DICKIE BAXTER BISTRO

Canning sits at the top of the Annapolis Valley with more reasons to visit than a village this size has any right to. The Lookoff is ten minutes up the mountain, Cape Split and Blomidon are just past that, and the vineyards start before you've left town. People come for the tides and the trails and stay for dinner. That's where we come in. Dickie Baxter is a taproom and bistro in a 1852 building on Main Street, run by Chef Graeme Mansky, who grows and raises a good deal of what lands on your plate on his farm in Gaspereau. The wine comes from vineyards you passed on the way in.

Worth the drive

People find us from Wolfville and Kentville, from Halifax on a Saturday night, from wherever the wine tour dropped them that afternoon. A menu written by a farmer tastes like the place it came from, and ours changes with what is good that week. The plate you loved in September will have quietly become something else by November. That part is on purpose. The Baxter Chowder stays, though. Haddock, scallop, Atlantic cold-water shrimp, mussels, and salmon in a cream broth, with lobster to add if you are in that sort of mood. People have made the drive for it alone.

From down the road

"Local" gets said a lot and meant less often. Here it is specific. The King oyster mushrooms come from Feeney's. Eden Valley raises the chicken. The focaccia is Boulangerie le Vendéenne's, and the greens are grown literally less than a kilometer away. When Graeme is not in the kitchen he is on the farm, which is why the vegetables taste like they were pulled that morning. They often were.

The taproom side

The bar takes itself about as seriously as it should. Nova Scotia wines from the vineyards down the road, beer on tap, cocktails worth a second round, and Red Core Cider, made just down the road and poured because we think it belongs on the list. If you have come an hour to get here, sit a while. The drive home can wait.

Find us on Main Street

We are at 9809 Main Street, Canning, in the old heritage building you can't miss once you are in the village. Open Wednesday through Sunday, lunch through dinner, with the kitchen taking a short breath between three and four-thirty. Book ahead on weekends. The rest of the week, a reservation is never a bad idea either.

Come See Us, Reserve Your Table Now!