Wild for Wild Caraway

When we arrived at Wild Caraway a morning fog was still burning off the Bay of Fundy across the street. Everything seemed to take on a romantic and mystical aura as we made our way to the house.  Salt air mixed in with the smell of dewy garden vegetables and a wood pile adjacent to the parking lot gave off a heady scent – we were on sensory overload before we even made our way into the restaurant.

Upon arrival we were greeted by Sarah Griebel (part owner and general manager), who welcomed us into the century old home that has been fashioned into the Wild Caraway Restaurant & Café.

As Sarah showed us through the house, we were offered a kind “Hello” by two guests who had spent the night in the adjoining guesthouse. They were enjoying their breakfast in the dining room and had the entire restaurant to themselves. The couple looked exceptionally happy, and how could they not be? They woke up to a gorgeous view of Advocate Harbour and Cape Chignecto followed by a delicious breakfast served by chef Andrew. I’d hazard a guess to say it would be hard NOT to wake up with a smile if you had spent the night here!

As Sarah toured us around, we learned that the house used to be a nurse practitioner’s office. Sarah and Andrew moved to the area from abroad, they saw the house up for sale, paid a visit, and immediately saw the potential as a future location for their restaurant. They didn’t know what form it would take but it didn’t matter, they were in love with the character the old home offered.

The winter of 2009 was spent renovating the house and the restaurant opened just five short months later. If you visit you can see the “before” photos which make you appreciate the beautiful restaurant and café even more. They did extensive work – raising ceilings, upgrading electrical, etc – the house was completely redesigned but they left intact the grand stairway at the front of the house, old wall paper they unearthed, and other classic and unique features of the home.

The history and charm of an old farmhouse, combined with Sarah and Andrew’s eclectic and colorful taste, creates an extra special dining atmosphere. There are antiques on the shelves, mismatched chairs and wooden tables, colorful paintings and a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf filled with Andrew’s cookbooks that had me drooling with book envy.

After a brief tour of the house, Sarah whisked us into the kitchen out back where we met Andrew Aitken (part owner and chef) who was prepping vegetables and bread for the day’s meals.

I looked at the detailed menus online beforehand, and was amazed to learn that everything created in the kitchen, all the incredible and creative meal options, Andrew and Sarah cook up themselves. There is no sous chef, no chef for appetizers, no chef for desserts. For such a busy restaurant, one that is booked up daily and was busting at the seams by the time we left, and one that also has quite a diverse lunch/dinner menu, this is quite the feat.

In the spring/summer they also offer Where the Wild Things Grow – a five-course dinner which offers edible wild flora combined with local meats and seafood. All the foraging through fields, streams, marshes and backyards is done by Andrew and Sarah themselves with the support of their wait staff. How these two find the time to create something so imaginative is beyond me!

The concept of “Where the Wild Things Grow” is to highlight what can be done with products that one would normally mow, walk over, or drive by.  You may not want to spend roughly five hours of your week picking weeds from a lawn and mixing it with things like ricotta to make homemade tortellini, it’s more work than the average person wants to invest. For a limited amount of money though, you can head to their restaurant, see and taste what they can concoct as craftspeople, and be amazed by what they can create with what is normally ignored.

Sarah and Andrew are proud of the fact that they can literally go to the side of the road, into marshes, harbours and brooks, and forage for these special ingredients, in addition to products like the wild blueberries and violets that they have growing right in their own fields. I, for one, will be looking at my own backyard and the “weeds” growing on the side of the road with a different eye from now on.

If you’re the adventuresome type and would love to experience how something like “pig weed” tastes just like Spinach, these special dinners are available by reservation only, typically on a Tuesday or Wednesday in the Spring and Summer. I wasn’t in town during one of the aforementioned five-course meal affairs, but I did happen to be there during the lunch hour so naturally it was necessary I indulge.

My husband and I both started the dining experience with a refreshing drink. I tried the elderflower lemonade, and Steve had their ginger beer. Both are made on site, and are deliciously thirst-quenching. There was even a delicate little elderflower frozen into the ice-cube in my lemonade much to my delight.

For a first course, we both had the lobster bisque. I adore all things lobster, as does Steve so that decision was made without a second thought. Many restaurants have chowder, but coming across lobster bisque is a rare treat. That bisque alone made the trip complete. There were massive chunks of lobster (a full claw managed to find it’s way into my bowl!) soaked in a creamy tomato base infused with cream.

The bisque combined with their incredible homemade dulce and fennel rolls would be a complete meal for anyone. The rolls were moist on the inside with a nice crunch on the outside – the taste of fennel wasn’t overwhelming as it can be in some dishes, but added a really interesting and unusual flavor. I could have made a meal of the rolls alone.

However, since I don’t know how to say no when it comes to food, the deliciousness didn’t stop there.  I went on to order the Caesar salad and Steve got the Ploughman’s Platter. The salad was an incredible combination with a unique wild caraway Caesar dressing, crunchy bits of bacon, garlic croutons, salty smoked gouda and lightly seared scallops.

The Ploughman’s Platter is certainly not for the fainthearted or those with small appetites – it would have been more than enough to feed myself and my 6′ 4″ husband.  Bread, cheese, and fruit, oh my! The house-smoked pork, crunchy breads, tart pickles and beets all created a textural fantasy for our taste buds. If I were a farmer and had a Ploughman’s lunch on my break, a nap would surely ensue afterwards, not more work in the fields.

Since I grew up with a grandmother who told me “Dessert goes into a separate belly, you can always find room”, I reminded myself I could easily find space for a sweet ending to our meal. I could hear the guests at the table beside me commenting on how no one makes a dessert better than Sarah, so I decided I should get the dessert special of the day, Eaton Mess, before it was all gone.

Eaton Mess is a traditional English dessert typically made with strawberries, meringue and cream. I loved that Sarah added her own flair to the dessert by using fruit that was in season locally: peaches and raspberries. The local fruit in combination with the meringue pieces, cream and raspberry coulis was simply divine and a perfectly light sweet treat to end the meal.

Since we had to make a long trek back to Halifax, we slowly made our way to the door and said our goodbyes. Before we left though, we took the time to admire the raised garden beds outside the back door, the unique way Andrew piles their firewood around old antique windows to create an artful display,  and the colourful Adirondack chairs that welcome you to sit and admire the view.

We took one look at their hammocks swinging in the breeze and told each other we’d be back soon to enjoy an overnight stay complete with lazy naps in the guestroom upstairs, walks on the beach, and meals fit for the Queen – Eaton Mess and all.