Best American

1. Barnsider

2. Jack’s Oyster House, Justins (tie)

Jack’s and Justin’s already were recognized in our staff Best Of two weeks ago (Best Power Lunch and Best American, respectively); here the readers second our enthusiasm while giving a slight overall edge to Colonie’s venerable Barnsider. We’re with you—though some of us are still nostalgic for its former incarnation at Colonie Center.

Best Italian

1. Café Capriccio

2. Lombardo’s

3. Villa Valenti

We certainly can’t argue with Café Capriccio—our staff gave it Best Restaurant overall—or with the excellent choices for second and third. But we’re even happier about what we don’t see here, if you know what we mean.

Best French/ Continental

1. Provence

2. Nicole’s Bistro

3. Chez Sophie

We love all three, but we also think the reason the excellent Provence doubled up the sublime Chez Sophie must have something to do with location: the former in a busy shopping plaza, the latter in a roadside dining car in Malta. Looks (and location) can be deceiving.

Best Seafood

1. Real Seafood Co.

2. Red Lobster

3. Jack’s Oyster House

Just goes to show, you wanna win Best Seafood, put “seafood” in your name. Seriously, though, Real Seafood does the underwater thing real well, and the readers said so overwhelmingly.

Best Chinese

1. Plum Blossom

2. Ichiban

3. Dumpling House

Plum Blossom beat out Ichiban by a margin as tiny as that last baby corn you fight over in the fried rice.

Best Japanese/Sushi

1. Ichiban

2. Hiro’s

3. Saso’s

Then Ichiban said, “We’ll be back,” grabbed their sushi knives, and grabbed a first place.

Best Vietnamese/Thai

1. My Linh

2. Sushi Thai Garden

3. Bangkok Thai, Van’s Vietnamese Restaurant (tie)

All of the above have been staff Best Of selections one or more times in the past; for the readers, however, there was a clear front-runner, as My Linh received nearly three times the votes of its closest competitor.

Best Mexican/ Southwestern

1. El Mariachi

2. El Loco

3. Bombers, Garcia’s (tie)

In a close race, El Mariachi beat out El Loco by a nacho.

Best Southern/Soul

1. Hattie’s

2. Magnolias on the Park

3. Bayou

Readers clearly appreciate the nice stuff turned out at Magnolias (more straight-up Southern) and the Bayou (more toward Cajun), but the clear favorite in this category is the restaurant that has had Saratoga on maps of the South since 1938: Hattie’s.

Best Caribbean

1. Clayton’s

2. Roy’s

3. Bayou

Live music or not, the Caribbean food connoisseurs barely know anywhere but Clayton’s exists.

Best Indian

1. Sitar

2. Shalimar

3. Gandhi

Shalimar and Gandhi have done their part to make lower Central Avenue a respectable Indian district over the last 10 or 15 years (and Shalimar has since opened two additional locations). But readers still prefer the longtime Indian-food outpost miles up Central in Colonie, Sitar, by a fairly wide margin.

Best Greek

1. A Taste of Greece

2. Chariot Restaurant

3. Grecian Gardens

Overcoming the less-tasty possible reading of its name, readers clearly flock to A Taste of Greece’s gyros, grape-leaf rolls, and cheery blue walls.

Best International

1. BFS

2. Dine

3. Justins & Arlington House

Granted, it’s a vaguely defined category—as is evidenced by the varied fare offered by the winners—but who’s going to complain about a researching a category that includes stuffed grape leaves and ropa vieja?

Best Vegetarian

1. Shades of Green

2. Antipasto’s

3. Four Seasons

The late, great Shades of Green in a landslide. Kudos to Dennis Phayre, but we worry about all of those vegetarians wandering around out there in denial (and very, very hungry).

Best Steakhouse

1. Barnsider

2. Dakota

3. Delmonico’s

Each of these steak houses offers up exactly what the avid carnivore is hankering for: great plates of beefy goodness, in great variety and volume. If you say that the Barnsider is top of the heap, we’re not inclined to argue. But we’ve got to sing the praises of the greatest side dish in the region, hands down: Delmonico’s East Utica Greens.

Best BBQ

1. Smokey Bones BBQ

2. Giffy’s

3. PJ’s BBQ

Smokey Bones has some mighty tasty ribs, more television screens than we can count, and last time we were there, one of the bartenders was tossing a flaming bottle around. Need we say more?

Best Brew Pub

1. Albany Pump Station

2. Brown’s Brewing Company

3. Big House

The Pump Station’s Kickass Brown Ale lives up to its name, and as far as food goes, there’s something for everyone—as long as you want it beer-battered. Meanwhile, this was a very close race, with Brown’s only a couple of votes behind.

Best Beer Selection

1. Mahar’s

2. Lionheart, Brown’s Brewing Company

No contest here. Their beer list looks like a freakin’ dictionary. Our advice to you: Stay away from the beers brewed in Third World countries and try the cask brews whenever possible.

Best Diner

1. Latham 76 Diner

2. Miss Albany Diner, Metro 20 Diner (tie)

The votes were pretty well spread out on this one, as diners often are a regional preference. Latham 76, however, still packs ’em in as well as anyone.

Best Deli

1. Gershon’s

2. Roma’s

3. Andy’s Italian Imports, Bagel Bite (tie)

Schenectady’s old-school stalwart, handily.

Best Brunch

1. Café Madison

2. Gideon Putnam

3. Justin’s

Readers and editors concur on this one—Café Madison’s omelettes and pancakes are just incredible, though not incredible enough to draw our northern readers away from the Gideon Putnam.

Best Outdoor Dining

1. Sutter’s Mill

2. El Mariachi

3. JJ Rafferty’s

Sutter’s and El Mariachi neck-and-neck to the finish.

Best cheap eats

1. Bombers

2. McDonald’s

3. Gus’ Hot Dogs

Bombers rocks readers’ world in this category, leaving the somewhat more heavily marketed McDonald’s in the dust.

Best Catering

1. Glen Sanders Mansion

2. Classe’

3. The Lily and the Rose

A local institution comes through again.

Best burgers

1. Red Robin

2. Sutter’s

3. Jack’s

We were surprised at the extent to which Red Robin trounced the competition in this category.

Best wings

1. Wings Over Albany

2. Scubbers

3. Bombers

Lots of great wings out there (this is the cuisine’s home state, after all); readers picked a bunch of ’em, but they picked Wings Over Albany most.

Best pizza

1. I Love NY Pizza

2. Paesan’s

3. Pizza Hut

Now here’s the question: which I Love NY Pizza do you guys mean? There are a plenty, and we hear some don’t like each other too much. On the other hand, they’ve collectively got a pretty devoted following, so perhaps the differences don’t extend to the quality of the pizza.

Best bagel

1. Bruegger’s

2. Uncommon GroundS

3. Bagel Bite

One thing we learned from the whopping number of responses to this one: Everybody eats bagels. And quite a few of those everybodies prefer Bruegger’s.

Best Sandwiches/subs

1. Subway

2. Debbie’s Kitchen

3. Panera

This perhaps should have been two different categories, given the fact that the things that Subway and Debbie’s Kitchen produces are not much more similar than the fare at Shades of Green and a steakhouse. It was close call though—readers were fairly divided between straightforward hoagies and gourmet million-ingredient extravaganzas.

Best ice Cream

1. Ben and Jerry’s

2. Guptill’s Coney Express, Stewart’s Shops (tie)

Far and away, our readers like some goofy names and social responsibility with their ice cream. But they’re also pretty fond of the locally rooted businesses. Is it Stewart’s purchases of local milk, the birthday cake flavor, or just that they’re open for those late-night ice cream runs.

Best Coffee

1. Dunkin Donuts

2. Daily Grind

3. Starbucks

We salute our lone independent to show in this category, and only four votes behind behemoth Dunkin Donuts, at that.

Best Desserts

1. Vanilla Bean

2. Bella Napoli

3. Mrs. London’s

Vanilla Bean scrumptious goodies got alsmot twice as many votes as the closest competitor.

Best Martini

1. Alibi’s

2. Pearl

3. Justin’s

We tried all three of the winners, and we agree. We think. Wait a minute, what was the question?

Best Wine List

1. Ginger Man

2. The Wine Bar

3. Antica Enoteca

Any place that cares as much about wine as these three fine establishments gets our vote. And yours.

Best Bakery (Desserts/Pastries)

1. Bella Napoli

2. Vanilla Bean

3. Villa Italia

A flip-flop from a previous, almost identical category. What’s going on?

Best Bakery (Breads)

1. Panera

2. Bella Napoli

3. Bountiful Bread

Panera in a landslide.

Best Indian Buffet

1. Shalimar

2. Sitar

3. Curry House

Shalimar and Sitar in a flip-flop from the Best Indian category. Was this a secret prearranged deal or something?

Best Chinese Buffet

1. Dragon Buffet

2. China Buffet

3. King’s

And there are plenty of people who take their Chinese buffets very, very seriously.

Best Restaurant to Take a Date

1. Justin’s

2. Ginger Man

3. Elda’s

Justin’s took this with about twice as many votes as Ginger Man or Elda’s, who were very close. Nice places all—now with that date in mind, it’s worth pointing out that the Ginger Man does have the best selection of wine by the glass, hands down.

Best Restaurant to Take the Kids

1. Friendly’s

2. Chuck E. Cheese, McDonald’s (tie)

Friendly’s took this one handily, and is there really any argument? Nice variety on the kids’ menu, nice prices, a free ice cream cone—hey, wait a minute, why don’t we ever get a free ice cream cone? Memo to parents: Until your toddler is old enough to know the difference between a mutant animal and a teenager in a mouse suit, Chuck himself is really scary.

Best Power Lunch

1. Jack’s Oyster House

2. Panera Bread

3. Bombers

We’re happy to report that the venerable Jack’s—whose Old Albany ambience seems just right for closing that big downtown real-estate deal—won this one in a landslide. Beyond that, we’re a bit baffled—a power lunch at Panera? At Bombers? Unless, of course, readers were referring to the jaw strength required to down one of those burritos.

Best Place to Eat at 3 AM

1. Denny’s

2. 76 Diner

3. Bob’s Diner

We suppose almost any 24-hour diner will do, but there just something about Denny’s, which doubled the votes of its closest rival. We’ll probably see you there later—I’ll be having the Moons Over My Hammy.