Air Canada's enRoute magazine announces 2014 Canada's Best New Restaurants and People's Choice Award winner

Tofino, B.C.'s Wolf in the Fog named Canada's Best New Restaurant, and Saskatoon, SK's Ayden took top votes on eatandvote.com

TORONTO, Oct. 23, 2014 /CNW/ - Canada's award-winning inflight magazine, Air Canada's enRoute, is pleased to announce the Top 10 list of Canada's Best New Restaurants 2014, as well as the winner of the Air Canada enRoute Canada's Best New Restaurants 2014 People's Choice Award. On a month-long culinary journey that took noted food writer Andrew Braithwaite from Tofino, British Columbia to St. John's, Newfoundland, he discovered a group of chefs, sommeliers and restaurateurs who continued to explore this country's terroir and redefine what it means to dine out in Canada.

The Top 10 restaurants in order are:

1. Wolf in the Fog (Tofino): "On the extreme west coast of Vancouver Island, where rainforest meets ocean, you stumble up a flight of stairs and into a soaring cedar-clad room above a surf shop where chef Nick Nutting leads a crew trained in the precise details of fine dining."
2. The Farmer's Apprentice (Vancouver):  "Each small plate – more often, a bowl – conjured by owner David Gunawan is a precise jumble of textures and flavours. Digging in is a sort of black magic."
3. Le Vin Papillon (Montreal): "Long-time Joe Beef guru Vanya Filipovic fills massive chalkboards with organic wines to run with a vegetable-focused cuisine from boyfriend and chef Marc-Olivier Frappier."
4. RGE RD (Edmonton): "The heart of Blair Lebsack's kitchen is a wood-burning oven that consumes birch and maple at 700oF, curing honey ham and smoking Salt Spring Island mussels or even dehydrated local milk during the off-hours."
5. Mallard Cottage (St. John's): "Todd Perrin spent two years restoring a heritage property in Quidi Vidi Harbour for this brilliant mash-up of fine dining and comfort cuisine on the outskirts of St. John's."
6. Bar Buca (Toronto): "Rob Gentile's restaurant likes to pretend it's a simple bar for sipping Barolo. You're here to drink, sure, but you're also here to eat things like tiny fried smelt dusted with fennel salt."
7. The Chase (Toronto): "Chef Michael Steh doesn't lean on molecular trickery or audacious ingredients to wow. His food is more direct and more delightful than that, in an atmosphere that makes you want to say yes to things."
8. Ayden (Saskatoon): "Top Chef Canada winner Dale MacKay gambled that Saskatoon was ready for lime- and lemongrass- and ginger-dusted chicken wings. Ayden isn't about showing off Prairie cooking to the world – it's about bringing the world home."
9. Légende (Quebec City): "Northern Quebec is the culinary hunting ground that Frédéric Laplante mythologizes at his capital-city bistro. Cornish hen gets a boreal accent from balsam fir fleur de sel."
10. Edna (Halifax):  "Jenna Mooers' North End bistro digs up treasure from the fertile soils of Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley and hauls it out of the brisk Atlantic waters."

Shot behind-the-scenes at the top three restaurants, short films directed by John Cullen and Chris Muir can be viewed onboard Air Canada flights and on
http://enroute.aircanada.com/canadas-best-new-restaurants-2014/. Winners will be profiled in the November issue of Air Canada's enRoute.

The Top 10 restaurants will officially receive their awards during the annual Canada's Best New Restaurants Gala celebration on November 20 in Toronto.

Voted by the people for the people
In partnership with lead sponsor Jaguar Land Rover Canada, Air Canada's enRoute encouraged Canadians to select their favourite new restaurant on eatandvote.com.  Ayden, the Saskatoon restaurant from Top Chef Canada winner Dale Mackay, received Air Canada enRoute Canada's Best New Restaurants 2014 People's Choice Award.  The contest offered a chance to vote to win a trip for two to the 2014 Canada's Best New Restaurants gala event in Toronto, with the use of a vehicle.

"The quality and diversity of this year's restaurants are incredible, and provide our readers with a resource for where to dine in cities like Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, St. John's, Edmonton, Halifax, and Saskatoon," said Louise McKenven, Senior Director, Marketing, Air Canada. "Pairing our annual feature with a compelling in-flight video series of the top three restaurants will provide Air Canada passengers with a full course of dining options from coast to coast."

"This year's search proved the diversity of Canadian cuisine and that chefs are continuing to further the culinary experience," explained Ilana Weitzman, editor-in-chief, Air Canada's enRoute magazine. "Once again we went looking for good people who've dedicated themselves to delivering memorable experiences.  There was a clear favourite in Dale MacKay's restaurant Ayden, which ranked in our Top 10 and took the lion's share of Canada's votes on eatandvote.com."

About Jaguar Land Rover Canada ULC

• Jaguar Land Rover is the UK's largest automotive manufacturing business built around two iconic British car brands with a rich heritage and powerful consumer appeal and loyalty. Additionally, Jaguar Land Rover is at the centre of the UK automotive industry's drive to deliver technical innovation in all areas of vehicle development.
• Jaguar Land Rover has two state of the art engineering and design facilities and three advanced manufacturing plants in the UK.
• Jaguar Land Rover employs 25,000 people and sells vehicles in 170 countries around the world.
• Headquartered in Mississauga in Canada, Jaguar Land Rover Canada ULC is represented by 23 retail outlets.

About Air Canada

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 180 destinations on five continents. Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2013 served more than 35 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 60 Canadian cities, 49 destinations in the United States and 73 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,269 airports in 193 countries. Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax that ranked Air Canada in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers as Best Airline in North America in 2014 for the fifth consecutive year. For more information, please visit: aircanada.com.

enRoute is Air Canada's award-winning travel magazine with over one million readers each month. The magazine — available exclusively on all Air Canada flights and in Maple Leaf Lounges worldwide as well as in select hotels and boutiques across North America — is an inspirational authority for the global traveler, known for its strong visual presence and innovative design. Air Canada's enRoute is published by Spafax, one of the world's leading content marketing agencies and providers of in-flight media, with offices in 14 cities around the world.

Follow on Twitter and Instagram @enroutemag #enroutetop10.

SOURCE: Air Canada's enRoute

For further information, visuals or to request an interview, please contact: Laurie Hall or Chantelle Kilpatrick, The Siren Group Inc. -- [email protected], [email protected], 416-461-5270 or 416-696-5554; Phil Birnbaum, Spafax -- [email protected], 647-789-7297 or 416-948-2286; Barbara Barrett, Jaguar Land Rover Canada -- [email protected], 416-565-0226