This could be a banner year for Vancouver restaurants, with five local spots (and a sixth in the Metro region) making the "long list" of finalists for one of the nation's most respected dining awards.
Air Canada's Best New Restaurants (a name tweak from past years when its publication, EnRoute, presented the awards) issued its list of contenders for the 2024 roster on Tuesday (Sept. 10).
Among the 30 restaurants are five impressive Vancouver debuts: Bravo, Dovetail, Gary's, Lila, and Osteria Elio Volpe. Fort Langley's Ancestor Café also joins the list of finalists.
Last year, only two Vancouver restaurants (and one in Richmond) made the longlist; just one, Folke, wound up in the Top 10, placing seventh.
Air Canada has been recognizing the nation's best restaurants with its awards program since 2002. "We're thrilled to shine a light on Canada's emerging culinary talent through Air Canada's annual Best New Restaurants list," said Andy Shibata, Vice President, Brand, Air Canada, in a press release.
What's unique about these awards is that the company deploys a single, anonymous reviewer to make the final decisions. The finalists are determined by a panel of food experts. The top 10 will be revealed in a ceremony held in Toronto on Nov. 4.
For the 2024 awards, the panel considered restaurants that opened between late spring 2023 and May 31, 2024.
The Vancouver nominees are an excellent reflection of what has joined our dining scene in that time span. The current hot spot, Elio Volpe, is one of the city's toughest reservations to nab these days, while Bravo on Fraser Street emerged as Vancouver's own Best New Restaurant in this year's Van Mag Restaurant Awards (with Gary's as a runner-up). Lila is the newcomer, a modern Indian restaurant that reflects a dynamic new partnership between Shira Blustein (The Acorn) and Meeru Dhalwala (Vij's). Yaletown's Dovetail is perhaps the dark horse; it's enjoyed popularity but mixed reviews since its launch at the end of last year.
The 2024 nominees for Canada's Best New Restaurants are (in alphabetical order):
- Ada, Charlottetown
- Ancestor Café, Fort Langley
- Bar Gigi, Calgary
- Bar Henry, Edmonton
- Bar Prima, Toronto
- Bernadette's, Edmonton
- Black Cat Pizzeria, St. John's
- Bravo, Vancouver
- Bread & Cheese Inn Restaurant, Bay Bulls
- Café Malabar, Victoria
- Caméline, Gatineau
- Casavant, Montreal
- Conjeo Negro, Toronto
- Contrada, Toronto
- Crumb Queen/Andy's Lunch, Winnipeg
- Dovetail Restaurant, Vancouver
- F&B Restaurant, Saskatoon
- Fat Rabbit, St. Catherine's
- Gary's, Vancouver
- Heni, Montreal
- Île-de-France, Montreal
- Juliette Plaza, Montreal
- Lila Restaurant, Vancouver
- Little Wolf, Edmonton
- Maison de Soma, Mont-Tremblant
- Martine's Wine Bar, Toronto
- Mhel, Toronto
- Osteria Elio Volpe, Vancouver
- Parapluie, Montreal
- Sabayon, Montreal
- Takja BBQ House, Toronto
- The Starlight, Stratford
Editor's note: A representative for Canada's Best New Restaurants 2024 indicated the list as presented in the September 10 press release contained errors. Three restaurants had been omitted and one was placed on the list in error. The list presented above reflects the corrections provided on Sept. 11 by Canada's Best New Restaurants 2024.
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