The Coast Halifax

We love how Halifax answers the door with a smile

Nothing makes a socially-distanced day like an ice cold beer delivery.

by Victoria Walton on November 12, 2020 at 4:00AM

Eric Daponte spent the past eight months on the road in HRM. Four, sometimes five days a week, he's behind the wheel, bringing a pandemic necessity to people's doors.

"Everyone is really stoked when you show up with beer," Daponte says. "When people ring their doorbell they're usually like, 'Who the hell is this at my front door?' They don't get a lot of that anymore. Then when they see it's the beer guy, they're usually like 'Oh sick! I'm so happy to see you!'"

Although it wasn't on the job description when he first started at the 2 Crows Brewing taproom in February, the pandemic meant Daponte's main role quickly became delivery driver. With 2 Crows' online store up and running almost immediately, the Brunswick Street brewery was soon getting between 50 and 60 orders a day.

We love that Halifax got baked

LF Bakery didn’t just endure the pandemic, they thrived.

by Victoria Walton on November 12, 2020 at 4:00AM

In the early days of the pandemic, Halifax was uncertain about lockdowns, scared of new cases and worried about job security. But one thing it could count on? Carbs.

Bakers (and would-be bakers) trekked to the grocery store to snap up the last packets of yeast and flour from near-bare shelves. They waited for loaves to rise, ovens to pre-heat, crusts to form.

On Gottingen Street, similar things were happening at LF Bakery. "Bread is a necessity," says manager Ludovic Eveno. "We managed to never close."

Basha gets benevolent

The south end Mediterranean joint is giving away about 300 free meals a month.

by Victoria Walton on November 12, 2020 at 3:00AM

In late March, Basha Mediterranean Cuisine co-owner Chico Al-Rashaydeh began hearing stories of pandemic layoffs. "We found that a lot of people have no money and no income, they lost their job, and nobody knows what to do," he tells The Coast.

Along with his two brothers, Al-Rashaydeh decided to do something. Since then, Basha has given away about 300 meals a month to people of all kinds. The response has been overwhelmingly thankful, including some kudos in the BOH survey, but the main goal was to give back.

"We had people saying they never had a hot meal like this in three days. So that just touched our heart, right?" says Al-Rashaydeh, who is originally from Jordan and moved here to study, opening Basha in 2015 after graduating from SMU.

Originally, the plan was to continue until government assistance kicked in. But Basha is still offering meals. Most referrals come from the nearby Universalist Unitarian church on Inglis Street, but anyone can request a free plate if they've fallen on hard times.

At the start of November, Basha reached the five-year anniversary of being in business, and Al-Rashaydeh says he's glad to have become an integral part of the Halifax community.

"We get help from the community, and the community helps us as well."