Ruby Foo's - Montreal

Côte-Des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-De-Grâce, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

From its 1945 opening to its 1984 closure, this Décarie Boulevard institution was where Montreal went to see and be seen.

Ruby Foo’s was once a 6,000-square-foot spectacle where politicians rubbed shoulders with Broadway stars, where Maurice Richard slipped in through the back door, and where Pierre Elliott Trudeau ate duck à l’orange almost every Sunday.

This location was a mecca for the city’s business, social, sports, political and wise-guy elite — as well as a magnet for tourists who wanted to hobnob with the latter. Anyone who was anyone congregated there.

More than that, though, it happened to serve, in the minds of many, the best damned Cantonese cuisine this side of Canton. But what patrons remember most about the place isn’t necessarily the elaborate Cantonese main courses, or the roast beef served from that sparkling silver trolley, or even the drop-dead gorgeous cigarette girl sporting the sleekest Oriental-style dress years before such frocks were deemed acceptable in public places. No, it was the egg rolls and the garlic spareribs — never really replicated.

The restaurant's Black Sheep Lounge also attracted a who’s who of performers, including Charles Aznavour.

Although this restaurant is gone, there is a "Hotel Ruby Foo's" at 7655 Decarie two blocks down. There is no Polynesian restaurant in the hotel.

The original restaurant structure was finally razed in 1988.