As is tradition at Eater, we wind up the year with a survey of Montreal food writers. We've already covered Best Standbys, Top Newcomers, 2013 in One Word and Best 'Hoods. Now it's time to look at the Biggest Surprises of 2013.
[Photo: Randall Brodeur]
Q: What was the biggest dining surprise of 2013?
Lesley Chesterman, Gazette critic: What a mediocre year it turned out to be.
Jean-Philippe Tastet, Le Devoir critic: Vin Papillon.
Marie-Claude Lortie, La Presse critic: Impasto. Because of all the hype, I had doubts. And then I just loooooved it. Serious fun Italian cooking by TV star Stefano Faita.
Andrée Harvey, Voir critic: Ouverture: Racines. Fermetures: Projet67 et Le Hangar.
Gildas Meneu, Voir critic: Sans doute le souper chez Scarpetta. Encore un italien? Oui, mais quelle cuisine ! La cheffe est notamment passée chez Graziella, une référence. Du coup, la cuisine est fine et féminine. Superbe.
Gemma Horowitz, CultMTL critic: New heights in sandwich-making, courtesy of the gravlax sandwich at Hof Kelsten. Revelation of Burmese flavors, thanks to Ruby Burma. The chino wings at Tkrestobar.
Joanna Fox, co-author of Chuck's Day Off and former critic/writer for Montreal Mirror and CultMTL: Turkish cuisine. Always something lacking in the Montreal dining scene, Turkish restaurants are now popping up everywhere from the Plateau (BarBounya) and Mile End (Sefa), to Verdun (Su).
Ian Harrison, Eater editor: Just how much free food and wine some restaurants still give away to bloggers, publicists and sundry media types. Too many pigs at the trough and all for very negligible returns. Also, the emergence of an assertive cocktail scene. The ubiquity of Japanese outside the sushi and sashimi wheelhouse. Zébulon Perron everywhere. The cult of Danny St-Pierre.
· All Year in Eater Coverage [-EMTL-]