Salt Tasting Room

Le Moine Echanson

Call it international flea market or garage sale revival, but don’t let the decor – sculptured angels, flamenco shoes, an African mask, random furs and an indoor gazebo – fool you: This is a restaurant of refined taste and sensibility. Cuban music might be playing on the stereo or a live fiddler could be performing traditional songs on an old-timey violin. The menu is creative, honest and uncompromising. A chickpea tart with tomatoes, anchovies and tapenade brings in darker flavours that hint at the kitchen’s fondness for offal. If you’ve ever had a craving for lamb kidneys on a stick, you should probably try them here. You may not like them, but at least you’ll know they’re well prepared. Owner and sommelier Bertrand Messotten’s idiosyncratic wine selections assure there’s as much interest in the glass as on the plate. He pairs a small dish of lobster and apple with dill, chives and Sainte-Rose cheese from Fromagerie La Petite Heidi with a rare Quebec chardonnay, and the match is inspired. Cooking this confident and cultivated needs no ornamentation.

Foxley Bistro

Once a name associated with impeccable sushi, Tom Thai has branched out with the opening of this little resto. Chef hasn’t completely abandoned his fondness for raw fish, but here he serves it ceviche-style, marinating sea bream in citrusy yuzu and shiso leaf. Stunning lamb and duck dumplings can barely contain their fillings. The kitchen isn’t afraid to get Cro-Magnon: tea-smoked quail is heady, while meaty pork ribs require not only a finger bowl but possibly a post-dinner bath. The bare-bones decor is in keeping with the tenor of this gentrifying west Toronto ’hood – the strip club next door brings new meaning to the concept of dinner and a show.

Colborne Lane

Chef Claudio Aprile (formerly of Senses) has the confidence to create elaborate dishes that approach but never quite go over the top. Venison crudo with pickled oyster mushrooms, palm sugar dressing, golden beets and watercress resembles a still life and tastes like a surprise party. His prawn ceviche partners with two aiolis – squid ink and saffron – that bring a soft creaminess to balance out the bright acidity. Manicured women in expensive dresses dine with men sporting flashy watches, and even the staff resemble hedge fund managers in their crisp, striped shirts. Still, there is an egalitarian air to the restaurant, and a communal table anchors the room. The post-apocalyptic-chic esthetic leaves the brick raw and the beams rough. The expensive wine list is mollified by a good selection of wines by the glass, and a range of sake options points to that libation’s ability to pair well with complex dishes. Cheesecake comes as a surprise for this ambitious kitchen, but the passion fruit gelée and sweet curry anglaise reinterpret this suburban standard for an urbane audience.

KINGYO IZAKAYA

Walking into the room is like stumbling across a remote Japanese temple that happens to be hosting a rollicking party. There are loud greetings at the front door, followed by interactive cocktails and dangerous foods. Then two frozen grapes on tall skewers in a bud vase appear and it’s over. Time flies when you’re having this much fun. Chef and owner Minoru Tamaru has a playful approach and a fine-tuned palate, elevating the izakaya – a.k.a. Japanese pub – experience exponentially. Cocktails set the tone. Nama Grepefruits (sic) Wari is presented with a whole split grapefruit and a juicer. Half is reamed tableside, and the remainder is left behind for self-administering. Japanese Childhood Memory Tickling Soda with Shochu involves a penguin-shaped glass soda bottle that carbonates on impact. Just try it. If this were a search for Canada’s most dangerous new restaurant, Kingyo would be a shoo-in. Open flames and sharp twigs are only some of the perils that await. Thin slices of beef tongue are presented alongside a lava-hot boulder for searing the meat. (It may be the second most fun you can have with tongue.) The kitchen revels in esoteric ingredients, boasting salt from Utah, the Himalayas and Japan, designer rice, barley-fed pork and fresh wasabi. The menu is lengthy and equally adventurous: Cheese agedashi – tempura mozzarella in a light broth – sounds like a hot mess but actually works. Pork cheeks, more tender and less fatty than the ubiquitous belly, are revelatory. Kingyo is a royally good time.

Restaurant L'Idylle

The oldest house (built in 1828) in Dieppe is serving some very modern food. Chef Emmanuel Charretier is the one-man kitchen brigade in this family operation, where wife Hélène Legras runs the front of the house and her father hand-painted each plate. No wonder the restaurant feels so welcoming. The setting may be quaint, but there’s a playfulness to the meal. Translucent sheets of lobster sashimi marinated in olive oil and balsamic resemble a psychedelic light show with the addition of green tea powder and fresh herbs. Sticky squab breast rests alongside a leg stuffed with foie gras, joined by braised cabbage. The confit of figs and vanilla ice cream with gingerbread crumbs was among the year’s best desserts.

Bistro Bienville

This is exactly the kind of food we would all cook at home if we could. The lobster burger alone would have guaranteed chefs Sébastien Harrison-Cloutier and Jean-François Cormier a spot on the list. Served on an immaculate little sesame seed bun, it is a textural tour de force of soft lobster, crunchy cornichons and slippery lashings of mayo. The delights don’t stop there, however: An octopus salad with a tomato emulsion features tender du Puy lentils and clean, distinct flavours. Even the parsley tastes good. Nathalie Grégoire owns this pocket-size bistro on a residential street in Montreal’s restaurant-rich Plateau neighbourhood. The menu is brief, just eight items, and straightforward. A little nubbin of Angus beef gilds a cool, rich potato salad topped with salsa verde. An entire loup de mer for two rests atop Israeli couscous (the caviar of couscous), accompanied by the most delicious cherry tomatoes – split, served raw and popping with flavour. No neighbourhood, no city, no country, for that matter, can have too many delicious, casual little spots as good as this.

Atlantica Restaurant

Just finding the place is a bit of an accomplishment. Although it’s tempting to turn at the signpost leading to “Paradise,” keep driving and you’ll find another kind of paradise further down the road. After being led into the dining room at the Beach House hotel in tiny Portugal Cove, with the French doors closed behind, you feel like you’ve been admitted into a secret society. Tall windows frame steep cliffs plunging into Conception Bay, and with the tide rolling in, it can seem like the whole res­taurant is sailing. When the room is full, which is often, there is a hushed, contented buzz. This is a grown-up restaurant, but that’s not to say it’s stuffy or inaccessible or avant-garde. It simply serves beautiful food in a professional way – think apple and celery salad with almonds and Parmesan, roast mushroom soup with truffle cream – with maximum flavour coaxed from each component. It’s a concept that’s either very old or very new. Atlantica is a homecoming of sorts for its abundantly talented chef, Jeremy Charles. Originally from St. John’s, Charles left to pursue his training in Montreal, where he worked with Claude Pelletier, now of Le Club Chasse et Pêche (number three in our 2005 survey). After stints as a private chef for the Molson and Bronfman families, he worked in the kitchens of L.A. and Chicago. But he has now come home to bring all of his training and experience to bear on this seaside restaurant, creating something unexpected and, frankly, enchanting. His menu is compact and tightly edited: A thick fillet of cod, glistening with moisture, balances richness with acidity and a touch of sweet from the preserved lemon zest. The aromatics in a long-simmered veal ragout add deep complexity and flavour that evolves with each bite. The chef’s mother provided the recipe for the carrot cake with butter pecan ice cream, raising the bar for carrot cake and possibly for mothers. The crew of Atlantica runs a very tight ship.