Design
The Best Of 'Best Ofs' of 2011
A round-up of the strangest city highlights from alternative weeklies around the country
Alternative weeklies and city magazines serve vital roles in their communities. They run Dan Savage’s column. They pick on local politicians no one outside of town has ever heard of. They rewrite weird items from police blotters. And they rank things. Really random things.
Just about every city rag worth the actual paper it's still printed on publishes a “Best of” issue, an annual ode to local burgers, microbrews and martini bars. The lists are a great cheat sheet for out-of-towners (and great reading material when you’re stuck in a 45-minute wait to eat one of the best burgers in town because someone has written said burger joint up in a best-of magazine, ruining its hole-in-the-wall allure).