Best Restaurants 2008

Fish and Chips: panko-crusted albacore tuna, truffled beet matchsticks, and ramp tartar sauce

1Beckta Dining & Wine

For the third year running, Beckta tops the list, with food that is consistently inventive and delicious. Chef Michael Moffatt quietly goes about the business of building mouth-watering dishes around one top-quality in-season ingredient, with lots of attention to varying starches (in taste and texture) and rich sauces to round out the plate. Stephen Beckta continues to work the room with panache and an uncompromising commitment to excellent service and the complete dinner experience. Oh, and another thing — some consider Beckta (and most of the other places on The List) to be for special occasions. But go on their website and compare the prices with Bâton Rouge or Milestone’s, and you’ll be surprised at how competitively priced really good food can be. The wait staff continue to be among the best trained in the city. They will always, always watch out for your table. The wine list is reasonable, with a nod to Canadian plonk and a rotating selection of excellent wines by the glass.

2 Domus Café

I cannot say enough about John Taylor, his cooking, his ingredients, and his legacy of chefs now kicking it up elsewhere who learned in his kitchens. As with Beckta, the words I keep falling back on are “quality,” “stupidly, amazing delicious,” and “consistency.” The menu changes often at the one-room Domus, with Taylor and his crew doin’ that voodoo they do in a sort of open kitchen at the back (Hey, John, why don’t you set up a couple of stools at the counter?), where the action can best be spied on a lazy walk to the restrooms. Taylor is one of those excellent chefs who thinks his dishes through so that every taste, every ingredient has a reason to be on your plate. Compromise (in quality and taste) are not words in Taylor’s vocabulary. He’s proud of his insistence on the best Canadian ingredients (BC halibut, Ontario quail, Quebec wild boar). The wine list here is also strong on Canadiana (that’s a good thing, by the way, folks). Always ask about the “coast to coast” specials (one fish, one meat), because they change constantly and feature the freshest and best available that day. Make reservations on weekends, since le tout Ottawa wants to eat between 7 and 7:30 p.m.

3 Le Baccara

At the risk of repeating myself, Le Baccara can best be described as consistently excellent (both food and service). Tucked away in a corner of Casino Lac Leamy, Le Baccara is one of those loss-leader high-end restaurants that seem to be de rigueur in all casinos. Lucky us. I’ve never met chef Serge Rourre, but his list of creds runs long and deep. The food is decidedly French — as in French French and not tourtière and pickled pigs’ feet with a cinquante. While there is no shortage of excellent Quebec ingredients on the menu, chef and his open-kitchen brigade do not restrict themselves, sourcing quality ingredients from around the world. You’ll find the service excellent — formal and executed with flair. They make a cuttlefish ink ravioli and a lobster mousseline just the way mom used to. The multi-course Gourmet & Gastronomic menus are great value (tell the sitter you’re going to be late). The wine collection runs to more than 10,000 bottles in case you’re feeling a mite thirsty. Definitely the place to go if you want to impress the new in-laws who were disappointed in their baby hitching up with you but are grudgingly coming round to the idea that you’re not a total putz.