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Eatery in Canadian surfing town rated best new restaurant in Canada

A fine dining restaurant in a West Coast surfing town -- population 2,000 -- has been crowned Canada’s best new restaurant for serving hyperlocal, honest Canadian fare.

For the 13th year, Air Canada’s in-flight magazine enRoute commissioned food writers to eat their way across the country and come up with a list ranking the top 10 new restaurants in Canada.

This year, food writer Andrew Braithwaite proclaimed Wolf in the Fog, in Tofino, BC, Canada’s best new restaurant, a dining destination set on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the thick of virgin rainforest.

Or, as Braithwaite calls it, “...a chilled-out oasis of fine dining run by a bunch of surfers in Tofino.”

Dishes served feature fresh fish caught by chef Nick Nutting himself and locally harvested mushrooms.

For their autumn menu, diners can expect dishes like roasted vegetable salad, wild mushrooms, and truffle dressing; roasted sablefish with honey glaze, carrot gnocchi and sweet onion.

This year’s list is a solid representation of restaurants across the country, with addresses from the West to the Prairies, the East and the Maritimes.

Toronto is represented by two eateries: Bar Buca, and The Chase.

Overall, editors say the selection of restaurants this year share a sense of regionalism and definite culinary identity, rooted in “Canadian terroir,” be it a “gutsy little wine bar in Montreal” or an old fisherman’s cottage in St. John’s.”

The list fills a void left vacant by Michelin and organizers of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants -- two of the most influential restaurant dining guides -- which have all but ignored the culinary dining scene in Canada.

Here’s enRoute’s list of top 10 best new restaurants in Canada 2014:

1. Wolf in the Fog, Tofino, BC
2. The Farmer’s Apprentice, Vancouver, BC
3. Le Vin Papillon, Montreal, QC
4. Rge Rd, Edmonton, AB
5. Mallard Cottage, St. John’s, NF
6. Bar Buca, Toronto, ON
7. The Chase, Toronto, ON
8. Ayden, Saskatoon, SK
9. Legende, Quebec City, QC
10. Edna, Halifax, NS