Lighthouse
Picnics
Ph.
709-363-7456
What a wonderful afternoon I have just spent. The trip
down the southern shore highway was longer than normal because of some road
upgrading underway, but the sun was out, the sky was blue and the southern
shore was looking smartly turned out for a summer's afternoon. We were on our
way to Ferryland, not to see the famous historic site there but rather to enjoy
a luncheon al fresco on the grounds of the famous - and old - Ferryland
lighthouse.
The lighthouse has been run for the past four years by
a couple of very charming young entrepreneurs named Jill Curran and Sonia
O'Keefe. Jill was raised in Ferryland. As a matter of fact, her grandmother's
family, the Costellos, lived in and ran the lighthouse from 1870 to 1970. After
that it became a residence and studio for artist Gerald Squires and his family.
However, up until four years ago, the lighthouse had been vacant and left to
deteriorate for twenty years until Jill and Sonia started a business there
called Lighthouse Picnics.
Sonia O'Keefe came originally from the Burin peninsula
community of Lawn. Several years ago, spurred on by an interest in organically
grown vegetables and unprocessed food she enrolled in an intensive three month
cooking course at the Ballymaloe Cooking School in Ireland, run by the doyen of
Irish cookery, Darina Allen. Allen has a passion for organically grown food.
Upon returning to Newfoundland Sonia reconnected with her good friend Jill
Curran and as Jill tells it, "Sonia was cooking these four course meals
and inviting me over and her food was so good I figured, I'm either going to
have to get this woman to move in with me or go into some kind of business with
her."
And so they developed the idea to convert the old
Ferryland lighthouse into a kitchen with small “bad weather” inside eating
area, for a business that would essentially serve picnic lunches to people in
the mood for an outdoor feast on a blanket overlooking gorgeous rugged scenery
of ocean, cliffs, rock, bushes and grass. As I mentioned, when the weather
turns bad you can eat inside. The interior of the place is looking better all
the time, as they have been determinedly renovating - when they can afford it.
I arrived with a few friends after our pleasant drive
at about one o'clock on a Friday afternoon. We were required to park our
vehicle in a makeshift parking area located about a fifteen-minute walk from
the actual lighthouse. There was a narrow, steep strip of land with water on either
side that led to the light and the picnic grounds. It was a welcome opportunity
to stretch our legs after our car trip from St. John's.
Once at the lighthouse we placed our orders. They
offered three set picnic menus. One featured a Brie sandwich with salad and
dessert, the second a curried chicken sandwich with salad and dessert and the
third featured a pasta bowl with fresh pesto, as well as fruit salad and
dessert. We ended up ordering all of them. Some of the desserts like coconut
cheese muffins and freshly made fruit and nut bars were on display at the
check-in counter. They made my mouth water. Fortunately between all of the
group we ordered every dessert available, so I knew I'd get to taste them all
if I played my cards right.
We were given blankets, one per couple, and were then
free to pick our pied a terre for our picnic outside among the beautiful,
rugged surroundings on lighthouse point. The blankets had been specially made
of a heavy fabric with tartan print and vinyl, easy-to-clean bottoms. A small
flag was also provided. You stick them in the ground next to your blanket so
that the servers will know which group you are for serving purposes.
After a short time taking in the splendid scenery our
servers arrived with two picnic hampers containing a variety of scrumptious
looking goodies. It's also possible to order individual menu items so we had a
few of those included as well. For example we each got to sample one of
Lighthouse Picnics crab cakes. Wow! Believe me, they were without a doubt the
best crab cakes I have ever tasted. All were beautifully thick - twice as thick
as any I've eaten - crunchy, golden on the outside and brimming with sweet,
succulent fresh crabmeat.
The pasta bowl with pesto featured spaghetti topped
with slices of shaved Parmesan. The pesto, a combination of rich virgin olive
oil, fresh local basil - from Michael Rabinovitch’s organic farm - and garlic
hugged each of the strands of al dente pasta. It was a perfect combination of
classic flavours. A salad of mixed organic greens coated with a mild
vinaigrette had much the same affect, even though the salted pistachios thrown
on top needed to be shelled. It made for an interesting two-part eating
experience as I first shelled my pistachios and ate them, and then greedily
devoured forkfuls of salad leaves. It was a picnic after all and on a picnic
people need to relax and really get stuck into their food.
All of the breads at Lighthouse Picnics are made daily
on site. I peeked in, as they were being brought out of the kitchen and found
the aroma of the beautiful, large loaves of foccacia and whole wheat bread to
be intoxicating. It was like smelling the most wonderful perfume. Needless to
say these breads made fabulous sandwiches. I tried a curried chicken salad on
whole wheat made from fresh roasted chicken in a creamy but lightly seasoned
curry dressing. It was a standard pedestrian curry spice but the whole assembly
made a delicious sandwich.
Two people in our group really enjoyed - or perhaps I
should say raved to the hilltops about - the foccacia sandwiches filled with
super creamy Brie, along with a slice of granny smith apple to add some tasty
tartness to the affair. Those sandwiches looked almost as good as the waiting
desserts, a chocolate ganache cake that was sinfully rich, a simple white layer
cake - made from scratch - that was vanilla-laced ambrosia, a refreshing fruit
salad of watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes and so forth and finally a yummy fun
food, coconut cream muffin. Oh, and I mustn’t forget a fabulous fruit and nut
bar, a combination of various sticky fruits - like dried apricots - and nuts
that had been mixed together, pressed into a cooking sheet and baked. Could
anything possibly be better for you or as tasty?
Our beverage for the picnic was lemonade made from
fresh lemons and served in preserves jars. The lemonade was very good, although
some might find it to be a little sweet. Once you've had lemonade made from
scratch with fresh lemons you'll never be able to have anything else. Speaking
of beverages, the fresh filtered coffee they served us from thermos bottles at
the end was aromatic and oozing lovely roasted coffee flavour.
Lighthouse Picnics will be serving picnics until
October. After that Jill Curran and Sonia O’Keefe will be arranging a program
of fall events, including u-pick berry picking that will include a session of
do-it-yourself baking using your freshly picked berries. As Jill remarked,
"You need to be inventive when you’re operating a business in the fall of
the year out of a lighthouse in Ferryland!"
If you're looking for a casual dining experience that
will impress your visitors or if you and a friend or sweetheart are looking for
a dining experience that's more than memorable I highly recommend Lighthouse
Picnics at Ferryland.
The cost of a picnic for two at Ferryland’s Lighthouse
Picnics - including coffee - was $41.04.
Best Points:
Total
dedication to customers’ enjoyment.
Areas
for Improvement:
A
second restroom is needed to avoid frustrating line-ups.
Ratings
Category:
Lighthouse
Picnics gets 9 out of 10 points.
7 points = satisfactory, 7.5 points = good, 8 points = very good, 9 points = excellent, 10 points = perfection