A true sign of the season is the new Christmas window installed yesterday at Homefront, 371 Eglinton Ave W. Fans of her work will recognize the elegant style of Franca Panetta, who designs much of the display work at Homefront and who is frequently on hand to greet customers. This year superb gifts for your table top are ensconced in a gold window with accents of anthracite in both the backdrop and inventory. (416) 488-3189. Larger picture at Trish Stuebing Diary
Suzuki Motor Corporation has announced that it will be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. seeking protection and eventually ending auto sales in the U.S.. Following a review of its current position and future opportunities in the U.S. automotive market Suzuki said will wind down and discontinue new automobile sales The Company has determined the best path to achieve this realignment in an efficient and orderly manner is to restructure its operations under Chapter 11. Suzuki’s U.S. sales for the year through October totaled 21,188 vehicles, down 5 percent from the same period last year.
Five Guys Burgers and Fries opened in the Leaside Centre today. The red and white checkerboard burger restaurant is a large international chain, franchising its wares across North America. It’s famous for thick beef sandwiches with as-you-like-it trimmings and fries that come in lots that don’t seem to stop. Five Guys has a comment board at the front of the restaurant. One hapless customer at the new Laird Drive location this noon scribbled “How was I supposed to eat all this?” From appearances, opening day was pretty good. We counted a dozen or so diners at 2.30 pm. The atmosphere is of course friendly and includes an odd war whoop of some kind which goes up from the chief order taker each time someone comes through the door. Wonder if they’ll keep that up. In any case, the arrival of Five Guys is a comment on (if you’ll pardon the expression) the dog-eat-dog nature of the burger business. Up the street is South Street Burgers in the SmartCentre. It has big flags out on the street today to remind eaters that it is still there. A few days ago, many were surprised with McDonald’s poor quarterly results. They were blamed on the economic slowdown and the stronger U.S. dollar. Maybe, but conventional wisdom on fast food places is that they usually do better in tough times. Our guess would be more along the lines of really tough competition for the burger dollar. 
The stunning public European debt crisis is a world-wide scandal but these days Euro readers are more intrigued by the sensational details of a paternity suit involving the apparently busy love life of the woman who was the first female finance minister of France. The svelte Eurocrat is 47-year-old Rachida Dati. The target of the action alleges that Dati was seeing up to eight boyfriends at around the time she had a love child three years ago. Multi-millionaire businessman Dominique Desseigne, 68, is refusing to take a DNA test after being accused of being the girl’s dad. Ms Dati has gone to court to try and get him to admit that he fathered Zohra, now three, during a passionate encounter in 2008. The alleged boyfriends included a TV host, a minister, a chief executive officer, a Spanish prime minister, a brother of Nicolas Sarkozy, a Qatari Attorney General and the heir to a luxury goods empire, says an article in Le Monde.
