The Dish Power Rankings: Taco Takeover (Again) Edition

a longstanding beer hall becomes a punch line on Letterman.

1. Barrio Coreano (new this week) Yesterday was opening night for the new Playa Cabana outpost—and was exactly as rowdy as you’d expect.

2. Valdez (back this week) Food deity René Redzepi (i.e. the chef at Noma, the Copenhagen restaurant responsible for culinary hard-ons worldwide) called the Latin hotspot “the best place we’ve been so far” on his North American tour.

3. El Catrin (↑5) The inaugural weekend of the Distillery District’s Toronto Christmas Market puts the Mexican restaurant firmly into not-a-chance-in-hell reservation territory.

4. Bar Isabel (↓2) The tavern is even killing it on Yelp, which makes it kind of like one of those super-popular people who’s also really nice, so you can’t even bitch about them behind their backs.

5. Bent (↓3)
Bizarre Foods America host Andrew Zimmern raved about Lee’s bento-box sampler platter in an episode that aired this week. You can sample the winter version if you act fast—last we checked, some weekend tables were still available.

6. Nikai (new this week) According to our sources, the Momofuku bar is the trendy place to hold an office holiday party this year, especially among Bay Street bankers.

7. Edulis (no change) Still booked until forever (no thanks to Martha).

8. Millie Crêperie (new this week) The Japanese crêpe shop has been getting props for its decadent desserts, including the Millie Crêpe Cake: 20 whisper-thin pancakes separated by layers of vanilla pastry cream.

9. The Chase (↓3) The Financial District restaurant is really good at pleasing diners, who continue to flock there en masse. But maybe less good at parking their cars.

10. The Bier Markt (new this week) Is all buzz good buzz? On the one hand, the Esplanade beer hall was name-checked by Jonah Hill on Letterman this week. On the other hand, it’s now internationally known as a destination for skeezy political cokeheads.

Honourable Mentions: The owner of Shake Shack in New York was spotted tucking into a burger from The Burger’s Priest; McDonald’s opened a fancy new flagship store near Yonge-Dundas Square (with fireplaces!); and Bar Hop on King West was spotted pouring a beer named after the mayor: In One Of My Drunken Stupours by Great Lakes Brewery.