Welcome to Highland Drive Catering and Culinary Lessons!

Highland Drive Catering is about supporting our growing community and creating connections through food. Working with local farmers, wine makers, brewers, and with wonderful community members, Highland Drive Catering is excited to get to know you. I invite you to come, be a part of our services and enjoy fun to try recipes posted on my weekly blog.

Eat, Drink and enjoy! – Jessi Gillis

Getting to the Meat of the Matter
April 3, 2012:

When Jessi Gillis opens her butcher shop in Halifax’s Hydrostone area, it’ll be different than when she worked at a family-owned shop in Toronto, before regulations got as tight as they are now. “It was really great because you could actually get in whole carcasses and do the skinning there, complete butchery, then go into production of sausages and whatnot,” said Gillis, who, despite lots of hands-on training, doesn’t consider herself an expert. “I am informally trained. I think butchery, similar to cooking, is . . . a continual learning process. There’s something historical and beautiful about butchery that I don’t think at my young age of 24 I could ever say, ‘I’m a butcher.’ Do I understand meat, and can I break it down? Yes. Can I create from it? Absolutely. And I’m interested in learning more.” Gillis’s shop, named for the street her grandparents lived on in Antigonish, will be called Highland Drive Storehouse when it opens in a few weeks.

Source: www.thechronicleherald.ca

New local butcher and produce market to open in the Hydrostone
February 16, 2012:

Jessi Gillis worked in Ontario for six years. The Haligonian was really impressed by the connection some consumers had with their suppliers. “I saw some amazing small-scale butcher shops there,” she says. Coming back to Halifax, she noted the locavore movement really taking off, especially with the growing success of farmers’ markets and was inspired to open her own butcher shop. That’s what Highland Drive Storehouse (5544 Kaye Street) will offer, come April; local meat and produce directly from the Annapolis Valley. “I love Nova Scotia,” says Gillis.”I think we have beautiful farmers and amazing practises.” She’s currently operating a catering and culinary arts instruction business, which you can find out more about by visiting highlanddrive.ca/catering. She’ll continue to do that from the shop when it opens.

Source: www.thecoast.ca

The Bees Knees – Jessi Gillis and Highland Drive
July 28, 2011:

Offering culinary lessons, catered meals, or even the opportunity to have a private chef for
the evening, Jessi is living proof that food can be fresh, fun, and exciting. After attending one of Jessi’s events, we had to know more about who she was, where she came from, and what makes her tick (apart from whipping up some of the tastiest dishes you ever did eat – mini chocolate-chip cherry-ice cream sandwiches anyone?).

Source: www.haligonia.ca