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All stories relating to The Citizen

The Dish

Opening
September 19, 2011 | 2:11 pm

37 Comments

Introducing: Hey Meatball!, Rodney Bowers’s new Little Italy mix ’n’ match meatball joint

Kyle Brown and Rodney Bowers outside Hey Meatball!’s College Street storefront (Image: Caroline Aksich)

On a wall in Rodney Bowers’s new College Street venture Hey Meatball!, there’s a photo of a bandana-clad Bowers holding up a sign that reads “You’ll love the taste of our balls.” Bowers’s name is usually associated with more elevated dining—he worked at Mistura, opened The Citizen and The Rosebud and consulted for The Gabardine—but after getting married and having a daughter, he wanted a break from the high-stress world of $45 entrées.

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The Dish

De-licious
June 9, 2010 | 3:28 pm

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Summerlicious 2010: the restaurants have been announced, so let’s pick them apart

The view from Toula: be a tourist in your own city (Image: Ian Muttoo)

First things first: there’s not much change under the Summerlicious sun. All of the old favourites are here (including Canoe and Bymark, which always sell out first). Seven Numbers, which by Winter/Summerlicious rules is allowed only one location, has swapped out its Danforth location for its Eglinton one. Winterlicious participant Conviction is out for the summer edition as the second season of Conviction Kitchen films in Vancouver. The new owners of Crush Wine Bar are apparently not feeling the ’licious love—nor is Moroco. And while The Citizen’s digs are alive and kicking under new ownership, its vaunted replacement, Ruby Watchco, is opting out.

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The Dish

From the Print Edition
May 31, 2010 | 12:03 pm

8 Comments

The Fixe Is In: James Chatto on Lynn Crawford’s new restaurant, Ruby Watchco

At Lynn Crawford’s new restaurant, customers eat whatever she feels like cooking that day. The concept is bold and bossy, but the celeb chef has the talent and swagger to pull it off By James Chatto

I had to admire their cool. With only four hours to go before the grand opening of Ruby Watchco, the restaurant’s three owners—chef Lynn Crawford, designer Cherie Stinson and her husband, front-of-house veteran Joey Skeir—were showing no sign of nerves. They were just sitting around the lunch table at the back of the restaurant, laughing and swapping renovation stories over a bottle of pinot grigio and an excellent chicken cobb salad made by head chef Lora Kirk. If this were an episode of Restaurant Makeover, the TV show that made Crawford and Stinson celebrities, there would be cussing and tears and all sorts of last-minute nail-biting melodramas to negotiate. But everything was pretty much ready, or would be once the last of the green masking tape was peeled off the front window. Even the tall boughs of quince blossom in a vase on the bar co-operated: all the buds popped open that morning, precisely on cue.

Lynn Crawford (left) and head chef Lora Kirk at their new restaurant, Ruby Watchco, on Queen East (Image: Ryan Szulc)

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The Dish

Opening
March 23, 2010 | 4:05 pm

2 Comments

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.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO
January 22, 2010 | 11:00 am

11 Comments

Lynn Crawford’s new Riverdale restaurant to open in March

Celebrity chef and Restaurant Makeover star Lynn Crawford’s much-anticipated Riverdale restaurant, located in The Citizen’s former space, is set to open in March after its renovation is complete. The name, Ruby Watchco, comes from a 13-foot sign co-owners Cherie Stinson (a Restaurant Makeover interior designer) and husband Joey Skeir found at the Junction decor shop Cornerstone a few years ago. They immediately knew that the odd moniker would be the name of their dream restaurant.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO
January 22, 2010 | 9:34 am

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The Rosebud up for grabs at $95K

Chef Rod Bowers is hoping to sell his Queen West restaurant The Rosebud by March 1—four days before his wife is due to give birth to their new daughter.

“I’m going to take some time off and see what it’s like to be a dad,” says Bowers, who has put the restaurant on the market at a shockingly low $95,000. “I’ve been in the kitchen since I was 18, so we’ll see how it goes. It’s time to step back. The Rosebud is great and all, but it’ll be great for someone else to take over.” Bowers’ other restaurant, The Citizen, was sold to star chef Lynn Crawford and Cherie Stinson in early January; the two are planning a March opening.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO
November 25, 2009 | 11:11 am

2 Comments

The rumours are true: celeb chef Lynn Crawford is taking over The Citizen

Restaurant takeover: Lynn Crawford moves into The Citizen (Photo courtest of Google)

Restaurant takeover: Lynn Crawford moves into The Citizen (Photo courtesy of Google)

After weeks of tongues wagging over the future of The Citizen, the Star has confirmed rumours that Restaurant Makeover stars Lynn Crawford and Cherie Stinson are taking over and revamping the Riverdale bistro. “Lynn had been hounding me for a full year to sell,” said former Citizen chef and proprietor Rod Bowers, who also owns Queen West’s Rosebud restaurant. Crawford hasn’t released her spot’s new name, or confirmed whether her former Truffles protégé Lora Kirk will be coming on board. “The food will be about sharing the table, supporting local,” she says. “It’s about me working with the growers, the farmers, the fishermen.” Cherie Stinson, who works for the international interior design firm Yabu Pushelberg (they did Canoe and the Hazelton Hotel), plans to complement Crawford’s socially conscious food by creating “a relaxed neighbourhood restaurant with communal tables and eclectic design.” The restaurant is scheduled to open in March 2010, managed by Stinson’s husband, Joey Skeir, who is also a partner.

• A restaurant makeover of their own [Toronto Star]

The Dish

Aprons & Icons
November 4, 2009 | 12:49 pm

7 Comments

Lynn Crawford to take over The Citizen? Rod Bowers won’t confirm or deny

Rumours are flying that Lynn Crawford, executive chef at New York’s Four Seasons, may be returning to Toronto this year. TasteTO reported that the celebrated cook—who worked at Messis and Studio Café before going to the Big Apple—might be ditching her hotel gig and taking over a renamed and remade version of The Citizen on Queen East starting January 1, 2010. We contacted the restaurant’s chef-owner, Rod Bowers, to see if he could confirm or deny, but his response was evasive. “I also heard Jamie Kennedy is taking over The Rosebud,” he said. “I’m not going to agree or disagree with any of it.”

The plot thickens like so much meringue.

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