Their name is synonymous with royalty and their stores were landmarks in
virtually every Canadian city, but as the Eaton empire rose and fell in
the last century with the company's patriarchs, there was one woman
equally deserving of credit. Flora McCrae Eaton was a visionary, a
philanthropist, a socialite, a businesswoman, a world traveler, and a
mother of six, but she also ushered in a shopping and dining aesthetic
that revolutionized the retail and restaurant experience for generations
of Canadians. Lady Eaton oversaw the architecture, staffing, and menus
for more than a dozen grand dining rooms few have forgotten despite
their eventual demise: the flagship Georgian Room (Toronto), the Round
Room (Toronto -- now the Carlu), Le Neuf (Montreal), the Grill Room
(Winnipeg), and the Marine Room (Vancouver). For more casual fare
Eaton's offered soda and ice cream counters, snack bars, hostess shops,
cafeterias, and bakery counters. Lady Eaton's direction of the
restaurants "created" a Canadian cuisine -- chicken pot pie, cheese
dreams, Waldorf salad, honey drop cookies, gingerbread, butterscotch
pie, and Queen Elizabeth cake. Thirty recipes make this trip down memory
lane as savory as it is nostalgic. Put on your gloves and hat and relive
an era of elegance all but vanished. Lunch anyone?
