DINNER OUT: THE BITE HOUSE Scott Campbell
Tucked away in a remote part of Cape Breton near the town of Baddeck is a small, unassuming 12-seat restaurant called The Bite House. Please don't let the unpretentious name or its location deceive you into thinking there is anything even remotely ordinary about this place. One Trip Advisor review claimed this was the hardest reservation to get in North America. We booked our reservation on January 4, 2019, four minutes after reservations opened, and were able to get a table for four on a Saturday on November 9, 2019. Confirming their popularity in 2020, there are no longer any reservations available for this coming year, with bookings filling up in minutes once again. If you were one of the lucky ones who managed to get in, this is the type of experience you can expect.
tasty on its own but when it's served with bee pollen butter, the game is changed. I'd never imagined a combination like bee pollen and butter before and I guarantee I'll never forget it now. So good.
The Bite House is the creation of Chef Bryan Picard and his girlfriend, Marie Isabelle Whitty-Lampron. Chef Picard hails originally from northern New Brunswick but he and Marie Isabelle met in Montréal where he was working as a chef and she was a student of fashion design. They met and decided to leave the faster pace of the city and came to Cape Breton to realize their dream of owning their own restaurant. Chef Picard is in charge of the kitchen while Marie Isabelle masterfully coordinates the dining room.
Next up was a delicious combination of potatoes, snow crab sauce, pickled celeriac, and oregano. The delicious rich crab and the tart celeriac combined to create a punch of flavour that was delivered wonderfully on the hearty potatoes.
We arrived a few minutes early (an eleven month wait for a table will make you a little eager when the day finally arrives), and Marie Isabelle greeted us at the door and called Chef Picard to the dining room and introduced us. We immediately felt like we were old friends who had dropped in for dinner, and what a dinner. The meal consisted of nine courses: four snack plates, then four small plates, and then dessert. The first snack was grilled red fish with maple and tarragon. These fun little fish on sticks were brilliant with sweet maple flavour and an awesome way to begin our experience. Next up were delicious bites of beef tartare on crispy homemade crackers. The addition of parsnips and chanterelles heightened the flavour profile just that much more. The third, perfectly timed, snack was scallop gratin with pickled red onions. The visually brilliant pickled red onions hinted at the richness of the velvety scallops and the flavour combination was fantastic. Our final snack was one of the most imaginative. Good rye sourdough is
14 | Jan. 16 – Feb. 6, 2020
MIKE UNCORKED: CENTRESTAGE RINGS IN 2020 WITH NEW COMEDY
Mike Butler
Grilled bass was the next dish. Served with dumplings and watercress pistou, this was also a very hearty and warming course. The pistou (often confused with pesto except pistou has no pine nuts added) created a brilliant background for the bass, both visually and in terms of flavour. The pork that came out next was smoked perfectly. The combination of acorn squash again helped warm up a chilly November evening while the currants and sunchokes both enhanced the flavour and offered an earthy background. The dessert was well worth the wait. A peach sorbet nestled in a yogurt mousse was rich and creamy, while the juniper and flax seeds offered both a contrast in flavour and in texture. So, Baddeck is a few hours from the Annapolis Valley and you might have to wait until 2021 to get a table, but I can absolutely tell you that the trip, and the wait, is worth it. Cheers. Follow Scott on Instagram@ScottsGrapevine
Submitted
Under the direction of Susan Spence-Campbell, Sister Act features local talent and
Ethan Barkhouse
Following the snacks, our first small plate arrived: salted tuna, hakurei turnip, sunflowers, and salad burnet. I will admit I was familiar with most of the ingredients but I had never encountered salad burnet before and was, admittedly, searching my plate for a salad. There was none to be found. Salad burnet is actually a perennial plant know for its astringent qualities and those qualities worked perfect with the crunchy turnip and sunflowers that offered a contrasting taste and texture to the silky smooth tuna.
QUICK AS A WINK THEATRE SOCIETY PRESENTS SISTER ACT Quick As A Wink Theatre Society presents Sister Act, based on the hit 1992 film. When disco diva Deloris Van Cartier witnesses a murder, she is put in protective custody in a convent! Disguised as a nun, she finds herself at odds with both the rigid lifestyle and uptight Mother Superior. Using her unique disco moves and singing talent to inspire the choir, Deloris breathes new life into the church and community but, in doing so, blows her cover. Filled with powerful gospel music and a truly moving story, Sister Act will leave audiences breathless.
ODE TO PLANTS
returning Quick As A Wink actors, including Erica Fitzgerald (Dracula, Legally Blonde) as Mother Superior, Ian Shaw (Glory Days) as Curtis, and Ryan Harvey (The Mousetrap, The Music Man) as Eddie Souther, and, in her QAAW debut, Melanie Bent as Deloris Van Cartier.
Shows will take place at Fountain Performing Arts Centre at King’s-Edgehill School in Windsor, January 31, February 1, 7, and 8, at 7pm, with special matinees February 2, 8, and 9 at 2pm. Tickets can be purchased online at QAAW.ca or by visiting The Spoke and Note in Windsor.
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2020 is upon us and CentreStage Theatre in Kentville is gearing up for another fantastic twelve months of entertaining the Valley (and beyond) with top notch productions. This little theatre with the big heart has a stellar lineup of plays, including comedies, dramas, children’s shows, mysteries, and a dinner theatre, so keep on top of their offerings and don’t miss out! Centrestage is kicking off the year with The Wild Women of Winedale, a joyful and exuberant, yet ultimately touching comedy focusing on three women at crossroads in their lives. We meet the Wild sisters of Winedale, Virginia: Fanny, Willa, and their sister-in-law, Johnnie Faye. This feisty and fun-loving trio has supported and cheered one another through life’s highs and lows, including the early demise of two of their husbands. The play is set up with five vignettes telling the stories of five other women and their life-changing moments that add to the story’s humour and its impact. Everything works to prove that it’s never too late to take another one of life’s paths for a brand-new adventure and the audience is left feeling happy and hopeful thanks to the Wild Women of Winedale! This Jones, Hope, and Wooten comedy is sure to make you laugh and provide you with both insights and motivation about decluttering your life, and after much success with their other plays, including The Halleluiah Girls, The Dixie Swim Club, and The Savannah Sipping Society, CentreStage is guaranteed another hit show. Warm up this winter with some Wild Women! The Wild Women of Winedale is directed by Peter Booth, George Henry, and Bryen Stoddard and the stage manager and producer is Elva Kelley with Kathy Walker doing lights
and sounds. The cast, in order of appearance, includes Gwenyth Dwyn, Nancy Henry, Allyson Higgins, Mindy Vinqvist-Tymchuk, Josée Leclerc-Mann, Janet Westhaver, Susan Monro, and Carolyn Landry. You can imagine how much fun these ladies have had getting this show prepared for y’all!
CentreStage is all about community and each show they produce also features a local artist displaying their pieces in the lobby. The featured artist for The Wild Women of Winedale is the Kings Kikima Grannies Project. Come declutter your life and support the Grannies as they offer up some fantastic wares during the run of the show. The Wild Women of Winedale will be performed evenings on January 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25, 31, and February 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, with matinee performances on January 19 & 26, and February 9. Front of House opens at 6:45pm for the evening performances and 1:15pm for the matinees. Tickets for the show are adults $15; seniors/students $12; children, age 12 and under, $5. CentreStage takes cash or cheques only and reservations are recommended and are held until 15 minutes before show time. Please call 902-678-8040 for reservations. Stay up to date with upcoming shows, auditions, and special events by visiting centrestagetheatre.ca, or follow them on Facebook. Keep your calendars free to see the upcoming children's show Snow White, The Evil Queen, and the Three Slobs in the Upper Performance Centre (Saturdays in February!), and Don’t Dress for Dinner, a wickedly funny farce on the Main Stage in February and March.
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