Beach Pea Kitchen
South Shore dining at its best
BY LAURA OAKLEY
PHOTOS MICHELLE DOUCETTE
In its seventh season, Beach Pea Kitchen & Bar has definitively found its footing. “We used to open in May and close by Thanksgiving,” says chef and co-owner Martin Ruiz Salvador. He and his wife Sylvie opened Beach Pea in 2018 as a seasonal concept—their fifth time to open a restaurant in Lunenburg. This year, they opened the doors to customers on March 27th. “We’ve been able to expand to the end of the year,” says Ruiz Salvador. The last night of service is December 31st, after which the team gets a few months to plan for the next season. They’ve increased the hours, as well. “We used to only be open five days a week, and now we’re at seven,” says Ruiz Salvador. This growth is due to customer demand. Beach Pea has built up a loyal following from a big chunk of the south shore, from Chester to Bridgewater, and some from Halifax, according to Ruiz Salvador, who says they’ve “taken their time” shaping the restaurant into what it is today.
Martin and Sylvie Ruiz Salvador
The husband-and-wife team has since opened Bar Salvador, a tapas concept across the street, and owns Salt Shaker Deli, a year-round restaurant and inn, along with two seasonal, seafood-focused operations—The South Shore Fish Shack and The Half Shell. The buying power has given Ruiz Salvador leverage with the local suppliers that the group of restaurants supports. “We’re using whole beef that we’re getting from Oulton’s,” says Ruiz Salvador. “We’re able to use enough of the whole cow.” He also has tight relationships with his seafood suppliers, and, being in Lunenburg, he has access to some of the freshest fish, scallops and mussels around.
I head to Beach Pea on an unusually warm Friday evening in April. The air lacks the biting chill that often blows off the nearby ocean. It’s a beautiful preview of the upcoming summer rush. It’s too early in the season for tourists, but the small restaurant is jammed with regular customers happy to have the doors back open. It’s buzzing with conversations punctuated by the kitchen's sights, sounds and smells. The 40-seater dining room and bar is bright and beachy, with white walls, chairs, and pale oak tabletops. I sit close to the kitchen and settle in.
Desmond Fryer
After making a plan with Ruiz Salvador on how to taste as many dishes as reasonably possible, the beverage manager Desmond Fryer greets us with the promise of cocktails. The Lucky Rabbit plays with smoky mezcal and tequila blanco and Anchos Reyes, a green poblano liqueur, agave, carrot, and lime. Additionally, he sets down a tall, bright green glass, a cocktail named Elder’s Adage with vodka and elderflower liqueur, shisho shrub, lime and tonic, topped with fanned slices of green apple. It is a wonderfully bright and refreshing pairing to the snack of salty cured meats brought to accompany it. A few slices of saucisson sec, duck breast prosciutto and pork jowl guanciale are the perfect bites to kickstart my appetite.
Seafood Platter
Next, Fryer pours glasses of Sourwood Cider’s 2021 Beachhouse Pet Nat made from apples from Beachhouse Farm. It is very tart but still balanced, delicate in body with tight bubbles. It makes sense with the seafood platter of Sober Island oysters, raw scallops on the half shell, and Cape Breton snow crab legs. The meaty oysters don’t need the creamy Mary Rose sauce or dark, smoky chilli sauce; the flavour is too good to mask, and with just a simple squeeze of lemon, the silky, firm scallop will do. The savoury crab meat is sweet, salty and addictive—worth the effort to get it out.
Sicilian Arancini
Two more dishes arrive—it’s time for the hot food. The Sicilian arancini is made with braised veal shank risotto and oozes fresh mozzarella from the centre when you cut into the crispy breaded shell. The result is a fun play on osso buco, one big arancini served atop a hearty mound of sauce Espagnole, with delicate fried basil leaves. The sauce's intense, concentrated tomato flavour stands up to the creamy risotto and rich braised meat. I also taste the grilled sustainable octopus accompanied by a square of sage and potato pavé on smoky romesco sauce balanced with a preserved lemon oil drizzle. Lightfoot & Wolfville’s 2020 Ancienne Pinot Noir, a wild fermented, peppery red with red fruit notes, accompanies the dishes. Fryer says it’s his favourite red wine produced in Nova Scotia, and I enjoy the pairing immensely.
“We always have six to eight pastas on the menu,” says Ruiz Salvador, who describes the menu as heavily inspired by dishes from Spain, Italy and the South of France. The pasta—all made by hand—is an essential part of Beach Pea's offering. I try the ricotta and thyme tortellini with house-made pork shoulder sausage, basil and lacinato kale. It sits in a puddle of brodo—an intense umami pork broth. The pasta is beautifully tender, delivering a bomb of savoury flavours. This dish also pairs well with the Pinot Noir.
Fryer brings a new bottle and fresh glasses and pours 2022 Sella & Mosca Cala Reale Vermentino di Sardegna, an Italian white made with Vermentino grapes. Minerally and fresh, with hints of salt and ripe fruit, this wine is perfect for seafood. For good reason, the scallop and rabbit risotto have been on Beach Pea’s menu for several seasons. Seared Adams & Knickle scallops sit on creamy risotto made with braised Oulton’s rabbit, walnuts, cranberries, mint and parsley. Silky scallops matched with savoury rabbit, crunchy walnuts, cheesy, creamy risotto with sweet-tart cranberries—it’s a great play on taste and texture with perfect balance.
Fregola (which Ruiz Salvador describes as “Italian couscous”), a pearl-shaped pasta, is the base of the next dish. They slow-cook the fregola in a broth made from local prawn stock and top the dish with grilled Spanish prawns (heads left on) and crispy leeks. “The couscous itself holds flavour very intensely,” says Ruis Salvador of this dish. “The broth takes hours to make. It’s a broth-focused dish.” This dish offers deep and complex flavours developed with time and care.
Although more food is available, I move on to dessert to ensure I can still enjoy it. A perfectly cut wedge of New York-style vanilla cheesecake sits beside a generous scoop of pistachio ice cream on top of a thick layer of sweet and sour vanilla curd. There is a crunchy pistachio crumble on top. Every bite matches the smooth, creamy richness with tart lemon. It’s perfect. The affogato comes with mascarpone ice cream topped with chunky hazelnut and praline, with espresso on the side to pour over top. It’s crunchy, creamy and coffee-spiked. (What more could you ask for?) These and sips of Lightfoot & Wolfville Terroir Series Riesling Icewine are an ideal end to an incredible meal.
“It’s all collaborative,” says Ruiz Salvador of the menu creation. He works alongside the chefs Matthew Snook and Jordan Kelly plus Sylvie on ideas, and the menu at Beach Pea changes about four times over the nine months the restaurant is open. In the summer, seasonal seafood exerts heavy influence. (However, some staple dishes stay on year-over-year to please returning customers.) Sylvie works with Fryer and wine suppliers to curate a mix of mostly Italian, Spanish, French, and local wines—a perfect match to the culinary techniques and ingredients used for the dishes.
Beach Pea Kitchen & Bar is open seven days a week for dinner at 5 p.m. at 128 Montague Street, Lunenburg.
