Juniper Food + Wine
Lunching in Downtown Wolfville
BY LAURA OAKLEY
PHOTOS MICHELLE DOUCETTE
It’s a sunny spring day in Wolfville, a Friday afternoon when cars are backed up and inching slowly along Main Street. I wait for a break in traffic and cross the road to enter Juniper Food + Wine. The 18-seater is small and bright, with white walls and pale wooden tables. Simple black-framed prints line the walls, and small white ceramic vases with fresh flowers dot the perimeter ledge. Sun fills the room through the windows facing Wolfville’s main drag. It has café vibes in the light of day and offers an intimate bistro atmosphere in the evening. The kitchen is in the very back, where from any seat in the restaurant, you can see (and smell) chef and co-owner Geoffrey Hopgood cooking.
“The menu is whatever is sparking my interest at the moment, so we do change it frequently. There are some staples as well,” says Hopgood. Juniper’s concept stands out in downtown Wolfville. Surrounded by no shortage of student-friendly pubs, coffee shops and takeout joints, it offers sophisticated culinary techniques woven with next-level comfort food. And it’s open for lunch three days a week. As far as mid-day meals go, it’s tough to find something of this calibre just anywhere.
“We've always had this high-brow, low-brow sort of philosophy,” says Hopgood about the menu. Admittedly, at first glance, I had noticed how a bowl of onion rings lives next to chicken liver mousse crostini and freshly shucked oysters or how the double cheeseburger is listed next to handmade ricotta gnocchi. “You can have ‘liver and onions’ if you want to have a snack together—there is thought behind it,” says Hopgood. “It goes a little deeper than just the surface, everything has a point.”
Lunch includes a few items also found on the dinner menu but considers that diners may have less time to linger. I snack on plump, juicy Castelvetrano olives spiced with chilli and cumin, plus dig into crostini topped with piped chicken liver mousse. The crostini is grilled house-baked focaccia, and the mousse is luscious, rich and complemented by dots of sweet black currant coulis and flaked sea salt. I sip a glass of Chablis from the small but carefully curated wine list. It’s a lovely start to a Friday lunch.
The main staple at Juniper is Hopgood’s hot chicken sandwich. The creation is the chef’s signature dish and has been on the menu since day one. (Hopgood sources his chicken from Cogmagun Farms, less than an hour away.) Since regular customers started asking to add a piece of the fiery fried chicken to other dishes, you’ll see it as an upgrade here and there. I get the ricotta gnocchi in vodka sauce with dandelion greens and the addition of hot chicken. Hopgood says this combination turned into his twist on chicken parmesan. The gnocchi is pillowy and smothered in medium-spicy vodka sauce made with tomatoes and cream, studded with chopped dandelion greens (harvested by Hopgood). A piece of deep red hot chicken and a delicate pile of snow-like Parmesan cheese tops the dish. The batter on the fried chicken is incredibly airy and crunchy, and the meat inside is perfectly juicy. It is exceptionally spicy from being dipped in chilli oil—Nashville style. As a spice-lover, this is an inspired take on chicken parmesan, one I’d be happy to have any day.
Next is a burger that’s anything but “low-brow,” but I get where Hopgood is coming from. “We want [the lunch menu] to be somewhat approachable,” says Hopgood. In this case, approachable means two juicy smash patties (beef from nearby Reid’s Meats) with melted cheddar, shaved white onion, pickled jalapeños and comeback sauce (a spicy mayo-based sauce that tastes good on everything) on a toasted bun from Bedard Bakery. It’s the perfect burger. It comes with satisfyingly crispy homemade shoestring fries tossed in garlic butter and rich aioli for dipping. This burger alone is worth coming back for lunch over and over. Although, it’s not always on the menu. Hopgood sometimes gets tired of the burger. Plus, the small menu takes cues from what’s available locally, and there’s only room for so much. “We'll probably change things on a monthly basis,” says Hopgood. He sources some things from his home garden. “We have great farmers around here that we use as well. There will be a lot of fresh stuff coming on the menu [this summer].”
The meal ends with a simple crème caramel. Classically shaped, with vanilla bean custard, shiny with clear caramel sauce and topped with a perfect quenelle of rich chocolate mousse. A few roasted hazelnuts and sea salt sprinkle the top. The smooth lightness of the flan works beautifully with the intensely chocolatey mousse; all wrapped up with a little crunch.
Juniper opened in 2019 after Hopgood and his wife Lucy relocated to Nova Scotia from Toronto in 2017. They run the restaurant together and have operated a premium sea salt company (which is currently on hiatus), plus recently opened The Wolfville Cheese Shop. Working with Frédéric Tandy, who owns Ratinaud French Cuisine, a well-known Halifax charcuterie and cheese chop, The Wolfville Cheese Shop sells freshly baked bread, charcuterie, and local and imported cheeses.
Chef/Owner Geoffrey Hopgood
“It's been a great five years,” Hopgood says of their time in Wolfville. Juniper's seasonal street-side patio adds another ten seats for the warmer months. Juniper is open for lunch Thursday through Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. After a break for prep, they open for dinner service at 5 p.m. You can also stop by for dinner on Wednesdays at 389 Main Street.
