Local restaurants make list of nation’s best new eateries

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This article was published 10/08/2018 (2933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two Winnipeg eateries have found their way onto Air Canada’s long list of best new restaurants of 2018.

Passero, located in The Forks Market, is the most recent project of chef Scott Bagshaw (and was given a five-star review by Free Press food critic Alison Gillmor).

“Many of the dishes are eminently Instagrammable, with lots of shavings of this and schmears of that. In lesser hands, these kinds of offerings can be flashy but empty, all those photogenic ingredients remaining unmelded. At Passero, the distinct flavours merge into a nuanced final effect,” she wrote of the Italian-inspired spot.

Bagshaw’s restaurants have made Air Canada’s list twice before. His River Heights neighbourhood, French-American small plates place, Enoteca, was short-listed in 2015, and Asian-fusion Máquè on Stafford Street was long-listed in 2016.

“The EnRoute list is one the few lists out there that I feel really matter. So it is always a great honour to even make the long list,” says Bagshaw.

“I am extremely proud of my team at Passero as well as my other restaurants for allowing me the comfort and security to walk away from them to focus on this new endeavour.”

Osborne Street eatery Oxbow also made the cut. Featuring Manitoba ingredients and wines made “naturally and consciously,” the spot has been praised for its innovative menu.

Co-owner and general manager of the Oxbow, Lucien Joyal, says it feels great to be acknowledged alongside other exciting new Canadian restaurants.

“It means a lot to us to be a part of the national restaurant discussion, and part of Canada’s incredible food scene. It’s also really exciting for us to see Winnipeg enter into that discussion. There are some really amazing people doing great work here, and it’s awesome to see Winnipeg’s restaurant community receive some acknowledgement on the national scale,” he said Friday in an email to the Free Press.

“We’ve felt a really positive reception towards our mandate of working with local, sustainable products, and the importance of connecting that mentality with our wine program… It’s humbling to see that this is something that resonates with so many people both locally and across Canada, and it’s a great encouragement to keep furthering that ideal.”

The annual 30-restaurant list is compiled by a food critic from Air Canada’s in-flight magazine, EnRoute, who travels incognito from coast to coast, taste-testing new eateries (which opened between late spring 2017 and early June 2018) suggested by a panel of experts.

The full list can be found at canadasbestnewrestaurants.com, and the top 10 new restaurants in Canada will be announced Oct. 25.

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @NireRabel