Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: One Restaurant at 116 Yorkville Avenue
Website: http://one.mcewangroup.ca/
Competition within the restaurant industry is fierce. Every week it seems another handful of restaurants open (albeit some shut down as well). Indeed, one year a restaurant can be considered a best new restaurant with reservations booked solid only to cease operating a mere two years later - Yours Truly and The Grove both unfortunate examples of this.
Address: One Restaurant at 116 Yorkville Avenue
Website: http://one.mcewangroup.ca/
Group shot with Mark McEwan and Michelle Jobin (1)
Competition within the restaurant industry is fierce. Every week it seems another handful of restaurants open (albeit some shut down as well). Indeed, one year a restaurant can be considered a best new restaurant with reservations booked solid only to cease operating a mere two years later - Yours Truly and The Grove both unfortunate examples of this.
So, to
not only survive but thrive within this intense environment is no small feat.
Mark McEwan's empire of the restaurants (and now supermarkets) has endured over
20 years of service since the opening of North 44. Obviously, he's doing
something right.
This McEwan
All Access was very different from my first experience earlier in the year. It
was more intimate and seemed calmer set in the dimly lit bar at One (much to
the detriment of my photos). Of course, Mark still walked around and took time
to converse with all in attendance.
Over the
course of the night, I learnt more about his newest business venture - the
second McEwan shop that’s expected to open April 2014 in the bustling TD Centre
(also home to Bymark). The office crowd will be treated to tons of prepared
food options served for all three meals (opening 6:30am and closing 7pm). Mark
expects most customers will grab-and-go; but, there will be a 45-person seating
area for those who prefer to eat there. And I'm sure there will be also be a
catering department supplying all the office buildings.
But, I
also found out more about Mark's personal life. In his spare time he cooks for
his family, likes to relax at his Georgian Bay cottage and has a garden to grow
fresh ingredients. He's also artistic and sometime creates dishes by sketching
out the plate before sending it to the Executive Chefs to tweek and recreate in
real life.
During
the evening, our $60 tickets treated us to unlimited drinks and tons of passed
bites to tantalize the taste buds. A special thank you for the photos go to
Jeffrey Chan courtesy of The McEwan Group. Sadly, my smartphone’s pictures
would not do the food justice, I'm sure you can tell which ones were taken by me.
The tacos
were the perfect filling to tortilla ratio. Each was topped with a big plump
fried shrimp, red pepper jam, pickled shallots, a light ginger aoili and some
greenery to tie everything together.
Both
steak and tuna tartare was available that night. The steak sitting on a crispy
crostini and mixed with quail egg, arugula, pickled shallot and black truffle
shavings. The tuna tartare spoons, on the other hand, was light and refreshing
spiked with some Asian ingredients.
Beef tartare (1)
The pork
belly buns were a hit with a soft steam bun wrapped around juicy pieces of
"cha shu" pork belly, some pickled carrot slaw, coriander and topped
with a yuzu aioli. Bahn Mi Boys and Momofuku Noodle House fans would love these.
Pork belly steamed buns (1)
I love
deviled eggs and glad they are now showing up more on menus. At One, theirs are
made with smaller quail egg and topped with caviar, a sprinkling of chives and
some sweet pickled shallot.
Italian
creations were served including a fried risotto cake filled with a creamy
buffalo mozzarella cheese and topped with basil and balsamic. A delicious and
rich mushroom risotto was also passed around, something I could definitely have
a bigger portion of. Of course, the shaved truffles sprinkled on top doesn't
hurt either.
Risotto cakes (1)
Mushroom risotto spoons (1)
Seafood
spoons made their way around including a blue crab with avocado sweetened
slightly with a red onion marmalade. My favourite, so much so that I had three,
was the plump sweet pieces of butter poached lobster. Simple but absolutely
delicious.
Crab and avocado spoons (1)
There was
even a couple of desserts being passed at the end including hot freshly made
mini doughnuts (I tried the cinnamon sugar) and rich raspberry cheesecake
bites.
We didn't
leave empty handed, with a gift bag of merchandise thrown in. The best item was
an autographed copy of McEwan's cookbook Great Food At Home.
Unlike
most foodies, I'm not much of a cookbook collector. Personally, I believe we
should let the experts do what they do best and this means I will not be
attempting dishes with 20 ingredients, take two days to prepare and require a blowtorch.
While waiting for the bathroom at Alinea (there's only one stall), they had
their cookbook outside to keep waiters entertained. I was shocked to see that
one recipe could reference three other recipes throughout the book and a simple
powder for garnishing calls for ten ingredients and has to be prepared a day
beforehand.
So, I was
pleasantly surprised, while flipping through 'Great Food At Home',
to see that almost all recipes were only a page long and many contained less
than ten ingredients. They didn’t seem daunting and appears like something I
can make. You can head here to get your own copy of Great Food At Home.
Not
pictured, but also within our gift bag, was also a bottle of Stoneleigh
sauvignon blanc. I ended up giving it to Owen, patron we met at the bar, in
hopes he'll add it into his wine collection amongst the $100+ bottles. The @theuncorkedbtl and I had met him while hanging around the bar. He ended up treating us to a
nice bottle of red wine and regaled us with such interesting conversation.
I had
gone to the McEwan All Access event wanting to get Mark’s thoughts about the
changing landscape for restaurateurs. There's so much choice for customers with
restaurants opening up in every nook and cranny - some are even driven around
in the form of brightly coloured food trucks! Add in social media and food bloggers
(everyone has an opinion and admittedly I’m guilty of expressing mine) and
customer expectations are increasing and likely becoming more demanding. Alas,
in our conversations I never did get a chance to understand Mark's view on this
new environment and how he stays competitive.
So, it
was a lucky fluke that I met Owen, a loyal customer of One. On the Monday of
the event, he had stopped by the bar just to have a couple of glasses of wine
and watch football. My question to him - what was it about One that keeps him
coming back?
He
narrowed it down to:
- Location – he’s not going to travel far and valet is always a plus;
- Layout – he dislikes posts disrupting his (and staff members) views;
- Good food; and
- A restaurant who’s willing and able to build a relationship. For him, he has no qualms of visiting a place and spending lots of money on food and wine. But, the restaurant needs to recognize that and reciprocate with a last minute reservation if he ever requires. A win-win situation some would say.
As a
blogger I visit a lot of restaurants. Indeed, many of them are outstanding and
I'd like to visit regularly. But, with little resources and so many options
available, I can't help but desire trying something new. Those that I consistently
visit is inevitably due to its proximity (again all about location). But, it's
questionable whether I'm racking up the bill totals that would be impressive
enough for a restaurant to remember me (somehow I sense $50 bottles of wine won’t
classify me for an elite status).
So,
although it's important to maintain a positive social media presence. It doesn’t
guarantee you success. Being able to produce good food and hiring the right
staff who recognizes loyal customers are perhaps the most important factors for
longevity. Also, locating yourself around target customers is important – for fine
dining restaurants, affluent individuals tend not to trek to the city borders to
eat and subject themselves to Green P parking and rustic dining rooms. In the
end, it seems to come down to every business's fundamentals - know your
customer, meet their needs, don't let quality slip and innovate as necessary.
And it's
seems that Mark McEwan has mastered this formula. Although he will pleasantly
converse with me and make me feel welcomed, it’s unlikely he’ll depend on me.
Rather, making patrons like Owen feel valued so that they'll walk in on a
Monday to have $40 glasses of wine and watch the game, that’s the likely secret
to his success.
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Photo Sources:
Photo Sources:
- Photos were generously provided by Jeffrey Chan courtesy of The McEwan Group
