A Visit to Grandma’s House
“I was put on this planet for two purposes,” says Darlene Jardine “and that’s to serve people good food and to love little kids.”
The good food and the love are evident when you step inside Darlene’s Teahouse and Family Restaurant. It’s a little off the beaten track. You take Highway 8 from Fredericton or Miramichi and turn east along the Barnettville Road, just north of Blackville. The paved country road twists and turns for just over three kilometres before depositing you by the giant teapot that marks number 186 and the entrance to Darlene’s.
“The building used to be a country store,” explains the friendly hostess. “They were going to tear it down, but I bought it and turned it into my own little spot. I planted gardens all around, and now people just flock here. They love the old place and the preserved authenticity of it.”
The immaculate rooms do have an old-fashioned, rustic character, with their barnboard walls and wide windows looking out on woodland greenery. But there’s a note of nineteenth-century elegance, as well, in the collection of antique china and the sepia photographs of New Brunswick in days gone by.
And then there’s the food.
Darlene has been cooking since she was eleven. Her father — “He’s the best dad in the world!” she exclaims, smiling fondly — was a cook in the Quebec lumber camps. Darlene herself has cooked in more situations than most members of her profession even imagine. She has fed hundreds of hungry men in remote northern mining camps. She has prepared meals for the elegant patrons of exclusive restaurants. She has roasted as many as 27 hips of beef for a single, catered banquet. But wherever she cooks, she has a single motto: “I always do it for the people. I hope God lets me live to be 100 so I’ll still be around to feed them.”
Those who come to the tearoom leave well satisfied. Darlene’s menu features traditional Miramichi comfort foods: grilled salmon, fiddlehead chowder, home-baked beans with brown bread, and old-fashioned apple dumplings.
By special reservation, parties of six or more (Darlene prefers at least ten) may order a Victorian high tea. Then, lace doilies and linen dress the tables where Atlantic salmon and cucumber sandwiches appear, followed by oven-fresh scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam and, to finish, a surprise dessert. Perhaps there will be crepes, or blueberry cake with lemon curd, or dark, delicious gingerbread. In more than one visitor’s opinion, “It’s even better than high tea at the Empress in Victoria, British Columbia.”
On these occasions, Darlene plays the gracious hostess, dressed in period costume and pouring from an exquisite china teapot, while she regales the company with recipes and tales of the river. An accomplished storyteller, she makes every participant feel like a cherished member of the family. A recent entry in the guest book sums up the experience this way: “It’s like falling from Heaven into Grandma’s house.”
DARLENE JARDINE
Proprietor/Owner
DARLENE’S TEA HOUSE
186 Barnettville Rd.
Barnettville (Off Route 8, near Blackville)
506-843-7979
www.darlenesteahouse.com