Romaine hearts, smoked blue haze (blue cheese), Thompson Yukon gold hickory sticks, country ham and bosc pears with darling honey vinaigrette, made this starter salad a close contender to my old time favourite 17 ingredient slaw from Chef Susur Lee. The combined taste of the pears with the vinaigrette and the cheese was something I think I will only experience once, or at least not until I get this in a future menu at Ruby. We also decided to pair our entire meal with the featured wine of the night, a sweet and intense Pinot Gris from the Alsace region of France. No further introduction needed, I’d say. 

The second course was a Pan seared Trout with Newburg Seafood Salad.

The trout was tender and fresh; but besides the freshness of the fish, combined with the freshness of shrimp and mussels found at the bottom of the casserole (this is Chef Crawford’s homey plating style, love it), we found ourselves floating in a delicious Bouillabaisse style broth. Another finding was realizing Ruby will ensure you leave with a full tummy. The main course also came with roasted Fingerling Potatoes (right), sauteed greens with Chorizo Coins (top left) and Braised Fennel with Spinach Hazelnut Pesto (bottom left). This in itself would have been enough; ok I take that back, knowing me I could have eaten two of these.

As a meal digestif (or at least I like to call it that), we had the Chèvre Noir.

Placed on top of a tasty toast (how many t’s is that?), the Chèvre Noir was my Pièce de Résistance. Once again I take that back, maybe Chef Crawford cooking for us that night was the actual pièce; but either way, we had too many resistances here. Personally, I think “resistance” should translate to (although it doesn’t) IRRESISTIBLE.

Last but not least, our dessert course…Ruby’s Cold “Hot” Chocolate.

Dessert consisted of a house made marshmallow foam with praline crumble. I believe this is Crawford’s version of a lovely Hot Chocolate, but cold (sarcasm alert). Jokes aside, this was a lovely way to end our meal. I do have to admit I was not entirely a fan of its temperature. I guess the dessert was made that morning and placed in the fridge in time for the night; however my dessert was way too cold for my personal taste, and the ceramic cup was also freezing. I would’ve appreciated Ruby leaving it out a bit before.

For some of you that are wondering if Chef Crawford made it to our table, well let me tell you she did! Not only every time I glanced up I saw her cooking in the semi-open concept kitchen, but she also stopped by. I am ashamed to say that I was so star-struck that the only words that came out of my mouth were “Big fan, I love you”. Seriously? Out of all the things I could have said to one of my favourite Chefs, this is what comes out? I wanted to tell her about my blog, my passion for cooking and trying new and exciting restaurants, but instead I left her with an uncomfortable situation. Her reply – “Oh, you are fun”. Oh well, next time I will control myself.

Until next time Foodies!

Buen Provecho,
Foodies Inked.