It’s one thing to make a list of the best dishes I’ve encountered in a year of Houston restaurant-going. They stand out in my mental landscape like mighty sequoias, impossible to miss, or to mistake.

Picking the year’s most memorable meals, though…that’s a subtler enterprise, engaging an entire sensibility about what makes a restaurant experience click. Great food may be the bedrock, but hospitality, a distinctive vibe or a strong sense of place can all factor in. So can the company, or a sharp sense of discovery and surprise.