AAA/CAA Assigns Diamonds

The all-powerful institution that is the Canadian Automobile Association-American Automobile Association combo has once again cast its grace on an esteemed collection of foodservice and hospitality providers with the release of its annual diamond list—and perpetuated its snub of the Toronto restaurant scene in the process.

The pinnacle of the inventory are those foodservice establishments in North America and the Caribbean the automobile folks deem worthy of a five-diamond rating. Scour this revised list as you may, you will find no evidence of any of our city’s fine-food peddlers thereon. 

All told, a half dozen Canadian restaurants get the five-diamond nod, more than 10% of the 55 doled out for North America and the Caribbean. Impressive? Not if Rob Ford’s your mayor. 

In addition to Eden at the Rimrock Resort Hotel in Banff, Lumière in Vancouver and Le Baccara in Gatineau, Que., the association added two Montreal eateries this year: Nuances and Restaurant Toque. Nice for some. 

The only five-diamond restaurant in Ontario, there since 2004, is the Langdon Hall Dining Room & Terrace, in the Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa in Cambridge. 

Sorry: Cambridge?

But we mustn’t be so downbeat. Toronto, after all, boasts a rocking 23 four-diamond restaurants, including a new one added this year. The Rosewater, a triple-decker supper-club tribute to gourmet nosh in the T-Dot, has earned a coveted spot alongside the company of such long-time four-diamond placeholders as Auberge du Pommier, North 44 and Canoe.

Montreal, meanwhile, can lay claim to a mere five four-diamond restaurants. And Cambridge? Not even one.