This week on DineSafe, very few restaurants were charged with dreaded "crucial" infractions. Call it a holiday gift, as most of the inspected restaurants managed to come out unscathed this week. Well, "unscathed" if you don't count the overall conditional pass. Perhaps Toronto Public Health inspectors were in merry, festive moods and easy on the assessment (let's hope not, for our collective sake), or else restaurants cleaned up in preparation for the new year ahead.

Yet, some spots didn't clean up enough, it seems, including a couple Bloor and Jane-area diners, a few takeout places by Yonge and Wellesley, and a new spot for shawarma in Riverdale. Here are a few restaurants pegged with conditional passes this week.

As I noted in my previous post, 2011 has been a big year for Toronto craft beer. The task of having to narrow the field to the best five local beers of the year then was no easy one--although the research involved was enjoyable.

Because brewers tend to release their beers in pilot batches and often launch beers at events and festivals before their beer gets wider distribution, some of these beers were available somewhere before 2011; however, because they're getting more widespread attention this year, and because I didn't do one of these lists last year, I've included a few beers here that are technically from 2010 because they're all worth checking out. Plus it's my list so I can do whatever I want.

This week on DineSafe, a popular Kensington burger spot was forced to close its doors for two days. Burger Bar is known for its saag paneer poutine and great selection of craft beer, but to the people at Toronto Public Health this week, it's simply one restaurant that has failed to "prevent a rodent infestation." But have they tried the sweet potato fries?!

2011 has been a busy year for the Toronto beer scene. While the craft beer trend has been a long time coming, who could have foreseen the emergence so many new micro-breweries and boutique Toronto beer brands in the last twelve months. And if our crystal ball is working correctly, there's a lot more activity to come in the year ahead. Here are some of the highlights from 2011 in the life of everyone's favourite beverage.

After four years of trial and error, Snowman Brewing, Toronto's first exclusively gluten free Brewery is set to commercially launch Thursday night at Kensington Market's already gluten-free-friendly Burger Bar. Founded by Kevin Snow and Hirsch Goodman, (Snow+Man) Snowman fills a void the two men saw in Toronto's beer scene. "We realized a demand for not just a gluten free beer, but a great beer that happens to be gluten free." There are currently only a handful of gluten free beer options available at the LCBO and Beer Store, and only one of them (Nickel Brook) is made in Ontario.

This week on DineSafe, we learned that some yellow signs appeared (albeit briefly) in Kensington Market. First off, Supermarket, everyone's favourite place to line up out in the cold on a Friday night, garnered four Toronto Public Health visits in five days, only to shed its conditional pass on the last. Then there's Salsas Mexican Grill, which was going strong with six straight passes since 2010, nabbed with improper maintenance of food surfaces, utensils, and/or equipment. Bummer to ruin the record.

Speaking of record, Amaya is here on DineSafe again, but this time it's the express outlet in Leslieville that is charged with a variety of infractions. Out in Etobicoke, it's our Quebec-style bistro now under the microscope, along with a café on the Danforth in ode to America's 44th president, and a spot in Yorkville that's buzzing in the summertime.