"RoseGarden" - - - - - - - from - nscave

Living in Nova Scotia for a long time, one phrase I heard so many times over the years is: “You gotta have Haddie Bits and Fries at Pearles, there is nothing like it.”

I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it, and in fact drove by there a number of times not realizing it. Finally this weekend a member of our group suggested we stop at Pearles for Haddie Bits before we attend the moonlight concert mentioned yesterday.

So driving west on the old #1 highway just after Paradise, just before Bridgetown, we come to Pearles. I didn’t know what to expect and was surprised to find this medium sized take out building surrounded with vehicles and a long line up of people at the window.

it is a nice sunny day, and the place is surrounded with picnic tables – most all are occupied. The place is a buzz of activity.

As I stand in the line up I hear, “That will be ready in about half an hour.” I am wondering if I have the patience for this.

Then I notice the majority are getting the Haddie Bits and Fries. The choice is large or small. Often I notice two people ordering one large only, and see them wander off to share the single order. ’That’s nice’ I am thinking.

Our order gets taken – for a large each, and that familiar phrase sounds again, “That will be ready in about half an hour.” Oh boy, this better be good I am contemplating as our group heads out to commandeer a picnic table. Our number is 14, and I hear 37 your order is ready, 62 your order is ready, 114 your order is ready and I wonder if they will get back down to 14 again today.

Just slightly less than the half hour the P.A. shouts “Number 14, your order is ready.”

I have had fish & chips at a lot of places in my day, and I had visions of Haddie Bits being some kind of fish in little bits like hash, with a few fries thrown in.

I am sure it would not qualify as health food, and I don’t have any idea how many large pieces of the best white haddock fish I ever tasted were on the plate with golden fries. I suddenly found out why some people chose to share one large order. I had a hard time to eat it all, but it was too good to throw away.

After all these years I know why that phrase “You gotta have Haddie Bits and Fries at Pearles,” echoes all around western Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.

There’s only one thing more I can say. “You gotta have Haddie Bits and Fries at Pearles!”

Note: Most online maps show Pearles on highway 201 when in fact it is on the old #1 highway.

-=One Day At A Time=-

This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License