"Simple can be a scary word," says Andrew Ellerby, chef of One Restaurant at the Hazelton, the newest boutique hotel in Toronto's tony Yorkville district. Ellerby is sitting in the airy anteroom and lounge of the restaurant. It's the kind of look foodies have come to expect from Yabu Pushelberg, the Toronto firm that designs so many top restaurants these days: grand but not ostentatious, modern but comfortable, luxe without the come-on of a parvenu. Yes, simple can be complicated, especially when you are charging $8 for a pink grapefruit at breakfast. "It can be the most difficult thing," Ellerby says. "Ask a bunch of cooks to make a really good mashed potato, and two-thirds wouldn't be able to do it."
The same is true of One's popular chicken noodle soup, a rich, yellow broth floating sunny heirloom carrots, slow-poached chicken and diamonds of handmade pasta. It's the kind of dish that wins the hearts of well-heeled bubbes as well as fast-moving baseball players like Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter. Chicken soup is the great leveller in the kitchen: a dish that everyone loves, and nearly everyone can afford. And at $12 for a deep bowl, it's probably the best buy on One's menu.
One, if you haven't been watching Mark McEwan's television show, The Heat, is the latest brainchild of the celebrity chef. The soup exemplifies One's cuisine, which is meant to conjure up a homey, almost comforting, environment, albeit between walls decorated with rectangles of grey fur. Most dishes at the restaurant are plunked in the middle of the table, family-style, and designed to be shared. Ellerby and McEwan came up with the idea after a dinner at Craft in New York. "I love to eat that way," says Ellerby. Although a few diners have been appalled by the idea of having to share food with their companions--forgetting, I suppose, that a meal is ultimately a social act--most have warmed to the menu. It also makes perfect sense that jet-setters are jonesing for a bowl of chicken soup. It's something that tastes like home.
DIY
STOCK ANALYSIS
One's famous chicken soup starts with a first-class broth. Here's how to make it at home:
1 whole chicken, rinsed under cold water
1 peeled carrot
1 cipollini onion
2 plum tomatoes, cut in half
2 bay leaves
5 sprigs parsley
6 black peppercorns
Salt to taste
Cover chicken with water and bring to a boil for 15 to 20 minutes, skimming any impurities that rise to the surface. Add remaining ingredients and simmer gently for three hours, skimming periodically. Remove chicken and reserve. Strain stock through a fine sieve. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Skim fat one more time. Carve the chicken into bite-sized morsels to be used in soup, and discard bones. When you're ready to make the soup, bring the stock to a simmer and add sliced carrots, celery, cipollini onions, 500 grams of al dente pasta and the reserved chicken pieces.
Sit back and feel better.