Welcome back to Best of Burque Restaurants! Inside, you'll discover close to 100 tantalizing categories of the best food in Albuquerque, selected through thousands of votes cast by Alibi readers like you. When you vote in a Best of Burque poll, you're rewarding the best local restaurants with invaluable recognition. Not only that, you're helping to amass an indispensable guide to the best food our city has to offer. Just keep eating and voting, and we'll do the rest. Special thanks to writers Jessica Cassyle Carr, Christie Chisholm, Amy Dalness, Marisa Demarco, Simon McCormack and Maren Tarro for their generous help in reporting the results.

We now present the winners of our Best of Burque Restaurants 2007 poll. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is served!

When it comes to this lunchtime staple, the trick is a perfect balance of hot and cold sandwiches to satisfy even the most finicky of appetites. Whether it's a piping-hot, homemade meatball sub or a cold sub with loads of Italian meats and crisp veggies, Baggin's doesn't disappoint. Add an expansive list of sides and the fact that your sandwich invariably comes in a sack-lunch-style paper bag, and it's easy to see why Baggin's comes out on top.

1. Baggin's Gourmet Sandwiches

No one likes soggy, greasy tofu. But those searching for brown, crispy cubes of soy bean need look no further than Orchid Thai Cuisine. The tofu appetizer's so fine it'll force haters to thoughtfully munch on a piece, dipped in sweet peanut sauce and say, "Huh. Not bad." Or substitute tofu for almost any flesh-laden dish on the menu. Orchid tied with Flying Star Café in this category, which fries up a mean hunk of tofu. We like it best in the "Buddha bowl" or lo mein.

There is perhaps no other Best of Burque category with more eligible participants, so winning is not an easy task for even the finest of casual dining eateries. Wood oven pizza, an expansive sandwich, salad and soup selection and a dining area consistently packed with locals are Il Vicino's greatest weapons in the fight for category supremacy. And, lest we forget, nothing relaxes the atmosphere like a pint of micro-brewed beer or a glass of fine wine, both available at “the neighbor.”

1. Il Vicino

Our "Best Anything We Forgot" section gives us good ideas for next year's poll, sure, but it shines some light on who are readers are. And judging from your responses, our readers are as horny as they are hungry!

Winner Directory

A directory of first place winners in the 2007 Best of Burque Restaurants poll, from Ambrozia to Zinc.

Best Dish Covered in Gravy

• UNM Area: 1405 Central NE, 247-1421

www.66diner.com

Best Fine Dining, Best Chef, Sam Etheridge

• Old Town: 108 Rio Grande NW, 242-6560