Tag Archives: nova deli

Things to do in Belleville: Shop at Taste of Country

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In a way, I feel like I should have retooled this posting series as “things to eat” in Belleville as opposed to “things to do,” with the high volume of food-centric posts. But like I’ve mentioned before, it’s going to be a while before I get to the boring historical things (Frink Centre, Glanmore house), and finish with my series of food-based landmarks. Will I ever get to after-my-time Organic Underground? Not likely.

At least the food things to do I’ve selected really centre around a type of experience, especially with places like Reid’s Dairy and the Nova Deli. “Taste of Country” is no exception.

While at first glance, “Taste of Country” appears to be like those really boring looking “country” type stores that sell cutesy country art, with wood cutouts of cows with folksy sayings written on them. There is a very large element of that to this store, but don’t let it drive you away: Taste of Country is like the IKEA of those kinds of stores. It’s a huge barn filled with all that crap. If you look carefully enough, you’ll see some really crazy stuff (think presents for mom!) and even a raft of John Deere merchandise.

But beyond the country crafts, there’s also a massive frozen food section, filled with lots of frozen dinner items, mostly deep fried. Lots of frozen fried chicken, french fries, fried pizza rolls, fried pizza roll fries, and giant slabs of frozen soup.

Then there’s the pastries/breads that are all made on site… if you go at right time, you’ll have one of the best apple fritters you’ll have in your life, even if it just appears to be a ball of dough (but trust me, back in the day, they were donut shaped). You can even pick up some treats like chocolate covered gummy bears on the way out!

To sum up Taste of Country, is that it’s essentially a boutique grocery store — with no fruit or vegetables. That, and one of the most dangerous intersections in Hastings county.

For directions, check out the official “Taste of Country” website here.

Previously:

Trekking to Milton for a real donair

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There is truly is nothing better than a good road trip! Sure, I don’t have a car, nor do I particularly like to drive, but hey, I make a half-decent passenger if I do say so myself!

So on a crispy January afternoon, this guy and myself, along with this guy and another guy who doesn’t have a blog, piled into the car drove off to scenic Milton, Ontario (I heard it has a Go Train station) to find out if “Halifax Donair and Pizza” are indeed slinging authentic east-coast donairs.

Handmade with secret ingredients

Despite never actually having been to the east coast, I can’t say I’ve actually had an authentic donair before, except for the ones supplied to me by the authentic east-coasters at the Nova Deli. And from every other donair I’ve had, nothing stacks up like the Nova Deli’s. And ever since I’ve moved to Toronto, it’s among one of the things I miss most about my own home town.

So a few weeks ago, I saw the “Halifax Donair and Pizza” during a segment on “Breakfast Television,” (here’s the clip) and from what I saw, it looked like they had potential for an outfit that just might create a “real” donair. Actual east coasters! The sweet sauce! Big sweaty cones of meat! We had to go!

After the 35-40 minute drive to the outskirts of the 905, we found “Halifax Donair and Pizza” in a non-descript plaza off what appeared to be the only street in town (the “parking lot” held about 6 parallel-parked cars). We could smell the donair aroma from the car, so we all knew that we found the real thing. The joint was take-out style, with a trio of stools and a little rail for leading and donair scarfing.

Wonderful

The place offered many of the same items I’ve seen before at the Nova Deli, like the “donair plate” and “donair fries,” but this place’s calling card is the “Donair Pizza,” which is built Montreal (Chicago) style. We stuck with the straight-up donairs (nobody went for the one-pounder), but next time I’m thinking about grabbing a “Newf” sized pizza to bring back to Woodbine Heights for a week’s worth of greasy dinners.

Unlike the Nova Deli, which has it’s meat shipped in from the east coast, “Halifax Donair and Pizza” make their own meat, which you can tell by it’s freshness. The sweet garlic sauce was also top notch, and because we were eating there, the sandwiches were wrapped in a flashy “open” style. After the first bite, I instantly loved their donair: it was fresh, flavourful and juicy. In retrospect I should’ve requested more sauce and less onions, but beyond that, the donair was perfect.

While we were finishing up, we had a great chat with one of the owners, who told us a little about the history of the donair, how it was created by Greeks in Halifax who didn’t have their regular ingredients for Gyros (ie lamb and yogurt), and how his own family was involved in it’s development in the 60s. He also talked about how they’ve only been open for over a year, the difficulty it is for an independent food vendor to get a rental space (landlords want chains!), and how the shop is a culmination of 10 years of hard work. These guys are serious about their donairs (as is anyone who has experienced a really, really good one).

So even though I’ll always love the Nova Deli, I have to admit that they now finally have a provincial contender for best donair in Ontario. If you’re curious, make the drive… you won’t be sorry. And you’ll be back.

Oh, and that lingering “donair” smell in your clothes and on your breath? You’ll learn to love it.

Things to do in Belleville: Go to the Nova Deli

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Hard to believe this is only the third post in my unending series on “Things to do in Belleville, Ontario,” (And yes, there are far more “cultural” things you could do in Belleville, like go to boring places like the Glanmore House or the Frink Centre, but I’ll only turn to those once I exhaust a complete guide to things the locals actually do), so I’m already likely to peak with the greatest place to go and the greatest place to eat in the entire city, but here it is.

The Nova Deli.

The only place to get a “real” donair in Ontario.

Not that I’ve ever had a “real” donair from Canada’s east coast, but I hope to ratify that someday.

Anyways, a donair is pretty simple stuff: Take a pita, add some meat made out of 100% ground beef held together by soda cracker and spices (shipped from the east coast), add some cheese and some veggies, ladle on some of the sweet and sticky white sauce (secret recipe) and that’s it. Sounds a lot like a gyro, but totally different… there are lots of imitations of the east-coast donair, but none of them put together a fresh, juicy donair like the guys at the Nova Deli, who are all red blooded Nova Scotians.

I didn’t include more photos of the inside of the Deli, or the donairs themselves, because that is a pleasure I wish to let you find for yourself.

When you go there, depending on who is working, you’re likely to get a warm reception, and if you’re an old school regular (like myself), they’ll always remember your name, no matter how many months its been since you’ve been to the shop. It’s easy to find too: It’s more or less across the street from McDonald’s on North Front Street.

Donair toppings are sparse: I wouldn’t suggest ordering anything else but the TLC (tomato, lettuce and cheese). Other donair varieties include the “neat” version, which comes in a bowl, or a donair spread out on a bed of fries. Depending on their stock, you can also get donair sausages (frozen, and perfect for breakfast).

Sizes come in small, medium, large and beastie. Newbies should probably stick to the small, and I’m partial to a medium. As for the beastie, for size comparisons, it’s about the size of a pointy hand-ball. Once upon a time there used to be a hall of fame for those who could eat the entire thing in under 20 minutes. Don’t plan on eating anything else that day if you are attempting this… you’ll also need 2-3 cans of pop to help get all that beef down your gullet.

The hours are a little wonky, so be sure to call ahead to make sure they are open: the number is (613) 968-3357, and if you call ahead of time, you’ll have your donair there waiting for you as you brave North Front Street traffic (they make the donair fresh for every order).

Finally, this is how you eat it: Take your foil-covered donair, and hold it fold or pointy side “up” (if you are carrying donairs in the car, be sure to hold them all upright like so, so the sauce doesn’t go all over the place). Lift the fold or de-spiral the point. Next, tear the foil horizontally, from about 1/4 of the way down from the top of the donair, all the way around in one complete pull. Then, take that foil and fold it up against the bottom of the donair, like a reinforcement. DON’T take the donair out of the foil completely, you’ll just end up with a huge mess. As you eat your delicious donair, pull back a little foil at a time as needed, kind of like a banana. Near the end, you’ll have some pieces of meat that are totally soaked with grease and donair sauce… don’t be afraid, get your fingers in there are pull those bad boys out, as well as any leftover diced tomatoes or lettuce, and scarf them all down. Once your foil cup is free of all meat/veggies/bread, you should have a nice pool of sauce going on, which means there is one thing left to do: fold a little spout in the edge of the cup, and pour the rest of that sauce into your mouth — in one big slurp.

Don’t forget to use the hand wipes.

Things to do in Belleville: Go to Starbucks and Chapters

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IMG_1175So say you’re making more than just a quick stop off the 401 highway for a Reid’s Dairy milkshake, and you’re spending some time in town. If you’re hankering for some coffee, you’re best bet in Belleville is your good old fashioned Starbucks. You might be satisfied by Tim Horton’s, and in Belleville, all you have to do is travel to the end of whatever block you are driving on, and you will find one (no, you don’t walk anywhere in Belleville, unless its from your car and into your house/mall/nova deli. We’ll get to the Nova Deli in a future installment). And if you regularly order a disgusting abomination like the “triple-triple,” you first of all should just order a milk and add a couple sugar packets yourself, and secondly, you might as well avoid Starbucks, because in Belleville the coffee there is somehow more bitter and acrid than your delicate taste-buds can handle.

Never been to this Starbucks before? Well here’s all you need to know: Never, under any circumstances, should you order anything besides coffee or tea. You’ll look like a pompous so-and-so from Rednersville Road, slumming it in the only part of town you consider classy (here’s a hint: it’s not)… or you’ll look like the too-cool-for-school yuppie taking refuge in a somewhat urban and hip locale (again, not).

At Starbucks, in general, you are going to get ripped off. The coffee is too expensive, and the tea is too expensive (that’s okay, because you are still getting a very highly caffeinated beverage that doesn’t totally taste like sewer water). But don’t ever order any espresso based drinks, because those beans in the back room taste like they are older than dirt, and the under-trained, overworked “baristas” behind the counter have no idea what they are doing…. don’t waste your money on that too short shot of espresso in half warm milk/half bubble bath foamed milk.

And were you planning on getting something “mocha” or “frapped” in it? Spend the 6 bucks at Dairy Queen and just get yourself a milkshake… because you are not getting coffee when you order that business, you are getting desert.

So with that said, grab yourself a nice hot cup of coffee, add your fixings, and head over into Chapters. Belleville’s Chapters is pretty average in the chain of stores, but for Belleville, has a pretty extensive magazine collection. There’s you usual fashion mags, craft mags, “men’s” mags, and honestly, and entire row dedicated to automobile magazines. Grab whatever you like, and sit down on a window ledge that serves nicely as a bench to have a little browse. If none are available in the front of the store, head over the West side window, where there’s another great little window ledge to sit.

Did I mention the entire row dedicated to automobile magazines?

Now, you may be tempted to bring a few magazines into the Starbucks for a little perusing. Shortly after the Belleville Starbucks opened in 1999, this was all the rage. Of course, people started spilling their 4 dollar “lattes” all over the merchandise, and that practice was soon outlawed. But hey, it’s Starbucks, and you should try your luck anyways.

Mind you, you’ll have to see if there’s any tables actually available. There’s usually a handful of Loyalist College students working away on their laptops, doing important work like updating their Myspace profiles, as well as little groups of women who seem to take up the rest. Be warned that if you bring your own book and try to read in one of the comfy chairs, some nice-seeming person will sit in the one next to you, and will soon begin to unfurl their impeccable weirdoness upon you. At least their bathrooms are spacious!

Have I made Starbucks and Chapters in Belleville sound terrible? It really isn’t that bad. In all honestly, it’s the nicest place you can spend an hour or two in town, especially when you combine it with a lap or two of the Quinte Mall next door. Or if you want to go out at night and avoid the bars like “Matt and Joes” or “Little Texas,” this is really your only after 7pm option.

One last Starbucks and Chapters in Belleville tip: If you are just stopping in to grab a coffee all quick like, the locals seem to be okay with just half pulling up into the curb out front, or parking on the painted hash-marks beside the handicapped access slots (not in the slots, just beside them, more or less in traffic). I don’t necessarily condone this, but you should at least know.

Enjoy your stay in Belleville, and stay tuned for more helpful advice!