Darlings in Prince Edward County takes the number ten spot on the Top 10 list of Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2023.
10
Darlings
Bloomfield, ON
Gold Sponsor
Street Address
4 Wellington St.
City + Province
Bloomfield, ON
Reservations
Yes
Website
They’re playing the soundtrack of my life – Carole King, Laura Branigan, Elvis Costello, the Stones. I order a Spicy Paloma with one hell of a personality. I want everything on the menu: chopped green salad hit with dill, walnuts and Reggiano; housemade rigatoni with creamy vodka sauce; a plate of Cressy House Farms turnips, including the turnip leaves and juicy stems (more juicy stems please!) with a nutty salsa macha hit with chili de arbol and sesame seeds.
Wood–charred tomato pizza; co-owners Jesse Fader and Duncan MacNeill
From my barstool perch, I can see the oven’s embers glowing for wood-charred pizzas made with “stretched daily” mozzarella. You cannot convince me this restaurnt wasn’t created just for me. (And I suppose for you, too.)
Jesse Fader, a former co-owner of Superpoint, Favorites and Paris Paris, left Toronto for a more chill life with his family in Prince Edward County. Now he’s happily peeling pizzas alongside co-owner Duncan MacNeill in this ranchhouse red sauce joint, where the fresh-made stracciatella is suggested as a dipper, and slices of sugar pie are served in a syrupy pool of last year’s crimson County cherries. I polish off the evening with a dram of Amaro Nonino. Get your own damn restaurant: Darlings is mine.
The big cheese: Co-owner Jesse Fader stretches mozzarella
The Top 10
1
Kappo Sato
Toronto, ON
2
Wild Blue
Whistler, B.C.
3
Marilena Café & Raw Bar
Victoria, B.C.
4
Rizzo’s House of Parm
Crystal Beach, ON
5
Petit Socco
Winnipeg, MB
6
Bonheur d’occasion
Montreal, QC
7
Folke
Vancouver, B.C.
8
Le Molière par Mousso
Montreal, QC
9
Espace Old Mill
Stanbridge East, QC 10