Happy Mother's Day

Rebecca: If you are traveling through Cape Breton this summer, or planning to head to Newfoundland via the Marine Atlantic ferry, you must try to squeeze in a stop at the Black Spoon Bistro, located at 320 Commercial Street in North Sydney. I took my mom here yesterday for a late afternoon lunch; our food was fresh, delicious, and fast. We loved the atmosphere of this small restaurant - the staff were so friendly!

I got the Chipotle Chicken Panini ($9.99), which features grilled chicken, bacon, melty cheese, onion and peppers. Served on ciabatta bread, this panini was grilled to crispy perfection. It was dressed with chipotle mayonnaise: flavorful, just a little spicy, and very tasty. The panini was big enough to be served on its own; however, all sandwiches on the Black Spoon menu are served with your choice of soup or garden salad. Whoa! 

Way, way better than your classic tomato soup and grilled cheese.

I opted for the soup of the day: tomato bisque. The soup was incredibly hearty, and there was no shortage of "Eat your soup, it's good for you" comments from my mother. There were full-size broccoli florets, large cubes of potato with the skins still on, carrots, and onions in there. Delicious! 

My mom got the Mango Fish Burger ($8.99) and chose garden salad as her side. She loved the burger, which was a fresh combination of breaded haddock, finely chopped mango, Swiss cheese and lime dressing served on herbed foccacia bread. She commented that she had never tried anything quite like it before! Her salad was a favorite - she loved the homemade croutons and maple vinaigrette. Her only critique? Too many onions!

That dressing was so, so good. We may or may not have eaten spoonfuls of it.

We were extremely full at this point, but figured that we better take a look at the dessert menu - just to be sure. Of course we were intrigued by the feature dessert - a lemon crepe with ricotta and basil filling, whipped cream, and strawberry coulis ($7.99). We decided to split one, which was perfect because the dessert included not one, but TWO crepes! 

We loved the presentation!

This was one of the most unique desserts we had ever eaten. The lemon crepes were tangy and sweet; the flavor of the basil was easily distinguishable within the creamy ricotta filling. Combined with the whipped cream and strawberry, the flavors all came together in the most unusual way. But we're not complaining - we're glad we tried it. Overall, a very enjoyable afternoon - I love my mom and our food was delicious. Happy Mother's Day!