Top Toronto restaurants to go head to head in Dish Duel, a new foodie tournament

Top Toronto restaurants to go head to head in Dish Duel, a new foodie tournament

The latest addition to the spate of Internet-based foodie happenings in Toronto is Dish Duel (not to be confused with Dishcrawl), a bracket-style tournament pitting signature dishes from Toronto restaurants against each other. The project is the invention of Restos in TO blogger Jacob Younan, who has managed to convince the likes of Acadia, Cava, George and Cowbell (among 12 others) to gird their (tender)loins and head into battle beginning February 18.

Here’s how it works: the restaurants (which are participating for naught but bragging rights) are paired up, with each submitting one dish either off their regular menu or made for the competition. Each week, teams of two food bloggers—Younan has partnered with Food Junkie Chronicles, Amy’s Food Adventures and Where Jess Ate—anonymously taste each dish and rate it out of 25. The scores are then combined with the results of an online vote by the public (out of 50), which determines who wins the match and moves on in the tournament. The format might lack the drama of a face-to-face challenge like Iron Chef, but it does have the virtue of letting everyday diners weigh in on whose particular dish reigns supreme. The dishes and match-ups will be announced on February 5—at which point the hardcore foodie bracketology can begin.