Image via Complex Original/Jazz Alba
It should go without saying that any and all restaurants that got off the ground (or managed to keep their doors open) while navigating the pandemic are nothing short of heroic. And while 2021 has been another different year for the restaurant industry, full of makeshift rules and fluid regulations, it at least did see some patrons able to dine indoors coast to coast to coast. While chefs and mixologists may not have had the opportunity to work their full arsenal of creative culinary wizardry, these restaurants also managed to come up with offerings that are innovative, memorable, and simply fire. Without further ado, here are our picks for the 30 best new Canadian restaurants of 2021.
Terre Restaurant
Saltyard Social
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Website: saltyardsocial.ca
Showcasing Nova Scotia’s best seafood and seasonal offerings, Salt Yard Social is a gathering spot with great outdoor space, plenty of shareables, and big plate options to go around. Scallop ceviche, tuna carpaccio, mussels, and more lead into mains such as lobster rolls, short rib, pasta options like seared scallop linguine and hand-tossed, Neapolitan-style pizzas.
CENTRAL
Vandale
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Website: vandalemtl.ca
Vandale is the dreamchild of the team behind the not-so-secret Le Speakeasy MTL and its owners thought it a good idea to invite 15 local artists to have their way with the interior. And they were right, birthing Vandale’s MO: “Vandalised by local artists.” The spot is equal parts trendy exhibit and food hub for those with discerning palettes and a need for stimulating conversation pieces (Anthony Bourndain’s portrait dons one wall).
Located on Montreal’s rue McGill strip in Old Montreal, the project was born in April 2021 on the heels of the anti-lockdown protests that saw many local businesses vandalised. By opening up its doors and embracing this destructive rage, the owners saw an opportunity to create something new and meaningful. This theme of vandalism also extends to the menu and the cocktails that are inspired by the “vandals.” Opoze is one such invitation, combining gin, calvados, cardamome, menthol, grenadine, and lime, while eats feature local ingredients that call out their origins: beef short ribs from Prince Edward Island, burrata and radicchio from Mirabel, Halibut in saffron broth from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to list three.
Blandino
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Website: blandinobrasserie.com
Dubbed Montreal’s neighbourhood Italian brasserie and pasta joint, Blandino is a laid-back spot serving up great eats and a wide selection of bevvies. But what the restaurant lacks in buttoned-up stuffiness, it makes up for with elegant menu options that introduce a level of exceptionality to the everyday. To give you a sense of its menu, the Guanciale di Manzo features bourguignon-braised beef cheek, pomme purée, tokyo turnips, heirloom carrots, and cauliflower purée.
Pichai
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Website: pichai.biz
A stylish, ’60s-esque Thai and South-East Asian eatery, Pichai can be found in Montreal’s St. Hubert neighbourhood, yet its feel calls up the Bangkok curry shops that are oceans away. Grown-up sib to local favourite Pumpui, the artwork here is courtesy of local artists Albert Nguyen and Mathieu Dionne, and the plates are family style and meant for sharing. Options include mains such as Thai street food plaa tuu tom kem, which features mackerel cooked over three days in a fish sauce, tamarind, lemongrass, galangal, garlic and shallots, and other regional dishes.
Mokili
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Website: mokili.ca
Bringing the diverse street food flavours of the African content to Montreal, Mokili is serving up dishes that’ll broaden your horizons. Kelewele (fried plantain, ginger, spices, pepper and roasted peanut) from Ghana, mefe (peanut sauce, half cornish chicken, burnt savoy cabbage, roasted carrot) from Senegal and Mali, and baseema (coconut pudding, lemon juice syrup, golden coconut shavings) from Sudan, are just a few options. There are plenty of vegan items too. Better still? Mokili’s pili-pili hot sauce is made with red habanero peppers, grown by local farmers of African descent, such as Papy Bulembi, around the city of Montreal. This is just one of the spot’s farm-to-table initiatives.
Tropikàl Restobar
Sunny’s Chinese
Saints Island Pies
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Website: saintsislandpies.com
As mentioned, Toronto’s pizza scene is already dynamic and thriving, and Saints Island Pies just added a new dimension to this only-in-the-6ix mix. Think: Detroit-style pies but with Filipino flavours and toppings. What’s that look like? Well, the Maanghang Puti pizza to start. Translating to “spicy white pie,” this pizza brings the heat in all the best ways, with a mix of red shishito, serrano chillies, pickled red cherry chillies, ginger, water spinach, and coconut milk. Then comes the Plantation Pie, topped with Saints Island Pies’ signature sauce, roasted onion, smokey achuete marinaded and shaved pork shoulder, stewed pineapple, patis caramel, and “Dad’s BBQ sauce,” along with herbs. But the party doesn’t end there. The pop-up-to-restaurant path is also one Saints Island Pies took in this pandemic, and they are now slinging full pies for takeout, delivery, or as a dine-in option.
Selva
Kusinera
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Website: instagram.com/kusineratoronto
While the pandemic has birthed a slew of incredibly diverse and tasty pop-ups across Canada and Toronto specifically, Canadian-Filipino chef Keanu Francisco has taken this model to host a flash restaurant each Monday at Sara’s (where he’s also a chef). His restaurant, aptly named Kusinera, means female cook in Francisco’s native Tagalog, evoking the central role many moms, grandmas, aunties, and neighbours play in Filipino cooking. The dishes Francisco creates echo childhood favourites he grew up with, while also using this as a culinary opportunity to explore other Filipine regions by way of food. And we’re here for it. But the common denominator in each offering is the thoughtful story that fuels it: “I always say Kusinera is about the memories I had growing up/ memories I missed out on because I grew up in Canada & not back home like my sisters did and my interpretation of those memories/losses,” Francisco writes on Instagram. Expect to see a tasting menu that features dishes such as hipon alavar (fried prawn, alavar, scallion), and humba (pork shoulder, pineapple, and black beans).
Playa Cabana Bar Esquina
Neon Tiger
Midori Ramen
Pizzeria Badiali
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Website: pizzeriabadiali.com
If you’re a pizza lover, you know your varietals. Is it Detroit-, Chicago- or Neapolitan-style you fancy most? And if among those varietals, New York-style is your favourite (and how can it not be?), this is your pizza joint. Inspired by the city’s old-school by-the-slice outfits, Pizza Badiali is a relatively recent newcomer to Toronto’s west end and the city’s already-thriving pizza scene, but it’s arguably one that was worth waiting for. Chef Ryan Baddeley and his team serve up big slices with perfect light, oven-charred crust (which they let ferment for two days) with classic but gratifying toppings and weekly specials with some new twists, like rapini and ricotta and roasted squash (roasted kabocha and creamy acorn squash, caramelized onion, mozzarella, smoked scamorza, brown butter, sage and balsalmic).
PRAIRIES
JinBar
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Website: jinbar.ca
What’s better than fried chicken, tacos, and pizza? A Korean take on said fried chicken, tacos, and pizza. JinBar brings this foodie dream into a full-on sensory reality. Flaming hot dragon’s breath fried chicken will hit you with a one-two-combo punch of juicy and crunchy, while reminding you who’s your daddy. Heralded by artisanal cuisinier Jin Hee (and in case you’re wondering, she’s your daddy), we don’t blame you if you want to try everything at once. JinBar makes this choice just a bit easier with its two-flavour pizzas. Otherwise, you’re on your own choosing the delectable snacks (honey butter potato chips), mains (Korean beef bulgogi), or dessert (poached apple and coconut sorbet). And then there is also the chef’s tasting menu.
StrEATS
Location: Red Deer, Alberta
Website: streats.ca
strEATS is making its mark on Alberta with their seventh addition in the province (they also have locations in B.C., Winnipeg, and Ottawa) and the latest is bringing the heat with staple menu items like burritos, tacos, and poutines. Their feature menu items can get a little wild, like tandoori naan tacos, but if you’re more on the classic side, you can opt for one of their bowls or an order of fish and chips.
Meat The Bun
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Website: meatthebun.ca
There’s nothing better than a reliable burger spot where you know you’re going to get your money’s worth of meaty, drippy goodness. Meat The Bun may be your new go-to for burgs serving up handcrafted patties on freshly baked buns with in-house-made sauces for delivery or dine-in. Sides include poutine, onion rings, curly fries, and of course, classic hand-cut fries.
Bro’Kin Yolk
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Website: brokinyolk.ca
Bro’Kin Yolk is Edmonton’s newest brunch spot teeming with comfy booths, hot coffee, and a menu filled with hearty breakfast food options. Indulge in their apple pie French toast and chicken and waffles or keep it classic with a farmer’s breakfast. Whatever your brunch preference is, this place fills up fast, so you should probably line up yesterday.
Major Tom
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Website: majortombar.ca
Major Tom is giving great views and serving exceptional food. After taking an extensive 40-story elevator ride, you’ll be met with the magnificent 200-seat monstrosity that is Major Tom. For steak-lovers, this is the holy grail, (wagyu anyone?) but you can also find decadent features like linguine with clams, slow roasted duck, and Alberta trout.
BonTon & Company
Location: Dawson City, Yukon
Website: bontonandco.ca
If you’ve never been to historic Dawson City, Yukon (traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in), here is another reason to remain curious about what lies north of 60: BonTon & Company serves up regularly-changing menus, serving up the freshest seasonal ingredients available and as much as can be locally-sourced at this latitude. The chef’s approach is focused on sustainability and to leave nothing to waste, using the entirety of the animal in the creation of its dishes. These centre around locally-sourced meat and produce harvested in and around the subarctic Klondike region, combined with international flavours and cooking techniques that create innovative, fresh, and vibrant dishes. Examples include a charcuterie featuring Taku River sockeye salmon and crispy Lastraw Ranch pork jowl with cracked black peppercorn caramel.
Porch
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Website: porchyyc.com
Elevated comfort food on a rooftop patio—how can that ever be a miss? Porch boasts a stunning indoor/outdoor space in the heart of 17th Avenue with fun features like a rooftop bar and swing set. Their menu is heavy on comfort with items like hot dogs, sliders, and lobster mac and cheese, and to be honest, the vibes also land as they should.
Sunday Pie
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Website: sundaypie.ca
We wouldn’t normally recommend you pick up pizza from a back alley, but in this case we encourage it. Sunday Pie is Calgary’s newest Detroit-style pizza joint operating out of the back alley of The Wednesday Room. They offer a small menu of five delicious classic pies for pick up on Sundays only and yes, pineapple lovers are welcome. Try their version called the Aloha, it just might turn you into a believer.
WEST COAST
Pizza Coming Soon
Community Taps and Pizza
Loula’s Taverna
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Website: loulastaverna.com
The team behind Loula’s knows Greek food and does it really, really well. Stepping into their stunning Commercial Drive digs, Taverna makes you feel like you’ve just been flown out to Greece to experience the very best of the islands. Must trys include the lamb chops, spanakopita, and their signature Gaia’s G+T.
Baby Dhal Roti
Nancy Go Yaya
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Website: nancygoyaya.com
From the owners of Vancouver’s Bao Bei and Kissa Tanto comes the modest new addition to Chinatown, Nancy Go Yaya. A Singaporean cafe that’s open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. bringing delicious comfort food like cereal fried chicken, omelet sandwiches, and sweet potato puffs. Trust us and add this spot to your brunch rotation ASAP.
District 11
Fiorino
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Website: fiorinovancouver.com
Only in Vancouver will you find an authentic Italian street-eats joint in the heart of Chinatown. Fiorino is that location with cozy booths, family-style seating, and a menu that will make you feel like you’re in the streets of Florence. Gnocchi, crostini, tiramisu… is your mouth watering yet?