On The Town: Ruby Watchco

Ruby Watchco
730 Queen Street East
Toronto, ON
M4M 1H2
t. 416 465-0100
f. 416-465-7119
e. info@rubywatchco.ca

(Photo borrowed from Toronto Life)

Truth be told when I first heard about Ruby Watchco I wasn’t too excited.  I had heard the name Lynn Crawford before (Manhattan Four Seasons and Food Network Canada Star) but it didn’t resonate for me in a meaningful way.  The restaurant is a bit east of my usual stomping ground (Queen and Broadview). AND it’s a set menu where you only find out what’s being served the day of. ANNNNDDDD it costs $49.

I had pretty much written off the place until I started hearing great things about it.  Sure a lot of people are bandwagon jumpers and excited by the names behind the place but as I started looking at the menus the food sounded delicious.  So my work bestie and I decided to make a reservation for a few weeks out so that we could do a day-by-day menu analysis to make sure that we wanted to go.  And yes, we really did study the menus every day!

As I mentioned earlier Ruby Watchco is the brainchild of Lynn Crawford (former executive chef at the Four Seasons and star of various Food Network Canada shows) and husband and wife co-owners Cherie Stinson (Restaurant Makeover) and Joey Skeir.  Stinson’s background  is in design and it’s apparent throughout the restaurant.  The space is gorgeous.  I fell in love with the wall of drawers at the front immediately as I walked in.  The restaurant features an open kitchen and a finishing table that juts more out into the dining room.  The space is elegant without being stuffy and definitely has an edge to it.  I’m also in love with the Ruby Watch Co sign that takes centre stage inside and incidentally was picked up at a store years before the recipe was even an idea.

What sets Ruby Watchco apart from  restaurants in the city is that they do one prix fixe each night that changes nightly.  It’s a really neat concept.  In interviews Crawford compares the lack of choice available to her patrons to going over to someone’s house for dinner.  You don’t get a choice in what you eat, you just eat (although the typical dinner party doesn’t cost $49…).  With that said it’s a dinner party prepared by one of the best chefs.  It’s also served family style.  If you have any special dietary issues (vegetarian, gluten-free etc) you can inform the restaurant when you make your reservation (although they did ask us when we arrived AND confirmed once we looked at the menu).

The menu for our meal was as follows:

RUBYS’ PICKLED WATERMELON, WILD LEEKS and MUSTARD GREENS SALAD
FETA CHEESE WITH HAZELNUT VINAIGRETTE

RUBY’S CHICKEN CACCITORE
TRUFFLED MAC and CHEESE, GRILLED BABY ZUCCHINI WITH BASIL BUTTER,
SWEET CORN PEPPERONATA

FROMAGERIE TOURILLI’S BOUQETIN CHERVE
ONTARIO RHUBARB CHUTNEY, COUNTRY BREAD

LEMON PANNA COTTA
BLACK PEPPER and BALSAMIC STRAWBERRIES

Things were off to a good start with the salad.  It was one of the freshest meals I’ve had in a long time.  All of the produce tasted and looked like someone had just foraged for it.  I had never had pickled watermelon but I really liked the texture and taste that it contributed to the salad.  Overall there was a nice balance of flavours and textures in the salad and everything really worked well together.  I now want to eat wild leeks all the time.  The one downside here was that I didn’t really get a lot of hazelnut flavour from the vinaigrette, but it was still great.  The salad was also served with some cheddar and maybe chive biscuits and some house-churned butter.  Clearly they had me at hello.

I was pretty indifferent when I saw that our main was Chicken Caccitore.  I’m not a huge chicken fan and I probably wouldn’t order Chicken Caccitore but I figured that it would be some pretty darned good chicken.  The chicken was really tender and juicy and I enjoyed it but wasn’t blown away.  What really stood out for me were the sides!  Truffled mac and cheese? SO GOOD! Grilled baby zucchini? I didn’t even know baby zucchini were an option!  They were so fresh tasting and were so zucchini-y. I was also a fan of the sweet corn pepperonata although I could have used more if it.  I think Lynn Crawford should have a restaurant called Sides and serve only side dishes. Heaven.  Shout outs go to the use of Le Creuset pieces to serve everything.  So cute!

The cheese course brought out the most laughs.  It was a goat cheese but it was SO goat-y.  It kind of tasted like I was sucking on a goat udder (not that I’ve ever done that).  Or as I said at dinner “It tastes like a barn”.  Don’t get me wrong, I love a goat cheese but this was a bit too much even for me.  I did enjoy the country bread and the rhubarb chutney.  I could have eaten about a pound of that.

Is it just me or is panna cotta popping up everywhere all of a sudden?  I’m usually pretty indifferent about panna cotta, I can take it or leave it.  I have to say I was ALL ABOUT this panna cotta.  It was super lemony and tarte which was just what I needed after the cheese.  The flavours were so bright and fresh.  I also loved the strawberry compote on top.

At the end of the meal I wanted to make a reservation to come again. It was that good.  The service was attentive and comfortable.  The space was gorgeous. And the portions were more than generous for two people.  We left stuffed.  While Ruby Watchco isn’t an everynight kind of restaurant for me it’s definitely on my list of places to hit up when I want a “nicer” meal.

Check out the links below to see what others have to say…

The National Post
The Toronto Star
Now Magazine
The Globe and Mail <– my fave review (even though it’s super negative). Joanne Kates was ripe on this one!