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CANADA'S BEST NEW RESTAURANTS 2002
Dig in to enRoute's first annual survey.
Text: AMY ROSEN
AFTER A LOT OF TRAVELLING AND WAY TOO MUCH EATING, we proudly present enRoute's first annual guide to 28 of the best new restaurants in Canada and our essential top-five ranking. How did we prepare for such an epic epicurean task?
First, we consulted our network of knowledgeable professional foodies across the country - from restaurant critics to cookbook authors to TV chefs - and pooled their recommendations. (They eat for a living, so they did not lead us astray.) We only considered establishments that opened between September 2001 and June 2002.
Then all that was left to do was make innumerable reservations - for flights to Victoria and St. John's and all points in between - and work our way through a gruelling schedule of lunches and dinners. We found the best crème brûlée, strongest coffee, cutest wait staff, snazziest decor, oddest locations and the skinny on all the latest food and dining trends.
Are we gluttons for punishment? No. We simply wanted to give Canada's restaurant scene the international recognition it has long deserved.
1. CATCH (Calgary)
It takes a lot of nerve to open a high-end seafood restaurant in landlocked Cowtown - and get everything right. Co-owners Stephen Reid, Darren Gurr, Clay Riddell and chef Michael Noble have created Calgary's first world-class restaurant, featuring fresh-from-the-line seafood coupled with regional ingredients.
Catch is a new-school fish house with a $5.6-million price tag, which seems like an awful lot. But the old Imperial Bank of Canada building on Stephen Avenue had to be renovated in accordance with the wishes of historic-preservation groups, and then it had to get all dolled up. The boisterous oyster bar on the ground floor has a Kennedy-esque East Coast demeanour, all polished wood and exposed sandstone. One flight up (literally and metaphorically) is a fine dining room with Italian-glass chandeliers, linen-clad tables and an open kitchen - all the better to see the celebrity chef in action.
Although Michael Noble's culinary achievements over the past 20 years are considerable, you might know him as the only Canadian ever to compete on the campy Japanese TV show Iron Chef. (Like most guest chefs, he lost.) He did a star turn at Vancouver's Diva at the Met, competed twice in the Bocuse d'Or, won the 1996 Culinary Olympics with Team Canada and was voted Chef of the Year for 1999- 2000 by the Canadian Federation of Chefs and Cooks.
And, man, can this guy cook. Sashimi of B.C. spot prawns and Digby scallops is barely opaque from its luscious lemony dressing. The smoked clam and oyster chowder has mollusks delicately coddled in cream. The Catch oyster tasting (six oysters, six sauces) is pure Cancon, with bivalves hailing from places like Cortes Island and Gorge Inlet, B.C.; Cape Breton Island, N.S.; Néguac, N.B.; Hillsborough River, PEI; and St. John's, Nfld. Teeny ramekins of sauce and vinaigrette - peach, cucumber, wasabi, tarragon, orange and blackberry - complement each. Crab cakes are deliciously sweet and solid. Roasted breast of duck dazzles with rhubarb and prosciutto ravioli and Bing cherry vinegar. Sourcing the finest Canadian ingredients, whether Quebec foie gras or Hecate Strait halibut cheeks, is clearly Noble's passion.
Although Catch was an instant hit with Calgarians, "You can't just rest on your laurels," demurs Noble. "What I want to achieve is to have people come from all over the world and say 'Wow, that's fantastic seafood.'" Consider yourself invited.
2. L'EMOTION (Vancouver)
It sounds impossible: a four-course tasting menu by a Michelinstarred chef - for cheap (try $42). Jean-Yves Benoit and his delightful wife, Minna (the maître d'), sold their restaurant near Matignon, France, and opened up this slice of Provence. Think vibrant yellows and fleur-de-lys patterns, a central fireplace and high-backed cherrywood chairs. The food? Try pan-seared duck foie gras with sea salt, local rhubarb, orange sorbet and star anise, or wild salmon in perfect beurre blanc with tangy capers. Fourme d'Ambert tarts with apple compote, nuts and greens make a witty cheese course. The dessert plate is a taste of everything that is right in this world: poached apricot, marscapone quenelle with lemon, chocolate coconut ganache, blackcurrant frozen yogourt, nougat ice cream and a little chocolate shortbread heart that proves they care.
3. BRASSERIE L'ECOLE (Victoria)
Fall in love at first sight: a European brasserie reimagined in red and rich browns. Sidle up to the dark bar for a cocktail de la maison (champagne, French passion fruit liqueur and orange bitters). Check the chalkboards for chef Sean Brennan's nightly specials, like spotted prawns with preserved lemon, chicken with herbs de Provence, or hanger steak with warm potato salad. The crisp skin and wild pink flesh of a mountain trout with lentils du Puy, enriched by smoky bacon, brown butter and sorrel, was good enough to make my ears hot. Service is professional and thoughtful: We are prompted to order our final cheese course before our meal so it's served at room temperature; we are told that produce and meats are sourced from ecologically sound growers. Where so many have tried and failed, this may just be the perfect brasserie.
4. XACUTTI (Toronto)
Chef Brad Moore prepares foods we thought we knew - but it turns out those were just the ugly stepsisters. He puts a spin on classical cooking techniques with Indian influences and inventive flavouring. Onion bhajis are crisp on the outside with chunks of cashew nuts at their moist core. Delicately battered sweet yam fries (served in Pakistani Post paper cones) come with sweet-and-sour soy chili sambola and ginger plum sauces. There's cardamom smoked spring lamb with lotus root rosti and seared pistachio-crusted tuna with a cardamom orange sauce. And the Xacutti experience doesn't end there. Everything is splendid: decor (gorgeous shades of cocoa and ivory), staff (a stunning Palm Pilot-toting crew), bar (wine flights and lovely cocktails) and especially dessert. Banana brûlée spoons have chunks of ripe fruit hidden within torched soup spoons of silky cream, every last bite at once soft, smooth and crunchy.
5. AU PIED DE COCHON (Montréal)
Quebec chef Martin Picard is bringing French peasant food to Montrealers - comforting dishes with an edge of wit and sophistication. The look of the place is rustic-sleek, with its hewn-wood tables, brick oven and industrial-chic women's washroom. The handsome young clients must be raging carnivores, because the focus here is meat: rich lamb shank , hanger steak and, of course, pig's feet. There are incredible iced seafood platters (summer only), not to mention foie gras poutine : crisp frites topped with cheese curds, gravy and 100 grams of perfectly seared duck liver. My favourite thing, though (besides the homemade ice cream and warm maple syrup pudding), is that this restaurant challenges you, with menu items you might not eat on a bet - furry green conch shells culled from the St. Lawrence, for example. But the same foods that are scary to some are delicious to others, and this is the place to make that leap.
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BEST DECOR
Brasserie Aix (Toronto) is two places in one: raucous hipster bar and dreamy dining room. A Yabu Pushelberg statement in Italiano, the main room at the back is two storeys high with ochre walls, wraparound oxblood leather banquettes, linen-covered chairs and velvet curtains that complete the seduction. You want to be here.
BEST USE OF A BROTHEL (OTHER THAN SEX)
Named for its one-time madame, the former brothel and boarding house Lucy Mae Brown (Vancouver) now serves up sinfully good West Coast vittles.
MOST NAUSELICIOUS
Definition: foods that are so delicious, you eat them until you feel sick. Recent entries include soft-shell crabs at Eighteen (Ottawa), calamari fritti at Ristorante Primo & Secondo (Montreal), chuk sticks (skewers of grilled meat, seafood and portobello mushroom) at Wild Rice (Vancouver) and gratin de fruits de mer maison at L'Amour de la table (Quebec City).
MOST VILE
Roasted sweetbreads wrapped in (nearly raw) bacon on unseasoned escarole, completely submerged in lukewarm olive oil, at Brasserie Aix (Toronto).
BUTTER SIDE UP
The year's best bread is actually a biscuit: served fresh in a paper bag sided by whipped chive butter at Chives Canadian Bistro (Halifax) or as miniature scones hit with mustard, cheese and dill at Catch (Calgary).
MESSIEST FACE SINCE YOU WERE FOUR
If you're not elbow-deep in sauce by the end of your meal at Memphis Blues Barbeque House (Vancouver), owners George Siu and Park Heffelfinger aren't happy. The "Memphis feast" platter is a curious success in a city rife with health fanatics: slow-cooked ribs, pulled pork, brisket, Cornish game hen and Saskatchewan Mennonite farmer's sausage sided by barbecue-pit beans, fries, coleslaw, potato salad, cornbread and a bowl of warm barbecue sauce that would win a blue ribbon at any country fair.
BEST GRAZING POTENTIAL
There is a new breed of menu, and it is based on communal enjoyment - whether you call it a tasting portion, tapatizer (a term trademarked by ARC the Hotel Lounge) menu or Japanese Omakasestyle meal. Name your price range and number of courses, and chef Giovanni Apollo at Restaurant Tentation (Montreal) will customize a menu de dégustation. Our favourite tasting platter was at Gus (Toronto): sweet, oven-dried cherry tomatoes, herbed manouri cheese, toasted almonds, tzatziki, skordalia, grilled figs, meaty green olives, and flatbreads for scooping.
MOST HYPERBOLIC COMMENT FROM A PANELLIST (NO NAMES, PLEASE)
"… and a tartar sauce that stops just short of adultery."
YES, IT IS SLIMMING
Most wait staff wear black, but none wear it as well as the handsome crews at Brasserie L'Ecole (Victoria), Leméac Café Bistrot (Montreal), Crush Wine Bar (Toronto) and Brasserie Aix (Toronto). Call me!
PRE-EMPTIVE MENU STRIKE
"All dishes are made to order. Your patience is appreciated and will be rewarded." - Sugo Caffè Italia (Calgary)
BEST CAFFEINE JOLT
The Kicking Horse coffee served at chef Dwayne Ennest's Diner Deluxe (Calgary).
ODDEST PLACES TO SET UP SHOP
Money-saving tactic or devil-may-care creativity? L'Emotion (West Vancouver) is in a strip mall, between an auto repair shop and a day spa. Brasserie L'Ecole (Victoria) is in Chinatown. The Copper Pot (Edmonton) is on the ground floor of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation office building. Wild Rice (Vancouver) is in one of Vancouver's poorest postal codes. Pick's Roadhouse (Coleman, Alberta) is in a one-horse town three hours from Calgary. When the food is this good, who cares?
LATE-BREAKING REGIONAL TREND
Mid-1990s: Halifax is hit by a sushi tsunami. 2002: Five more Japanese restaurants open, including the superb Sushi Shige. The city is defenceless against the power of the maki.
ODE TO CRÈME BRÛLÉE (IN HAIKU)
A crack of the spoon
Burnt sugar glaze exploding
Out oozes heaven
BEST BRÛLÉES
A good crème brûlée is a barometer of a competent pastry chef; a great one is simply bliss. Starfish Oyster Bed & Grill (Toronto) combines a Tahitian vanilla bean hit with sour cherries. Catch (Calgary) adds cardamom spice torched with lemon grass sugar. Chives Canadian Bistro (Halifax) does caramel sided by rhubarb compote. Magnum & Steins (St. John's) has lashings of white chocolate. Xacutti (Toronto) reinvents with banana brûlée spoons.
PUCKER UP
Where once there was flourless chocolate cake, now there is lemon tart. Think beyond fluorescent cafeteria pies and company picnic Jell-O moulds - citrus has been charmingly resurrected as a dessert dubbed "lost lemon" (fresh curd and Italian meringue layered in a puff pastry) at Pick's Roadhouse (Coleman). The tarte au citron at Leméac Café Bistrot (Montreal) has a perfect filling, and Au pied de cochon's (Montreal) has an implausibly crisp pastry.
WORST DESSERT
Was the chef at Wild Rice (Vancouver) nipping at the cooking sherry when he dreamed up cinnamon-roasted bananas and undercooked plantain slices, stacked between fried won ton wrappers and drizzled with vinegary tamarind sauce?
EAT YOUR GREENS
A perfect salad is a beautiful thing, a gift from the earth with an endless field of possibilities. The best included Goan spiced duck with popcorn seedlings at Xacutti (Toronto); marinated chèvre and fresh artichoke at Steakfrites (Toronto); and the exacting simplicity of Ragley Farm organic greens at Brasserie L'Ecole (Victoria).
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
Lavender. In a salad, its violet flowers and green leaves lend a pungency unequalled (well, maybe only by the honey and lavender dressing) at Brasserie Aix (Toronto). Infused in a Fields of Provence gin martini or a sinful cheesecake at Provence Marinaside (Vancouver), lavender makes a potent confection. Sachets of it are even hidden in corners at L'Emotion (West Vancouver). As a scented candle in the loo of Sugo Caffè Italia (Calgary)... maybe the trend has gone too far?
NOT KOSHER, NEVER WILL BE
The best pork products, milk-with-meat dishes and bottom-feeding marine life included Dungeness crab bisque at Lucy Mae Brown (Vancouver); crunchy lobster dumplings at The Loop (Winnipeg); sourdough French toast stuffed with Canadian bacon and Gouda at Diner Deluxe (Calgary); lemony jellyfish at Sushi Shige (Halifax); and actual cloven hoof in the form of the namesake dish at Au pied de cochon (Montreal).
LONGEST MENU ITEM DESCRIPTION
"Wild ivory spring salmon in a potato crust, green beans amandine, honey-glazed baby carrots, and crème fraîche mustard sauce." - Lucy Mae Brown (Vancouver)
SHORTEST MENU ITEM DESCRIPTION
"Slaw" - Memphis Blues Barbeque House (Vancouver).
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THE FOODIES
CHRISTOPHER ASHBY has more than 20 years experience in the hospitality industry, specializing in luxury and boutique hotels.
MARY BAILEY is the co-author of a book on Alberta food, Edmonton editor of City Palate and a freelance wine and food writer.
ROBERT BEAUCHEMIN is the food critic for the French cultural weekly Voir in Montreal and co-editor of its annual Guide Restos.
LESLEY CHESTERMAN is the fine-dining critic for The Gazette in Montreal and author of the new Montreal restaurant guide Flavourville.
CHRISTINE CUSHING, host of Christine Cushing Live on Food Network Canada, is a Toronto chef, cookbook author and food stylist.
JOHN GILCHRIST reviews restaurants for CBC Radio in Calgary and contributes a weekly food column to the Calgary Herald.
JAMIE MAW is the food editor of Vancouver magazine.
SEAMUS O'REGAN is a host on the talktv channel and guest co-host of CTV's Canada AM.
TIM PAWSEY co-edits the Zagat Survey for Vancouver, Victoria and Whistler, B.C., and writes for the Vancouver Courier and Where Vancouver.
ALIX RENAUD is a food critic for the French cultural weekly Voir in Quebec City and coeditor of its annual Guide Restos.
LIZ RIGNEY is a reporter for ATV in Halifax, where she previously co-hosted the popular morning show Breakfast Television.
KYLE SHAW is editor of The Coast, a weekly Halifax newspaper, and keeping tabs on the restaurant scene is the tastiest part of his job.
MICHAEL SMITH is host of Food Network Canada's Chef at Large and is currently working on his third cookbook.
BONNIE STERN is a television host, cookbook author, food consultant and writer who founded the eponymous School of Cooking and Cookware Shop in Toronto.
MARION WARHAFT is a food and travel writer who has been the restaurant critic for the Winnipeg Free Press for more than 20 years.
KASEY WILSON is a food and travel writer, broadcaster, cookbook author and editor of Best Places Vancouver. She is heard weekly on CFUN's Best of Food and Wine.
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THE RESTAURANTS
Prices are an average cost for dinner for two with a glass of wine or a cocktail, appetizer and dessert (tax and tip not included).
ARC the Hotel Lounge
140 Slater St. (Ottawa), 613-238-2888
Cocktails and snacks, $35
www.arcthehotel.com
Au pied de cochon
536, rue Duluth E. (Montréal), 514-281-1114
Nouvelle French peasant food, $90
www.aupieddecochon.ca
Brasserie Aix
584 College St. (Toronto), 416-588-7377
Upscale brasserie fare, $90
Brasserie L'Ecole
1715 Government St. (Victoria), 250-475-6260
Clean, classic French, $80
www.lecole.ca
Catch
100 Stephen Ave. S.E. (Calgary), 403-206-0000
Oyster bar, $80; contemporary Canadian dining, $150
www.creativeri.com/catch/
Chives Canadian Bistro
1537 Barrington St. (Halifax), 902-420-9626
Contemporary Canadian food, $80
www.chivesbistro.com
The Copper Pot
9707 110th St. (Edmonton), 780-452-7800
Rocky Mountain surf and turf, $90
www.copperpot.ca
Crush Wine Bar
455 King St. W. (Toronto), 416-977-1234
Up-market bistro fare, $100
Diner Deluxe
804 Edmonton Trail N.E. (Calgary), 403-276-5499
Gourmet comfort food, $30
Eighteen
18 York St. (Ottawa), 613-244-1188
Pan-global cuisine, $100
Gus
1033 Bay St. (Toronto), 416-923-8159
Reimagined Greek food, $90
L'Amour de la table
4292, rue Saint-Félix (Québec), 418-650-6555
Bretonne and Bordelais classics, $70
Leméac Café Bistrot
1045, rue Laurier O. (Montréal), 514-270-0999
Upscale bistro cuisine, $90
L'Emotion
4368 Marine Dr. (West Vancouver), 604-926-1063
Fusion French, $110
The Loop
85 Lombard Ave. (Winnipeg), 204-953-5667
Contemporary regional fare, $100
Lucy Mae Brown
862 Richards St. (Vancouver), 604-899-9199
Pacific Northwest cuisine, $100
Magnum & Steins
284 Duckworth St. (St. John's), 709-576-6500
Pan-global cuisine, $85
Memphis Blues Barbeque House
1465 W. Broadway Ave. (Vancouver), 604-738-6806
Southern-style vittles, $45
Pick's Roadhouse
(Coleman, Alta.), 403-564-5100
New-school roadhouse and barbecue, $70
Provence Marinaside
1177 Marinaside Cres. (Vancouver),604-681-4144
French Provençal fare, $80
www.provencevancouver.com/announcement.html
Restaurant Tentation
7076, boulevard Saint-Laurent (Montréal), 514-274-3343
Classic formal French, $110
Ristorante Primo & Secondo
7023, rue Saint-Dominique (Montréal), 514-908-0838
Modern Italian food, $85
Starfish Oyster Bed & Grill
100 Adelaide St. E. (Toronto), 416-366-7827
Reinvented oyster house, $100
www.starfishoysterbed.com
Steakfrites
692 Mount Pleasant Rd. (Toronto), 416-486-0090
Casual bistro fare, $95
www.steakfrites.net
Sugo Caffè Italia
1214 9th Ave. S.E. (Calgary), 403-263-1115
Rocky Mountain Italian, $90
Sushi Shige
5770 Spring Garden Rd. (Halifax), 902-422-0740
Creative Japanese cuisine, $75
Wild Rice
117 W. Pender St. (Vancouver), 604-642-2882
Innovative Chinese chow, $80
www.wildricevancouver.com
Xacutti
503 College St. (Toronto), 416-323-3957
New-school Indian, $90
www.xacutti.com
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