The Best New Restaurants in Toronto, 2010

The best new restaurants in Toronto all have one thing in common: each kitchen is headed by a wildly ambitious chef who is helping to raise the bar of the city's culinary scene. Not one of these places has a menu that wasn't given priority over overzealous design and marketing and while many, if not all of these restaurants are lovely inside, it's the food that truly carries them. Even the places that tell you they're making "down home" or "authentic" or "simple" food are doing it with a hand far more confident and capable than anyone's nonna.

So here they are, the best restaurants that opened in Toronto during 2010.

See also:

The Best New Restaurants in Toronto 2009
The Best New Restaurants in Toronto 2008
The Best New Cheap Eats in Toronto 2010
The Best New Brunch Restaurants in Toronto 2010
The Best New Cafes in Toronto 2010
The Best New Bars in Toronto 2010

Top photo of Enoteca Sociale by Pasta e Broccoli

Woodlot

There are two things you should know about Woodlot. The first is that you will be given not one but two menus, one for the carnivores and one for the herbivores. A nice thought seeing as how this city’s love for both charcuterie and veggie restaurants is making the culinary scene increasingly divided. The second thing to know is that it’s all cooked in a wood-burning oven. Of course there is a lot more to the place than that, but I’ll let you figure out the rest for yourselves. More »

Enoteca Sociale

Hey, remember when everyone went nuts for pizza like they’d never tried it before and traveled from far off lands to the corner of Dundas and Ossington and waited in line for two hours just to eat it? Well get your folding chairs out again because Enoteca Sociale is the new Italian restaurant from the people who brought you Pizzeria Libretto and it’s delicious. More »

Brockton General

This wonderfully snug little spot on Dundas West has only three employees and two of them are owners. The third? Chef Guy Rawlings, who must have a limitless amount of creativity to be writing a new menu nightly on a role of butcher paper fastened to the wall of the dining room. More »

Campagnolo

That Campagnolo – Italian for country bumpkin – makes it’s home in a former Coffee Time is perhaps enough to put them on this list. But that would be selling Chef Craig Harding’s menu short. The rotating list of 13 items takes advantage of Harding’s desire to use fresh, in season ingredients with an emphasis on the hearty kind of no nonsense cooking the name implies. More »

Queen Margherita Pizza

Queen Margherita Pizza is Leslieville’s answer to Pizzeria Libretto, or that’s what the folks in the west end would have you believe. In Leslieville they just call it some of the best pizza in Toronto – and they might be right. At Queen Margherita you’ll find impossibly thin crusts baked to slightly blackened perfection topped both simply and elegantly. More »

Salt Wine Bar

At long last, we can say, for sure, Salt Wine Bar is open. It’s been a trying year for the Lower Ossington establishment which was shut down in September for violating the moratorium on fun. But now that they’re here to stay, expect Portuguese and Spanish inspired tapas accompanied by a substantial wine list suitable for a quiet night out with the person you’re trying to turn into your better half. More »

Origin Restaurant

Origin is the newest endeavor of chef/mad scientist Claudio Aprile. But unlike his flagship restaurant Colborne Lane, Origin takes things “casual.” Where Colborne Lane approached cuisine as hyper complicated gastro-science fiction, Origin strips away the steps to reveal a chef who doesn’t need to hide behind his liquid nitrogen. But home cooking this is not. Aprile’s casual is still probably about the nicest thing you’ll see on a plate anywhere. More »

Ici Bistro

It took a lot to get the doors of Ici Bistro open. Former councilor and hater of fun Joe Pantalone tried to block this high end French restaurant from opening because he was concerned for the well being of the nearby high school kids. Fortunately for us, Ici pushed through and the result is absolutely decadent. More »

Frank's Kitchen

Located in the heart of Little Italy, Frank’s Kitchen is like the down home version of fine dining French cuisine. Yes, it’s a little pricey, but this isn’t the place you pop into for a quick bite, this is food as an event - a celebration. It’s a full night out, so sit down, take your time and treat it that way. More »