Below you'll find the five most-popular Y&H posts outside the U.S. — and the country in which the item found an audience. You know what? Some cliches are true: Canadians dig beer.

The list after the jump.

1. Vintage TV Beer Commercials — Croatia, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom (combined, these countries totalled thousands of page views)
2. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd — Canada
3. Flying Dog Receives Brewery of the Year: Catch Them Thursday at the Mayflower — Canada
4. Spike Mendelsohn Evicted from His Capitol Hill Rental House — Colombia (No doubt most of those clicks came from Mendelsohn's former landlords who are based in the country.)
5. Ritz Pastry Chef Jérôme Girardot Found Dead in Cameron Station Park — France 

Today and throughout the week, Y&H will be giving you a glimpse back at 2009, via the blog posts that most captured your attention. First up: the granddaddy of all aggregations, the 10 most-read items of  the year.

The list is after the jump.

1. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd. This page, posted by the Beerspotter in August, is the Michael Jordan of Young & Hungry. It performs at peak levels week after week. The page is also the holy temple of search engine optimization; future Web gurus will study its signs and contours to learn out how it has performed so well on Google.
2. Vintage TV Beer Commercials. I compiled this page as daily blog filler, no more important to me than some random fat dude screaming for his McDonald's chicken sandwich. But the internets has its own way of rewarding inanity.
3. Spike Mendelsohn Evicted from His Capitol Hill Rental House. The item that forever put Y&H on the burger man's shit list.
4. Ritz Pastry Chef Jérôme Girardot Found Dead in Cameron Station Park. A terrible, terrible incident that I still think about with equal parts wonder and sadness.
5. Another D.C. Beer Week? Yes, Please. Because it's always better the second-time around.
6. Birch & Barley Opens Today. What's Inside? The Logan Circle beer emporium has been a consistently strong performer on Y&H. It is, in fact, the only establishment with two nods on this list.
7. Nori Amaya's Friends and Fans Express Their Grief on Her Facebook Page. People were so desperate for information on this tragic killing that they turned to my shallow little effort — and sometimes expressed their anger at its lack of real info.
8. Birch & Barley Slated for Summer Opening. Maybe. More false optimism spooned out by Y&H.
9. Breadline Busted on 19 Health Code Violations, Ten of Them Critical. Excessive fruit flies! Dirty meat slicers! Operating without a license! Readers wanted to know all the icky details of Breadline's spectacular health inspection failure.
10. Michel Richard Plans to Move His Home Base to Tysons Corner. The maestro of D.C. chefs hunted for investors last year for a planned move to the former Maestro space in McLean.

As you may have noticed, I've changed the title of this weekly feature, which is usually published under the name of Greatest Hits. I have done so out of respect for the top item about the passing of pastry chef Jérôme Girardot. There was nothing great about his untimely death, even if, in life, Girardot repeatedly displayed greatness in his chosen field.

This week's most-read posts:

1. Ritz Pastry Chef Jérôme Girardot Found Dead in Cameron Station Park
2. A Day in a Life of a Writer for a Newspaper No One Knows About
3. If Carla Hall Becomes the Next 'Top Chef,' She Doesn't Want Her Own Restaurant
4. Former Brasserie Beck Beer Man Bill Catron Now at De Vinos
5. Two Unsolicited Tips for Hostesses and Wait Staffers

The state medical examiner in Fairfax has ruled the 32-year-old Girardot's death a suicide.

"He was a master of his trade, creative, quiet, refined and poised—all qualities that made him unique," wrote Elizabeth Mullins, Ritz general manager and area vice president, in an internal memo forwarded to Young & Hungry. "His dedication, patience and work ethic set him apart. Jerome built strong relationships with his teammates and encouraged everyone to achieve their highest potential. He will be sadly missed."

According to an old Ritz-Carlton bio, Girardot "was born in northeastern France and began his culinary career there at an early age." It continues:

He honed his pastry skills and began to specialize in chocolate while working and training in Aix-en-Provence in southern France. His artistry took him to St. Thomas where he spent two years as first cook and assistant pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas. Promoted to pastry chef, he relocated to The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City. In 2003, Chef Jérôme Girardot became pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C.

In addition to desserts after a meal, guests and local residents may enjoy chef Girardot's chocolate confections during the annual Chocolate Decadence Buffet held in the Lobby Lounge throughout February and March. The popular event features more than forty different types of chocolate creations in dark, milk and white flavors, plus tempting chocolate beverages both hot and cold.

Former Ritz-Carlton publicist Dusty M. Lockhart remembers how Girardot used to say that, "Anything you can see or imagine I can create in chocolate." And he could, she says. He created D.C. monuments, Christmas trees, and even 50-inch-tall Easter eggs out of chocolate.

Girardot's talent caught the attention of the Post's Tom Sietsema during a recent re-review of the Westend Bistro by Eric Ripert, which is located inside the Ritz.

"As with the savories at Westend Bistro, desserts seduce the eyes," Sietsema wrote. "Created by Michael Laiskonis of Le Bernardin and executed by Jerome Girardot of the Ritz, the gems include carrot cake, treated to a fondant of goat cheese, and sweet potato tart, garnished with meringue buttons, in elegant pieces: jigsaw puzzles for the discerning sweet tooth. Frozen passion fruit mousse is gently sweet, lightly tart and wholly refreshing, thanks to the inclusion of a grapefruit sorbet laced with fresh rosemary."

Girardot "was very quiet, so he didn't go into the spotlight much," says Lockhart. "He was not about the spotlight. He was about the food."