With all the buzz surrounding Chef Crawford’s return to Toronto, I was eager to experience her new restaurant, but also worried that expectations would he so high there would be no way for her to meet them. In the lead up to the opening of Ruby Watchco., Lynn Crawford was mum on the details of her new menu, saying only that it would showcase local farmers and food. When she finally opened her doors on the site that used to house The Citizen, it quickly became apparent why Lynn was so coy: the $49 menu changes every day. That’s pretty bold and I can’t imagine how much creative energy gets expelled every day in developing something new. On this night, it pays off.
The place was buzzing; not a table was empty and no bar stool was left unattended to for more than 10 minutes. Conversation filled the air, servers worked at a brisk pace with an extra beat in their step, and the kitchen was right there for all to see: Lynn Crawford conducting her team, giving each plate a finishing touch before servers whisked them off to the next table.
On tonight’s menu? A beautiful endive salad with candied walnut and Benedictine blue cheese. Like the rest of the meal, the salad comes out in a big bowl for sharing. The salad is more delicate than I had anticipated. The walnuts, though candied and sweet, taste more like they were roasted. The blue cheese is a delight and the radishes add a nice bite. The vinaigrette is delicate and the addition of dill and parsley help to give the salad a bit of lift. The best part of the first course is the buttermilk and chive scone served with house made butter. I seriously could have packed 12 to go and called it a night.
The main was just perfect: slow roasted sirloin of beef with stroganoff sauce. It comes with three sides, all of which are served in red enameled cast iron cookware. There’s buttered egg noodles, red beets and haricots with white beans, and cremini mushrooms and caramelized onion. The beef is perfectly cooked to the chef’s recommendation of medium; the stroganoff sauce is divine, the beets of earthy flavours; les haricots and white beans tangy; and the cremini mushrooms rich and addictive. At this point we’re ready to call it a night. We’re seriously stuffed. But wait! There’s more!
Our server brings out our next dish: 10 year old Ottawa Valley cheddar with Elmira’s Tomato Chutney and balsamic reduction. The cheddar just melts in the mouth and the balsamic reduction oh so sweet. The tomato chutney is also amazing – I could eat it out of the jar. When we finally eat the last bite of the cheese, our server can tell we’re one bite away from having to unbuckle. She asks us if we’d like a break before having dessert and we kindly take her up on the offer.
We eventually give her permission to bring out the morello cherry shortcakes. We get a sandwich of two shortcake biscuits with Hewitt’s Dairy Sweet Vanilla Cream in between. Though the cream is nice and rich, and the cherries sweet and sour, the biscuits don’t wow me the same way the rest of the meal did. They taste a bit too much of baking soda for my liking, but that’s if I only really had to find a criticism.
We had a fantastic dinner, in a cool space, with outstanding service. And for $49 per person, we got more than our money’s worth in both quantity and quality. Ruby Watchco will be a regular stop for me now. Besides, with the menu changing on a daily basis, I almost have no choice. Hmmmm, Lynn Crawford might be just as good a businesswoman as she is a chef…
