Toronto scores two deserved, but predictable, spots in enRoute’s 2009 best restaurant ranking
Anyone who has spent hours sitting on a delayed Air Canada jet (an astronomical number of people, to be sure) is familiar with the airline’s boredom-thwarting magazine enRoute and its annual countrywide search for the best new restaurants. The 2009 choices were announced this morning, and the Toronto entries, while not surprising, reflect the kind of eating we’ve come to appreciate in a year riddled with closings, cutbacks and comfort food.
The author of the list—former Toronto Life food editor Chris Nuttall-Smith—picked two Hogtown hot spots: The Black Hoof ranked second, and Pizzeria Libretto ranked eighth. Coincidentally located around the corner from one another, these are remarkably casual restaurants (especially compared to the T.O. choices in previous years: Nota Bene, Lucien, Colborne Lane, etc.) that are perfectly at home in a recession-year ranking that put Vancouver’s rustic Italian restaurant Cibo Trattoria in the top spot.
• Canada’s Ten Best New Restaurants [enRoute]
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Anyone who has spent hours sitting on a delayed Air Canada jet (an astronomical number of people, to be sure) is familiar with the airline’s boredom-thwarting magazine enRoute and its annual countrywide search for the best new restaurants. The 2009 choices were announced this morning, and the Toronto entries, while not surprising, reflect the kind of eating we’ve come to appreciate in a year riddled with closings, cutbacks and comfort food.
The author of the list—former Toronto Life food editor Chris Nuttall-Smith—picked two Hogtown hot spots: The Black Hoof ranked second, and Pizzeria Libretto ranked eighth. Coincidentally located around the corner from one another, these are remarkably casual restaurants (especially compared to the T.O. choices in previous years: Nota Bene, Lucien, Colborne Lane, etc.) that are perfectly at home in a recession-year ranking that put Vancouver’s rustic Italian restaurant Cibo Trattoria in the top spot.
• Canada's Ten Best New Restaurants [enRoute]){kind=link}
I would hardly call Libretto and Black Hoof around the corner from each other…
they’re like a five-minute walk from each other. maybe that’s not literally around the corner, but it’s still pretty close. i think that the point is that they are in the same neighborhood, cater to the same locals, blah blah blah. i’m just glad they both made the list. i love that area and both restaurants.
Well deserved. However, this list only reveals the relatively low overall standards of the dining scene in Canada.