The Dish Power Rankings: Terroir-ism edition

Toronto Life’s roundup of the restaurants with the biggest buzz, the longest lineups and the toughest tables to snag.

The seventh annual Terroir Symposium brought a raft of international food stars to Toronto—and rearranged this week’s top restaurants. Further down, the first reviews for Chantecler’s new tasting menu shoot it up the list.

1. Bar Isabel (↑5)
   Grant van Gameren’s new Little Italy den was the unofficial meeting place for the chefs and restaurateurs in town for Terroir. GVG even created a special late-night menu for the mobs.
2. Hopgood’s Foodliner (back this week)
   In a pre-Terroir interview, René Redzepi of the revered Danish restaurant Noma praised Foodliner’s wild leeks with snow crab: “Amazing, amazing. I could eat bowls of that.”
3. OddSeoul (no change)
   OddSeoul also hosted its share of post-Terroir revelry, mostly from local chefs.
4. Farmhouse Tavern (↑2)
   Demand for tables is so high that owner Darcy MacDonell is scouting for locations to open a second restaurant nearby.
5. Electric Mud BBQ (↓3)
   Lineups are easing off at Parkdale’s buzzy barbecue joint.
6. Playa Cabana Cantina (↑1)
   You’ll have to wait until May 3 if you want a primetime weekend table (between 5:30 and 9:30) at Playa Cabana’s Junction location.
7. Patria (↓3)
   The star wattage slipped a little this week at Patria, although the Spanish restaurant served a record number of diners.
8. Chantecler (back this week)
   Jonathan Poon’s new tasting menu impressed our most recent reviewer, who described it as “a superb, surprising mash-up of Asian flavours, local ingredients, classic French techniques and modernist flourishes.” In his latest Globe column, Chris Nuttall-Smith feels the same way.
9. Catch (back this week)
   The Star’s Amy Pataki recently praised this St. Clair restaurant for chef Nigel Finley’s subtle way with seafood—and his brilliant gimmick The Gout. We gave the place two stars when it opened, and also singled out its whole-fish feasts and indulgent lobster roll. It’s a shame Finley’s moving to The Chase.
10. Queen Margherita Pizza 2.0 (↓1)
    The crazed fervour of the first few weekends has subsided somewhat at QMP2, although the 150-seat restaurant has over 200 bookings for both Friday and Saturday already.

Honourable mention: Banh Mi Boys wins the award for receipt tweet of the week.

Dropped off the list this week: Edulis, Asian Legend and The Guild.