The Dish Power Rankings: The Biebs and The ‘Bowl Edition

The Dish Power Rankings: The Biebs and The ‘Bowl Edition

The-Dish-Power-Rankings

In this week’s roundup: Bieber keeps his shirt on, and Toronto restaurants dish out chicken wings, Chinese food and cut-rate prix-fixe meals.

1. Buca
After a 2.5-year build-up, the King West trattoria finally introduced its spin-off snack bar. Judging by the early crowds (and online enthusiasm), it seems to have been worth the wait.

2. Chantecler
Johnathan Poon’s Parkdale restaurant has all your holiday bases covered: for Chinese New Year, turnip cakes and congee; for the Super Bowl, four-dollar beers. Meanwhile, reservations for his coveted tasting menu remain as elusive as ever.

3. Daishō
Toronto’s annual orgy of cut-rate meals (a.k.a. Winterlicious) begins today. Unless you fancy dining at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, Daishō’s dinners are pretty much booked…

4. Bent
…as are Bent’s. Next available weekend table: Saturday, February 22nd.

5. Black Camel
Over a billion chicken wings will be consumed worldwide during Sunday’s Super Bowl. This beloved Rosedale sandwich shop will apparently account for a whack of them.

6. Drake One Fifty
Sweet-and-sour pork hocks, fried quail and prawn lettuce cups are on the downtown restaurant’s special Chinese New Year menu. Prime-time tables are long gone, but a few early seats are still up for grabs.

7. Epi Breads
The best place to buy festive CNY treats, according to Michelin-starred Masterchef judge Alvin Leung? This not-very-Chinese bakery in Leaside.

8. Farmhouse Tavern
Globe critic Chris Nuttall-Smith’s assessment of the Junction Triangle restaurant’s new-ish chef, Alex Molitz: “The man’s got skills.” We concur.

9. Bistrot 92
Toronto food nerds are calling this tiny Briar Hill bistro the “Chowfind of the Century.”

10. Switch
The Biebs made an impromptu post-arrest visit to the downtown nightclub. (As far as we know, nobody was hurt.)

Honourable Mention: Bymark is celebrating its 11th anniversary with a luxe renovation (one of the odder design upgrades: a wall-spanning homage to Michael Jackson). Meanwhile, Carbon Bar got a friendly shout-out from Mark McEwen. Also, a handful of Toronto dives earned the dubious distinction of being named among Thrillist’s “bad decision bars.”