The Neptune Drive-In has been a Shediac landmark since the 1960s. When the lights dim and the film begins, it is possible to forget you are in the twenty-first century entirely. Morse et Marteaux runs the canteen on the Drive-In grounds, which means that the forgetting can be done with a brisket sandwich in one hand and a bag of popcorn in the other.
The menu here runs in two directions at once. On one side, the drive-in classics every theatre-goer expects: hot dogs, poutines, fries, popcorn, ice cream, and the kind of large drink that justifies the walk to the washroom halfway through the feature. On the other side, what our smokehouses do everywhere else we go: brisket, pulled pork, and ribs, pulled straight from the same approach that fuels our downtown, beach, and arena locations. The overlap is our favourite kind of cooking. A poutine topped with smoked brisket is not a drive-in classic anywhere else. It’s here.
The smoker that feeds this canteen is a 1000-gallon Texas-style offset smoker, the largest in Atlantic Canada, parked on the Drive-In grounds and visible from the field. It runs before every show, sending a low hardwood scent across the gravel lot that is genuinely part of the visit. If you have not smelled brisket while waiting for the sun to set over a movie screen, there is a specific Saturday evening waiting for you.
The canteen is open for every show night through the Drive-In’s operating season, and again on Saturday mornings throughout July and August when Bazar Neptune takes over the grounds. If there is a crowd on the field, we are feeding them.
The Walrus, in the original poem, was fond of gathering people and feeding them. The Neptune canteen agrees with him on that point, and on very little else.
MAY & JUNE: Showings on Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Gates & Canteen open at 8pm.
JULY: Showings 5 nights a week, from Friday, to Tuesday. Gates & Canteen open at 8pm.
AUGUST: Showings 5 nights a week, from Friday, to Tuesday. Gates & Canteen open at 7:30pm. In late August, Gates & Canteen open at 7pm.
SEPTEMBER: Showings on Friday & Saturday only. Gates & Canteen open at 6:30pm.
OCTOBER: Showings on Friday & Saturday only. Gates & Canteen open at 5:30pm. In mid-October, Gates & Canteen open at 5pm.
The kitchen stays open for one hour after the first movie starts. Concessions are open until after the second film begins.
185 Parlee Beach Road
Pointe-du-Chêne, NB
E4P 4M9
(506) 532-4006
395b Main Street
Shediac, NB
E4P 2B1
(506) 532-4006
Shediac Wonderland is the family of Alice-in-Wonderland-inspired businesses created by Sébastien Després and Heather Wright. Le Moque-Tortue (our board game bistro), Morse et Marteaux BBQ (our smokehouses throughout Shediac), Le Griffon (bed & breakfast), The Neptune (our Drive-In Theatre), Adorable Chocolat (our artisanal chocolaterie), Bazar Neptune (Saturday market), the Shediac Renaissance Faire, and Witzend Tours & Adventures (tours, escape rooms, and concierge): each one a chapter of a larger story about what happens when a community decides to take play seriously.
Texas BBQ, Acadian Style
Wood-fired
1000-gallon offset