And now the rest of the world is in on it. Big news hit this morning that Edna snagged a spot in Air Canada enRoute’s Top 10 Best New Restaurants in Canada. This year I was beyond humbled to be asked to be a panelist for enRoute and, though part of me wanted to keep this local gem all for myself, they were at the top of my nominees list. You can imagine my excitement then when I was invited to dine at Edna with Mr. EnRoute himself while keeping the whole thing on the down low. Talk about thrilling! Our experience, like every single experience I’ve had at Edna, was nothing short of perfection. In my eyes, they had already made the cut.

So today put your hands together for Jenna, Ryan and the whole damn Edna team.  I’m not sure the line ups will get longer but dang if it isn’t worth every minute.  

And a big congrats to the other nine restaurants across Canada in the top ten. The gorgeous shots on enRoute’s site are enough to have me salivating all over my breakfast. Looks like I’ve got some travelling to do. 

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Since I was lucky enough to snap some photos of EDNA for my review over at eat north, I thought it fitting to share some today. The most gorgeous of spaces, an ever changing menu built upon local food, and truly genuine people at the helm make EDNA one of the city’s best. 

Big city decor meets small town hospitality. What are you waiting for?

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Hydrostone

As a whole, the Hydrostone pretty much has you covered. Everything from sushi to gelato to pizza to a butcher shop, it’s got your back. If I was to tell you my top picks I’d lead you to Storehouse Butchery where the lovely Jessi Gillis will hook you up with local meat, preserves, and vegetables. If you’re craving some pizza, there are now two options to satisfy. Order up any of the three topping pizzas at Salvatores or, better yet, grab yourself a cheesy meatball hero and never look back. If wood fired is your thing, you could also check out Mothers. Serving up locally inspired pies straight from the open wood fired oven, the newest pizzeria to hit the city is already garnering quite the fan base. 

On your way South, head down Robie St. for a visit to Coastal Cafe. Crazy delicious takes on breakfast like the famous Elvis, a bacon, banana, pb waffle sandwich, make it the top brunch pick. Avoiding at peak times on the weekend, however, probably a good idea. 

Agricola

If you’re looking for mad food options on one street, Agricola is where it’s at. There’s no better place to start than the centre of it all, North and Agricola. With food on all four corners, there is literally something for everyone. At one corner is Fred, a bright and modern muli-use space housing a furniture gallery, a cafe and a hair salon. Across the street you’ll find beer and the best burger in the city at Ace Burger Co inside the local watering hole Gus’ Pub. The next corner houses the Mideast Food Centre with loads of Middle Eastern groceries plus a lunch counter with all the falafel and hummus you could possibly eat. For cheap. Lastly, Cafe Aroma Latino rounds out the list with a small menu of Mexican and Latin American classics like arepas, tacos, and empanadas. You can literlly order the entire menu and try everything for dirt cheap. Yeah, North and Agricola. 

Just down the street you’ll want to hit up Peter at Bridge Brewing for a growler of his locally brewed Farmhouse Ale. Then things heat up again at Charles and Agricola where one side is Smith’s Bakery, the old school cookies and bread kind of bakery and the other, the start of a little renaissance of Creative Crossing.  At one end, the new resto enVie is bringing raw, vegan cuisine to the masses. Local Source finds its new home next door with loads more space for their the cafe and local grocery store.  Lastly, the much anticipated Agricola Street Braisserie is set to open any day now. With Chef Ludo behind the line, this is one restaurant sure to shake things up. I’d keep your eyes peeled for this one.  Because it just keeps getting better, across the street, slightly tucked away on Charles, the once creperie Tess has expanded it’s horizons to bring you killer brunch, lunch, dinner, and daily tapas specials. Think bacon and Brie eggs benny on crepes. 

Gottingen

Though not food destinations per se, there are a few spots on Gottingen to get your dance on and work up an appetite, notably Menz Bar and the Company House. For food, I’d head straight to Edna. Easily one of the best restaurants in the city, the small, locally focused menu, ridiculously fresh oysters, and incredible atmosphere will have you wanting to move in. If you’re looking for something quicker, head across the street to the usual evening parking spot of the Food Wolf, a food truck dishing up Mexican Asian fusion like the infamous k-dog, a local weiner smothered in bacon, kimchi, and Korean spicy sauce. Otherwise, Ratinaud Charcuterie has all your local charcuterie needs because there’s nothing better than a meal of meat and cheese and bread. You can also get in on an intimate French dinner at one of their Kitchen Table series, that is if you’re lucky enough to snag some tickets. Also, keep your eye out for Field Guide, a hyper local resto set to open  in the space beside Ratinaud.  Just around the corner at Cornwallis and Bauer, you’ll want to grab a cone of the best ice cream in the city at DeeDee’s. Get the Mexican chocolate. And how could I forget Propeller Brewing, another awesome local craft brewery. Grabbing a growler of IPA is almost mandatory.  

Lastly, though I’m not sure if it’s technically the North End, Brooklyn Warehouse at Almond and Windsor will always remain one of my favourite restaurants. Excellent service, perfect atmosphere, a great bar list plus a new ever changing chalkboard menu. What more do you want. 

How’s that for dinner options. 

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On the old blogspot, I repeatedly professed my love for the Coastal Cafe so there’s really no surprise it’s my brunch go to. But here’s the thing, it has counter service, the coffee is only ok (snob alert) and, with only about 25 seats and a lineup of folks learing at you as you finish your meal, the atmosphere may not be the best in the city. Back it up. You’re telling me the best brunch in the city doesn’t have great coffee, doesn’t have table service (though they do a combo of table/counter service so tip ’em well people), and doesn’t have amazing atmosphere? Hells yes I am. At Coastal, it’s all about the food.

It’s.That.Good.

I’m also happy to report that on our most recent visit, we finally tried something off the ‘not breakfast’ menu.  We had no choice really. How could we resist this panko crusted behemoth of a pork burger. Obviously at Coastal, a pork burger isn’t any old pork burger. I’m talking maple tonkatsu sauce, sunomono, and pickled ginger aioli. God damn this was good. I may need to go back and get it before the menu changes. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll follow suit.

With influences from just about every ethnicity and inventive takes on waffles, scrambles, granola, French toast, salads, and other mind blowing dishes rounding out the seasonal menu, there’s literally is something for everyone.  There’s even quite the selection of hot sauces and a wall of cat photos. No joke.

So, the next time you imbibe a little too much and are looking for the cure, forgo the greezy bacon n’ eggs, get in that line and put your belly in the hands of Chef Mark Giffin. 

When nothing but empty plates go back to the kitchen, you know it’s legit. But what the hell’s that fruit doing on my plate. 

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Graham Cracker Fread, hand model extraordinaire

I know you’ve all seen it. Those episodes of Eat St. full of steamed pork buns, fusion tacos, and insane donuts that would make even a Krispy Kream look like a whole grain muffin. Seems the whole world is getting their street eat on, leaving us here on the East Coast crying into our greasy food truck fish n’ chips. Not that there’s anything wrong with a good ol’ Maritime fish n’ chip feast but where’s my Schnitzlewich?

Even Montreal, where selling anything out of a truck was illegal for more than 60 years, recently overturned the old law to allow for more than 40, some operated by the city’s best restaurants. So what’s up Halifax? Luckily, with several gourmet trucks currently hitting our streets, we are well on our way to a booming food truck culture. 

Bring on the street eats.

Blazing the trail were Nomad Gourmet and The Food Wolf, both serving the hungry masses for about a year now. In fact, though not as well known, Soups on the Move has been ladling out the hot stuff to Burnside workers since 2011. Then all of a sudden there were three more joining the ranks this summer: Bite Me Urban Diner, Under Pressers, and Tin Pan Alley. And they could not be more varied. From chicken and waffles to chorizo chilli frites to deep fried Oreos, there’s nothing I don’t want to stuff in my face.

But like most cities, the food truck scene in Halifax is rife with restrictions. There’s but seven site licenses around the city, dictating hours of operation and making mobility, one of the perks of being on wheels, rather impossible. Once all those spots are occupied like they are now, that’s it for us. No sharing of spots, no new trucks. Thankfully some trucks have bypassed the law by operating in private lots. A perfectly legal manoeuvre, it allows others to bring street eats to areas of the city not designated under the bylaw.

Enter The Food Wolf. Set up in so-called Squiggle Park at the corner of Faulkland and Gottingen streets, the Wolf serves up Korean and Asian fusion to North End’s hungriest. On any given day the locally sourced menu can include kimchi quesadillas, Korean pork burgers, Mexican beef tacos, green onion pancakes, and the hot dog of all hot dogs, the K-Dawg. Smothered in bacon, kimchi, a spicy Korean mayo, and a generous garnish of sesame seeds and green onions, it’s got addiction written all over it. A hot dog a day can’t be bad right? 

One things for sure, there’s no slowing down for Team Food Wolf, Natalie Chavarie, Virgil Muir and Eric Gunnels. They even recently loaded the truck on a freight-liner bound for New Brunswick to feed the hungry concert goers at SappyFest.  Food truck love at its finest. Whether you dig Korean or Asian or not, I have a feeling the Wolf will change your mind. They even have a new age app so you can track their location. Social media for the win.

But the good news doesn’t stop there. A few food trucks are rocking the streets outside of city limits. Find the Growlin’ Grumman serving up burger, fries and poutine in Windsor, the Orange Ukele, a grilled cheese truck rolling around the Annapolis Valley, Amby’s Eats dishing up tacos, inventive burgs, and risotto balls in New Glasgow, the Backroads Bistro in Mabou with a whole slew of locally inspired comfort food, not to mention all the fish n’ chip trucks you can find just about everywhere.

If you haven’t guessed it already, I’m going to cross every truck off my list one by one. Because, let’s be real, I just can’t help myself.

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B Darbs thinks he’s hilarious

So, Halifax’s first Burger Week has come and gone. Despite my love of burger I ate but three, just enough to get entered in the contest for the big green egg, a contest that I sadly did not win. Guess it’s back to the homemade smoker for us. No complaints here. And whats my verdict? No surprise, I remain on the Ace Burger train. Don’t get me wrong. There’s some great burgers out there. Everything from classic diner to pb topped to triple pork madness. But there’s so much more to a burger than a patty on a bun.

What makes the best burger? First, I wholeheartedly believe it needs to be based on fresh, local ingredients. With the recent beef recall plus the horse meat scandal, there is no better reason to start eating local meat. In fact, have a read of what Chris de Waal from Getaway Meat Mongers has to say in the new Rustik Magazine. Another reason Ace ranks so high, the simplicity. I hate line ups, especially unnecessary ones. So if I have to wait to get my burger while folks try to decipher a million toppings, I’m just going to go somewhere else. Not that I mind waiting for quality. I waited 45 minutes at Ace during Burger Week but Bridge beer in hand and a table full of friends, I was a happy camper.

At Ace, you don’t need all those wacky toppings because the team has crafted a simple menu of amazing burgers to suit anyone’s taste. Pork, chicken, lamb, veggie, beef, seafood, all covered. I’ve actually tasted all the Ace burgers, some more than twice. Insatiable. They may even know me by name. While the deluxe is literally the best damn burger in the city, I quite fancy the classic. I think it says a lot that the burger can stand alone without the addition of cheese and bacon. Blasphemy I know but it’s the god damn truth. I also love the pork with flavours reminiscent of a banh mi as well as the crunchy smoked tarter topped clam po’ boy. Honestly, every single Ace burger is perfectly prepared and deliciously satisfying. 

But it just gets better because they’ve recently started running monthly burger features. At present, it’s a venison burger cut with duck fat and topped with crispy carrot strings, juniper roasted mushrooms, and garlic mayo. Ever since reading that first tweet, I knew it had to be mine. Three days later and, sure enough, it blew my mind. What a flavour powerhouse. I can’t say this enough, get your ass over there and GET SOME.

There you have it folks: take an amazing menu of simple yet creative, locally sourced burgers, add to that ridiculous features and the nicest, coolest staff out there, and you’ve got yourself The Best Damn Burger in the City. Lucky, for you today is the last day to have your voice heard in the year’s Best of Food survey brought to you by The Coast. If you’re still are not convinced, get over to Ace and prove me wrong. I dare ya. I double dog dare ya. 

And fyi, yours truly is up for Best Local Food Blog. Wink wink nudge nudge.

{UPDATE} Holy shit. Ace Burger Co dethroned the long time champion to take home the gold for Best Burger in the City. What did I tell ya?

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