The Dish Power Rankings: Best New Restaurants Edition

In this week’s roundup: Toronto Life comes out with its yearly roundup of the city’s best spots, and a beloved $10 lunch special bids adieu.

1. The Chase
Toronto Life’s Mark Pupo crowned the glitzy surf ‘n’ turf destination the Best New Restaurant in Toronto, calling it “expense-account dining at its finest.”

2. Beast
Carb-loaders lined up around the block for one last chance to spend $10 on Beast’s gourmet, brown-bag sandwich lunch. The TGIF takeout special is being retired after two years.

3. Canoe
The Big Daddy of Toronto fine dining nabbed the number-one spot on Toronto Life’s list of 2014’s 10 best dishes, for last summer’s elegant sweet corn with swordfish tartare.

4. The Black Hoof
Hoof owner Jen Agg talked food trends, truffle oil and Toronto’s “mega-bro-y” chef culture during a guest appearance on Jesse Brown’s Canadaland podcast—and ruffled a few feathers in the process.

5. Bar Buca
The unchecked adoration continues. Post City named Buca’s mortadella one of the “best sandwiches in Toronto.”

6. The Carbon Bar
The panko-crusted crab and shrimp cake, according to the Star’s Amy Pataki, is “all killer, no filler.” The brisket, however, she found “as dense as the idiots who block the subway door during rush hour.”

7. Pukka
“What nouvelle Indian should be,” according to Post City’s Joanne Kates.

8. Luckee
Buzz = generating tonnes of talk before you’ve even opened. Luckee got extensive screen time on the season-four premiere of Top Chef Canada (which so far feels sort of like Lord of the Flies, only more sexist).

9. Côte de Boeuf
Ossington’s gourmet butcher shop worked Game of Thrones fans into a lather by announcing an upcoming two-day medieval feast inspired by the series.

10. Ceili Cottage
Leslieville’s winterized yurt was packed Thursday for the pub’s St. Patty’s Day kick-off jam. Highland dancers were involved.

Honourable Mentions: Momofuku Toronto’s David Chang was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” class of 2014. Meanwhile, Bar Isabel, THR & Co., Drake One Fifty and Electric Mud rounded out Toronto Life’s top-five best new restaurants of the year.