One of the East Coast's most buzzworthy pop-ups, Hop Scotch Dinner Club, just announced that it would be taking over a space in downtown Halifax and opening as a bricks and mortar concept as of early July. The popular dinner pop-up is run by chefs Stephanie Ogilvie (Top Chef Canada season 8 runner-up) and Brock Unger, and has been operating for the past two years at various locations throughout the city. The space that the two are taking over is none other than Halifax dining institution Chives Canadian Bistro located on Barrington Street–a pioneer in farm-to-table dining for nearly 20 years–where Ogilvie is currently working as chef de cuisine.
"We are thrilled to have this opportunity to take over Chives!," says Ogilvie. "A chance to showcase Maritime cuisine in a space we can call home and make our own has always been the goal with Hopscotch Dinner Club."
Chives Canadian Bistro's owner Craig Flinn seems equally excited for the ownership change as the announcement on his restaurant's account gushes over Ogilvie and Unger's cooking and their similar dedication to celebrating East Coast ingredients that his restaurant has had since it opened back in 2001.
With a projected opening in early July, the current restaurant's announcement on Instagram says they will first open for dinner service five nights a week with lunch service following a few weeks after. With the pop-ups centring around tasting menus, Ogilvie says the menu at the new Hop Scotch Dinner Club wil consist of more casual a la carte plates, but will still offer up Maritime flavours that the duo are known for.
While getting ready to open the doors to their new sit-down concept, Unger and Ogilvie have temporarily paused their Hopscotch At Home takeout menu.
