Food stylist, cook, journalist and now, restaurateur Kathy Jollimore, is rolling dumplings as we speak on the phone about today’s Friday the 13th opening of Side Hustle Snack Bar—an exciting modern kitchen that will feed the beer-loving patrons of Dartmouth’s newest tap room, North Brewing—a well-loved brewery that moved from its North End Agricola Street location last year.
The dumplings are set to be one of the most popular dishes on the Side Hustle menu: pork and scallion wontons, served with Sichuan chili oil and black vinegar—the perfect companion to North Brewing’s selection of beers, or if you prefer, a guest cider from Dartmouth’s Lake City Cider, or Halifax’s newest, coolest little Cornwallis St. taproom, Sourwood Cider.
In typical Halifax-Dartmouth fashion (a rising tide lifts all ships), the opening is characterized by collaboration and a strong community spirit.
At Side Hustle, there are other Asian-inspired dishes on offer, such as a traditional chicken katsu sandwich, which, says Jollimore, is something you don’t see a lot on menus in the Halifax area. The aioli, she says, “has a delicious umami-dashi flavour... and it’s on white bread!” For a more classic North American munch, the smash burger has two patties, smashed together, served with cheese and homemade pickles. Local meat and veggies are the name of the game.
“This is an entirely new concept for the area, and Dartmouth in general,” says Jollimore, who joined with partner Brent Jollimore on the Side Hustle project—Brent is also the tap room manager at North Brewing itself. Speaking about the shared space, she says, “I think we will stand out… the trend is to go small but we have gone big.”
New, different, and big it is. Whereas recent openings in Dartmouth (Café Good Luck, Lake City Cider, New Scotland Brewing to name a few) have chosen the fast-growing downtown Dartmouth area as their home, North Brewing and Side Hustle Snack Bar are housed in a former grocery store in an undeniably suburban pocket of Dartmouth. (Although, North brewing also has a small cold beer store in the downtown core.)
“We love our new home nestled between Woodlawn and Cole Harbour,” says North Brewing’s Instagram page; and it’s easy to see why. The payoff of leaving the city-proper is an enormous, modern, bright and beautifully designed 120-seat taproom with easy parking, plenty of seating for families, and not least of all, Jollimore’s fresh new menu at Side Hustle.
See you in the suburbs!
