Best Dining Bets

Fresh Lobster (Nova Scotia & New Brunswick): Wherever you see the wooden lobster traps piled on a wharf, you'll know a fresh lobster meal isn't far away. The most productive lobster fisheries are around Shediac, New Brunswick, and all along Nova Scotia's Atlantic coast. Sunny days are ideal for cracking open a crustacean while sitting at a wharf-side picnic table, preferably with a locally brewed beer close at hand.

Newfoundland Berries: The unforgiving rocky and boggy soil of this blustery island resists most crops but produces some of the most delicious berries you can imagine. Look for roadside stands in midsummer or pick your own blueberries, strawberries, partridgeberries, or bakeapples. Many restaurants add berries (on cheesecake, in custard) when they're in season.

Dining at the Best in Montréal (Québec): Montréal boasts one of the hottest dining scenes in Canada. The current favorite is Toqué! (tel. 514/499-2084), the kind of restaurant that raises the gastronomic expectations of an entire city. The silky greeting-to-tab performance of the kitchen and waitstaff is a pleasure to observe, and the postnouvelle presentations are visually winning and completely filling. No restaurant in eastern Canada surpasses this contemporary French gem.

Sampling Smoked Meat in Montréal (Québec): Somewhere between pastrami and corned beef, this deli delight appears to have had its origins with the immigrations of eastern Europeans during the late 19th century. Meat eaters are ravenous at the sight and aroma of it, and the place to inhale smoked meat is Chez Schwartz on The Main (tel. 514/842-4813). Elegant it's not; immensely satisfying it is.

Eating Ethnic in Toronto (Ontario): The United Nations has called Toronto the world's most multicultural city, so it's no surprise that the restaurant scene reflects that diversity. Whether you try the excellent sushi at Hiro Sushi (tel. 416/304-0550), fiery Thai at Young Thailand (tel. 416/368-1368), or imaginatively updated Greek at Pan on the Danforth (tel. 416/466-8158), your taste buds will thank you.

Dining along the Wine Route (Ontario): The Niagara Region enjoys its own unique microclimate, a fact that explains why this is one of the lushest, most bountiful parts of Canada. Sampling the local wines is a great way to spend an afternoon, particularly if you add lunch and dinner to your itinerary at a vineyard restaurant such as On the Twenty (tel. 905/562-7313) or Vineland Estates (tel. 905/562-7088).

Feasting on Danish Specialties (Manitoba): Enjoy seven superlative dishes, from frikadeller (Danish meat patties served with red cabbage and potato salad) to aeggekage (a Danish omelet served with home-baked bread) at the warmly inviting Bistro Dansk, Winnipeg (tel. 204/775-5662).

Going Organic in Calgary (Alberta): You'll walk through a quiet tree-filled park on an island in the Bow River to reach the bustling River Café (tel. 403/261-7670). An immense wood-fired oven and grill produces soft, chewy flat breads and smoky grilled meats and vegetables, all organically grown and freshly harvested. On warm summer evenings, picnickers loll in the grassy shade, nibbling this and that from the cafe's picnic-like menu.

Dining at a Hotel in Lake Louise (Alberta): At its cozy dining room in an old log lodge, the Post Hotel (tel. 800/661-1586 or 403/522-3989) serves up the kind of sophisticated yet robust cuisine that perfectly fits the backdrop of glaciered peaks, deep forest, and glassy streams. Both the wine list and the cooking are French and hearty, with the chef focusing on the best of local ingredients -- lamb, salmon, and Alberta beef. After spending time out on the trail, a meal here will top off a quintessential day in the Rockies.

Serving Up Exquisite Canadian Cuisine in Edmonton (Alberta): The Hardware Grill (tel. 780/423-0969) is a stylish restaurant in a historic storefront with easily one of western Canada's finest dining rooms. The chef captures the best of local produce and meats without being slave to the indigenous foods movement, instead taking a Pan-Canadian view of fine dining. Fresh B.C. oysters and salmon, Alberta steaks, Québec foie gras, and Maritime lobsters are artfully prepared, and it's especially exciting to make a meal of the menu's ample selection of small plates -- savoring these exquisite culinary explosions is the gastronomic equivalent of foreplay.

Enjoying Dim Sum in Vancouver's Chinatown (British Columbia): With its burgeoning Chinese population, Vancouver's Chinatown has more than half a dozen dim-sum parlors where you can try steamed or baked barbecued-pork buns, dumplings filled with fresh prawns and vegetables, or steamed rice-flour crepes filled with spicy beef. One favorite is Sun Sui Wah (tel. 604/872-8822).

Eating Local in Lotus Land (British Columbia): Self-sufficiency is the new watchword on the West Coast, with top chefs sourcing all their ingredients locally. On Vancouver Island, the Sooke Harbour House (tel. 800/889-9688 or 250/642-3421) offers lamb from nearby Salt Spring Island, seasoned with herbs from the chef's own garden. In Vancouver, the Raincity Grill (tel. 604/685-7337) makes a specialty of fresh-caught seafood and local game, while the vast selection of B.C. wines by the glass makes dinner an extended road trip through the West Coast wine country, with no need for a designated driver.