Extra Course
We’d like to single out a number of excellent restaurants that didn’t quite crack the highly competitive Top 10 list this year. Like Didier (Toronto), which has wonderful oeufs en cocotte perigourdine (eggs with foie gras and truffles). The funky and laid back Big Fish (Calgary) wowed us with the rugged sophistication of its sardines on fennel slaw with black olive and oven-dried tomato tapenade. Le Jolifou (Montreal), with its vintage tin toy centrepieces and delightful service, is unassumingly endearing. For great value, Cassis Bistro (Vancouver), Mukamuk (Banff, Alta.) and the wonderful prix-fixe lunch deal at Decca77 (Montreal) can’t be beat.

Ubiquitous Ingredients
Alder, basil (in desserts), begonia, blueberries, boar bacon, bone marrow, candied citrus peel, cedar, cod tongues, enoki mushrooms, Israeli couscous, juniper, mango, pickerel, pistachio nuts, purple potatoes, quinoa, rocoto and panca peppers, sweetbreads and wild rice.

We Ate a Lot Of…
Bannock, ceviche, choucroute, fish cooked on one side, gazpacho, navarin (lamb and root vegetable stew), pannacotta, s’mores, pemmican, quail eggs, tiradito (a variation on ceviche) and Waldorf salad.

What’s Next
Chiboust (pastry cream mixed with meringue), crudo (Italian-style raw fish), double-serving entrees and desserts (for two to share), huitlacoche (the noble rot of corn cultivation), kurobuta (the Kobe of pork), pintxo (Basque tapas), smoked cheese and sous vide (cooking in water-immersed pouches).

Most Expensive Appetizer
When our waiter at Panache (Quebec City) explained that the market-price Abitibi-caviar appetizer was “flown in fresh three times a week,” we knew that it wouldn’t be cheap. At $69 a serving we expect it gets its own private jet. Still, we like the fact that this Canadian product has all of the delicious salty flavour, but none of the nefarious background, of imported caviar.

Culinary Ugg Boots
Some trends shouldn’t catch on. Like those awful flavoured spirits (mandarin, currant, vanilla) found on cocktail menus, the alcoholic equivalent of flavoured instant coffee. Trying to “think outside the box,” some restaurants – Onyx Cocktails & Fine Dining (Halifax), Lee (Toronto), Version Laurent Godbout (Montreal) – put their cutlery in the centre of the place setting, where it gets in the way of dishes and menus. And those stemless Riedel wineglasses, which look great at the start of the meal but are a fingerprinted mess by the end of the night.

Raw Deal, Part I
The octopus carpaccio at Chambar Belgian Restaurant (Vancouver) and George (Toronto) and the octopus ceviche at Le Club Chasse et Pêche (Montreal) didn’t really surprise us. But finding carpaccio of Boileau deer on the menu at Panache (Quebec City) and, most unusually, carpaccio of duck served at Garçon! (Montreal), sure did.