What better way to get to know Halifax than to get to know its people? And who better to know than food writers? With our connections to the Food Bloggers of Canada (FBC) and HootSuite in place, we made our way to La Frasca Cibi & Vini for our final tweetup/hootup (really just fancy ways to say MEET UP) event on the trip.

La Frasca is a newly opened restaurant, but the owners are no strangers to the industry. Stephanie and Maurizio Bertossi own and operate several restaurants in the city including Bicycle Thief, Il Mercato, and A Mano. The Spring Garden neighbourhood has been going through a time of revitalization, and the Bertossis wanted to keep in step with the direction it was heading. They closed their successful restaurant of 19 years, Il Mercato, and turned it around in a month to open La Frasca, with a new look and a fresh menu (lovers of Il Mercato can still get their favourite dished at their Bedford location).

The name La Frasca is a shout out to a northeastern Italian tradition where a family would place a tree branch (frasca) near the road as an invitation for passersby to drop in for good wine, food and conversation. It sounds like the most charming kind of ‘pop-up’ restaurant I can think of. Though not quite as informal as in Italy, La Frasca is definitely an excellent place to go when seeking this trio.

At the event we met a number of interesting people connected with the Food Bloggers of Canada.

We met Michelle, a designer and photographer - check out her website and peruse her many beautiful photos here. She did some photography work for I Love Local HFX, a network of independently owned local business that collaborate to strengthen and support all things local to Halifax.

We met ‘Todd the Beer Dude,’ who puts together weekly craft beer reports on his blog the ‘Maritime Beer Report’. His dedication to the local brew is admirable. Perusing his blog, you will discover that there is a LOT going on in the Maritime brewing scene.

And finally, we met Kathy, the Atlantic Regional Administrator for the FBC, our main contact for the event, and a Nova Scotia food scene guru. Kathy has endless energy when it comes to exploring, writing about, and contributing to the Halifax food scene. She’s worked as a tree planting cook (like Lindsay!), restaurant cook, recipe developer, and teaches cooking classes; she knows all the cool places to eat, and knows just about everyone running them. She’s also a contributor to our friends at Eat North, a great site that also celebrates the Canadian food scene. Check out her beautiful website, Eat Halifax.

Thanks to all the bloggers for coming out, and to La Frasca, FBC, and HootSuite for facilitating the event! If I learned anything from the tuna carpaccio, the calamari, the pappardelle, or the cocktails that night, it’s that I’ve got to find more tree branches to follow….

-DV