My gastronomic trek through 2007 has been rewarding, but looking back on the year that was, it is a handful of character dishes that really stand out more than the spectacular performance of any one restaurant. And so I thought I’d re-eat those memorable plates in this year’s year-end column – from the Waterzooi mussels and crispy-soft frites at Le Sans Pareil on the first snowfall of last winter, to the crunchy lengths of breaded zucchini at La Porto a Casa in a Fallowfield strip mall on the last blizzard of December and a collection of brilliant bites between.JanuaryI took a chance that the long-running Belgian restaurant, Le Sans Pareil, was still on form as its chef-owner Luc Gielen prepared to hand over much of the hands-on to chef Alexandre Gonnot. A perfectly coddled risotto studded with morels and topped with crisp, delicate sweetbreads convinced me all was as well. Just to confirm, from the page of moules et frites, a shallow bowl of almond sized mussels, sprung from their shells, paddling in a gloriously rich egg yolk and cream-boosted seafood broth paired with perfect frites, a pot of eggy mayonnaise and a half bottle of Champagne. They’ve still got it.End of January found me at The Whalesbone Oyster House, dreamily working my way through a shallow bowl of wild salmon, roasted until barely cooked, lapping up a fish broth wakened with wasabi, sweetened with beet juice and a splash of sake, surrounded with fat, sweet mussels and root vegetables in perfect condition.FebruaryThe family that owns Nokham Thai on Richmond Road opened Chaba Thai on Rochester Street, and for all those unable to get a table at Nokham (you know who you are) an eight minute drive east will bring you to Chaba, where the food is just as good, the curries just as rich and fragrant. I made the drive and found, of all things, chicken wings – stuffed with pork, kaffir and basil. Addictive.You pay handsomely for the food at le Baccara (just as you pay for the 13,000 bottle cellar and for some of the most civilized and knowledgeable service in the region), but when I was confronted with a rack of lamb crusted with pinenuts, cuddled up to a spring roll filled with pulled strips of braised lamb shank and tome de Brebis cheese, the lot surrounded by a tian of sunchokes, apples and a nubbly purée of hazelnuts and celery root, all reason abandoned me. I found myself being perfectly happy to part company with a considerable number of bills. Money far better spent in this dining room than in the Dante-esque casino below it.A week or so after all the bells of Baccara, I dined at Habesha in Hintonburg, a plain, 30 seater of linoleum floors, simple furnishings and a grand view of the KFC across the street. No starters, no desserts, just ten stews – beef, lamb, chicken, pulses and vegetables – all served with Ethiopia’s wonder bread, injera. And a dish called tibs wat, a rich buttery stew of braised beef awash is warming spices.MarchIn the converted car showroom that is the new home of Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar, marshmallow scallops stood out: the beauties gently smoked, then seared to crusted silk, the smokey flavours enhanced in a warm bacon and wild mushroom vinaigrette.You start with popcorn at Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro, and you might move on to a medley of smoked fish in the form of two meaty cakes, but the kick-ass dish for me was wild boar back ribs, chilli-rubbed and cooked long, served with wilted collard greens and scalloped potatoes with deeply caramelised onionAprilNo joke, April the first was my most memorable lunch in the city: at a window table at Social, with a view of the lovely old Connaught building and of the Sussex Street passers-by looking enviously at my mushroom salad. Envy well placed: a plate of grand flavour and contrasting texture – organic eryngii, shiitake, oyster mushrooms, braised with sundried tomatoes, baby leeks, bitter greens, and firm white beans, tossed with crispy nuggets of soft polenta and topped with shavings of mature goat’s cheese and toasted pistachio nuts. Seasoning bang on.The city was all a buzz at the beginning of the year when Steve Vardy left Beckta Dining and Wine for Par-fyum and sous chef Mike Moffatt was promoted to the big pots at this signature restaurant. My first taste came perched on a spoon: a panko-crusted brandade of salmon set on a caper aioli was the yummy amuse bouche, and then … then striped bass stuffed with an artichoke purée infused with the sharp-lusty flavour of preserved lemon, the fish and filling roasted to glory in a banana leaf.MayThree pudgy disks of venison arrived at my Signatures table, all black-crusted and ruby inside, meltingly tender, served with a mousseline of celery root, a tangle of wild mushrooms and a few perfectly placed fresh figs drunk on Sangria.Restaurant E18hteen scored a new chef in 2007. Matthew Carmichael’s dish of black cod, honeyed and ginger-lacquered, served on a coconut-carrot puree with snap peas for colour and crunch convinced me he was the right man to helm this handsome place. (This dish also won him a silver medal at the Gold Medal Plates last month.)JuneA thorough beating and a long soak in oil and wine before hitting the hot pan, pork at El Meson was a treat. Scented with sage leaves and moistened with a roasted tomato sauce of deep tomato flavour, it came with vegetables in pristine condition and a downy potato croquette.JulyGuy Blain, co-owner and chef of L’Orée du Bois since 1978, dishes up unrepentantly old school French favourites at his old bunker-farmhouse in the Chelsea woods, but it was a cheese plate at the end of a French feast here that stays with me: a generous selection of Quebec cheeses, in perfect condition, served with cranberries, nuts, apples and bread for a shocking $6.50Crispy skinned and juicy fleshed duck came piled on Chinese greens, topped with fragrant mushrooms and fried taro at a mid-summer meal at MekongAugustThe Courtyard Restaurant’s chef Marc Lepine served me a plate of Kobe beef from Snake River Farms in Idaho and it wins the best beef of the year award – butter tender and deeply flavourful, decorated with a cippoline puree and a sweet pepper salad.SeptemberA luscious half moon of foie gras, seared outside and molten in, propped up with toasted brioche, a vanilla-scented apple compote, a scattering of candied nuts and a wee mound of micro greens dressed with an ice wine vinaigrette. That’s what I remember most vividly from a duo of delicious meals at the new Benitz Bistro.Fish is a rare accomplishment in a Thai restaurant but at Art Akarapanich’s new restaurant Som Tum, a fat log of grouper was fresh, fried and softly yielding, topped with Thai basil and with a sauce of sour and sweet and some fire.October“Rolled: Kick: squid + tobiko + momijioroshi sting.” You need a server capable of translating the maddeningly puzzling menu of Perspectives’ chef Michael Blackie, but once you understand this is essentially squid sushi, and you order it, you discover some of the city’s best rice snacks can be found in this Kanata hotel. “Kick” is an artful display of raw squid, perfectly calibrated with cucumber for crunch, wrapped and rolled in well balanced rice, decorated with tobiko, and served with a spiced up grated daikon salad.NovemberThe biggest thrill for me was less the totally satisfactory pizza and the amazing lemon pie, than the discovery I could have a lovely glass of wine in a pizza joint. Piz’za-za is a cheerfully French and jam-packed Gatineau restaurant with a thick wine list and a thin menu, dense with pizza options. Save room for the killer lemon pie served up wide and dense and rindy, light on the theatrics of puddles and drizzles and kiwi garnishes, and heavy on the dollop of real whipped cream.DecemberSure, there was duck and beef and bison and such on the menu of the newly reopened allium restaurant, but the dish that thrilled was vegetarian: a leaning tower of properly grilled vegetables – eggplant, zucchini, squash, profoundly caramelized onion and garlic – layered with herbed “polenta” fashioned with quinoa and studded with artichokes and, among the layers, fat chunks of La Sauvagine cheese, the vertical construct served with a warm tomato salsa and a thatch of deep fried leek.Hungry?Book a table – book lots of them – in 2008.The Details:Le Sans Pareil71 Boulevard St-Raymond, Gatineau, 819-771-1471 www.lesanspareil.comThe Whalesbone Oyster House430 Bank Street, 613-231-8569www.thewhalesbone.comChaba Thai540 Rochester St., 613-321-2704Le Baccara1 boulevard du Casino, Gatineau, 819-772-6210www.casino-du-lac-leamy.comHabesha, 1087 Wellington Street West613-761-6120Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar245 Richmond Road, 613-728-0220www.juniperdining.caSweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro108 Murray Street, 613-562-3683www.sweetgrassbistro.caSocial537 Sussex Drive, 613-789-7355www.social.caBeckta Dining and wine226 Nepean Street, 613-238-7063www.beckta.comSignatures453 Laurier Avenue East, 613-236-2499www.signaturesrestaurant.comRestaurant E18hteen18 York Street, 613-244-1188www.restaurant18.comEl Meson94 Beechwood Avenue, 613-744-8484www.elmeson.caL’Oree du Bois15 Chemin Kingsmere, Chelsea, PQ, 819-827-0332www.oreeduboisrestaurant.comMekong637 Somerset Street W., 613-237-7717www.mekong.caCourtyard Restaurant21 George Street, 613-241-1516www.courtyardrestaurant.comBenitz Bistro327 Somerset Street W., 613-567-8100www.benitzbistro.comSom Tum260 Nepean Street, 613-781-8424www.thaitaste.caPerspectivesBrookstreet Hotel, 525 Legget Drive, Kanata, 613-271-1800www.brookstreethotel.comPiz’za-za36, rue Laval, 819-771-0565www.pizzaza.caallium87 Holland Avenue, 613-792-1313www.alliumrestaurant.com