Take one glance at the top three spots on this restaurant guide, and you can guess how the rest of the list will read.
Canada's 100 Best Restaurants guide has foodies all over the country talking but it's an especially hot topic in our culinary hubs. The first Toronto restaurant to make the list, Buca, comes in at third, but the city still tops the list with a grand total of 28 restaurants. Montreal hot spot Toque! claimed the number one spot on the list, bringing the city into second place with 19 restaurants, while Vancouver comes in third place with 14 featured spots. Combined, the three cities account for over 60 per cent of the guide.
Editor-in-chief Jacob Richler describes Canada's 100 Best Restaurants as something new, a magazine for those who are interested in learning about and dining at the highest quality restaurants in the country.
Richler, an esteemed food writer and columnist for Maclean's magazine, admitted to the Toronto Star that he knew the list wouldn't make everyone happy, admitting "people in the Prairies and Maritimes will be disappointed." But Richler still defends the choices, explaining that creating it involved an "exercise in fairness."
Still, we can't help but feel like you're missing something if your best in Canada guide excludes New Brunswick, PEI, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut.
According to his editor's note, Richler didn't want his list to rely on a single person's opinion, so he called upon 70 judges across the country and asked them to provide a ranking for the top 10 restaurants in their region. As a balancing exercise, the judges were divided with population and region in mind. The group ranged from chefs to restaurateurs, store owners to industry experts and a flood of food writers and journalists who got to have their say as well.
Richler told The Province that he plans to update the list annually, so those passionate about Canadian restaurants will be able to see who's on top, who's new and who's slipping in the rankings. Maybe next year they'll also be able to include at least one spot for each province.
We've pulled together the top restaurants for each (included) province in the slideshow below. For the complete list, visit Canada's 100 Best or pick up a copy of the magazine when it hits stands on March 20. And tell us in the comments below if there's anywhere you wish had been included.
