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Best Beer Selection

Laser Wolf

Located where NE Fourth Avenue meets the train tracks, Laser Wolf fits in an unusual triangular space. The place vibrates with bright-red walls, a mural by pro skateboarder Kris Markovich, and the runaway trendiness of a crowd that gathers between its walls to drink sake and locally crafted microbrews. Ashtrays feature the Misfits' skull logo, and even the chairs made the trip from the moody-hip downtown hangout the Poorhouse. Dance parties instinctively emerge in front of the DJ's corner setup, while an adjacent, charming courtyard hosts bands for the rock-devoted.

Best Burrito Joint

Zona Fresca

Welcome to the "Fresh Zone," where the Cal-Mex fare lives up to the joint's name. Everything here is made daily on the premises, from lard-free beans to guacamole to cilantro-spiked rice. Baja-style Mexican food includes the best fish tacos and shrimp burritos in Fort Lauderdale. Portions are huge and prices ridiculously reasonable.

Best Barbecue

Blue Willy's Barbecue

The best barbecue has always been the kind of spots you might see along county roads in the Deep South, just like Blue Willy's. This food truck sets up at various locations around Fort Lauderdale, including a regular stop at 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays at SE First Avenue and SE Sixth Street. Go for the brisket or St. Louis-style ribs, which will make you feel like you've pulled up to a pit master in rural Alabama, just like barbecue ought to be.

Best Burger

Relish

Relish, in the cozy and quaint Northwood Village, is the ultimate mix-and-match burger joint. Choose from 12 types of burgers: beef, all-white-meat turkey, tuna, mahi-mahi, crab, shrimp, black bean, mushroom, lamb, buffalo, veal, or lobster, all of which are freshly ground or made in-house each day. Next, add any number of Relish's 20-plus gourmet toppings. There are relatively normal offerings, like lettuce slaw and drunken onions cooked in lager. And then there's the wacky stuff you would never have thought to put on a burger in a million years, like oven-roasted beets with fresh herbs or shaved asparagus with white wine and tarragon. The freedom of choice is mirrored on down the menu, from fries and onion rings (top them with your choice of six gourmet salts) to milk shakes (there are more than a dozen flavors) to cookies (six varieties with six dipping sauces).

Best Palm Beach County Restaurant

The Office

This Delray Beach gastropub is all about indulgence but, most pointedly, bacon. A glance down the menu reveals bacon in salad, bacon smothering macaroni and cheese, bacon on burgers, and bacon finishing off a tray of souped-up tater tots. If you count the various forms of pork and ham employed by the kitchen, then there are also Serrano-wrapped scallops, Spanish toast with tomatoes and ham, and a retooling of pork and beans where the pork is, in fact, pork belly (read: bacon). And lest you think the bacon bus stops there, for dessert, you can order perhaps the restaurant's greatest triumph: a maple-glazed doughnut topped with — what else? — bacon. It's all consumed in a rollicking 1950s atmosphere that's a cross between a Madison Avenue office building and a Dick Van Dyke-era home study. Cocktails are picture-perfect and delivered by a bow-tied staff, and craft beer flows liberally from the bar.

Best Rock Band

Community Property

Named Best Of Live Band by in 2010, Community Property has gone undefeated in every South Florida battle of the band in which it's participated. Proud to be "Sunrise boys," Community Property has been rocking in Broward for six years now. The band's frontman, Lucien Sawyer, writes all the lyrics, and the band comes up with melodies. In addition to Jimi Hendrix comparisons, Community Property brings together a wealth of dirty blues and soul that will run you as ragged as any Black Keys guitar romp. Keep your ears peeled; the band will be dropping a self-titled album this summer.

Best Club DJ

LinderSMASH

From his Facebook fan page comes this bio: "Growing up in the Wax Trax era of Chicago music and moving to South Florida in my Teenage years gave me an eclectic taste. Always working in the background promoting and working with artists, I started DJ'ing on a dare and hit the ground running." He sure did, and you can find LinderSMASH at Fort Lauderdale's Green Room on Thursdays through Saturdays and on rotation at the Fetish Factory.

Best Local Hip-Hop Artist

Astrea Corporation

With current-day experimental electronic music so often divided along trendy blog lines, it's refreshing to hear a local act resurrect a term you don't hear too much on Hype Machine and the like — trip-hop. But the local three-piece Astrea Corporation does, indeed, pick up a strain of boom-bap beats and wrap it in all kinds of lush but electronic beats. It updates that '90s sound, though, with contemporary left-field flourishes, from looping, echoing vocals to the occasional warped bass line and drum 'n' bass inflection. On some tracks, like the meandering, almost yodelly "Artifact A," they even get positively New Agey.

Best Music Venue

Cheers Restaurant & Bar

In Fort Lauderdale, bars come and go quicker than the tide rolls in, but every now and then, one opens and decades later new generations of locals are filling up the barstools, just like here at Cheers. From neon signs to pool tables and sports memorabilia, the drinking hole has all the quintessential trimmings, but it's the patrons who give it real character. On weekends, the stage is filled with an array of bands, but during the week, patrons can take their shot on the stage at open-mic night or karaoke.

Best Dance Club

Off the Hookah

Off the Hookah is Las Olas Riverfront's dance club, hookah lounge, and waterfront dining wrapped up in one sexy, Egyptian-themed venue. Vegas-style flair bartenders serve the drinks, belly dancers arouse the onlookers, and the Mediterranean and sushi menu tantalizes the taste buds. There are cabana beds throughout the venue; thus, you can ask someone to go to bed without having to go home. Or ask a cutie to munch on the Mediterranean platter and share a banana/honey-flavored hookah (not hooker, wiseguy!). Also, there are drink specials during happy hour, ladies' night, and college night to keep the party going.

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