Velouté with spot prawns; Ocean Wise steelhead (Image: Renée Suen)
Although Winterlicious kicked off last Friday (see our 61 best bets), it’s still possible to secure a seat at one of the city’s top tables, especially if it’s just outside the downtown core. Pangaea’s open dining room typically caters to a well-heeled Yorkville crowd (with prices to match), but during the culinary fest, the restaurant offers a steal of a three-course prix fixe for $20 (we stopped by just before the festival commenced).
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Trying to choose a selection of our favourite lunch picks from the last year proved too much like choosing a selection of our favourite children. So instead we present a complete year of lunch picks, ranked by price, from a humble porchetta sandwich (a reasonable $6.75) to a somewhat less humble five-course feast (treat yourself for $100). 
Get those dialing digits ready: Toronto Special Events has just announced the slate of restaurants for Winterlicious 2012. The prix fixe extravaganza has now reached its 10th year, and it’s come such a long way from the winter pick-me-up for 36 Toronto restaurants hoping to draw people out of their homes and into the cold night. This year, 175 restaurants have signed up—up from last year’s 150—and prices have stayed the same: lunch menus will go for $15, $20 or $25, and dinner menus for $25, $35 or $45 (see charts below for a breakdown). The madness kicks off on January 10, when American Express cardholders can start making their reservations. The lines open up to the plebs on January 12, and the menus themselves will be served from January 27 to February 9. Tickets for the associated 
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Few subjects are as divisive among Toronto diners and industry people as the merits of Summer- and Winterlicious. While the biannual culinary event may help restaurants fill empty tables during an otherwise slow season, 
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Didier Leroy, English Canada’s first Maître Cuisinier de France, offers one of Toronto’s more curious lunch experiences: a three-course mystery menu in which the entire table must participate. On this sunny afternoon, our trust in the chef pays off handsomely. A pair of baked eggs coddled with black truffles and foie gras arrive in an irresistibly rich madeira sauce. Next, Atlantic salmon roulade, kissed with briny sturgeon caviar, arrives on a bed of sweet braised leeks and puréed potatoes. The meal finishes with a crème brûlée that’s creamy cool, with hints of Tahitian vanilla and a thick, golden sugar crust. 
The premise behind the new bargain-hunting Web site 
Any list—
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