Page 158 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL EATING IBERIA

a while and then take a break. “What does music Hard to believe that such extraordinary cuisine is
mean to Acadians?” I ask him. created in such makeshift circumstances.
“Music defines our culture,” he answers. The next morning, we take the ferry to St. John,
And as we sit in the warm sun overlooking the New Brunswick for our final stop, the Algonquin
bay, I realize that music is my peace, my joy, and my Hotel in St. Andrews by the Sea. Built in 1889 as an-
happiness. other railroad Grand Dame for the well-heeled to
escape the heat and dust of the city, the hotel origi-
Dinner that night is at Digby Bay Resort’s
restaurant, Churchills, by far the best meal we’ve nally charged $3.00 per night for a room or $5.00
with a bathroom. And the bathtubs had four taps:
have in Canada: molasses BBQ Cornish game hen
hot and cold, fresh or saltwater. Soon, they built an
with apple juniper braised purple cabbage, butter-
milk American popovers and zucchini stuffed with 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, ballroom, bowl-
ing alley and billiards. Today, there’s a spa, indoor
maple roasted rutabaga. Chef Dale Nichols comes
and outdoor pools, but for me the best feature is
out to greet us and explains that the almost 100-
year-old kitchen is too old to use, so he and his staff that all the bellmen wear kilts.
of 27 cook out of four trailers attached to the hotel. We head to the 127-acre Kingsbrae Garden

158 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020