Gastrocation!!

I knew I was going to love the food on this trip because I'm on the coast and I love seafood. And the food has been delicious. BUT, I will say, I am missing my dungeness crab and my lighter fare of seafood. Eating out is SO rich and decadent!

My first true lobster was at Bells Buoy at the Baddeck marina. It was really yummy, but I have decided that you don't get as much meat for the money as you do with dungeness crab. Lobster meat is good, especially dipped in melted butter, but dungeness crab is better, sweeter. And a really good crab can be eaten without butter! It's that good. At this restaurant I had an almost view of Kidston Lighthouse. A tree was in my way.

This next trio of delights was eaten at The Lobster Pound and Moore, which is right down the street from my B&B in North Sydney. I went there on Saturday night and they were booked solid until closing. So I called before ever even leaving the parking lot and made reservations for Sunday dinner. It was more than dinner - it was an experience! 

If it weren't for the restaurant sign out on the road, you would not know the restaurant was even there. As it is, it has only about 8 tables, maybe 10?? No wonder they book up and you have to make a reservation. The food looks quite fancy, but it is an incredibly unpretentious kind of place. I ordered the fried lobster wontons for an appetizer and they were so good. I had the blackened halibut with a shrimp pistachio compound butter with veggies and basmati rice. Come to find out, one of the co-owners, Leslie, was my server, and her husband, Richard Moore, was the chef. He actually came out and talked to me and brought me a couple of free surprises - a very yummy casear salad and the world's smallest bowl of lobster chowder. He just kept bringing me stuff and asking me how everything was tasting. He asked where I was from and how long I was staying, and then told me about a little lighthouse that was NOT on my list and how to find it. I forgot to take a picture of the creme brulee I had for dessert because I ate it so fast. Richard delivered it to me and torched it at my table. Oh, and the vegetables were picked from their friend's farm that morning. They are closed Monday and Tuesday, so I barely made it in! I learned that Richard is not a culinary-trained chef . . . he just has the talent. And the presentation is beautiful!

I've only had breakfast here at the B&B once so far. The first morning I was still dealing with the time difference, so I didn't get up in time. The second morning I did and we had a lovely breakfast of fruit, yogurt, button scallops seared in butter, an omelet and Canadian bacon. Wonder what's up for tomorrow? Jane, the proprietor, told me to help myself to the fridge whenever I needed to eat if I wasn't going to make breakfast. I've had yogurt in the car once. I also had cold fried chicken from a small grocery store on the way home last night because I just wanted to get home and couldn't find a place to eat.

I've eaten at the Black Spoon Bistro twice, my first night in town and tonight (Tuesday), my last night in town. I must have been so involved in eating my yummy food that I forgot to take any pictures.

Again, it's a small restaurant, but they do take walk-ins. I only had to wait about 10 minutes the first night, and I got right in tonight, just before it got busy. The first night I had scallop carbonara, which was to die for, and extremely rich and filling. I ate myself to a stomach ache. But who wouldn't eat a whole plate of pasta in the richest creme sauce, full of scallops and bacon, topped with bacon wrapped scallops?! So good! I was so full! Tonight I had the special which was linguine with shrimp and scallops in a sundried tomato sauce. I asked for a substitute of alfredo sauce, and it was the same sauce from the other dinner, which was just fine with me. For dessert I had a caramel crunch cake with whipped cream. As absolutely as good as it was, I could not eat the last two or three bites. So GOOD!

When out on the Cabot Trail, there are a lot of little diners, drive-ins and dives, and the guide I was with had a favorite in Pleasant Bay called Mountain View Restaurant. It was a diner and the guide liked it because they named their fish sandwich after him - The Harry Burger. This is where I experienced my first lobster roll!

As I finish this post, I'm on the ferry to Prince Edward Island and it's quite a nice ferry. I'm having a "cold plate" which consists of deli meats, potato salad, coleslaw, cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes. Fresh!  More good food to come, I'm sure!