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Pigging out in P.E.I.

Seafood restaurants satisfy all-you-can-eat desires

By: Michael Benedict

Posted: 08/27/2011 3:17 AM | Comments: 0

2"Betcha I can," I said. We both ate one more piece -- and he spent most of the night in the bathroom while I slept. The next morning I learned that I had clearly won the bet.

That was four decades ago. Now, more sensible, I have returned with my wife and two teenage sons to the same P.E.I. banquet hall. It is home to the famous New Glasgow Lobster Suppers, still an all-you-can-eat affair. Buckets of tiny local mussels have since been added to those courses you can order again and again. The gorge-yourself option applies to all foods except the lobster.

The New Glasgow lobster supper extravaganza now competes with several other P.E.I. all-you-can eats, but is considered to set the provincial standard others emulate.

"We don't rest on our laurels," says Carl Nicholson, who has managed the operation since 1989. "We've been around for 50 years, but it's the meal you put on today that matters."

Our dinner begins with soft homemade rolls and bread, warm out of the oven. Creamy seafood chowder and the cultivated mussels follow, along with three different kinds of salad -- garden, potato and coleslaw. All ingredients are local and the accompanying mayonnaise is made daily.

So far, we have restrained ourselves, somewhat, although we double up on the mussels. Next, our waitress brings us bibs, a hint of what is to come. The lobsters range from normal one-pounders to monsters tipping the scales at four pounds or more. We've all ordered one-and-a-half pounders. Some of us like it hot, others cold. After they arrive, the only sound for the next five minutes is the cracking of legs and tails.

"It was awesome," says Cindy Pelletier of Chilliwack, B.C., who is visiting on a bus tour. "On the West Coast, we're not used to eating the whole lobster. They made sure we didn't leave hungry."

One of the restaurant's two owners, Sterling MacRae, joins us for dessert and coffee. MacRae is part of the original New Glasgow and District Junior Farmers Organization that started the lobster dinners in 1958. They began as a one-off to pay for a new building. The structure cost $210; the farmers charged $1.50 per person for the lobster dinner and raised a total of $260.

Spurred by this success, the occasional lobster fundraiser became a weekly and then a two-or three-times-a-week affair. In 1970, the dinners went daily. Now, the restaurant is open from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., seven days a week between May and October.

Alcohol was introduced in 1983, one of several changes MacRae, now 76, has seen over the years. But the biggest transformation is that the former community event has become a destination for visitors. Some 700 dinners are served nightly during the tourist season. But the local appeal remains.

"A lot of our mainland customers are brought here by island people," says McRae.

Among the come-from-aways was former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. Among the locals, sort of, are Toronto Maple Leaf captain Dion Phaneuf and his actress-companion Elisha Cuthbert. Phaneuf's mother comes from P.E.I., and the hockey player has a summer home nearby.

"It's not fancy food," MacRae says, explaining the secret to his restaurant's success. "But it's good food, down-home cooking and well-prepared."

A full dinner, with a one-pound lobster, costs $30.95 and goes up steadily to $84.95 for that four-pounder. After that, it's another $14 for each additional pound.

"We had a couple once who ordered six-pounders," recalls MacRae. "We had to use two plates to serve them."

There is a children's menu featuring, among other items, a half-pound lobster dinner for $13.99. And for non-lobster lovers, there are cheaper alternatives, such as salmon, roast beef or chicken.

"Price-wise, it's superb," says Bruce Totman of Espanola, Ont., who came with his aunt and uncle who live on the island. (He ordered the three-pounder for $74.95.) "Quality, too."

Finally, it's time for pie. There's apple, cherry, raisin, blueberry and the house specialty, lemon meringue. All are freshly made on the premises and served with local ice cream. But times have changed -- each of us eats but a single piece.

The next day, before leaving P.E.I., we stumble upon Richard's Fresh Seafood, an easy-to-miss roadside takeout in a fisherman's cove inside the province's beachfront national park. Intrigued by the long lineup of locals at lunch, we are lured back for a late dinner when the wait is less than 15 minutes.

We order fish and chips, fried clams and french fries. All are exquisite, reflecting the freshness of the product and the ingenuity of new owner Ryan Doucet, who left his Ottawa job as a policy adviser with the Canadian Wheat Board last year to buy and operate the restaurant. He wanted to be closer to where he grew up in New Brunswick.

Doucet spent a year at Niagara College's Food and Wine Institute, where he clearly was a star student. His secret "wet-and-dry" batter recipe for the fish and clams produces a light and tasty covering. Doucet does reveal the formula for his crunchy fries, however: they are so incredibly crisp because he takes time to cook them twice.

We savour our meal with beer out of a plastic cup at a wooden table outside on the second floor. We overlook Covehead Wharf and watch kids jump into the ocean. It is after 9 p.m., the sun has set and the place is still packed, though capacity is only about 20 people. So far, Doucet hasn't felt the need to advertise.

"Most of the time we can't handle the business we have," he says.

Now, if he only served pie for dessert.

-- Postmedia News

New Glasgow Lobster Suppers

WHERE: The formal address is No. 604 Route 258 in New Glasgow, but look for the town, not the street number. New Glasgow is but a hamlet and the restaurant can't be missed. The community is in the centre of the province, about a 10-minute drive from Cavendish Beach, 30 minutes from Charlottetown and 45 minutes from Summerside.

WHEN: Open every day from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. through Oct. 8. All-you-can-eat lobster meals start at $30.95.

MORE: See www.peilobstersuppers.com or call 1-902-964-2870.

Richard's Fresh Seafood

WHERE: The restaurant is in the central portion of P.E.I. National Park, between Brackley and Stanhope.

Richard's is nestled in Covehead Bay, on Covehead Wharf, a 200-metre dead-end road off the Gulf Shores Parkway.

WHEN: Open daily through Sept. 30 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., but until 9 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Fish and chips range from $8 for one piece to $12 for three pieces.

MORE: Call 1-902-672-3030 or see www.richardsfreshseafood.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 27, 2011 D7

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