Victoria eatery celebrates BC’s top doctor with new charitable brunch item: ‘The Dr. Bonnie Benny’

You know you have officially hit the big time when restaurants begin to name menu items after your legacy.

In this case, involving British Columbia’s top doctor, it isn’t just a menu item. It’s a brunch menu item – the pinnacle of daily meal sittings.

Everybody loves brunch.

These days, amid an unprecedented global pandemic, many seem to share that same, unequivocal love for Dr. Bonnie Henry as well.

It was the brainchild of The Ruby restaurant in Victoria to bring the two together.

Introducing the “Dr. Bonnie Benny.” Aside from the outstanding wordplay with the name, it looks incredibly delicious.

According to The Ruby, it is an eggs benedict dish starring crab cakes under the hollandaise sauce – something that owner Chris Jones said isn’t very common.

Of course, there was some method to the madness as well.

“We tried to do something West Coast and Canadian inspired as Dr. Bonnie is a West Coaster,” Jones told CHEK News. “Crab cakes are the quintessential West Coast cuisine and we topped it with a tomato hollandaise, which is red for Canada!”

The Ruby operates in the hospitality industry – a sector that has been hit particularly hard by COVID-19 – and Jones felt that Dr. Henry’s leadership has been key to allowing the restaurant to resume operations.

“We have been following Dr. Bonnie Henry this entire time and have really appreciated the approach she has taken by safely and slowly reopening the Province.  Should she have taken the approach of other North American leaders, we could be already re-entering another shutdown. A second shut down would be so devastating to the hospitality industry and many restaurants would not survive.”

The idea to honour the work of BC’s top doctor came as The Ruby was working on a new menu prior to their reopening, but Jones wanted to take it one step further.

For every ‘Dr. Bonnie Benny’ ordered, $3 will be donated to the B.C. Children’s Hospital.

“We feel very strongly about the BC Children’s Hospital.  Josh [Goyert] and I have had personal experiences with how great the BCCH is and how important they are to our children,” Jones said.

The Ruby only cracked open its doors earlier this month, but Jones said that the “Dr. Bonnie Benny” is already a smash hit.

“We have sold a lot of them in our first week being open again! We are going to leave this on the whole summer and post our donations through our social media channels!”

So the next time you are out in search of a brunch dish and want to experience “Dr. Bonnie’s cool, calm and compassionate manner,” on a toasted bagel, look no further.

Whether you choose to try to new Dr. Bonnie Benny or not, always remember that, when it comes to the pandemic, we are hollandaise together.

READ MORE: Fluevog designs ‘The Dr. Henry’ shoe inspired by B.C.’s provincial health officer

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