more cohesive idea,” she says, speaking by phone from a hotel room in Truro, hours before she'll win Loud Recording of the Year at Nova Scotia Music Week. Soon, Cluttered—a lo-fi DIY punk outfit inspired by Against Me!, PUP and Worriers—will strike out on a Canadian tour, showing it’s more than the pandemic confines it was born into. A Halifax stop, the band’s first hometown gig, will be at Radstorm on November 20. “Becca, our bass player, said to me last night that sometimes it feels more like we’re an away band,” Grace says, listing the fests she and fellow bandmates Becca Dalley, AJ Boutilier and Dylan Mombourquette were able to perform at last summer, like SappyFest and Newfoundland’s Lawnya Vawnya. “Developing in a punk scene and like, being a member of that community, it really teaches you a lot about autonomy and taking the power back so you can do things yourself,” she adds. “I'm a member of Radstorm. I've been a member of Radstorm for a long time, and I'm really appreciative of that space—and the fact that space exists. And that's why we're doing our first Halifax show at Radstorm.” a
Arts REVIEW
D[a]UNTING to digest Artist Max TS. Yang delivers a COVID-inspired art show. D[a]UNTING Gallery 3, Anna Leonowens Gallery, 1891 Granville Street To Nov 20, free
There’s a section in writer Ruby Tandoh’s anti-diet manifesto Eat Up! that delves into the science of “you are what you eat.” Yes, Tandoh explains, when you eat a watermelon, you become a bit more melon-y yourself: Its nutrients are processed and topped up in your reserves. Isn’t food then, the author argues, a symbiotic state between us and the world we move through? A conduit of understanding as much as a form of nourishment? I’m thinking about this while looking at the two figurative sculpture installations that comprise Max TS Yang’s gallery show D[a]UNTING, on view at NSCAD's Anna Leonowens Gallery until Nov 20. A physical manifestation of the artist’s processing of the pandemic—a feast of all the food for thought from COVID-19—the show is full of telltale, purposeful human imperfection that belies a funk art influence. (I can’t help thinking English ceramicist Grayson Perry would be so over Yang’s apparent need to show that human hands made this work. Considering how much we fused with our tech while sheltering in place, I can’t decide if these details are an intentional pushback, or if the delivery app icons painted on one piece’s pedestal should’ve been just printed out from Google Images instead.) To my right, two busts with supersized mouths hold delivery boxes aloft expectantly. Yang’s statement discusses how delivery apps devoured his feed during COVID—and their ravenous popularity in recent years. Rough-edged sculptures of takeaway containers are piled high on the aforementioned pedestal covered with DoorDash and Uber Eats logos. It feels like a classic pop art move of transforming disposable consumerism into a fixed centerpiece. To my left is a row of sculpted chess pawns with human heads, mouths and eyes wide. Titled “Pinned,” it’s the strongest work in a solid, striking showcase—and proves the talent that netted Yang the Nova Scotia win in the prestigious 1st Art! Awards earlier this year, and a spot in the Centre for Craft Nova Scotia’s prestigious summer residency. The long necks on each pawn mimic chess pieces, but also the long pain of an intubation tube. Each is wrapped with headlines about vaccines: A choking anxiety. The chessboard in front is loose pieces, an Alice in Wonderland feeling combined with the reality of not being able to think more than one step ahead in lockdown. I thought I was tired of COVID art. Yang’s show proved our appetite for work that processes experiences is always bigger than expected. a • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 27
28 • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 •
Free Will Astrology “Seek a liberating breakthrough,” ROB BREZSNY tells Librans, “by identifying who you will never be.” Scorpio
(Oct 23-Nov 21) Scorpio theologian Eugene Peterson cleared up a mystery about the nature of mystery. He wrote, "Mystery is not the absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend." Yes! At least sometimes, mystery can be a cause for celebration, a delightful opening into a beautiful unknown that's pregnant with possibility. It may bring abundance, not frustration. It may be an inspiring riddle, not a debilitating doubt. Everything I just said is important for you to keep in mind right now.
Happy birthday this issue to: Robert Cowan, Samantha Twohig, Michelle Cameron, Robin Lake, Anne Guy, Stewart Legere, Mara Jones, Stephanie Johns, Samantha Francis-Dobbs, Catherine Reilly, Katelyn Hillier, Kellie Manning, Knowledge Derry, Lee Colvin, Lesley Johnson, Philip Docker, George Macleod, Kristen Rector, Patti Fewer, Teddy Julian, Jasmine Andrich, Maeve Merritt, Alia Saied, Ian MacNeil, Seamus Erskine, Dympna Martin, Margot Ecke, Pam Nicoll, Matthew Patterson and Sarah Bradfield.
Sagittarius
(Nov 22-Dec 21) In 2017, Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize for Economics. His specialty: researching how unreasonable behaviour affects the financial world. When he discovered that this great honour had been bestowed on him, he joked that he planned to spend the award money "as irrationally as possible." I propose we make him your role model for the near future, Sagittarius. Your irrational, nonrational and trans-rational intuitions can fix distortions caused by the overly analytical and hyper-logical approaches of you and your allies.
Capricorn
(Dec 22-Jan 19) "Neurotic" and "neurosis" are old-fashioned words. Psychotherapists no longer use them in analyzing their patients. The terms are still useful, though, in my opinion. Most of us are at least partly neurotic—that is to say, we don't always adapt as well as we could to life's constantly changing circumstances. We find it challenging to outgrow our habitual patterns, and we fall short of fulfilling the magnificent destinies we're capable of. Author Kenneth Tynan had this insight: "A neurosis is a secret that you don’t know you are keeping." I bring this to your attention, Capricorn, because you now have extra power to adapt to changing circumstances, outgrow habitual patterns and uncover unknown secrets—thereby diminishing your neuroses.
Aquarius
(Jan 20-Feb 18) Author Darin Stevenson wrote the following poetic declaration: "'No one can give you the lightning-medicine,' say the people who cannot give the lightning medicine." How do you interpret his statement? Here's what I think. "Lightning medicine" may be a metaphorical reference to a
special talent that some people have for healing or inspiring or awakening their fellow humans. It could mean an ingenious quality in a person that enables them to reveal surprising truths or alternative perspectives. I am bringing this up, Aquarius, because I suspect you now have an enhanced capacity to obtain lightning medicine in the coming weeks. I hope you will corral it and use it even if you are told there is no such thing as lightning medicine. (PS: "Lightning medicine" will fuel your ability to accomplish difficult feats.)
Pisces (Feb 19-Mar 20) The superb fairywren gives its chicks lessons on how to sing when they are still inside their eggs. This is a useful metaphor for you in the coming months. Although you have not yet been entirely "born" into the next big plot twist of your hero's journey, you are already learning what you'll need to know once you do arrive in your new story. It will be helpful to become conscious of these clues and cues from the future. Tune in to them at the edges of your awareness. Aries
(Mar 21-Apr 19) For much of her life, Aries poet Mary Ruefle enjoyed imagining that polar bears and penguins "grew up together playing side by side on the ice, sharing the same vista, bits of blubber and innocent lore." But one day, her illusions were shattered. In a science journal, she discovered that there are no penguins in the far north and no bears in the far south. I bring this to your attention, Aries, because the coming weeks will be a good time to correct misimpressions you've held for a while—even as far back as childhood. Joyfully modernize your understanding of how the world works.
Taurus
(Apr 20-May 20) Actor Elizabeth Taylor described her odd rhythm with actor James Dean. Occasionally, they'd stay awake 'til 3am as he regaled her with poignant details about his life. But the next day, Dean would act like he and Taylor were strangers—as if, in Taylor's words, "he'd given away or revealed too much of himself." It would take a few days before he'd be friendly again. To those of us who study the nature of intimacy, this is a classic phenomenon. For many people, taking a risk to get closer can be scary. Keep this in mind during the coming weeks, Taurus. There'll be great potential to deepen your connection with dear allies, but you may have to deal with both your and their skittishness about it.
Gemini
(May 21-Jun 20) There are many different kinds of smiles. Four hundred muscles are involved in making a wide variety of expressions. Researchers have identified a specific type, dubbed the "affiliation smile," as having the power to restore trust between two people. It's soothing, respectful and compassionate. I recommend you use it abundantly in the near future—along with other conciliatory behaviour. You're in a favourable phase to repair relationships that have been damaged by
distrust or weakened by any other factor. (More info: tinyurl.com/HealingSmiles)
Cancer (Jun 21-Jul 22) According to feminist cosmologists Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor, "Night, to ancient people, was not an 'absence of light' or a negative darkness, but a powerful source of energy and inspiration. At night the cosmos reveals herself in her vastness, the earth opens to moisture and germination under moonlight, and the magnetic serpentine current stirs itself in the underground waters." I bring these thoughts to your attention, fellow Cancerian, because we're in the season when we are likely to be extra creative: as days grow shorter and nights longer. We Crabs thrive in the darkness. We regenerate ourselves and are visited by fresh insights about what Sjöö and Mor call "the great cosmic dance in which everything participates: the movement of the celestial bodies, the pulse of tides, the circulation of blood and sap in animals and plants." Leo
(Jul 23-Aug 22) Your heart has its own brain: a "heart brain." It's composed of neurons similar to the neurons in your head's brain. Your heart brain communicates via your vagus nerve with your hypothalamus, thalamus, medulla, amygdala and cerebral cortex. In this way, it gives your body helpful instructions. I suspect it will be extra strong in coming weeks, so I suggest you call on your heart brain to perform a lot of the magic it specializes in: enhancing emotional intelligence, cultivating empathy, invoking deep feelings and transforming pain.
Virgo (Aug 23-Sep 22) How did naturalist Charles Darwin become a skillful thinker who changed the world with his theory of evolution? An important factor, according to businessperson Charlie Munger: "He always gave priority attention to evidence tending to disconfirm whatever cherished and hard-won theory he already had." He loved to be proved wrong! It helped him refine his ideas so they more closely corresponded to the truth about reality. Use this method in the coming weeks, Virgo. You could become even smarter than you already are as you wield Darwin's rigorous approach to learning. Libra
(Sep 23-Oct 22 ) You could soon reach a new level of mastery in an aptitude described by author Banana Yoshimoto. She wrote, "Once you've recognized your own limits, you've raised yourself to a higher level of being, since you're closer to the real you." I hope her words inspire you, Libra. Your assignment is to seek a liberating breakthrough by identifying who you will never be and what you will never do. If you do it right—with an eager, open mind—it will be fun and interesting and empowering. a
Go to freewillastrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO and DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES. The audio horoscopes are also available at 877-873-4888.
• NOVEMBER 12, 2021 • 29
Savage Love SEX ADVICE FROM DAN SAVAGE questions@savagelove.net a 44-year-old gay male and I’ve never Q I’m been in a serious relationship. I would
like to find my way into an LTR, but I have a series of overlapping dating issues that I don’t know how to navigate. First, due to my career, I move around a lot, and often don’t see the point in dating when I know I am going to be moving again; I have another potential move on the horizon in six months. Second, I find online dating apps to be awful. I have encountered more ghosts on apps than I did in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. Third, I’m a beefier guy, but I have never really fit into the bear community. I hate wearing leather, I can’t stand growing facial hair and don’t have any kinks—and leather, beards and kinks seem to be prerequisites for joining the bear club. Fourth and finally, I’ve lived a big life. Due to a parent in the entertainment industry, I grew up with backlot access. I have literally travelled all over the world. I can tell stories for days. But it makes dating hard when the other guy has only his work or cats to talk about. I’ve gone on more than one date where the guy told me he didn’t have anything interesting to say about himself and that he just wanted to hear about my life. Am I destined to be either a spinster or a sugar daddy? —Lost And Can’t Keep Investigating New Guys
A
1. If you don’t see any point in dating because you’re always on the move, LACKING, it’s not a long-term relationship you should be seeking, but a nice string of fulfilling short-term relationships. STRs can be serious, they can be loving, and with more people working remotely than ever before, a successful-if-geographically-challenging STR has a much better shot at becoming a successful LTR these days. 2. Dating and hookup apps are awful. People on the apps sometimes lie about who they are, they ghost on you and they block you without explanation. But bars are awful too. People in bars sometimes lie about who they are, they excuse themselves “for a second” and never return, they go home with you one night and eat your ass for hours and then pretend they don’t know you the next time you see them at the same bar. And just as people have been mugged, assaulted and murdered by people they met on apps, people have been mugged, assaulted and murdered by people they met in bars—and at work, at church, through friends, etc. When someone makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, get out of there and/ or ghost on them. (And if we find that people are constantly ghosting on us...well...then we need ask ourselves if we’re doing something that makes other people feel uncomfortable or unsafe.) 3. Not all bears have beards or kinks or wear leather. At any big event for bears, LACKING, you’re likelier to see guys in jeans, t-shirts and trucker hats than you are to see guys in leather—unless it’s a fetish party, where you’ll see a lot of guys in leather. But even at a fetish party, you’ll see guys in neoprene, wrestling singlets, diving suits, hand-crocheted harnesses, and on and on. Leather isn’t required.
30 • NOVEMBER 12, 2021 •
4. I’d rather listen to a charming guy tell me a funny story about his cat than a conceited guy drone on and on about some famous actor he saw on a backlot pocketing granola bars from the craft services table. I’m not saying you’re conceited or boring, LACKING, but if I were a betting man and only had the last paragraph of your letter to go on, I’d put my chips on conceited and boring. Look, if a guy tells you halfway through a date there’s nothing he wants to share with you about himself and invites you to carry on talking about yourself, that doesn’t mean he’s so enthralled by your stories he just wants to listen. That means he’s bored and/or annoyed and has already made up his mind that you’re not gaining access to his backlot. Zooming out, LACKING, can you see the pattern in your letter? You say you want a relationship, but you don’t see the point of dating because you’re always moving. You say you want a relationship, but the apps are a waste of time because some people are sketchy. You say you want a relationship, but you don’t wanna go to places where people might be buying what you’re selling (bear nights, bear parties) because you don’t wanna wear the kind of clothes you’re required to wear at those events (leather, which you’re not actually required to wear) or grow the kind of facial hair you’re required grow to attend them (beards, which you’re not actually required to grow). You say you want a relationship, but guys who didn’t grow up with wealthy and connected parents bore you—which is going to make finding someone next to impossible. Gay men are a tiny percentage of the population, and finding someone in your preferred age range is going to be hard enough without ruling out guys who can’t match your story about peeing next to Matt LeBlanc in a men’s room on the Warner Bros. lot with a story of their own about some celebrity they peed next to. Or on. Viewed together, LACKING, the above looks less like “this dude is just unlucky in love” and more like “this dude is engaged in some serious self-sabotage.” So, the problem isn’t the apps or the job-related moves or leather pants or scratchy beards or guys who insist on boring you with stories about their cats when you’ve got a much better story about Mariska Hargitay’s dog walker. The problem is you. I’m not saying you’re an asshole or that you’re unworthy of love. You’re not an asshole; you’re just a little up your own ass. If love and commitment are what you want, LACKING, then I want you to find them. But you’re going to need to get out of your own ass and out of your own way. PS: If you have the kind of career that requires you to move every couple of years, LACKING, you should think twice before rejecting guys who aren’t as career-oriented or privileged as you are. Those are the guys who can easily relocate with you. So, while dismissing every guy with a boring and/or low-paying job means you won’t wind up briefly dating a boy who just wants a sugar daddy, never giving a regular guy with a regular job a chance could wind up costing you a lot more in the long run.
• JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 5, 2020 • 31
