One Restaurant at One Hazelton

So on my last fun day in Toronto, we had made reservations for a Brunch Buffet at Four Seasons. But because it was the same day as their Ride for Heart, we totally missed the time. And at $48 a pop, I’d have to eat a lot in an hour to make up the lost time. As much as I enjoy eating, I don’t like it when it becomes a sport. As a Foursquare whore, I decided to use it to figure out where the four of us could go eat. The first place that popped out was One – the new McEwan joint. So off we went.

After the initial confusion of “where is the entrance”, we eventually found a hostess who seated us, and a waitress who was determined to take our drink order. After being traffic for about an hour, I needed a Ketel One Martini…the rest of the group ordered Carlsberg beers except for the one girl ordered a Fujian white rose tea...

I was still in breakfast mode, so I ordered their Eggs Benny, which was some artisan ham and a perfectly poached egg served on brioche bread, with “baby potato slices, baby tomato and basil leaf, and topped with diced chive”…and boy was it ever. I do believe this is the first time I’ve had a martini at breakfast…yes, mom, it was! The eggs were poached just right, but would you expect anything less from a McEwan joint?

The two guys with the Carlsberg decided to order the Burger, which was a gigantic patty, smothered in barbecue sauce atop a hamburger bun. The burger looked impressive, but oh epic fail …the bun wasn’t grilled. Honestly, if you are going to have a huge patty as your middle, you need the robe to be substantial too. And for me, the bun sort of got crushed (and not in a nice way) when you picked up the burger. A nice sear on the bun would have gave it a bit more texture and perhaps some legs to stand on.

The “tea” girl ordered a Cobb salad, which had chicken, goat cheese, quail egg, pancetta, and heirloom tomatoes, dressed with a mustard-based dressing. It had a beautiful presentation, but I didn’t take a bite, so I’m guessing it was good.

To go along with the Eggs Benny, Burgers and Salad, we needed some sides. The first one we ordered were the Truffle Fries. I mean, deep fried potato slices covered with parmesan cheese shavings and then doused with truffle oil…how could you go wrong? Well, maybe the truffle oil was applied too liberally, but all the fries were soggy. It was as if they were day-old reheated sticks! You could taste the truffle and the cheese, but there was no fry-like crunch. It reminded me of poutine.

The other side we ordered were the Onion Rings. It came with almost a “fish and chip like” batter, and were gigantic ringalooos. On the side was a citrus garlic aioli…almost as an afterthought. The rings were rich…heavy, you only needed one or two. Well, but I had about four! Although this wasn't on my list of "Places to Try" for this trip, I'm sure glad I made the visit!
Note...service not nearly as good as the food!