Best Of Burque 2004

Every year, our Best of Burque issue is built on some crazy theme. In the early days, this practice proved to be a lot of fun. But in recent years, our thematic presentations have become, well, progressively more clichéd and downright cheesy. Take last year, for instance: What the hell did pirates have to do with Albuquerque in any way, shape or form, past or present? Similarly, this year we've packaged our Best of Burque issue in an undersea treasure/adventure theme. Someone apparently forgot to tell the Marketing Department there's no water here. So as I sat down to scribe this introduction to our most gargantuan issue of the year, I found myself having a hard time separating the pirate and undersea treasure themes. I did the best I could, but forgive me for occasionally straying into pirate mode. Here goes:

Hey Alibi readers, get ready to dive into the annual treasure chest we call Best of Burque! You won't have to search too hard to find all kinds of gems buried right here in the depths of our own community. Our Best of Burque issue digs into the murky bottom of everything that's best about our town, delivering the booty to you, our faithful crew. And we have a whale of a time discovering the winners every year. That's because we know that, better than anyone else, Alibi readers know the skinny on where to go, what to do, what to buy and how to make the best of life in our beautiful city. So we shoved more than 100 Best of Burque questions at them once again this year to find out what they had to say. Their picks and occasional pans offer a good map of all that's best about Albuquerque. Indeed, with the exception of the usual cast of jokers that attempt the fishy act of trying to stuff the proverbial ballot box, more folks filled out and returned valid ballots (or voted at our online port) than ever before. Our cast of researchers have spent the past several weeks in an underground hideout carefully tabulating each vote, rendering this the most accurate Best of Burque ever.

As you're about to discover, Albuquerque is full of places to go, things to do and things to spend money on. The higher purpose behind Best of Burque and our other readers' surveys is simply to point folks in the right direction: toward the best of the best. And, as a bonus, we all get to sit back and learn a little more about our community in the process.

Special thanks to everyone who took the time to vote (with the exception of unsuccessful ballot stuffers) and to all those involved in working on this issue: Stefanie Enochs, Samantha Scott, Steven Robert Allen, Gwyneth Doland, Tim McGivern, Mike Ratchett, Tom Nayder and Kyle Silfer.

Here now, the winners of our 10^th Annual Best of Burque Readers Poll. Peruse it, use it and get hooked on Burque … Arrghhh!