Winter Menu and Beer List

Maritime Craft Beers

12 oz  $5 ,  20oz  $7.50

Granite Peculiar (Halifax)

Our best-seller! This award winning Peculiar is a dark Yorkshire Style Ale, a full bodied brew with a sweet but slightly dry palate.

Granite Keefe’s Irish Stout (Halifax)

This is a true Irish Stout; black and bitter with a buried hint of sweetness. It pours with a thick creamy head that is said to support currency.

Propeller Pilsener (Halifax)

This Pilsener is a refreshing brew in classic Bohemian lager style. It displays a distinctive Continental hop aroma, a light malt sweetness and a refreshing bitter finish.

Propeller London Style Porter (Halifax)

A dark, full-flavoured beer from the 1750s. Smoother and less bitter than stout, this multiple award winner is a blend of pale, roasted and chocolate malts, British and North American hops.

Garrison Tallships Amber Ale  (Halifax)

This refreshing premium ale is golden-amber with light maltiness, crisp hop aroma, and smooth, clean finish.

Garrison Hopyard (Halifax)

A deep golden, medium bodied & nicely bitter West Coast pale ale. Generous hopping in the boil & further dry-hopping produce a fruity/floral aroma & refreshingly bitter finish.

Pumphouse IPA (Moncton, NB)

A powerful west coast style IPA, it’s hoppy, fruity and citrusy with a fantastic caramel malt backbone and medium body. Fantastic with spicy foods or tangy salads. (7%)

Pumphouse Special Old Bitter (Moncton, NB)

A honey-coloured unfiltered West Coast style session beer. The fresh aromatic hop bouquet and malty undertones are in excellent balance, and finish with a pleasant lingering bitterness.

We hope to have our own beer on tap very soon!

The TownHouse Kitchen

At The Townhouse we believe good food is simple – it should be fresh, made from scratch, and as local as possible. We make our own paté, pickles, chutneys and salsas, bake our own desserts and breads, and feature local produce whenever it’s in season. Anything we don’t make ourselves, we source from excellent local suppliers. We serve local organic cheese from Knoydart Farms, The Pork Shop’s gluten-free sausages, Antigonish & Guysborough Co. beef, and Atlantic haddock, cod, mussels, scallops and shrimp.

Portugese Salt Cod Fritters

Snacking

Spanish Tortilla

A tapas classic! a hearty wedge of warm potato & onion omelette (GF)   4

Portugese Salt Cod Fritters

Salt cod and potato cakes served with zippy lemon-cucumber relish (GF)    10

Ploughman’s Lunch

Rustic pork paté, apple chutney, pickled red onion & radish, Knoydart cheese, dilly beans (GF), soda bread   12

Townhouse Tapas

Spanish tortilla, artichoke & olive tapenade, Double Gloucester cheese, greens (GF), baguette     12

Mexican Pizza

Chorizo sausage, black-bean spread & old cheddar on whole wheat tortilla with fresh salsa, cilantro & greens   12

East Coast Mussels

Steamed in ale with garlic, bacon & parsley, served with home-made bread    13

Ploughman's Lunch

Sandwiches

On organic foccacia bread with Covered Bridge chips.

Gluten free? Try any of our sandwiches as a baked potato!

For cup of soup or side salad add  4, cup of chowder 6

Italian Tuna & White Bean

marinated with lemon, garlic & parsley, artichoke & olive tapenade & greens         9

Rosemary Ham & Gruyere

Rosemary baked ham, grape chutney, Gruyere cheese, Dijon aioli & greens   9

Moroccan Carrot & Goat’s Cheese

sweet & spicy marinated carrots, creamy goat’s cheese, tapenade & greens   8

Soup & Chowder

Soup of the day     cup  6,  bowl  8

Always made from scratch, usually vegetarian, gluten & dairy free (ask your server for details)

Red Chowder        cup  8,  bowl  10

Our iconoclastic tomato & tarragon chowder, with smoked cod, fresh haddock, scallops, & shrimp and topped with whipped cream & arugula oil  

Gourmet Baked Potatoes

Choose any 3 toppings!   9, extra toppings, add  1

Black olive tapenade, chutney, black-bean spread, salsa, onion gravy, sour cream, sharp cheddar, blue cheese, goat cheese, feta, smoked bacon, chorizo sausage, smoked bratwurst, Italian tuna 

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Hearty, Main Dish Salads

Roasted Pumpkin

Caramelized onions, feta cheese, marinated lentils, smoked bacon, arugula, balsamic vinaigrette (GF)  15

Townhouse Waldorf

Seared chicken breast, apples, walnuts, blue cheese, endive & mixed greens, pomegranate & dijon vinaigrette (GF) 15

Albacore Tuna Tataki

Seared tuna, vermicelli rice noodles, citrus and sesame slaw with red cabbage, bell peppers, cilantro (GF)   17  

Townhouse Specials

Served with side house salad or pickled veggies.

Green Chile Mac & Cheese

Rich, creamy & cheesy penne pasta with crunchy crust and a nice little bite! Also available without the chilies 13

Bangers & Mash

Classic pub fare! Smoked bratwurst sausages, mashed potatoes & sauerkraut (GF) or onion gravy 14

Fisherman’s Pie

A Kinsale classic! hearty casserole of smoked cod, fresh haddock & scallops in tarragon cream sauce, toasted herbed crust & spring onion mashed potatoes 17

Steak & Ale Pie

Locally raised beef, veggies & mushrooms in a rich and savoury gravy with Keefe’s Irish Stout, puff pastry crust 15

                                   

Daily Curry Special – ask your server for details!

Desserts    

Polish Cheesecake

A Syperek family tradition, warm vanilla cheesecake in light pastry crust            6

Double Ginger & Stout Cake

With candied ginger & whiskey whipped cream         6

Chocolate Almond Torte

Intensely rich and chocolatey, with whipped cream (GF)         6

Dessert Sampler – try a taste of each above!    6

Lemon Tart

Seriously lemony, with blueberry & star anise compote    6

Christmas hours/Irish Sessions!

Hi, folks! We just wanted to let you all know about the best night of the week at The Townhouse. It's Sunday or "session night." My very talented sister, Susie, hosts an Irish traditional music session every week from 6:30 to close. She has been playing for 12 years or so, and spent several of those years playing several nights a week at sessions in and around Cork, Ireland. If you haven't experienced a proper session before, it's high time you did. They are wonderful. Relaxed, informal, unrehearsed, fun, and especially these days, very festive. The music is lively and lilting, mostly instrumental, but punctuated by the occasional song. Flutes, fiddles, whistles, banjos, guitars, accordions, bhodran, and small pipes are unpacked from their cases and played by a rotating cast of devotees who come out and join in for the sheer pleasure of it. Some are self taught and still learning, some are seasoned professionals. Their numbers range from 3-4 players some nights to outnumbering the audience on other nights. The music is always fantastic and infectious. We have players traveling from Cape Breton and Pictou Co., and several you'll recognize from right here in Antigonish. If you're into the tunes you can sit close by and catch all the nuances, if you're getting together with friends and family, nothing makes for a more pleasant atmosphere. 

The music starts around 6:30ish (these things are, after all, very casual) and continues until closing. We do last call at 9:30ish (again, it depends how much fun we're all having!).  The kitchen is open from 5pm until 9pm, and we suggest coming infor dinner a bit early to score yourself a table as the session is catching on, and the place fills up rather quickly most nights.

Anyway, we have 2 more sessions in December - the 23rd and the 30th, and we'll be resuming them after a brief break on Jan 13th. Check out our decorating efforts - nothing gets us in the X-mas At-mos like edible decorations, real fir and pine, and twinkling lights... Thanks To Susie and my mum for all their help!

Home-grown garlic bulbs and gingersnaps hanging from the boughs.

And just so you know, here are our Holiday hours:

Last day before Christmas: Sunday, Dec. 23 (SESSION!)

CLOSED Dec. 24-27

OPEN Dec. 28-30 (regular hours) (Dec. 30 = SESSION!)
We didn't want to miss out on all the Christmas cheer! Come in for tasty craft beers, or a seasonal sipper like a Hot Scotch Toddy, a proper Irish Coffee, Rum'n'nog, or a new fave of ours the Hot Port!

CLOSED Dec. 31-Jan. 7

REOPENING Jan. 8

Merry Christmas to all! We hope to see some long missed and much loved faces through the Townhouse between Christmas and New Year's - make sure yours is among them!

Cheers,

Rose, Terry, and the whole Townhouse crew!

Pete, Jordan, Noella, and Terry wishing you all a very merry, and peppery, Christmas!

NEW HOURS!

NOW OPEN TUESDAYS! 

KITCHEN HOURS 
TUES-THUR: 5PM-9PM
FRI-SAT: 5PM-10PM
SUN: 5PM-9PM
EVERYDAY OPENING: 4PM
LAST CALL IS AT 11:30 EACH DAY, 
EXCEPT SUNDAYS WHEN IT'S 9:30.

The cold snap is upon us here in Antigonish. We want to know, what's your favourite cold weather libation?

What's on tap at The Townhouse?

The current line-up:

Propeller Pumpkin Ale (Halifax)

A fall classic, created in fall of 2004 at the request of the Town of Windsor's  Pumpkin Festival. Brewed using Howard Dill's® world famous Atlantic Giant Pumpkins® and a special blend of spices - It’s the next best thing to pumpkin pie. Get it while it lasts!

Propeller IPA (Halifax)

Not for the faint of heart. True India Pale Ales had to withstand long sea voyages before quenching the thirst of cranky British troops stationed in India. Our IPA is true to this style, it’s bracing, bitter and higher in alcohol (6.5%alc./vol) and made with the trademark Propeller quality. It’s full-bodied ale for full throttle beer lovers! Gold World Beer Championships (Chicago) 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Granite Peculiar (Halifax)

Peculiar is a dark Yorkshire Style Ale, a full bodied brew with a sweet but slightly dry palate. Winner: The People's Choice Award at the Toronto Beer Festival, and an "exceptional" rating from the Chicago Beverage Tasting Institute.  Peculiar is also featured in Michael Jackson's Great Beer Guide.

Granite Keefe’s Irish Stout (Halifax)

This is a true Irish Stout. A black and bitter stout with a buried hint of sweetness.  It pours with a thick creamy head that is said to support currency. 

Garrison Red Ale  (Halifax)

This classic beer style was inspired by centuries of Celtic brewing history. Specialty kilned malts such as dark caramel and munich dominate the Irish Red resulting in a ruby red colour and smooth malty taste.

Garrison Hopyard (Halifax)

Deep golden, medium bodied & nicely bitter, Hopyard Pale is exceptional in the West Coast style. Generous hopping in the boil & further dry-hopping produce a fruity/floral aroma & refreshingly bitter finish. A true thirst-quencher!

Pumphouse Premium Lager (Moncton, NB)

A tribute to the Reinheitsgebot (beer purity law) of 1516, brewed using just barley, hops, yeast and water. Cold aged and matured for more than six weeks, there are no adjuncts, or artificial carbonation - resulting in a 100% natural lager.

Pumphouse Special Old Bitter (Moncton, NB)

A deep honey-coloured unfiltered west coast style session beer with the classic fresh aromatic hop bouquet mingling with malty undertones for excellent balance finishing with a pleasant lingering bitterness. A great thirst quencher or the perfect buffer with spicy foods!

Fall Update: Townhouse open and back to regular hours

Hi again everyone,

Last night was our first night back from our brief hiatus. It's so good to get the doors open and see some of our regulars again, so we thought we'd give you all a brief update. We got an awful lot done upstairs on the brewery reno over the last week and a half–new sound-proof walls, painting, floors prepped for new industrial tiles, and a start on demo-ing the existing kitchen and bath–but there is still a ways to go with the renos before the brewing operation is a go. There is a fair bit of additional fire-proofing to be done, and as we've learned over the past few years, no matter how carefully you plan and prepare, there will always be unforeseen obstacles and roadblocks that pop-up along the way. So we're aiming to have our own stuff on tap for the New Year. I know it's a long wait, but we just ordered some of Propellor's great Pumpkin Ale which should come on line in a week or two and help everyone finally embrace the glorious autumn season. 

In culinary news, our friend Wes dropped by last night with half of a massive pig which he raised for us in Beaver Meadow and butchered at Ferguson's in Pictou County. We're planning to use it in a  home-made paté (or French Canadian style cretons?) for the Ploughman's Lunch, so look for that addition to the menu in the coming months. The pork belly was delivered directly to The Pork Shop where they will brine and smoke it and magically turn it into delicious bacon - so don't let those warnings of global bacon shortages cause too much panic. Wes and The Townhouse have you covered. And we're still planning to add Tuesdays to our opening hours, probably sometime mid-October - but, of course, we'll let you know!  

Pressing apples for cider at my folks' place a few years ago.

In the meantime, hope you are all enjoying the fall, our favourite time of year, and that we'll see you soon for a cozy pint or two or a nice crisp NS cider...

Rose & Terry

Morgan Davis Live at The Townhouse, 09/08/2012

The Townhouse is pleased to announce our second musical event, Juno and Maple Blues award winning bluesman Morgan Davis, Saturday, September 8th. 

We'll be closing the kitchen early (last orders at 9:15) and the show will get underway at 10pm.

 Here's some background on Davis from his website:

For nearly four decades Morgan Davis has been on the road travelling across Canada, the United States and Europe. His performances draw from a rich tradition of country blues, as well as his own contemporary songs infused with wit and a large dose of humour.

Originally from Detroit, Davis grew up listening to a prolific mix of rhythm and blues. The music of Jimmy Reed, Ike and Tina Turner,Chuck Berry and Fats Domino was in the air. He later moved to California with his family, and then in 1968 left for Canada.

While living in Rochdale College, Toronto's mecca for the subculture of the late 1960's, he immersed himself in the study of Delta Blues, especially the music of Robert Johnson. Toronto's music scene in the early 1970's was the perfect place for Davis to cut his teeth as a journeyman, having the opportunity to see and play with many legendary performers. Bukka White, Johnny Shines, Sunnyland Slim,Snooky Pryor, Hubert Sumlin, and John Hammond were encouraging supporters.

Davis hit the road with the Rhythm Rockets, The Knights of The Mystic Sea, and David Wilcox's first band, eventually forming his own trio.

Over the years he has had the priviledge of opening for Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, John Hammond, Albert Collins, and Eric Bibb. A highlight of his career was backing the phenomenal Dr.John. Morgan has shared the stage with Colin Linden, who also produced his second album, shared the stage with James Cotton, Huber Sumlin, Sunnyland Slim, Snooky Prior, James Harmon, Gene Taylor, Dutch Mason, Gene Taylor, Sue Foley, Ray Bonneville, Carlos DelJunco and many other great blues artist over the years.

Davis' songwriting talent received international recognition whenColin James covered his searing ballad "Why'd You Lie".
Morgan's recording "Blues Medicine", on Electro-Fi records, garnered critical acclaim as well as awards for songwriting and production. His multi- award winning release "Painkiller" won an impressive four awards at the 2004 Maple Blues Awards and not long after took home Canada's top music prize...the Juno for Blues Album of the Year.

Davis has established a rich career as a solo artist, and also performs with stellar lineups of musicians as a trio or full band.

Morgan's passion for the Blues has never wavered... and he fully expects to be on the road for the rest of his life.

Festive Summer Poetry Reading August 4, at 4pm

The Townhouse is very pleased to welcome local writer Janette Fecteau and nominees for the 2012 Atlantic Poetry Prize: Sue Goyette, Warren Heiti, and Anne Simpson. The poets will read from their latest works this Saturday afternoon, and we expect a lively discussion to follow! See article in The Casket here.

Local writers Anne Simpson and Janette Fecteau. Photo credit: The Casket

JANETTE FECTEAU lives in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, and teaches Fine Art at St Francis Xavier University. Her poems have appeared in various journals, including most recently Room (forthcoming), The Dalhousie Review, Carousel, Our Times, Event, and The Antigonish Review. She is a graduate of UBC’s Optional-Residency MFA program in Creative Writing, and winner of third prize for poetry in the 2009 Atlantic Writing Competition.

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2012 Atlantic Poetry Prize Nominees

outskirts, Sue Goyette

Brick Books

Hydrologos, Warren Heiti

Pedlar Press

Is, Anne Simpson

McClelland & Stewart

SUE GOYETTE lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia and has published three books of poems, The True Names of Birds, Undone and outskirts (Brick Books) and a novel, Lures (HarperCollins, 2002). Her fourth collection of poems, Ocean, is forthcoming from Gaspereau Press in 2013. She's been nominated for several awards including the Governor General's Award for Poetry, the Pat Lowther Award, the Gerald Lampert Award, the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and won the 2008 CBC Literary Prize for Poetry, the 2010 Earle Birney Prize and the 2011 Bliss Carman Award. Her poetry has appeared on the Toronto subway system, in wedding vows and spray-painted on a sidewalk somewhere in St. John, New Brunswick. Sue currently teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Dalhousie University, is faculty for the Banff Wired Writing Studio and works part-time at the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.

Sue Goyette’s outskirts is a tour de force. Its originality lies in Goyette’s refusal of despair, her conviction that the connections among people, their conversation, curiosity, empathy and awe, can help us see a way forward. Her aim is to find energy in human love, a way to walk the darkness rather than hide from it. This book will name you, and frighten you; make you laugh, and arm you for what is to come.

 “One of the best poets writing today in Canada, Susan Goyette proves herself at the height of her powers in outskirts. In these magnificent multi-part poems, she fuses genealogical time with geological time and revels in paradoxes. Ranging from the dynamics of families, to bad guests at dinner parties, to lovers and loved ones, and on to deeply moving and terrifying images of erosion and clear cutting, Goyette harnesses the expected to the absurd. As she creates synapses from the personal to the global, Canada itself becomes a character with a voice. With its zesty wordplay and its wrenching of the “eco” from the “logical,” outskirts is both a book and a reckoning. Goyette is candid, clairvoyant, and rescuing in her vision.”  – Molly Peacock

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WARREN HEITI currently teaches in the Philosophy Department at Dalhousie University in Halifax. His graduate studies were undertaken at the University of Victoria, BC, where he was supported and influenced by Jan Zwicky, Tim Lilburn, Patrick Lane, Lorna Crozier and Derk Wynand, among others.

Hydrologos is one long poem composed in five suites and a coda, and spoken through masks. It is a poem about a specific passion, the one that always follows love: sorrow. What happens to a human being under the geologic pressure of this passion? — One calls out, and the world’s response is silence. The work of sorrowing, one learns, is the work — the endless work — of listening, by which the listener is changed. At the poem’s centre is the original lyric elegy, the myth of Orpheus, but reimagined from the perspective of Eurydike, who makes her own descent into the underworld, to rescue Death. The poem spirals out from this centre, ranging widely across literary eras and genres, engaging with ancient Greek mythtellers and philosophers; with Polish painters and Russian filmmakers; with German Romantic and contemporary Canadian poets.

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ANNE SIMPSON is the author of three previous books of poetry: Light Falls Through You, winner of the Gerald Lampert Award and the Atlantic Poetry Prize; Loop, winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize; and Quick, winner of the Pat Lowther Award. She is the author of two novels, Canterbury Beach and Falling, longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award and winner of the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction. She has also written essays on poetry and art – The Marram Grass: Poetry and Otherness. Simpson has worked as a Writer-in-Residence at universities and libraries across the country, and she has been a faculty member at the Banff Centre. She lives and works in Antigonish.

A cell is a world within a world within a world. In this remarkable new collection, Anne Simpson finds form and inspiration in the cell – as it divides and multiplies, expanding beyond its borders. As these poems journey from the creation of the world emerging out of chaos to the slow unravelling of a life that is revealed in a poem that twists like a double helix, Simpson illuminates what it means to be alive, here and now. Rich with the muscular craft, vibrant imagery, and exquisite musicality for which her poetry is widely acclaimed, this collection sees Simpson continuing to “negotiate an ever-changing path between language and structure” (Vancouver Sun) – with astonishing results. It is a work of great vision from one of our most compelling poetic voices.

“With the experimentalism of Anne Carson and the imagism of Anne Michaels, Anne Simpson explores the globe of the heart.” 
— Halifax Chronicle-Herald

“Anne Simpson's voice is instantly recognizable. . . . [She writes] poems of extraordinary range, intelligence and empathy.” 
— Jury citation, Pat Lowther Memorial Award

“Simpson turns our attention to the sharp edges of life, and she does it with language that juxtaposes beauty with death, creating internal tension in the poems. Simpson looks at death and loss with an unsentimental eye.” 
— Canadian Literature