Blog

What the prank!?

The Landing Oyster House and Pub — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:30:16 +0000

Many of you were surprised to hear that we were changing the name of The Landing to The Bait Shed Tap and Grill... Many people were super enthusiastic about the transformation - others not so much.

Well rest assured... that is not going to happen. It was a prank.

I know many of you wondered who in their right minds would take this much time and effort: creating a Facebook page, a detailed "press release" and a logo just for an April fools joke? Well... we would, and did!

There was many subtle clues in the prank that many of you have picked up, but we are going to list them here in case you missed some!

The name, The Bait Shed. If there was ONE PLACE I would not want to eat, it would be in a bait shed.
The logo... a dead fish... very appetizing.
"We're putting a new spin on our menu with "fresh" seafood" indicates sarcasm, as if the seafood was not in fact fresh at all, tying into the logo & name.
Hip atmosphere, modern metropolitian eatery, getting rid of the woodwork etc.

While subtle, we expected many of you to pick up right away - but instead we got hit with such enthusiasm that we kind ended up pranking ourselves! Haha good one guys!!

Thanks for the laughs guys - I think we got ya good!

Wine Club Event - February

The Landing Oyster House and Pub — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:19:50 +0000

We are so pumped for tomorrows wine club party! Here is the line-up:

Bandit Chardonnay
MacMurray Sonoma Coast Pinot Gris
Vermonte Primus "The Blend"
Cest La Vie Pinot Noir Syrah

Wine & hors d'oeuvres party

The Landing Oyster House and Pub — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:35:24 +0000

Are you entertaining this Holiday season? Why not come to our Wine & Hors d'oeuvres sampling party.

Date: November 18th - 7pm

What to expect: You will get a chance to try this seasons hottest appetizers, plus a paired wine.

Your ticket includes 4 wine samplings plus 8 appetizers with recipes and tasting notes.

Price: $20.00 per person

What a great way to get geared up for this holiday season! Reserve a ticket below:

Online event registration for Wine & Hors D'oeuvres Sampling Party powered by Eventbrite

Oyster Festival Week @The Landing!

The Landing Oyster House and Pub — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:13:11 +0000

The Landing is excited for the 47th annual Tyne Valley Oyster Festival! We have planned daily events to celebrate the best festival on PEI!

Oyster Festival Week

Wednesday

4pm - close ½ Price Wings

8pm 2010 Oyster Shucking Championship Replay

Thursday (Open til 2am!)

7pm Trivia with Jeff Noye!

Friday

8:30pm Live feed 2011 Canadian Oyster Shucking Competition

Saturday

9pm Live @The Landing: James Phillips & Nathan Wiley - $5.00 cover

Oyster Shucking Demonstrations from 2-3pm Daily!

Shuck your own oyster!

$3.00 Oyster Shooters!

Helpful feedback from our valued customers!

The Landing Oyster House and Pub — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:26:00 +0000

When we had our survey, many of you requested healthier options for our diners - we listened!

We are now introducing more healthy options to our menu!

Our first introduction - Fish Tacos!

Two peices of marinated haddock chargrilled and served with fresh vegetable toppings, salsa and sour cream and two soft tortillas. This delicious dish makes a nice light lunch or dinner.

We also have a great selection of fresh salads and baked potato sides that makes eating out easier!

Also, ask your server how you can lighten up your meal with small changes - such as use salsa for your baked potato instead of butter.

Many of you also said the food selection could be improved - so we introduced many new menu items such as quality steaks, wraps, veggie burger, lobster BLT etc. Also, stay tuned as The Landing puts on daily specials to add to the variety of the menu.

The biggest comment was speed - many of you said that the wait times were long and we are working on that. We installed another fryer and prep table to improve our efficiency! We are always looking at ways to improve and to give you a quality product faster! However - we are not a fast food restaurant. Most of our food is made from scratch using quality locally sourced ingredients. Our motto is quality food - always!

If you are looking for a quick meal - ask your server what can be made quickly. If you are running short on time, let us know. We will do everything we can to satisfy your dining requirements.

Many of you also commented that you would like to see mussels. We now have mussels - prepared multiple ways!

Also we have noticed a lot of people with dietary restrictions are requesting more options -we have listened once again! Many of the food can be prepared to suit your restrictions - just ask your server!

With entertainment many of you requested karaoke! We went out right away and purchased a karaoke machine - stop by on Friday nights for $4.00 cocktails and open mic/karaoke!

At The Landing we are committed to quality food & service. We apperciate your feedback and hope that you continue to enjoy yourself at our pub.

If you would like to complete the survey, please do so here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WZ52QSH

Blind (somewhat) Domestic Beer Tasting

The Landing Oyster House and Pub — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 03:07:08 +0000

Driving home from the valley I decided to do some "market research" by buying some tall cans & doing a blind taste test. I bought:

Molson Canadian
Coors Light
Moose Light
Alpine
Budweiser
Keith's

The Tyne Valley liquor store is quite small so there wasn't that much selection, so we decided to buy Keith's Dark and Stella Artois just to mix things up.

Tasting was myself (Erica), my brother Jorden, my mom and my dad.

I have done a blind tasting once at UPEI and I was surprised by the results. I don't think I got one right. However, since then I have drank a lot more beer and I must say my taste buds have developed quite a bit. I recommend that everyone try this experiment as it doesn't cost very much and it can be quite the eye opener!!

Moose Light Vs. Coors Light

We started with the two light beers and the results were unanimous: moose light is gross. Some people guessed wrong and got the beers mixed up, but we all agreed what would turn out to be moose light was watery and just generally unpleasant. Surprisingly, Coors Light turned out to be a favorite of many.

Molson Canadian Vs. Alpine

This one really threw me for a loop. This may be a surprise to most, but more Alpine is sold in Tyne Valley (per capita) than anywhere else in the world. My family & friends weren't Alpine drinkers so I never thought too much of the beer. When comparing Canadian to Alpine, we found that Alpine was favored.

Budweiser Vs. Stella (we were running out of beer)

This one was just plain funny. We all could tell within just smelling the beer which was which, but it was interesting to compare the differences side by side. Hands down Stella ranked #1.

Keith's & Keith's Dark

This was just potpourri. We wish we could have been able to compare these beers with others but we just didn't have any comparables to we just drank them. We all seemed to enjoy the Keith's.

People are very brand loyal when it comes to beer. They are "group drinkers" who have "what he is having". Often, we can't really explain why we like the beer that we buy. I suggest trying this experiment out and letting me know what your results were!

Generally, we found the beers to decend in this order (1 being best):

Stella Artois
Keith's Dark
Coors Light
Keith's
Budweiser
Alpine
Canadian
Moose Light

How would you rank them?

Toutin - A Special Treat Growing Up

The Landing Oyster House and Pub — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:59:09 +0000

I was a bit older when I really discovered Toutin - the traditional word for fried bread dough. Mostly my mother would "set a batch of bread" while I was in school, so I never really got well acquainted with fried bread dough until later. It wasn't until a winter storm day that I found my mother flattening out little puffed up balls of dough. A little confused but mostly intrigued, I watched on as she placed the flat piece of dough on a hot pan with butter & a little bit of oil.

My mom's mom, my Grammy, used to "set bread" daily. My mom remembers coming home for lunch during the school day and being treated some fried bread dough. Traditionally, Toutin is served with molasses, but it is awesome served plain, with butter, with cinnamon sugar and even with some marinara!

We plan on introducing this awesome traditional flat bread to PEI!

How it all got started

The Landing Oyster House and Pub — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:58:30 +0000

The story starts back from my first ever job. I was hired to work at The Landing Oyster House and Pub on the recommendation from my great aunt, who worked as a cook there. I started off as a dishwasher and I eventually moved up to a line cook. I loved the energy in the pub and enjoyed working in the kitchen. Eventually, I left to take business at UPEI, which was around the time where I met my fiancée Joel Fitzpatrick. I always gravitated towards restaurants and during my university career when asked to do a business plan it would alway be about a restaurant.

Fast forward to 2011 and I am just about to graduate university, and Joel and I are engaged and have been living together for 3+ years. When discussing our life plan it really boiled down to was, what was I going to do once I graduated university. I could:

Get a job, on the island
Get a job, off island
Be a business owner
Go back to school

Many a nights were spent mulling over the options, and while just getting a job seemed to be the easiest and in some ways most appealing option, I couldn’t bring myself to take it. I literally tried to convince myself to apply to jobs, although I knew myself that wasn’t where my heart is. You know the saying, you can’t help what you love? I fully realized the power of the statement this year.

In walks The Landing. I remember when I heard it was for sale and memories of working there started flooding back to me. I then began to fantasize about owning the restaurant that I spent my teenage years working. But that's all it was, unrealistic unattainable dreams. Things became real when I started trying to plan for the future. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself to move off PEI for a “good job”, I couldn’t. I love PEI, like stop dead in my tracks, heart skips a beat kind of love. The kind of love that endures one of the worst god forsaken winters I have ever seen. So I started looking for jobs, hoping that would quench the thirst I couldn’t seem to satisfy. More restaurant fantasies, and more job applications. It wasn’t until November 2010 that I started writing the business plan for The Landing. The plan just flowed out of me, like I had been working on parts all my life and it just came together all at once. That plan was my baby.

I became consumed in learning everything I could about restaurants. When I told Joel of my idea, he was very on-board. Wanting to be a bartender for the last few years made it an easy decision for him.Then reality started to set in. While reading books about the restaurant business, I started to see some scary numbers. I read that many people get so caught up in the fun aspects of owning a restaurant that they never face the realities. To help uncover if this idea was bad, I started talking to restaurant owners, including my old boss and the former owner of the pub. It boosted my confidence to know it can be done, it just requires a lot of hard work.

The difficulty we faced financing this venture was something I never expected.. When going to our bank to get the financing, we suddenly realized that this isn’t going to be easy. As a matter of fact, this is going to be one of the hardest things I have ever done. It was a roller coaster ride of ups and downs and I am women enough to admit I shed my fair share of tears after being turned down again and again. I was at the point where I was about to throw in the towel when things magically came together.

So, we bought the pub and it feels very surreal. I am getting in there soon to start putting the place together. I have a lot of work cut out for me but I have an AMAZING support system from all over Canada willing to help me, including all my extended family who have volunteered their time to help Joel and I get this place going.