Canada's 100 Best

"Last fall in Ottawa, when restaurant-going briefly verged on normal, masked servers at Aiāna confidently doled out delicacy after delicacy as part of the fledgling restaurant’s 12-course tasting menu. Think crisp potato cones brimming with truffles or Acadian caviar, a splendid lightly curried squash soup, chocolate–foie gras macaroons, a deeply beefy wagyu pithiviers and more."

"“I’d say we’ve found our raison d’être,” says chef Zach Kolomeir, who co-owns Taverne Bernhardt’s and Dreyfus in Toronto, the latter temporarily closed due to Covid-19. He’s referring to his recent game-changing addition of a Rotisol, the veritable Rolls-Royce of rotisseries, to Bernhardt’s kitchen arsenal."

"Adam Pegg, chef/owner of Vancouver’s Point Grey jewel La Quercia, says the past year “forced us to try new things” — and the results of those efforts are delicious. After months of takeout, Pegg reopened last summer with just five tables and found that fewer staff serving fewer diners was a workable model."

"“We sat down and said, ‘Let’s make German food cool.’ ”Top Chef Canada finalist Nathan Guggenheimer and his team did just that when he took over the 22-year-old Old Black Forest Restaurant in Lunenburg, N.S. The new Old Black Forest still serves schnitzel and sausages, maultaschen and käsespätzle — but with a twist. “We wanted to bring it into the 21st century,” says Guggenheimer, aka Chef Googs."

"In June 2020, after a 14-year run, Montreal chef Fisun Ercan closed her beloved Turkish restaurant, Su, in Verdun and, the next month, opened Bika Farm an hour out of town on the Richelieu River."

"The latest initiative from Toronto’s (okay, Canada’s) premier cheese emporium, the Cheese Boutique, has almost nothing to do with cheese. Instead, it revolves around an old food truck purchased at auction a few years back for the purpose of mobile catering but, for now, is parked on store property. Afrim Pristine put up an IG post inviting any other interested local chefs to book a weekend in the truck near his store entrance gratis — on the sole condition that they make a credible promise to sell very good food."

"Kaede Hirooka’s ongoing Calgary-based Respect the Technique pop-up series has a deliberately unspecific name. It allows him and business partner Jonathan Chung to make any style of food, though more often than not, it’s a play on Japanese cuisine that allows the chefs to exercise considerable creativity (think chicken wing gyoza, pork wonton ramen kits, and sundry Asian-accented sauces and condiments)."

"If freshness and seasonality are the core tenets of Italian cuisine, this intimate room, which opened in December 2019 in Vancouver’s de facto Little Italy, is an orthodox house of worship. Don’t look for a menu online. It changes nightly to reflect local produce and the whims of Oca Pastificio chef/co-owner Greg Dilabio (formerly of C100B entrant La Quercia)."

"“When people ask where I go for Mexican food,” says Mexico-born Daniel Ramon, speaking about his adopted hometown of Calgary, “I’d say, ‘I don’t!’” Until he tried the tacos Mikko Tamarra was serving from a pop-up at a Beltline cocktail bar. The two became friends, and when the pandemic temporarily put them out of work, they joined forces with a third chef, Andrew Ocasion, to launch Con Mi Taco in July 2020."

"It began with a veggie burger. The takeout-only, quinoa-based, fennel-laced patty (plus low-intervention bottles to go) got Montreal’s celebrated vegetable-forward wine bar Le Vin Papillon through the depressed spring of 2020. Come patio season, classic menu items resurfaced — charcoal-grilled sweetbread brochettes and house-made ham with Avonlea cheddar, scarfed from plates and takeout containers at their giant temporary patio “Joe Beach.”"