St. John? Halifax? Any ideas for a better than decent meal?

[SFJoe]

A much better choice would be Bacalao. Wish this had been a dinner destination, but it worked out for lunch. Tasty cods' tongues, great bacalao fritters, and the most useful wine list in the city for me. Somehow much cheaper, but also much better chosen than anywhere else.

 

Also an honorable mention for Cinched. Didn't arrive in time for dinner, but apparently Chef is proud of his charcuterie, and when two hungry travelers arrived asking for it after they had started cleaning the kitchen, he was kind enough to do a plate ("anything for people who want charcuterie").

 

Next trip would be Bacalao and Cinched, with Raymond's if someone else was buying.

 

Did not get to the Reluctant Chef, though it seemed interesting.

[Patrick]

Finding a good wine list in the maritimes is usually hopeless, even with local knowledge. Wine lists at the established "best restaurant in town" mirror that of Raymonds, though with less depth of 3rd growths , or industrial dreck. All the hipster somms from the maritimes seem to have made their way mtl and toronto.

[SFJoe]

If you can find it, there was an article in the NYT maybe 20 or 25 years ago about a night in St. John's spent barcrawling and eating cod cheeks (or "kissing the cod", as the natives called it). It sounded wildly entertaining.

Had some very tasty cod cheeks in NYC a week ago, BTW, from the Lobster Pot.

 

I have not been "screeched in."

[SFJoe]

Finding a good wine list in the maritimes is usually hopeless, even with local knowledge. Wine lists at the established "best restaurant in town" mirror that of Raymonds, though with less depth of 3rd growths , or industrial dreck. All the hipster somms from the maritimes seem to have made their way mtl and toronto.

The urge to flee would have to be large, from a professional POV.

 

OTOH, we did not have to go far to find some nice chanterelles.

 

I have never really experienced a forest as dense as the spruces and firs in Avalon. It is even worse than pygmy forest in coastal California.

 

I wonder if there are missing megafauna that used to browse it to a different state?

[SFJoe]

And St. John's is a pretty cool port, I'm really glad to have gotten here for a couple of days. When else do you get to see actual Ediacarian fossils?