J'n'B's Fish & Chips

Guest Review: Ruth & Ian

Sir George Simpson (governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company) mentions the whitefish of the north shore of Lake Superior in the early 1800s. At Webbwood, on Highway 17, we had 3 pieces of excellent seasoned whitefish and chips for $12.87, along with fresh-tasting coleslaw. Webbwood is on a long stretch of the TransCanada between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, a beautiful but slightly desperate part of the province. Commercial food establishments are few and far between along this road, so you have to pick wisely. Summer options are more plentiful and the local fishing industry makes chip trucks featuring fish options a good bet.

Best feature: Picnic tables for seating covered by a tarp—very welcome during a rainy summer.

Condiments: included seasoned salt.

View: No view of Lake Superior, but the entertainment of three tweens hanging out on a summer day, and a mufferless trail bike on a nearby track.

Nibbler's Chip Truck

Guest Post: Ruth & Ian

Nibblers Chip Truck in Spanish, Ontario, is part way along the north shore of Georgian Bay, on the Trans Canada Highway between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie. We stopped there on a rainy summer weekday during a mini road trip from southern Ontario to the Thunder Bay area.

The first good omen was the break in the rain that occurred just as we pulled up. We were also attracted by the petunias surrounding the road sign and the lighthouse rising up out of the chip truck roof. The clincher was the information that fresh pickerel was on the menu (the sign said “walleye”, but that must have been to attract tourists).

The attendant was ready and waiting to serve us; it was only the rain and not Spanish’s resident population or popularity as a tourist stop that had been keeping the crowds away because several other people pulled up as we were munching scrumptious battered and fried strips of pickerel at a picnic table. Among the others were a francophone couple from Quebec (we noted the latter distinction because there was lots evidence of the francophone community in the mid-north of Ontario) and a couple from Tennessee (although he had an appropriate drawl, she had retained an English accent that was surprising, especially when he identified that their relationship and life in the southern USA had lasted 20 years so far with “more to come”, he hoped).

The pickerel was wonderful, light, moist and flaky.

The chips weighed down the cardboard box; they were heavy with oil, hard to separate from one another and attractive for eating only in the interests of this review and because we were hungry.

Two pickerel dinners cost $17.80. As we dumped the chips in the trash can, we felt the fish, the decoration of the truck and surroundings, the company and the break in the rain were well worth the price.

Mabel's Gift & Farm Market Homemade Fish & Chips

When: June 13th, 2:28pm (ADT)

Where: Near Shad Bay, Nova Scotia (Map) We came upon this chip truck driving from Halifax to Lunenburg, near Peggy's Cove.
Companions: Jill & Damien

Exterior: This chip truck is outside a store called Mabel's Gift & Farm Market. A trailer with the menu painted on the side is advertised with a banner-type sign. There is one large picnic table with an umbrella, but you have to be careful getting there, as there's a chasm-like hole between the chip truck and the picnic table.
Menu: Haddock, fries, homemade sausage, onion rings, poutine, pop.

Condiments: Ketchup, regular vinegar in the kind of container that holds maple syrup in fancy hotels, mystery yellow sauce. Although there was a large ketchup container, it was almost empty, and neither Jill nor I were able to get ketchup out without spraying it all over ourselves.
The Chips: We bought a small fries and three drinks for $7.50. The fries were served in a biodegradable paper 'boat' with full plastic forks (although a disapproving look from the owner limited us to 2 forks for our 3-person party). The serving overflowed the container to the point of spillage. The fries were medium-cut and nicely crispy, not too greasy and not too salty. The fries are definitely worth a stop, although overall the truck lost points for the dangerous hole and the messy ketchup situation.