Free Lobster!
After living and working within sight of an historic schoolhouse, and after coveting it for his 49 years in the community of Clare on Nova Scotia’s Acadian coast, Pierre Boissonnault, took a leap of faith. He bought the building in 2018 and has turned it into a restaurant. To help make it a success, he built two rental units upstairs. To celebrate the opening of Ecole dans l’Anse Resto Sur Mer as both a restaurant and a stay, Boissonnault is making a delicious offer that puts them together and involves lobster and crab. Read on to find out how to get your free seafood.
Originally from Moncton, Boissonnault moved here when his father took a teaching job at nearby Université Sainte-Anne. He worked in the lobster industry a claw’s toss from this historic building, overlooking the beautiful la Baie Ste-Marie. Because the former schoolhouse faces west, views of the sunset from the dining room, the deck and the rentals upstairs are legendary for their saturation of the horizon and the waters of the Bay of Fundy with oranges and yellows almost every night of the year.
“Our specialty is seafood because we’re so blessed to have fresh seafood on a daily basis,” says Boissonnault. He runs through an enticing, long list of fresh seafood (never frozen or deep fried) whipped into any number of delicious dishes, many of them traditional such as rapure, an Acadian classic made with strained potatoes.
The schoolhouse is over 120 years old and still sports its original cedar shingles. Boissonnault claims the salt air here helps preserve them. When he was deep into renovations, he discovered that some walls were insulated with seaweed. “It’s in mint condition,” he says. This building’s last year as a school was 1960. Later it was put to use as a boat shop and a furniture shop. Seven lobster boats were built where I’m chowing down on fresh mussels.
The two classrooms that took up the downstairs now house the restaurant. The two upstairs are rental units. The three-bedroom goes for $225 a night while the two-bedroom is $200 a night. Whichever one you choose, stay for seven nights and Boissonnault will prepare a lobster dinner for two or a snow crab dinner for two, including a bottle of wine, on the house. Check out the schoolhouse resto Facebook page for contact information so you can order up your free lobster or crab dinner.
