Editor’s Letter: Toronto Life has been reviewing restaurants since before I was born
In this wobbly economy, when people splurge on a meal, they want to be sure the experience will be worth the price. That’s where we come in
Last summer’s opening of Nobu Toronto was a splashy affair. Star athletes, local celebrities, influencers and journalists like me got a chance to tour the dramatic interior, sample the menu and order a cocktail from the soaring backlit bar. In the main dining room, I spied James Chatto, Toronto Life’s restaurant critic from 1987 to 2010. As we caught up, TikTokers milled about, livestreaming their voracious consumption of miso black cod and lychee martinis.
It was a striking moment for someone like me, sandwiched between two stark eras in food criticism. When I was coming up in the industry, Chatto was king. His reviews, and those of Joanne Kates at the Globe and Mail, were gospel in Toronto. A spectacular review from either one could fill a restaurant for years; a lukewarm assessment could portend a quick death.
In the years since Chatto and Kates dominated, foodie influencers have steadily encroached on their territory—though not on their expertise. Simultaneously, many Canadian publications have done away with food criticism because it’s expensive.
Yet readers still want—crave—reliable, unbiased restaurant reviews. A wobbly economy doesn’t mean people aren’t dining out; it means that, when they do dine out, they’re going big, and the experience had better be worth the price tag.
It is therefore with pride that I introduce the 44th annual edition of our Best New Restaurants issue, a ranking that has been around longer than I’ve been alive. This year, we celebrate many things: Toronto Life’s 60th, our 10th annual best restaurants event, the dozens of icons who helped build a lively restaurant scene that continues to impress and surprise, and of course, the 20 new restaurants that delighted our team of food critics.
The rankings reveal several themes. Little Italy has reasserted itself as a dining destination, with Radici Project (No. 7), N. L. Ginzburg (No. 8), Aangan (No. 19) and Osteria Alba (No. 20). Harbord Village, that lovely stretch just west of U of T, is featured twice. Pizza slinger Nice Slice (No. 18) makes perfect pies, and a few steps east, Bar Eugenie (No. 3) finally provides a worthy replacement for Cory Vitiello’s beloved Harbord Room, which closed in 2016. Meanwhile, Vitiello, after spending a decade on his Flock rotisserie chicken franchise, is back in the sit-down restaurant game with a Financial District spot called the Frederick (No. 14). Elsewhere on the list, you’ll find inventive Japanese, a Filipino karaoke joint, Anglo-inflected Indian and a stellar steakhouse with a knockout pasta dish.
This year’s No. 1 is Seahorse, a full-steam-ahead seafood spot in Summerhill with great cocktails. Presiding over the raw bar is Eamon Clark, son of the late, great oyster king Rodney Clark. He was brought in by veteran restaurateur Simon Bower (Lucien, Mercer Street Grill) and front-of-house pro Richard Renaud (Piano Piano, Speducci Mercatto). They’re a Power Rangers kind of union, each bringing a special talent, and with ascendent chef Federico Garcia (formerly of Quetzal) at the helm, the results are superlative.
I visited in late April and enjoyed one exquisite dish after another. The highlight: four scallops plucked straight from the Atlantic, seared golden brown and set gently adrift in a pool of cilantro oil and tarragon-flecked béarnaise. It was a dish I’ll remember for a while, the kind of crowd-pleaser that everyone—young and old, food critic and influencer—will agree is worth the price tag.
Malcolm Johnston is the editor-in-chief of Toronto Life, a role he took on in 2022 after 11 years at the magazine. He has worked as a writer and features editor, with a strong focus on investigative journalism and in-depth reporting on the people, politics and culture shaping Toronto. He is the author of a forthcoming narrative non-fiction book about the double life of Jeffery Shuman, the serial bank robber known as the Vaulter Bandit.
