This just in: We're #60! And also #77!

I was a judge for this year's Top 100 Restaurants in the World list, which appears in The Restaurant magazine (sponsored by San Pellegrino).

Canada cracked the top 100, and for the first time in the six-year history of the awards, two Canadian restaurants made the list, those being Rouge in Calgary (#60), and Langdon Hall in Cambridge (#77), which doesn't surprise me seeing as I've tasted Chef Jonathan Gushue's incredible cooking at several events. I just haven't made it to Langdon Hall yet.

Bottom line: None of my picks made the list. (What do they have against Harvey's?)

Seriously, I think it's crazy that Canada doesn't have any restaurants in the top 10, or even top 50 for that matter, and so does Steve Dolinsky, a food reporter on ABC 7 News in Chicago, who helps organize the North American judges, and recently had a great time eating his way through Toronto and Montreal. He sent me a note today saying, "Well, at least [there are] two Canadian places in the top 100 this year; certainly an improvement. I’m going to recruit at least 12-15 Canadian judges for next year out of the 30, so start brainstorming."

Will do.