HALIFAX, Nova Scotia -- Sidney Crosby had the biggest grin on his face Thursday when I sat down with him after the Penguins' morning skate to ask about the impending trip to his hometown.
"It's going to be weird, I'm not going to lie," he told me, shaking his head. "I'm not used to having the whole group at home. It's really cool, though, and I'm excited for it."
The Penguins made the trip to Halifax on Friday after practice. With a full off day in town on Saturday and a practice on Sunday before Monday's preseason game against the Senators at Scotiabank Centre, the team had ample time to be shown around by their built-in tour guide. Crosby said that he "pumped (Halifax) up pretty good" to his teammates in the days before the trip.
"It's a pretty historical place," he explained. "The people are great. It's right on Halifax Harbour, so it's right on the water there. There's lots of great pubs and places to eat. It's got a really good feel. It's all pretty walkable and there are lots of touristy things to do so, especially in the summer. It's a lot of fun."
I asked Crosby what some of his favorite spots to visit are when he's home for the summer, and he gave me the names of two restaurants without any hesitation.
"The Press Gang's really good, and so is The Bicycle Thief," he said. "Those two. I think if you're going there, those are good ones to go to. But there's tons."
Naturally, I had to follow up on those recommendations and check them out for myself once I got into town.
I landed in Halifax on Saturday afternoon, and promptly made reservations for Press Gang Restaurant and Oyster Bar for that evening.
The Press Gang is in the heart of downtown Halifax on Prince Street, right around the corner from Scotiabank Centre. It's in a very walkable area, and is surrounded by tons of restaurants, coffee shops, bars and little shops. The Press Gang has been here in operations since 1999 and was named the best new restaurant in Halifax that year by The Coast, a local weekly newspaper. The building it is in is one of Halifax's oldest stone structures and dates back to 1759. It's a small restaurant with a dark, moody interior and (good) live acoustic music playing in the evening.
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
The Press Gang
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
The Press Gang
The main attraction at Press Gang is oysters, with a wide selection from various farms and producers in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Oysters aren't my thing, so I didn't go for those. But you can sit at the bar and watch them be prepared:
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
Oysters
I did want to get some kind of seafood here, so I opted for the Press Gang Chowder with halibut, mussels, salmon and shrimp fresh from the Maritimes as an appetizer. The server hyped it up as "the best chowder you're ever going to have," and he wasn't wrong. Lots of big pieces of seafood throughout, it was really good:
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
Chowder
For entrees, there are a number of selections from both the sea and land. One of the employees said that Crosby comes in pretty regularly in the summers and doesn't exactly have a go-to, but "he does like his steaks." I'm not going to argue with that. I went with the grilled rib eye which is cooked with rosemary and garlic butter and comes with pesto roasted nugget potatoes, lemon pepper sautéed asparagus, fried mushrooms and a truffle potato crumb on top:
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
Steak
Again, outstanding.
The real winner here was the espresso martini. If a place has an espresso martini, I don't need to see the rest of the menu. This one was a s'mores espresso martini, made with JD Shore S'more rum cream. In the interest of doing my due diligence, I had three. They were all just as good:
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
Espresso martini
I was eyeing a couple of the desserts -- namely the flourless chocolate espresso cake and the peanut butter pie -- but I didn't have it in me to eat anymore. The Penguins need to schedule another preseason game here in the future so I have a reason to come back here.
Needing to check out Crosby's other top pick, I stopped by The Bicycle Thief for lunch on Sunday after the Penguins' practice over in Cole Harbour.
The Bicycle Thief has been open since 2011, and was also named Halifax's best new restaurant by The Coast in its first year. It's located right off the boardwalk at Bishop's Landing, and has patio seating that overlooks the waterfront. Crosby did say the area has a lot of "touristy" things to do, and this is definitely one of them:
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
The Bicycle Thief
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
View from The Bicycle Thief patio
The Bicycle Thief has more of a relaxed atmosphere, and the menu has a mix of Italian food and seafood dishes. I nearly went for the crab ravioli or the linguini made with local lobster, but I went in a different direction and got a burger. Bacon, caramelized onions, crispy fries on the side, it was solid:
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
Burger
I did have room for dessert this time, and the 12-layer chocolate cake with chocolate cream and coffee liqueur ganache sounded crazy. It was even better than it sounded, and had this cute little chocolate bicycle on top:
TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
Cake
Not pictured there is yet another espresso martini. It felt like it would go well with the cake, and that was a good call by me. Also not pictured: A second espresso martini.
Of course, Crosby made sure (in his role as official tour guide) to share his picks with his teammates. The team went to The Bicycle Thief on Friday evening after getting into town, and they showed up at The Press Gang on Saturday. Players went off on their own on Sunday evening, and a couple circled back around to the restaurants suggested by Crosby.
Halifax definitely seems like an underrated foodie town, at least from the picks Crosby gave. Either that, or Crosby is just as good at picking restaurants as he is at playing hockey.
