When husband-and-wife team Michael Caballo and Tobey Nemeth launched their five-course, heat-at-home concept near the beginning of the pandemic, they sold out within 12 hours. With a staff of two, they’re offering 190 dinners a week, Friday through Sunday. A lot of it is retro food made modern, and it's excellent—even after a spin in the microwave.

This red-sauce joint is co-owned by Conor Joerin, who, along with a group of chef pals known as the Marinara Boys, has made it his mission to give back during the pandemic. His honest-to-goodness spaghetti comes in a rich pork-and-veal ragu, topped with a liberal dusting of Parmigiano-Reggiano. It tastes like a hug from nonna, and it’s exactly what we need right now.

This twee Wallace-Emerson joint is now slinging baked goods, salads, sandwiches and dinner entrees to go. Donna’s beloved ham platter has been retooled for takeout as a simple stack of just four things—ham, pickled shallots, Colman’s mustard and some greens—and their signature roast beef sandwich piles paper-thin meat marinated in beef fat and honey onto a crusty Portuguese bun with parsnip, watercress and a house horseradish sauce.

Not long after closing his popular Parkdale diner, owner Grant van Gameren resurrected it as a pandemic-times pop-up. The menu is limited to four burger options, all served on Martin’s potato rolls: beef, vegan, green chorizo and, our favourite, kicky red chorizo topped with a fat slice of pineapple. And don’t forget to order some double-cooked fries, which manage to stay crispy en route.

Chef Jeff Bovis isn’t offering any of his usual seasonally driven plates. Instead, he’s selling DIY meal kits: marinated chickens, fresh pastas and sauces, dips, house-stuffed sausages and loaves of their olive-oil-slathered focaccia. Also available are some high-quality deli goodies like applewood-smoked capocollo and heritage eggs.

Two months after Chantecler caught fire, its temporary sister spot Le Phénix rose from its ashes to serve familiar Franco fare. The half-duck is still the standout. The kitchen breaks down whole Stouffville-sourced pekin ducks. The legs are cured in citrus zest, thyme and salt, then poached in duck fat. The breasts, meanwhile, are cold-smoked over applewood and finished on the stove, medium-rare. A duck demi-glace, compressed apples and a smattering of hazelnuts bring it all together.

Sour, funky and spicy best describes the flavour-packed Thai bites coming out of the Ossington kitchen that ranked No. 1 on our latest list of best new restaurants. Although a bottle of Singha is perfect for washing down tangy papaya salad dressed in unfiltered fish sauce and birdseye chilis, don’t overlook the excellent wine list, which is packed with crushable, offbeat bottles from small biodynamic producers.

The fancy lunch boxes coming out of this Harbord Village sushi spot marry Canadian produce with luxe Japanese proteins such as Wagyu beef and cherry blossom trout (a fish known for its tender pink flesh). Bento boxes overflow with a forager's delight of seasonal finds. And the Sakana Box is a gorgeous arrangement of maki and sashimi that comes with specific instructions detailing which bites gets dunked in the house-made shoyu.

Although all of Labora’s paellas are decadent, it’s the seafood one that has us salivating. Smoked paprika–seasoned bomba rice comes topped with grilled octopus, red Argentinian prawns, calamari, artichokes, capers, baby peas and dollops of saffron-lemon aïoli. To preserve the socarrat—that crunchy base—chef Rob Bragagnolo is baking these bad boys in their delivery trays.

This Queen West watering hole, known for their bar snacks, has blown up their typically tiny dishes. The eggplant parm doubledown—once a three-bite sandwich of tomato, mozzarella di bufala and basil cradled between two quinoa-breaded eggplant rounds—has been super-sized. Slices of pressed-and-salted eggplant are seared, layered with provolone and lemony ricotta and Grana Padano, then roasted. It’s all topped with San Marzano sauce and six eggplant chips.

Pitmaster Darien List abides by the Central Texan BBQ Bible: no sticky sauces, just simple rubs and long cook times over crackling logs of red oak. Beef never hits the flames here. It’s indirect heat that makes the 12-hour-smoked brisket juicy beyond compare. Sides are generous, but the kitchen doesn’t lavish attention on them—these meatheads are focused on churning out perfect pink-ringed pork ribs instead.

This plant-based pizza parlour—the offshoot of vegan tasting-menu restaurant Avelo—is particularly secretive about the blend of flours they use to make their dough. Cooked for three minutes at 750°F, their crust has both a springy, pillowy texture and a satisfying crispness. We can’t decide between their most textbook creation—the margherita—and their least Italian one: a vegan take on a Hawaiian topped with San Marzano–cut barbecue sauce and jackfruit.

In addition to his Jamaican-Chinese soul food menu, chef Craig Wong is serving up heat-at-home care packages. The Full Pack comes with 10 different dishes, including Jamaican curry black tiger shrimp, a jerk-seasoned rotisserie-roasted chicken, stewed oxtail, beef patties, kimchi Brussels sprouts with Asian pear, fry bread, rice and peas, plantain chips and—because that’s not enough—a rum cake tiramisu. For the full Patois experience, consider treating yourself to a DIY rum punch kit.

Pre-pandemic, this east-end brunch spot had a perpetual lineup. These days, getting your mitts on their Egyptian dishes has never been easier. The curtailed takeout menu focuses on things that travel well, like the Taameia Pita, a fluffy pocket stuffed with vibrant-green, fava bean–based falafel seasoned with dill, coriander and cumin, and rolled in sesame seeds before taking a dunk in the fryer.

As one of the founding restaurants of Feed the Frontlines, this Dutch-Indonesian kitchen has been busy slinging plates of spice-forward fried rice, satays and croquettes for hungry health care workers. Chef-owner Michael van den Winkel says they’re making more food than ever. Every dish is a hit—even simple grilled mustard greens are bursting with flavour from sambal oelek and ketjap manis.

Alo’s slightly casual sister restaurant, known for its Asian-flavoured French plates, had to pare down its takeout offerings to dishes that could withstand a drive. Although sea urchin didn’t quite make the cut, the much-Instagrammed lemon meringue pie is on offer alongside yuzu honey–lashed fried chicken and their signature burger. It’s a comforting stack: a flat-top-cooked chuck-and-brisket patty blanketed in Beaufort cheese and tucked into a cloud-light potato bun.

For the last 11 years, this Ossington stalwart has stayed fresh by offering an ever-changing menu of seasonally driven bistro plates. Union’s new takeout options stick to the restaurant’s greatest hits, including what may be Toronto’s most perfect meat-and-potatoey salad: butter lettuce tossed in Niagara pinot noir vinaigrette, accompanied by two thick-cut slices of double-smoked Hoffman’s bacon, a big dollop of goat cheese and a rosti that’s fried to golden, crispy perfection.

Since 2012, Leeto Han’s Ossington snack bar has been churning out Korean-American comfort food that doesn’t shy away from cheese, mayo or the deep fryer. Our favourites are the Loosey—a kimchi hollandaise-baptised Big Mac—and the kitchen’s take on poutine, which drowns hunks of squash in curried gravy, more kimchi, Kewpie mayo and cheese curds.

Pearl’s dim sum isn’t quite the same without the view of Lake Ontario and the trundle of dumpling-laden carts passing by, but there’s something indulgent about enjoying it whenever you damn well please. Their shumai are bursting with pork and topped with impressively sized shrimp, and their har gow, enveloped in silk-thin rice wrappers, are packed with plump prawns.

This pint-sized restaurant has only ever served one thing: kamayan, a hands-on Filipino feast that feeds up to three people. The cutlery-free spread layers rice on top of banana leaves, which is then piled high with pork skewers, pork belly, mussels, shrimp, grilled tilapia, milkfish and squid. The roughage is scarce—there are a few spears of okra and a bit of eggplant—but one meal without veggies won’t cause scurvy.

Last year, La Chilaca—a taco stand operating out of a cramped Kensington Market food court—opened up an unfussy sister restaurant just down the street. The options (barbacoa, pastor, carnitas) are by-the-book taqueria, but the quality is above par: handmade tortillas that sop up juices while maintaining their integrity, and perfectly spiced salsa that range from mild to tongue-searing. Get some to go (and pack a cerveza or two) for a park picnic.

Toronto’s fanciest restaurant—which is equally lauded for Patrick Kriss’s fastidious French plates as it is for its service—is now offering takeout: five-course prix-fixe meals that have included dishes like braised veal shank, Italian burrata with an asparagus salad, and saffron risotto.

It took a global pandemic to get this social media–shy Queen West restaurant on Instagram. Each week, chef-owner Jason Carter posts a new multi-course menu. All orders come with sourdough and house-made fromage blanc, but the main courses range wildly. One week, it’s roast cod with red pepper, rapini and green olives; the next, it’s barbecue brisket with coleslaw, a Thai shrimp salad, or a gorgeously fat-marbled hunk of seared pork shoulder topped with blackened poblano peppers.

This Financial District favourite is now offering their menu for takeout or delivery, including chef Carl Heinrich's Station Burger. The popular patty has been on the restaurant's menu since day one, and for good reason. An organic, grass-fed patty comes topped with aged cheddar, crunchy iceberg lettuce, sweet beet chutney, pickled onions and a garlic aîoli on a squishy house-made milk bun.

The menu at Pai—one of chef and co-owner Nuit Regular’s many Thai restaurants—focuses on the dishes from the northern region of the country, where Regular grew up. Just about everything on the takeout menu is a hit, but must-orders include the pad Thai; gaeng massaman curry, tender chunks of braised beef and potato in a peanut-tamarind sauce, topped with crispy shallots; and the pad gra prow, basil wok-tossed with ground pork, crispy pork, chicken, beef or tofu.

You can now enjoy Nick Liu's New Asian dishes in the comfort of your own home. And while your living room may not be able to compete with the restaurant's fun and funky atmosphere, at least the food will be the same. The DaiLo tasting menu to-go, available on Tock for pickup or delivery, changes weekly but may include crispy octopus tacos, trout on truffled fried rice and dim sum, a trio of fun bites like Hakka shiu mai and Liu's popular Bic Mac Bao.