Lynn Crawford’s Ruby Watchco opens tonight

Lynn Crawford’s Ruby Watchco opens tonight

After months of buzz on food blogs and Twitter feeds anticipating chef Lynn Crawford’s return to Toronto, her new restaurant, Ruby Watchco, will finally welcome its first diners tonight. Cherie Stinson of Restaurant Makeover, who is a partner with her husband Joey Skeir, has transformed the space formerly occupied by The Citizen into a dimly lit, autumn-toned dining room. Crawford will run the kitchen with Lora Kirk, who previously cooked at the Four Seasons.

Crawford tells martiniboys.com that the menu will change every night, but expect traditional app, main, cheese and dessert plates, along with a week-long prix-fixe menu.

Tonight’s maiden menu: caesar salad with butter-poached chicken, corn, garlic croutons and a poached egg to start, followed by a grilled flank steak with black pepper, smoked mushrooms and onions, parsnips, and creamed leeks and spinach. The cheese plate consists of a decade-old cheddar from Ottawa, balsamic onion chutney with honey, and raisin-walnut bread. And to end the night, a lemon tart.

Ruby Watchco, 730 Queen St. E., 416-465-0100, rubywatchco.ca.

• Ruby Watchco, Toronto [Martini Boys]