It's always a good thing when a new generation of restauranteurs injects life into a small town…read morewith their food and flavours, and this was the case last summer when Shoebox Cantina opened up on Provost Street.
While the name has a Tex-Mex vibe, the menu reflects the broad base of appeal that is often necessary to succeed in smaller communities. As such, alongside their taco menu, you'll also find the likes of steak, bacon mac and cheese, and wings. My fingers were crossed that this wouldn't be a "Jack of all trades, master of none" scenario.
Showing up for a lunch with my sister, we leaned into the Tex-Mex part of the menu and ordered the carnitas fries supreme ($13) and the taco sampler ($24). They've got a sizeable rotating tap list of local beers, so I went with a rye IPA from Tatamagouche Brewing.
The pork carnitas fries supreme may not have evoked the flavours of Taco Bell's famous hot mess, but they stood tall on their own. A plate of moderately thick fries somehow supported a hefty layer of saucy pork, green onions and a lime crema. Rich and savoury, I found myself wishing for some tableside hot sauce, but was too busy demolishing these to ask. My sister and I, who have both languished for years under the yoke of higher priced food in bigger cities, were very impressed by the value for dollar on this as well.
The taco sampler, which is comprised of Shoebox's chicken, carnitas, fish and sweet potato tacos, was both a literal and figurative mixed plate. I appreciated that all the tacos leaned in the minimalist direction of Mexican street tacos; I'm not interested in shredded lettuce and cheddar on my tacos.
My two favourites were the fish and sweet potato. The beer battered fish was airy and crisp, and the fish itself was firm and flakey; pickled red cabbage added a lightly tart counterpoint to the deep fried haddock. The sweet potato taco was comprised of ultra-crisp, hash brown-esque pieces of sweet potato, as well as some avocado to add flavour and textural contrast. Sides of a few different salsas - pico, verde and roja - let you mix and match complementing flavours.
The other proteins, while far from bad, didn't live up to their potential. The carnitas was oddly heavily sauced, and lacked the crisp bits that show up in this traditional hodge podge of chopped pork. As for the chicken mole, more mole sauce and its rich, lightly chocolatey depth would have been welcome.
While I'm not a dessert person, I was blown away by how good the Spanish toast ($9) was. A brioche bun got the French toast treatment and was then topped with brulée sugar, dulce de leche, whipped cream and a blueberry compote. The crisp sugar was a pleasant contrast to an otherwise soft, albeit delicious dish, while the dulce de leche will have you forgetting about maple syrup completely.
On a second visit, I hit the more pub-like section of their menu and got the buttermilk fried chicken burger and upgraded the fries to the bacon Caesar salad ($16 + $2).
While the sandwich was solid, there's some room for improvement. The chicken itself was a winner - really crisp batter enveloped a moist and tender piece of chicken. The toasted brioche bun held things together well, and honey and a pickle added contrasting flavours to the sandwich.
In the "cons" column, some hot sauce would have been welcome to amp up the flavour and there was an awkward amount of lettuce of the sandwich. In tandem with the shape of the chicken versus that of the bun, some bites were just bun and lettuce, which is...not great.
The side salad wasn't the prettiest, but it hit the spot. Iceberg lettuce took the place of romaine, and I'm not sure if the croutons were forgotten or the ultra crispy bits of bacon were doing double duty, but it worked.
Shoebox Cantina is bringing a lot to New Glasgow and beyond their generally well-executed menu, they host live music events and even have a recording studio upstairs. New businesses like this are just what small towns need, and the same can be said for Shoebox and your taste buds.