Posted by Greg Clow in in the papers, news and media on October 13, 2007 at 2:21 pm

Congratulations are in order for 16 front-of-house staff at Mark McEwan's One who won themselves over $4,600,000 on a shared ticket in Wednesday's Lotto 6/49 draw. According to general manager (and one of the winners) Tim Salmon, none of the winning staff are going to leave their jobs.

Well, not voluntarily, at least. But given that every review of the place so far, including Joanne Kates' in today's Globe & Mail, has commented on the brutal service, I expect that at least a few of them will be glad to have their share of the winnings to fall back on when they get canned:

[W]hat's up with One? I ask the bread server where the bread was made. He grunts. I ask again. He says it's olive bread. They bring our frites with the apps, and more frites (not ordered) with the mains. One day I phone for a reservation and spend three minutes on hold.

Service lapses are as foreign to McEwan as hot dogs and Kraft cheese, and my guess is that before the first snowflake he'll have wrestled this unwieldy beast into submission.

At least Kates compliments most of the food that she's served at the place. Although I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of a $29 burger and $12 fries, regardless of how fantastic they might be.

Also in the Globe:

• Beppi Crosariol spotlights an aggressive and robust Bordeaux from today's Vintages release.
• Sasha Chapman recommends Jerusalem artichokes, which aren't from Jerusalem and aren't artichokes.

Over in the National Post, Gina Mallet is wild for the Wagyu (or should that be crazy for the Kansas City?) at old school steakhouse Harbour Sixty:

[T]he price -- $140 for a 14-ounce strip loin. We take a deep collective breath. "Cancel everything else, let's go for it," cries the Bon Vivant. We order the $59.95 Kansas City cut for comparison [...] and they arrive pink and tempting on a platter along with a big bubbling marrow bone. Sensational. After intensive sampling, we can't separate the flavours -- they both burst with single malt and rusty nails, hay and fresh water. But the Wagyu is a little limp, a butter knife slides through it nicely. The Kansas City cut is tender but thicker, more structured.

Also in the Post:

• Michael Vaughan blasts through a whole bunch of picks from today's Vintages release.
• Jon Bricker and Kate Swoger find a traditional Scottish chippie - High Street Fish & Chips - in the wilds of Don Mills.
• Adam McDowell marks the end of patio season with a list of 10 great places to drink indoors, ranging from the swank roof lounge at the Park Hyatt to the ramshackle neighbourhood hangout The Communist's Daughter.
• Bonnie Stern has fun with fungi - specifically, the big and meaty king mushroom.
• A. Brouwer & A. Wilson celebrate Thanksgiving Leftover Day, when the most popular meal in the land is turkey sandwiches, and oversee a mayonnaise taste test.

In the Toronto Star, Amy Pataki goes on a hunt for Japanese fast food of the non-sushi variety, and hits an assortment of places throughout the GTA for such cheap and cheerful delights as ramen, onigiri, takoyaki, okonomiyaki and shu cream. She's especially taken by the takoyaki (optopus dumplings) she was served by Naniwa-Taro owners/chefs Minaru and Ai Morita:

Just watching the Moritas poke and flip the dumplings frying in their custom cast-iron moulds is a treat. What starts as a thin batter augmented with powdered shrimp, tempura bits, red ginger and purple octopus chunks eventually emerges as crisp-creamy spheres, blistering hot and utterly delicious. Factor in the extra flavour from the requisite brown sauce, mayo, powdered seaweed and katsuboshi, and you've got a snack worth lining up for, just as they do in Japan.

Also in the Star, Gordon Stimmell picks his fave five from today's Vintages release.