historic

The Pebble Bed & Breakfast, Halifax, June 2024

~ hsnixon ~ 2 Comments
house – 1839 Armview Terrace, Halifax, NS B3H 4H3, Canada

Halifax is a lovely city in Canada with beautiful coastlines and cooler temperatures for the summer.  I’ve enjoyed sharing our restaurants with you but also wanted to give you the name of a fabulous B & B where you could stay on your visit.  The Pebble is in a residential neighborhood and has 3- 4 rooms run by Elizabeth O’Carroll, a super friendly Irish host.  The name of the place comes from a pebble that was a token of love taken from the River Feale in Ireland, given to O’Carroll and later made into a pendant by a jeweler.   It reminded me of a similar story of a small rock we took from the place where we got engaged and later was turned into a pendant that I still have.  The rooms were nice sized and well supplied.  Breakfast was made by Elizabeth or her husband David.  I know this is a blog on restaurants but in order to eat at other places you’ll need a place to stay and if we happen to find some place that’s wonderful, I want to share it with my readers. H ope if you go you’ll tell them Frankie sent you (and no I get no commission).  Here are some photos of the place and a couple of our breakfasts. Continue reading →

Stissing House Restaurant, Pine Plains, NY, 6/2/24

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front entrance – 7801 S Main St, Pine Plains, NY 12567

Stissing House dates back to 1782 when the building was a tavern that also had beds for travelers and America’s first domed  ballroom.  It fell into disrepair after WW1 when the railroad tracks that brought people to town had been torn up to make ammunition.  In the 1990s Christian Eisenbeiss saved it from demolition and along with Dale Mitchell it underwent a 2 year renovation.  They repaired the old-growth floors and restored the domed ballroom and in 1995 opened Stissing House as a French restaurant.  In 2022 Clare de Boer took over as chef/proprietor.  (She rose to notoriety through her work at King, her French/Italian restaurant in SoHo, NY.)  The 6,000 sq. foot building divides diners into multiple smaller rooms including the second floor.   They no longer have sleeping rooms but the dome is available for rental.  As you walk on the wide plank old wood floors on the way to the table you pass by a kitchen with wood fired ovens which are a part of their cooking process.  Candles light the tables as well as the numerous windows to the outside and a few electric fixtures on the walls.  The small tables are covered with white cloths but then topped with paper and little art is on the walls.  Music was in the background and for some time was just country music which then turned into old rock and roll.  It was a good meal but had a few issues. Continue reading →

Webb Custom Kitchen, Gastonia, NC, 12/12/23

~ hsnixon ~ 6 Comments
exterior –182 S South St, Gastonia, NC 28052

Webb Custom Kitchen was in the space previously occupied by the Webb Movie Theatre.  Opening in 2016 after a year of renovation, it’s a large space with the second story still intact and movies still playing above the open kitchen.  Decorations are old projectors and movie equipment as well as walls covered with names of those who joined the Porterhouse Club by finishing their 40 oz. charbroiled steak.  The center of the big downstairs room is a large bar that also has seating.  Benches are used for wall seating and tables are in the middle.  Parking is available in public lots nearby as it is in the heart of downtown.  Music was in the background and the lighting was fairly bright, but we were there at lunch.  The dinner menu offered more options to choose from but our lunch was good enough to make me want to go back to try more things.  Service was friendly and they were happy to share some of the history of the building with us, even offering to let us walk around upstairs afterwards.  Thumbs, or should I say paws, up on this one. Continue reading →

Cafe Tortoni, Buenos Aires, 5/25/19

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line to get in
line to get in

Cafe Tortoni dates back to 1858 and moved to its present location in 1880 but has long been a part of Buenos Aires history.  A French style place where artists and scholars visited in the early 1920s it now hosts regular tango shows as well as serving up coffee, alcohol and a good variety of fresh pastries and snacks.  But this did not seem to be a place to have a meal, more just a drink and snack and people watch or to absorb some of the atmosphere.   It is typical to find a line to get in but the line moved quickly and we were in soon.  I read about a large basement room but didn’t get to see it.  There was a room more like a library filled with books and mementos.  The whole place was filled with stuff – photos, trophies, books, stained glass lamps, art and small marble tables.  There is a Tiffany glass ceiling and a collection of Tiffany lamps on top of the service area.  If you need to take some of the place with you there is a large number of souvenirs for sale. Continue reading →