Au Liban brings haute Lebanese cuisine to Lower Water Street

FOOD

Au Liban brings haute Lebanese cuisine to Lower Water Street

The first taste of grape leaves lands light and lemony on the tongue and immediately begs for more. Topped with pomegranate seeds and stuffed with rice, parsley and tomatoes, it’s both singing with flavour and seductively simple—the kind of cool dish perfect for a hot summer afternoon in Halifax. It’s the first thing chef Georges Elias offers a visitor to his Lower Water Street restaurant on a Thursday morning, before the lunch crowd filters in.

“I just love how people react,” he says, speaking with The Coast.

Two weeks into his restaurant’s opening, the 35-year-old Lebanese-born chef behind Au Liban (1460 Lower Water Street, in the former Hermitage building) can’t stop grinning. Reviews have been good. The kitchen is humming, the sun is shining and his front-of-house staff are already fielding reservations for the restaurant’s first day of lunch service.

Read more on the new Lebanese hot spot at The Coast. 

Need to know

🖼️ Visit Quinpool Road to see the great works of art that were recently completed at the Second Annual Halifax Mural Festival. View the Quinpool Road Mural Map.*

⛴ Ferry service between Nova Scotia and PEI has resumed after a slew of mechanical problems left the MV Confederation out of service for weeks.

🎨 Support4Culture is a proud supporter of arts, culture, and heritage in Nova Scotia; from the Highland Village Museum to Neptune Theatre. See the impact Support4Culture makes.*

*Sponsored Listing

SPONSORED BY THE FOG COMPANY

The Fog Company keeps it cool

Scooping six days a week in the heart of Queen’s Marque, The Fog Company satisfies all kinds of summer cravings. Offering an impressive array of soft serve creations, churned ice cream, and other confections, enjoy relaxing waterfront views and mystifying sweet treats from the folks at Freehand Hospitality.

Regionally inspired fog cones feature swirls of soft serve with imaginative toppings, and spun-to-order Fog favourites include: Seas the Day with brown butter crumble, cotton candy sprinkles, candy sea glass, and fog; and Gimme S’more, served upside down with fudge sauce, graham crackers, toasted meringue, and fog.

Executive Pastry Chef Cori Osborne developed Fog’s playful menu. Chef Cori has 10+ years of experience in some of Canada’s top restaurants, and oversees pastry and dessert programs at Drift and Café Lunette.

For menus and hours, visit the website or follow @thefogcompany on Instagram.

On the Coast

SPONSORED BY TERRA BRUCE PRODUCTIONS

Let's Dance!

Let's Dance! The Musical is coming to Neptune Theatre, July 27-30! This sweet, summer musical is filled with the greatest pop hits of the 1960's, including ”It Never Rains in Southern California”, “I Know a Place”, “The Peppermint Twist”, and “The Carnival is Over”. With unforgettable tunes and lots of high-energy dance numbers, Let’s Dance! The Musical is a show you’ll never forget. Get your tickets today!

In other news

📸 Check out the work of a photographer who’s capturing the return of life to areas affected by the wildfires.

🏠 The province has announced new housing for Indigenous women and children in the HRM. Read the full release.

🪖 CBC spoke to retired colonel Michel Drapeau on why recruitment numbers for the Canadian military are so low.

🥅 Redeveloping The Halifax Forum could run the city a bill of up to $110 million.

✈️ It’s never too late to try something new—just take a look at Nova Scotia’s Margaret Sullivan who celebrated her 80th birthday by jumping out of a plane.

🧑‍⚖️ A Halifax woman who has accused police of mishandling her sexual assault case testified in court yesterday. CTV has the story.

CITY HALL

Council preview: Scooters and bikes

It’s a big ole city council day today. There’s a lot on the agenda today, but city council is looking at how we move around the city.

Councillors are likely going to be passing a motion today that will see a bike-share program in the HRM as early as 2024. While it’s easy to see the city’s tap-pay-on bus saga and assume nothing good will ever happen in this city, it is worth remembering that while glacial in the pace of change, the city often ends up at the right place.

Most of the annoyance around e-scooters is due to a lack of regulation, and planned implementation. So today council will likely hammer out the details of what it wants to see in a bike and e-scooter sharing program (probably a hybrid model with bike/scooter docking stations on roads and designated parking areas) and try and get one in place for summer 2024.

And while micro-mobility solutions like e-scooters and bike shares are good, the city also needs good macro mobility—aka public transit. The HRM’s suburbs aren’t dense enough to support transit, so today council is also considering mandating density on planned suburban transit corridors. And if that passes and the density comes, Halifax will be well and truly on its way to becoming fiscally sustainable.

Sure things

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Sunset Frisson: Catch some live music at The Decks this weekend. Sunset Frisson will be happening featuring artists like Blackskratch, Elicia Martin, Just Enzo and Hii-Flii | July 15 | 4-8pm | $10

🗓 East Coast Kite Festival: 40 massive kites will be flying high over Citadel this weekend for the annual East Coast Kite Festival. Head down there for some family-friendly fun including kite workshops, food vendors, bouncing castles and more. | July 15-16 | 10am-7pm | Free admission.

🗓 Y2K Night: Dance the night away in 2000s style with DJ Loukas Stilldrunk at The Seahorse Tavern | July 15 | 10pm-2am | $9.

Find more Halifax events in The Coast listings

Shop talk

🍗 Korean Restaurant Seoa’s Chicken at 813 Bedford Hwy is launching a patio. Stay tuned to its Instagram for an open date.

🍺 Hardisty Brewing Company is expanding and relocating to a larger location in Cole Harbour.

Eat this

🍽 Dear Friend, has launched a whole new food menu including this delicious tortellini made with charcoal grilled maitake mushrooms, mushroom dashi and coffee oil.

Shop this

🍦 Peachy Keen Pops will be having a pop-up at Sidekick Cafe tomorrow (July 12) from 4-8pm. Stop in for a vegan and gluten-free popsicle or ice cream sandwich!