Ruby Chinese Restaurant, Toronto, Canada, at Finch and McCowan. I have eaten there many times, and had good service and good quality. Mistakes occur in any venture, and restaurants are no exception. This week Ruby was cited for a bad salmonella outbreak that sicked 36 peopleand was closed by Toronto Public Health. It then failed a second inspection.

It does not look very good for Ruby, but they will eventually recover. Many other Chinese restaurants have been closed due to unsanitary conditions in the past, only to recover and flourish. I guess I’m used to it. Maybe that is the way the system works.

Unluckily for Ruby, today’s Globe and Mail published a great review of Ruby Restaurant in Joanne Kates’ column “On the Menu”. So much for the great free advertising. Though it is published in paper format, I cannot find it on the Globe’s web site.

Over all, Ruby’s food is distinguished by a paucity of cornstarch, a dab hand at the deep fryer and a refreshing absence of grease, making it more than worth the special journey to Finch and McCowan if you’re not from the neighbourhood.

It is ironic that the Globe and Mail would not notice that Toronto Public Health had closed Ruby down, having failed a health inspection for the second time. Even my local Scarborough Mirror has an article on the shutdown of Ruby. I’d say that the Globe and Mail is out of touch with local Toronto news.

While I have been to Ruby Restaurant in the past and enjoyed my meal, I’ll give them a wide berth for a long time until they get their act together. There’s no point in risking my family’s health due to their sloppiness. Chinese restaurants in Scarborough are plentiful and very competitive, so options abound.

P.S. A Toronto Star article published on Sunday (today) states that many people are just itching to get back into the restaurant. Please, the place was closed by Toronto Public Health for a reason, so why risk your health for a single meal? One guy eats there 3 times a week? Wow, that’s too much. There is clearly a health problem at the place, so let Ruby clean up their act so as to not poison the public at large. These diners must have excruciatingly low standards or don’t believe the results from Toronto Public Health.

In what appears to be a colossal case of bad timing, the Globe and Mail’sJoanne Kates offered a glowing review of Ruby Chinese Restaurant a full three days after health inspectors had closed it down. Apparently the Scarborough restaurant flunked its inspection due to dirty floors, an infestation of cockroaches, inadequately cleaned cooking surfaces, raw meat maintained at the wrong temperature and, last but not least, salmonella. The investigation was prompted last week after an outbreak of salmonella poisoning that left at least 18 people sick was linked to food served at Ruby. Authorities are also investigating the death of an elderly man who ate there, as well as 15 other potential cases.

The publishing of Kates’ review was, we assume, a regrettable accident—it has been taken down from theGlobe’s Web site and paper has yet to return our e-mails—but some loyal fans of Ruby don’t care one way or the other. “Many customers are crying that it’s closed down,” one loyalist told the Star. “Jean Chrétien ate there.”



The legends on the postcards call Ruby Foo’s “The Showplace of Montreal,” and give its address: 7815 Decarie Blvd Montreal.”  They go on to note that the restaurant “specializi[es] in Chinese & American Dishes, Sea Food, and Entertainment” and offers “3 Cocktail lounges, 4 Dining Rooms, seating capacity 600 and Free Parking.”





Another card indicates a seating capacity of 700 and “Continuous Entertainment Nightly.”

Although Leonard Cohen’s description of Ruby Foo’s  as  a “Chinese restaurant” is technically correct, Ruby Foo’s, as can be inferred from the documentation that follows, was actually a center of Montreal’s night life and social activity, especially for the Jewish community, that happened to serve Chinese food:

An article from Billboard Oct 25, 1947 credits Ruby Foo’s with starting a boom in cocktail entertainment in Montreal.

Still further north on Decarie were the drive-in curb service restaurants. The Bonfire, Miss Montreal, Orange Julip. Also Piazza Tomasso where Uncle Tom did his magic tricks and Ruby Foo’s where you could have your picture taken and have it appear on match covers. This was a watering hole for the 3 martini business types during the day and at night a gathering place for mostly Jewish folks who wanted to see and be seen. From Spacing Montreal

 Big Band and Dixieland Jazz came first to Montreal where it was in full swing by the 1940s, and could be danced to at the Palais d’Or, the Verdun Pavilian, the Black Sheep Room at Ruby Foo’s, the Bellevue Casino, and Dagwood’s. From A Canadian Family

 In the early 50s, Bruce [Ho]  worked a variety of jobs, notably at Ruby Foo’s on 52nd Street and Broadway, smack in the middle of the Great White Way. Ruby Foo’s fun and successful style is still being copied today – she first opened in Boston and then New York, followed by Montreal and a small place in Miami much later. It’s believed that the Italian underworld helped Ruby come to New York. From The Ineffable Bruce Ho: Restaurateur

 Irwin Leopold, who owned the landmark Montreal restaurant Ruby Foo’s and was a founder of Mondev International, the development company responsible for Westmount Square and the Banque Canadienne National Building at Place d’Armes, died of cancer yesterday. …  “He was a magnet. Everybody from every community in the city wanted to know Irwin Leopold at Ruby Foo’s,” his son Stephen told The Gazette. … “Until it closed, Ruby Foo’s was a place where everyone congregated. It seated up to 1,300. No place has really replaced it in terms of just everybody being there.” The Decarie Blvd. restaurant closed in 1984 after a protracted labour dispute. From Wednesday Night  July 7, 2004 .

Truly, they have manage to server the people with love and food and history about their wonderful place. For years of loving the recipes and the customer they really truly became the great place for people looking for beautiful and wonderful places all around the world.

And I can say that they made some history the world will never forget....