Stone Hearth Café added to bakery

HALIFAX—MetroWorks, a company that provides employment skills training to help people overcome obstacles to entering the workforce, has opened a restaurant alongside its Stone Hearth Café in Halfax.

The Stone Hearth Bistro, a 95-seat restaurant with a menu based on local food, opened in November.

The kitchen is headed by Phil Smith who spent the past 10 years as head chef at the Old Triangle Irish Ale House. He describes his cooking as “East Coast inspired with an international flare.”

The general manager is Jason Garnier, a 20-year restaurant veteran who has worked at high end establishments in Halifax.

Besides the dining room and bar, the bistro also has a 30-seat private dining room with audio visual equipment.

With the addition of Stone Hearth Bistro, MetroWorks’ nutritional programming coordinator Jenna LeFort will be able to take students from the classroom into a an attached practice kitchen here they can gain hands-on cooking experience.

The restaurant is open Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Friday, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

It serves breakfast, salads and pastas and full meals.

Its main dishes include Haddock cakes ($9), a six-ounce beef burger ($8), a lamb burger ($11), buttermilk fried chicken ($10) and roasted red pepper wrap ($9).

The Stone Hearth Café is a bakery-café which makes baked goods distributed to stores throughout the Maritimes.

Opened in 1982, it is the only kosher bakery east of Montreal, according to its website.

It is open Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Stone Hearth Bistro, 7071 Bayers Rd., Halifax. Phone 902-454-2888. Website www.stonehearthbistro.ca. 95 seats. Mains cost $7 to $12.