Eight Ottawa restaurants on 2023 Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list

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Ottawa’s culinary scene had its best showing to date when the annual list of Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants was released this week.

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Eight Ottawa restaurants appeared on the list, with Alice on Adeline Street, the cutting-edge plant-based restaurant, highest among them. Alice ranked 31st on the prestigious list. Earlier this year, Alice’s chef-owner, Briana Kim, won the Canadian Culinary Championship.

The list debuted in the mid-2010s. In previous years, Ottawa has had as many as seven restaurants and as few as two crack the list. The city’s second-best showing was last year.

On this year’s list were 27 Montreal restaurants, including top-ranked Mon Lapin. The list also included 18 restaurants from Toronto, 18 from Vancouver, 10 from Alberta — seven in Calgary — four in Halifax, two in Winnipeg and one each from St. John’s and Bay Fortune, P.E.I.

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The other seven Ottawa restaurants on the list were:

• Riviera — Ranking 49th, the posh Sparks Street restaurant has a big-city vibe and is a hangout for Ottawa’s politicos and power players.

• Arlo — Ranking 62nd, the Centretown restaurant is making the list for the first time.

• Supply and Demand — Ranking 63rd, the Wellington Street West restaurant is a favourite for small plates and house-made pastas.

• Perch — Ranking 85th, chef-owner Justin Champagne-Lagarde’s small restaurant, which focuses on refined tasting menus, also ranked fourth on the most recent enRoute magazine list of Canada’s best new restaurants. Opened a year and a half ago, Perch is appearing on the Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list for the first time.

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• Atelier — Ranking 88th, the Rochester Street restaurant opened by chef-owner Marc Lepine, two-time winner of the Canadian Culinary Championship, proved that extravagant tasting-menu dining was feasible in Ottawa.

• North & Navy — Ranking 96th, the Nepean Street restaurant is one of Ottawa’s top choices for refined Italian cuisine.

• Gitanes — Ranking 97th, the Elgin Street restaurant is inspired by French cuisine. Opened in 2019, Gitanes is appearing on the Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list for the first time.

This year’s list was based on input from 130 judges, including 20 new additions. This writer was a judge this year, and also judged in past years.

The full list can be found at canadas100best.com.

A sister list of Canada’s 50 Best Bars was also compiled, based on the input of more than 60 judges. Sidecar, hidden below the Preston Street restaurant Mati, ranked 32nd.

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