there's a new restaurant in town!

I was so pleased to be contacted by a representative of St. Hubert regarding an opportunity to review their new restaurant in town!  I am excited to be entering a new area of blogging I have never touched before... food and restaurant reviews!

In return for a review of their restaurant, we were given a discounted meal at the restaurant.  All of the opinions written below are my own.

                                                                              

St. Hubert Express is located at 22 Trinity Ave. in Fredericton New Brunswick.  St. Hubert has a 60 year history and its first restaurant was opened in 1951 in Montreal.  They now employ 10,000 people at 116 restaurants and service points in Québec, New Brunswick and Ontario.  It is truly a Canadian company!      St. Hubert is very well known in Québec, and the owner we spoke to indicated that many francophones have been visiting the Fredericton location.  The St. Hubert Express in Fredericton opened August 8th, 2012.  The owners are Dennie and Barry Pope, they are co-owners of the franchise and brothers who grew up near Sussex, NB.  The restaurant manager is David Smith.  I met with Barry Pope and he was very willing to answer all of my questions, serve us great food and even take me behind the scenes in the kitchen.

The parking lot was packed when we arrived which is always a great sign!  We met Barry right away (an employee led us to the kitchen area) and we were offered to sit and order food first.  This was great, as the girls were hungry and the restaurant was busy!  I brought up our gluten and dairy allergy and this issue was dealt with in a very professional manner.  (Rather than, "I'm so sorry for you, here is the one thing on the menu you can have."  I have come across this almost every time we go out to eat.)  

The restaurant sends out a red alert when they have an allergy indicated at the cash.  In fact, Barry was going to take our orders personally, but he led Tim to the cash to do this in order to put the red alert through the system, so that the chefs were aware of the allergies.  Each chef changes their gloves in case they have come in contact with bread.  The allergy alert shows up on the receipts.  Barry advised me not to have any of the special sauces (served at the condiment station, not automatically with the meal) and he advised me that the chicken, fries, potato, rice and dairy-free coleslaw (!!) were safe.  Yes, they make two kinds of delicious coleslaw (with local veggies!), one with dairy products (which Tim really loved) and one without (which I loved).  It was great to have a choice to order from as most of their dishes are chicken!  

Did you know that the St. Hubert chicken mascot was originally designed by Disney animator Jack Dunham?

Tim ordered the chicken and ribs, I ordered the chicken breast and baked potato, Lila has the chicken thigh kid's meal and Charlotte had the chicken nuggets. I would order Charlotte the real chicken next time instead of the processed nuggets.  She isn't used to processed chicken anymore and the real stuff is so much better.

We all loved our food. The chicken portions were big, and although the pricing may be slightly more expensive than fast food, it was so much better.  It was filling and the homemade coleslaw added the perfect meal addition.  The chicken was moist and full of flavour.  The girls received apple sauce with their kid's meal, which was a nice touch.  The Express version of St. Hubert is set up like a fast food restaurant in format, but it has a nice quality atmosphere inside the restaurant.  When I asked Barry why he chose the Express version as opposed to the sit down restaurant he explained that it was more affordable to set up and run the Express version.  (It is one third of the cost of the traditional St. Hubert restaurant.) Also, it allows for people who work in the Knowledge Park area to have a quick lunch option.  Moncton has a full restaurant option, and the Express option is going to (hopefully) become more popular in the Maritimes.

I asked Barry why he decided to open a restaurant in Fredericton.  He was living in Halifax at the time and his brother, Dennie was living here in Fredericton.  The two choices they had were Fredericton or Halifax and they had accountants look at the numbers.  The cost of operations were lower in Fredericton so it made more sense to open a restaurant here.  

I asked if they had any practices in place to promote environmental sustainability in the food industry.  They have an eco station in the restaurant.  The customers bring their trays to the station and the employees organize and separate the waste into recyclables, plastic, compost and garbage.  It is a system that is working well for now, but Barry indicated that it might not be an easy thing to continue with forever.  Their napkins are made from 100% recycled paper, which was a good thing as we went through a lot that evening!  A huge milk spill... need I say more?

I asked Barry if they take any action to source their products locally.  I really was not expecting a positive answer for this question.  I was pleasantly surprised!  They currently buy their produce from Fresh Choice in Fredericton area.  Their produce is not strictly local, but understood that their cabbage and carrots are.  They receive 50 lbs of fresh cabbage and carrots every morning and process and make their coleslaw on site.  Barry and Dennie's father is actually a cabbage farmer in Belleisle!  They are hoping to switch and use his cabbage for their restaurant.  It surprised me how local and family based this restaurant is.

Their raw chicken comes from Nadeau Poultry near Edmundston.  It is air cooled in the processing plant, not cooled using water.  Barry explained that at Swiss Chalet, the chicken is water cooled, which causes it to look more white, but less flavourful and moist.  The chicken goes through a double cooking process at the restaurant, they have two huge ovens that cook over 100 chickens at once. They are hoping to give back to the community in many ways but they are still deciding strategically how to go about doing this.

In conclusion, I was pleased with the restaurant.  I loved the food, the atmosphere, and the precautions took to ensure that Lila and I had a safe meal to eat.  I didn't like that we had to pay 50% under the presumption that our meal would be provided for!  We are on a very tight budget and would not have otherwise spent money on food at a restaurant.  (We also choose the expensive options, before realizing we had to pay.)  I didn't like that the floors were slippery, I saw one lady slip in heels and then Charlotte fell coming out of the bathroom.  Also, there is not a change table in the women's bathroom, only in the wheelchair bathroom.  That could be inconvenient at times.  We were served by the owner, so I'm sure a regular experience would be a bit different.  But I was really pleased with all that I observed.  I am very thankful for Thomas Ledwell for setting up this experience for my family, it was a great opportunity!

Now... go try it out for yourself!  Tell me what you think in the comments.  Have you eaten at a St. Hubert Express before?  Did you have a positive experience?

kindermusik!

Today we had our first session of Kindermusik which I won through fredkid.com. Kindermusik is a great program, and I highly recommend it for babes of all ages! Check out this site for more info on Kindermusik in Freddy. Megan, our teacher, is wonderful, so great with the babies. The session we are doing is called "Feathers" and there are all kinds of fun songs and rhymes to learn. We are listening to the CD that you get right now! We also got a board book, art banners and a chime ball! Charlotte is quite busy.... the only walking baby in the group, which is difficult, because she wanted to get into the diaper bags more than hang out with me. That's okay, Megan is good at stating that the kiddos can wander around instead, it's just tiring for me! I kinda wish we had done a class earlier, when Charlotte was much younger. If we continue, I will probably enroll her in "Our Time", a class for 1 1/2 year olds to 3 years. (When she is old enough, that is.)

Click here for a banner that you can click on to try a free class!

Fredericton Family Resource Centre

I feel like I have been going non-stop these days. Really, nothing much has changed, but life seems to move at a faster pace with a crawler. (I realize it will be even faster with a runner!) I have even had a few people comment to me about the fact that I look like I have lost weight, although, I have not worked out in at least a month. Perhaps it's the fact that I rarely sit still! I walk pretty much every day (as long as it's not raining) with the girls. But I miss working out. There is something that just feels good about working up a sweat and feeling those muscles groan. Hopefully I will implement it in my routine once again.

A couple of weeks ago, we started the "Just Me and My Mom" program at the Fredericton Family Resource Centre. This Centre is a wonderful resource for parents of kids all ages in the city. This program in particular is geared towards Moms and babies who are 12 months and younger. We have a great group and I look forward to chatting with the moms every week! Every week they have a guest speaker for the first hour or so and then we have play time. Last week it was on "Baby Talk" and a representitve from Parle-Moi/Talk with Me, spoke. It was a great presentation, and I signed up for their *free* program so that I recieve their e-mails regarding new sessions being offered. There are so many wonderful resources for families in this city.

This weekend was busy, but we got some stuff done around the house which was great. Tim got a few loads of topsoil and we worked on shovelling it off the trailer onto our lawn. The reason we need to put topsoil on...... it's a long story.He had to dig up the whole yard last fall in order to put drain pipe in. However, all of the hard work... worked!! An extremely tiny amount of water in the basement this year. (Way, WAY better than last.) So onto the topsoil and re-seeding the lawn. Who knows when the garden will get in?!? That's another project for another day....

babes in the library

Today was our final Babies in the Library class. For now... they are offering another class in April which I think we will sign up for. It is a great chance to get out, play and meet new moms, dads and babies. Charlotte is so interested in [eating] the toys and books they have.

this is the nylon scarf she loved so much

When we arrived today, I took Charlotte out of her seat and smelled something a little funky.... and there was a huge mess on my hands! There is no change table in the bathroom of the library, so on the floor she went. I had to hold her still because she loves to roll when being changed, and tried to maneuver wipes, diapers and dirty clothes pretty much with the hand that wasn't holding her still. Quite a task! Finally she had a fresh diaper, and only her undershirt was dirty (all the while the group had started their good morning song) and as soon as I sat her up she had a huge spit up all over her shirt!! So..... I had to change her again. Gone was the cute outfit I had picked out for the momentous occasion, and on went the sleeper!! Oh, well. We had a lot of fun today! Thanks to the library for putting on such a wonderful *free* program for all the Freddie moms and dads!

winter wonderland

Honestly, I am ready for winter to be over. Bundling baby in a fleece suit and actual snowsuit, two layers of blankets and wind shield for the stroller, all to take the dog for a walk is getting to be a bit too much. Lifting the stroller over the piles of snow at the edges of people's driveways who use a plow, but don't bother to clear the sidewalks is getting annoying. I just want to get out on the trails, without a jacket and mitts and breathe spring air!

I went for a sleigh ride in Mactaquac this week and I have to admit, the snow in the trees was beautiful. The excitement of the kids was beautiful too. Charlotte will never remember the outing (she slept for most of it!), but at least I was able to see through the darkness of winter and glimpse some beauty. The passing of time means my girl is growing, summer will hold her first birthday, and for now, I am happy to enjoy the moments of babyhood. So winter, you are okay, but I do wish the groundhog had a more uplifting prediction this year!

Babies in the Library

Charlotte and I had our first "Babies in the Library" outing today! There were about 13 children there, ranging in age from 2 1/2 months to 18 months. What a great way to meet other moms and babies. The librarian was wonderful, singing songs and leading action games. The children had a play time with toys and books at the very end. Charlotte loved it, especially a nylon scarf that she found! I will have to look for something like that... it was a bright orange color, and she must have loved the texture and colour. It is so nice to get OUT and not stuck inside all the time. Personally, I'm hoping the groundhog was wrong and spring will come early....