The bells: One more time

This was the year of the second restaurant, the Vetri offspring, and the Belgian bistro boom. The plates got smaller. The wines came by the glass. And pork bellies became the new short rib.

No, none of the new stars were able to quite crack the city's four-bell restaurant elite. But 2007, in many ways, was a year in which Philadelphia's dining scene grew in significant ways. With the usually noisy Stephen Starr machine momentarily quiet, the next generation stepped to the fore with big ambitions.

Jose Garces, whom I am tagging my Chef of the Year, proved with the exquisite small plates at Tinto (his smash-hit Rittenhouse pintxo bar) that Amada was no tapas fluke. We'll be hearing much more from this young Latin maestro soon, as he expands his empire to West Philadelphia and beyond (like his hometown, Chicago).

But Garces was hardly the only chef with a new restaurant on his mind. More than a quarter of the 45 restaurants I reviewed this year were second locations, from Xochitl (from the Marigold crew), to Susanna Foo's Gourmet Kitchen in Radnor, to the revived Silk City Diner (from the gastropublicans at N. 3rd), and Rae from Daniel Stern.

Rae, Stern's expansive contemporary brasserie in the ultramodern Cira Centre, was a hitch slower than some others to reach its potential. But it was among three of the six restaurants revisited at year's end that did improve enough to step up a rating.

Meanwhile, Marc Vetri's casual new second place, Osteria, my Restaurant of the Year, was a home run from the start. With authentic rustic Italian cooking, a fabulous lofty space, and a wood-fired, thin-crusted margherita that was instantly the best pizza in town, Osteria is an image-changing pioneer for North Broad Street.

Osteria was also the debut for one of our brightest young chefs, Jeff Michaud, who was one of three former Vetri sous-chefs this year to earn three bells. Chip Roman at Conshohocken's Blackfish and Jim Burke at James in Bella Vista were the others. Dionicio Jimenez, crafting inventive nuevo Mexican food at Xochitl, was nearly a fourth, but sits at a solid two bells for now.

Menus trended toward wine bars and small plates, from Malvern's Cosimo to Doylestown's Honey. Belgian pubs continued to bubble up, from moody Zot in Headhouse Square to Teresa's Next Door on the Main Line.

Some neighborhoods began to show new life through a restaurant surge, like Fishtown with Ida Mae's, and even the Northeast, which has an ambitious BYOB with Rylei. It was also a banner year for South Jersey, which acquired worthwhile newcomers in Kitchen 233, Onasis, Blackbird and Fuji, a successful Haddonfield relocation for one of my favorite chefs, Japanese master Matt Ito.

Ito's stunning omakase tasting was just one of the many highlights of my eating adventures. There was Liberian fufu soup at Memdee's in Southwest Philly. A garlicky bowl of perfect cockles over spaghetti alla chitarra at the relocated Tre Scalini. A dangerous new addiction in the butter chicken from Tiffin, which has redefined ethnic takeout with its perfectly timed, GPS-guided delivery guys.

And then, of course, there was the eight-course autumn feast at Talula's Table in Kennett Square, the splendid new gourmet market from Django founders Aimee Olexy and Bryan Sikora, who cook dinner for just one private party each night. It was my Most Memorable Meal of the year, even though it wasn't formally rated. I'll need at least one more dinner there before I can toll those bells, and the next available seating isn't until July.

Yet another reason to look forward to 2008.