No Edmonton eateries made Air Canada's Best New Restaurant list this year

Nov 3 2021, 4:46 pm

Edmontonians love their local restaurants, so it may be a tough pill to swallow when looking at Air Canada’s picks for the 10 best new restaurants in the country in 2021.

Edmonton was completely shut out in the list, with just one appearance for the province for a Korean food bar in Calgary.

Categories this year include best in fine dining, bar dining, takeout, farm-to-table, and hotel restaurants, to name a few.

“Air Canada is proud to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Canada’s Best New Restaurants, a program that has charted the progress of Canadian culinary talent from coast to coast,” said Andy Shibata, Vice President, Brand, Air Canada.

“To mark this milestone year and in recognition of the resilience of our country’s food community, this year’s Canada’s Best New Restaurants are unranked, focusing on and honouring people, places and cultures that make up the hospitality industry, in Canada.”

With presenting partner OpenTable, this year differs from past lists as Air Canada highlights a small but mighty list created with the help of industry experts from across the nation.

Despite the omission of Edmonton locations, the city is no stranger to the list. In 2018 Bündok made the acclaimed shortlist, and in 2017 Edmonton had three restaurants make the list: Clementine, Cafe Linnea, and the Alder Room.

So Edmonton, there is always next year.

If you are curious, check out the complete list of restaurants that made the cut:

Best Fine Dining: Pompette (Toronto, ON)

Best Bar Dining: JinBar (Calgary, AB)

Best Farm-to-Table: Bika Farm and Cuisine (Saint-Blaise-sur-Richelieu, QC)

Best Tapas North of 60: BonTon & Company (Dawson City, Yukon)

Best Trailblazer, Tropikàl Restobar (Montreal, QC)

Best Hotel Restaurant: Terre (St. John’s, NL)

Best Takeout: Sunny’s Chinese (Toronto, ON)

Producer of the Year: Tim Ball, subsea forager (Garnish and St. John’s, NF)

Grower of the Year: Les Jardins Lakou (Dunham, QC)

Laine MitchellLaine Mitchell

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