Best Place to Take Out-of-Towners

The West EndWe'll start this driving tour a little outside our spotlight area, at the Starbucks at the corner of West Gray and Shepherd. Then we'll walk across the street and continue planning our itinerary at the other Starbucks at the corner of West Gray and Shepherd. That ought to impress them! Then we'll head west down Memorial to Otto's and casually mention that the elder George Bush eats his brisket there. Then we'll head north into the West End proper, and once there we'll take a gander at all those freaky houses. There's the Beer Can House, of course, at 222 Malone, and then all of those groundbreaking tin houses scattered hither and yon. But for us, the pièce de résistance is Frank Zeni's colossal Temple of Fun at 5420 Floyd Street. In a city with plenty of pretentious columns, Zeni's asymmetric Ionic pillars never fail to make us smile, and it's surely as awe-inspiring as the dueling Starbucks and George I's favorite brisket house.