A former Alo chef is opening a new restaurant in the old Harbord Room space
Bar Eugenie is Rebekah Bruce’s first solo project
In a pattern that sheds a glimmer of hope in otherwise terrible times, a healthy handful of the city’s new restaurants are owned and operated by women: General Public (Jen Agg), Maven (Shauna Godfrey), Yan Dining Room (Eva Chin), Gia and Stefano’s (Jennifer Coburn), and And/Ore (a whole team of women, with chef Missy Hui heading up the kitchen). The latest addition to this list is Bar Eugenie, a fine-dining spot opening soon in the old Harbord Room space, recently vacated by Piccolo Piano.
It’s owned and operated by chef Rebekah Bruce and general manager Ronnie Fishman, who met during their years working for Alo Food Group. “Ronnie and I connected over the fact that the women in our life are strong, influential and epic,” says Bruce. “We named our restaurant Bar Eugenie because we wanted to give a shout out to Eugénie Brazier, the first chef to ever be awarded six Michelin stars. She’s an OG French chef, but barely anyone has heard of her—likely because she was a woman working in a man’s field.”
Despite its namesake, Bar Eugenie isn’t going to be a French restaurant. “I worked in a couple of Michelin-starred restaurants in London, England, that were very focused on whole animal treatment in a very British way,” Bruce says. “That influence—in combination with having a Filipino mother who never wasted a crumb and a paternal grandmother who was obsessed with canning and preserving—makes up my ethos in the kitchen.”
Bruce plans to champion Canadian ingredients through the lens of her culture and culinary experience in a tight rotating list of sharable plates. But she doesn’t want her menu to exist in a vacuum. “We have such great restaurants as our neighbours,” says Bruce. “I want people to dine like I dine. Customers should be able to grab a cocktail at Maven, an appetizer at our spot and an entrée at Dreyfus. Our menus should speak to one another and be reflexive. This is a thriving community, not a competition.”
Bar Eugenie is scheduled to open at the end of July, when a 35-seat patio will double the diminutive space’s capacity.
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Erin Hershberg is a freelance writer with nearly two decades of experience in the lifestyle sector. She currently lives in downtown Toronto with her husband and two children.
