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Canada’s Best New Restaurants 20061 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | CBNR Mission Statement & Index | Home 
Photo by Edward Pond 04. CAVA 1560 Yonge St., Toronto, 416-979-9918, cavarestaurant.ca We like restaurants that have heart, literally: squab heart anticuchos with an escabèche of cabbage. Meaty and tender with a pronounced spiciness, they are as sapid as they are unusual. Of course, it’s not all offal on a stick at this idiosyncratic tapas restaurant. Even the tables innovate, divided by a slate centrepiece for hot pans and a small hole for a stand to hold finger-food cones. There’s chipotle caramel popcorn and superb French fries with pepper mayo and fried sage. Oysters served with a vibrant grilled tomatillo relish instead of the standard mignonette. An exceptional house-made charcuterie plate, including foie gras mousse, bresaola, mortadella and chorizo. Fried churros that beat the pants off of a Tim’s doughnut, served with a cup of thick hot chocolate for dipping. After 11 years running the exacting and acclaimed Avalon, chef Chris McDonald has truly found paradise at Cava.  Photo by Martin Tessler 05. RARE 1355 Hornby St., Vancouver, 604-669-1256, rarevancouver.com You may remember this space as the former home of Bis Moreno (number two in our 2003 survey). Its reinvention was eagerly anticipated through the most modern and ubiquitous of viral networks, a restaurant-opening blog, and it now houses the “Modern Metropolitan Canadian Cuisine” of Rare. The menu’s three sections – Daily, Signature and Seasonal – offer an ingenious, affordable six-course option allowing two diners to sample different dishes and wine pairings. To wit: she receives a yielding sea bream filet with spring truffles, morels and red wine reduction; he gets seared halibut with chorizo and a vibrant asparagus sauce. Cornish hen with spring turnips and almond crème fraîche for her; quail with sweetbreads, boar bacon and a spiced honey glaze for him. An exemplary strawberry bavarois and a hallucinogenic cheese plate are the kind of dishes that simply beg to be shared. Rare is the restaurant that lives up to its hype. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | CBNR Mission Statement & Index | Home |
