Canada has kicked it up a few notches on the North American fine-dining front.
In the North America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026 list, released Thursday in New Orleans, Canada has placed a most impressive total of 14 dining spots, up from last year’s tally of 11. More impressive still is that five of the top 10 restaurants on this list are Canadian, including Montreal’s much-lauded Mon Lapin and Quebec City’s acclaimed Tanière3, the only Michelin two-star dining space in this province.
In addition to Mon Lapin and Tanière3, which finished fifth and ninth respectively, Montreal also placed Le Violon (15), Beba (27) and Sabayon (34) — the latter a Michelin one-star recipient.
The city’s other one-star Michelin spots — Hoogan et Beaufort, Sushi Nishinokaze, Jérôme Ferrer Europea and Mastard — failed to make the cut here. So did Montréal Plaza and Alma, which were cited on the inaugural North American list last year.
This is Sabayon’s first inclusion on the top 50 tally. Mon Lapin (which took the No. 1 spot on Jacob Richler’s Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list in 2023 and 2024, and came second in 2025 and this year) finished second on the North American front last year, while Beba jumped from 50th place last year and Le Violon made it up from the 29th spot.
“Last year, when we finished in the top 10 here, people were going: ‘What the hell is happening? Canada, Quebec? Who are you guys?’” recalls a chuckling Vanya Filipovic, who co-owns Mon Lapin with husband/chef Marc-Olivier Frappier.
“This year, they are more aware of us. It’s just so incredible to see the restaurant scene evolve, and we are so honoured to be included among some of the most classic dining rooms on the continent.”
Like Quebec, Ontario landed five in the North American top 50, including Toronto’s Quetzal (8) and Restaurant Pearl Morissette (3), in the Niagara region’s Jordan Station. Pearl Morissette — which was in the same position on last year’s list — is also a two-star Michelin recipient and took the No. 1 spot on Canada’s Top 100 list this year as well as in 2025.
British Columbia emerged with three restaurants among the top 50, including Vancouver’s Published on Main (17) and AnnaLena (35) and Whistler’s Wild Blue (47).
But the Canadian spot that finished highest here does not hail from resto-rich Quebec, Ontario or B.C. That honour goes to relative newcomer Eight from Calgary, which ranks second on this grouping of North America’s best. An eight-seater, this intriguing spot offers a Canadian culinary history lesson with its 20-course menu.
Chicago’s Smyth was deemed No. 1 on the continent, bumping off New York City’s Atomix, which has been relegated to the seventh position.
This North American list covers the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. The list is voted on by the North America’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, a group of 300 members, “each selected for their expert opinion of the restaurant scene in North America.” The academy is divided into eight regions: U.S.A. Northeast, U.S.A. South, U.S.A. Midwest, U.S.A. West, Canada East, Canada Central, Canada West and Caribbean (excluding Cuba and Dominican Republic).
Marie-Josée Beaudoin and Patrice Demers’s Michelin-starred Sabayon is a new entrant this year on the North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette files
Cookbook author and former Gazette fine-dining critic Lesley Chesterman is the academy chair for Canada East. She’s proud of Canada’s placements on the top 50 list, and takes umbrage with this New York Times comment: “Overall, Canada continued to overperform on the list, occupying 14 spots, including five of the top 10.”
“That’s a nasty dig and not fair,” Chesterman says. “Canada has a long and storied dining scene since the 1950s, certainly in Montreal. For anyone to say that … that’s naive. We also have very skilled technical chefs. The service and hospitality of our restaurants are excellent, as are our wine selections.”
Chesterman reports that after the selections were announced in New Orleans, a lot of the buzz in the room was: “We have to get to Canada.”
“I think this list is putting Canada more on the map than Michelin is, because it really focuses on a different set of criteria and it is judged by people who eat in restaurants all the time. While I think we’re still under-represented in Montreal and also in Quebec City on this list, I do feel that it really reflects changes on the restaurant scene — which I don’t feel Michelin does.”
Chesterman has never dined at Calgary’s Eight, which also finished ninth on the 2026 Canada’s 100 Best list. But ever opinionated, she notes that while she’s heard great things about the place, it may be easier to offer fine dining at restaurants that have very limited seating.
“It’s almost like a dinner party with eight people and a set menu. It’s an esoteric way of dining. But I get sad to think some feel the only great restaurants are those serving eight people as opposed to those serving quality food to 500. It’s much harder to serve a lot of people well than eight people extraordinarily well.
“On the other hand, while Calgary is not a Michelin city, it’s good that another list picks up on these places where people often being ignored are working their butts off to try to do something special.”
For the complete North America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026 list, see theworlds50best.com/northamerica.
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