Welcome, our dear CITY readers, to the terrifying conclusion of Best of Rochester 2017. We hope you weren't driven mad waiting for the results. The last couple of months have been harrowing; CITY's Best of Rochester readers' poll is an exercise in insanity, where we ask your opinion in 100 categories. More than 14,000 ghouls took part in this year's final poll.

Each week, CITY tells you what we think about the Flower City, and this poll is a chance for you to add your scream — ahem ... your voice to the conversation. But we hope that discussion doesn't stop with this special issue. Rochester is a big city waiting to be explored, and sitting right here is a guide to close to 400 recommendations — for everything from the best Mediterranean restaurants to the best places to get tattooed — offered up by your fellow Rochesterians.

Hold on to this issue. Pull it out when you're looking for a new restaurant for a date night; or use it during the summer when you want to soak up some sun during an outdoor festival after the long, dreary winter. We are all guilty of sticking to our favorites, but we shouldn't damn ourselves to the familiar. We hope you'll find something in these results that might make you want to venture into new realms.

In addition to the readers' poll, this Best of issue also contains a collection of our readers' funnier answers to the primary ballot as well as our annual critics' picks. This year, Frank De Blase, Amanda Fintak, Tim Macaluso, Jeremy Moule, Scott Pukos, Rebecca Rafferty, and Nicole VanDenBergh all offer their blasphemous screeds. And when you need to commune with the dead, look to reader recommendations for their favorite cemetery.

If you would like to sound off on our readers' poll, have a good idea for a category, or have any feedback at all, comment on this article below, email us at themail@rochester-citynews.com, or find us on Twitter and Instagram (@roccitynews) and Facebook (facebook.com/CityNewspaper).