For this year's Best of Austin: Restaurants Readers Poll, an offshoot of our long-running Best of Austin Awards, we invited our readers not just to vote on the winners, but to leave comments explaining their votes. Some went negative ("All the others suckkkkkkk"), some surprisingly erotic ("I have dreams about their espresso martini – sensual ones"), but mostly they were about how good the restaurants on the ballot make them feel:

"Great food and great people. It's like going home for dinner with family."

"Gives me a sense of home away from home."

"Always so homey and delicious!"

"This place feels like home."

Home. Our readers left 5,565 comments about the finalists, and several hundred of them included some variation on "home." It really drives home: Dining out isn't just a transactional experience. It's personal, for hospitality industry workers and their guests alike.

Typically, it's diners who go home feeling nourished. I hope with this issue, Austin's restaurant community feels the love going their way, too.

– Editor Kimberley Jones