Arts & Entertainment >>

• Best Bar (2 Comments)
  The Mink
  While a never-ending parade of Houston's best indie-rockers, punks and DJs, plus out-of-town acts of all shapes and sizes (many on their first-ever tour, or playing Houston for the first time), shuffle through The Mink's aptly-named adjacent Backroom, up front is one of the city's coziest, least... More >>
• Best Pool Hall
  Slick Willie's
  There aren't too many places competing for the Best Pool Hall in town, but among the few, none match up to Slick Willie's. Houston has about a dozen locations, but our favorite is no doubt the one in the heart of Montrose, where there are more than 20 big, solid and clean tables. If you're just... More >>
• Best Concert Food
  Fisher's Barbecue, The Continental Club
  If they even offer food at all, most Houston music venues couldn't care less about how that food actually tastes. And true, most people who need something to snack on while watching a band are more interested in soaking up all that booze than in any kind of fine-dining experience. But anyone... More >>
• Best Festival
  Japan Festival
  Think of it as the little festival that could. Compared to local mega-events like the Houston International Festival and the Bayou City Arts Festival, the Japan Festival is small fry. So why is it our choice for Best Festival? Because, despite its size, Japan Festival delivers a big dose of fun.... More >>
• Best Bar Bathroom
  The Backroom @ The Mink
  What we love about the bathrooms at the Backroom at The Mink is that upon our last count, there were about four of them. One for men, one for women, one for "whatever" and another mystery head with no designation. It's fun because when you encounter these signs, depending on your level of... More >>
• Best Bar You Can Still Smoke In
  Marquis II
  For freedom-loving Americans, the day the fascists on Houston's City Council passed the smoking ban in bars was a shot to the heart. Sure, sometimes stale nicotine-filled air can be a bummer, but what's even more of a bummer is when you have a crappy day and just want to go knock back some... More >>
• Best Dive Bar
  Lone Star Saloon
  Whenever we're at Lone Star, we feel the need to pick at least one song from Bob Seger's Night Moves, on the juke. Bob's soulful croon, alternating between tender and downright raunchy, seems like the perfect soundtrack for this downtown watering hole. And we don't mean "dive" in a bad way, mind... More >>
• Best Strip Club
  The Men's Club
  The strippers at The Men's Club are about as sexy as can be desired. But forget about them and head to the amazing all-you-can-eat lunch buffet — for just the $12 cover, it might be the best dining deal in town. A guy in a chef's hat doles out choice cuts of prime rib; another makes... More >>
• Best Stripper
  Julie at Treasures
  Julie is not saving money for school. She strips 'cuz she likes it, and it pays the bills. "I'll keep stripping until there's a ring on this finger," she says. At the notoriously rambunctious Treasures, where, as the deejay announced on a recent Thursday night, "It's harder to get a stripper to... More >>
• Best New Bar
  Community Bar
  Food, booze, music and good friends are really the only things one needs in this life. With all the turmoil going on around our little terrestrial mudball, sometimes it's imperative we have a place where we forget about the entire clamor of the world. That place has been Community Bar for us... More >>
• Best New Club (3 Comments)
  Mango's
  Like most music venues, Mango's isn't strictly new. Plenty of former Houston punks and hardcore kids have fond memories of the vegetarian restaurant's mid-'90s run as the Oven, and it's been a staple venue of the resurrected Westheimer Block Party for at least a couple of years. But when Free... More >>
• Best Steak Night
  Under the Volcano
  In this city of carnivores, choosing a steak night — by which we mean, a pre-designated night a local tavern fires up the grill outside, not a trip to Fleming's or Texas Land & Cattle — is as easy as choosing which night of the week you want to eat steak. Some places even do it... More >>
• Best Wine Bar
  13 Celsius
  For amateurs and oenophiles alike, 13 Celsius is a little slice of heaven. And don't let the Midtown address scare you off; this cozy establishment is thankfully free of the douchiness that plagues many of the area's bars and clubs. No one will laugh at you if you can barely tell the difference... More >>
• Best Jazz Club
  Red Cat Jazz Café
  Even if you don't know Miles Davis from Buddy Miles or John Coltrane from John Legend (or jazz fusion from fusion cooking, for that matter), there's something about being in a jazz club that automatically makes you feel more, well, sophisticated. The Red Cat Jazz Café, though, offers... More >>
• Best Romantic Hideaway
  La Colombe d'Or
  Everything's big in Texas — everything except La Colombe d'Or, that is. Billing itself as the smallest luxury hotel in the world, La Colombe has only six suites and a handful of courtyard apartments. There's also a four-star restaurant and well-appointed bar on-site. The hotel is the... More >>
• Best Sports Bar (2 Comments)
  Buffalo Wild Wings
  These days, mixed martial arts might be more popular than baseball and hockey combined, but in Texas, football is still king. And there's no better place to post up and watch a game than Buffalo Wild Wings near Rice Village. The food is better here than at most sports bars in town, and even the... More >>
• Best Cigar Bar
  Downing Street Pub
  Downing Street was a little slice of paradise for both cigar aficionados and part-time stogie-smokers even before the fascists on City Council banned smoking in bars; but after that anti-Texan, anti-American chokehold went into effect, Downing Street became even more important. It's great to... More >>
• Best Happy Hour
  Oishii Japanese Restaurant
  "Happy Hour," in this case, is a misnomer. It should be "Freakin' Ecstatic Hour." From 3-7 p.m. on weekdays and 3-6 p.m. on Saturdays, domestic beer is a mere $1.25, and imports (Asahi Dry, Kirin, Kirin Lite) are only 50 cents more. Or if you prefer alcohol of the rice variety, you can get a... More >>
• Best Icehouse (2 Comments)
  Sheffield's Ice House
  We've all been to West Alabama Icehouse and Jimmie's, and fine icehouses they are. But here we're suggesting one that harks back to the days of the fatally hard-drinking Eagle Pennell's cult 1983 movie Last Night at the Alamo. Sheffield's Ice House was founded in 1942 and has been standing guard... More >>
• Biggest Beer for the Buck
  The Tall Texan Drive InnD&D Inn
  Real Texans drink from goblets, it seems, or maybe the massive glassware at this homey watering hole-in-the-wall is just the only option for holding all that beer. It's $1.25 for a goblet of Lone Star and 25 cents more for one of Shiner, and two or three should see you well on your way to a... More >>
• Best Patio
  Cedar Creek
  Rasquachismo is a Mexican term (of Nahuatl origin) that roughly translates to "creating the most from the least." With regards to our flat, relatively featureless natural environment, Houstonians are forced to adopt the principles of rasquachismo, and no place does it better than the Cedar Creek... More >>
• Best Local Rapper (1 Comment)
  Scarface
  Experts call Scarface one of the premier rappers in the country, not just Houston. With new albums out the last three years running (the latest, Emeritus, is rumored to be his last), the 38-year-old South-sider has been going strong for a full two decades. He got his start by helping to make the... More >>
• Best Resurrected Musical Format
  Cassettes
  Hipsters, it seems, will do just about anything if there's enough of a retro-kitsch factor involved, which generally boils down to an idea that sounds really, really good when you're baked. Only a few short years ago, after all, sales and manufacturing of new vinyl LPs were as dead as Elvis, and... More >>
• Hip-Hop Producer (1 Comment)
  Mike Dean
  One of the key figures behind the "Dirty South" movement that has taken hold of mainstream rap is an unheralded white guy with a country western background. Mike Dean has helped to craft some of the most unique sounds in rap — from Houston's Scarface to L.A.'s Kurupt — while serving... More >>
• Best CD By a Local Musician
  Little Joe Washington, Texas Fire Line
  No static CD could ever match the intensity of one of Little Joe Washington's live shows, which are one part gospel revival and one part juke-joint boogaloo breakdown, but Texas Fire Line sure comes close. Recorded live in the studio (that sure helps), Fire Line is a frenzied tour de force from... More >>
• Best CD Cover
  Eli Sebastian Brumbaugh, Carrots (Young Mammals); Microscopic Metronomes (Wild Moccasins)
  Eli Sebastian Brumbaugh seems like the go-to guy for illustrating Houston's burgeoning "H-pop" scene. The twentysomething artist and graphic designer, who has also done posters for News on the March and Free Press Houston's Summerfest, puts the same sort of vivid, vibrant oddness in his artwork... More >>
• Best Local Music Blog (2 Comments)
  Breakfast on Tour
  We're not sure where Breakfast on Tour gets its travel budget, but we're a little jealous. The Houston-based music blog chronicles the cross-country travels of writers Eggs, Toast and Bacon, who don't miss too many music festivals — or much else. Recently, Breakfast readers have feasted on... More >>
• Best Band Name
  Come See My Dead Person
  This Houston gypsy-punk outfit sounds just like a southern-fried Gogol Bordello, but without all that pungent Eastern Bloc business. The band's name stands in stark contrast to its jammy and quaintly morose neo-folk, leading you to believe it would be a gang of blood-swilling metalheads on... More >>
• Best Band Stage Show
  The Homopolice
  With a revolving lineup of local noise luminaries like Rusted Shut's Don Walsh and a healthy dose of leather, the ear-melting Homopolice have been the best and weirdest show for the money this past year. Any appearance by bassist Beau Beasley's brainchild brings out a curious cast of voyeurs and... More >>
• Best Song About Houston
  Umbrella Man (Nick Gaitan), "I've Found My Weakness in You"
  One lazy Houston afternoon, Umbrella Man bassist Nick Gaitan was sitting upstairs in his apartment on "The Island" at 3700 Main, the South Midtown building that houses the Continental Club, Tacos a Go-Go, Sig's Lagoon and Shoeshine Charley's Big Top Lounge. At the time, Gaitan was pulling down... More >>
• Best Coffee House (1 Comment)
  The Coffee Groundz
  Whether it's Tweeting its fool head off or hosting a "Geek Gathering," Coffee Groundz is one damn fine coffeehouse. Ridiculously great coffee, free whiplash Wi-Fi and a wide selection of beer — all CG really needs is a bank of showers and a few cots to fully cover all the needs of the... More >>
• Best Band to Get Together in the Last Year
  Roky Moon & BOLT
  Sometimes a music scene doesn't even know it's been missing a band until that band shows up. That was the case back in January, when Roky Moon & BOLT appeared fully formed one chilly evening at Walter's on Washington. Within about five minutes of going onstage, Moon and friends —... More >>
• Best Band to Leave Town
  Papermoons
  It gets frustrating, growing to love a local band and then watching it move on to greener pastures. In Houston, as we all know, that happens to more bands than it doesn't (though, thankfully, somewhat less so lately). At least indie-twang duo Papermoons had a better reason for decamping for... More >>
• Best Concert Series
  Capital One Bank's Thursdays Rock at Discovery Green
  Out-of-towners from northern metropolises like Chicago and New York like to scoff at the idea of Houston as a "real city." Their claim — which is sadly not without some justification — is that ours is a city of endless concrete, infinite strip mall-sprawl, insipid suburbs, and choked... More >>
• Best Local Reading Series
  Houston Public Library'sAn Evening with...
  The Central branch of the Houston Public Library renovated more than just its building during its recent makeover. Its programming got a new face, too. Most impressive among the current offerings is the An Evening with... reading series. Over the last few months, Houston's own Katherine Center... More >>
• Best Local Book
  Houston, We Have a ­Problema
  Like her protagonist Jessica in Houston, We Have a Problema, author Gwendolyn Zepeda grew up in Houston and works in insurance. But while Zepeda admits to being a little superstitious from time to time, Jessica has made superstition an art form. She often consults the plastic Virgin Mary that... More >>
• Best Local Film (3 Comments)
  The Messenger, 360 Days of Bolivar
  Moviemaker Shawn Welling stumbled upon a fascinating group of "swamp men" during a bike ride on Bolivar Peninsula. Hunting for a public restroom, he stopped into Norbert's Bait Camp & Bar. (It was like stepping into the bar scene in Star Wars, he would later say.) Inside Norbert's, Welling... More >>
• Best Film Series
  Domy Books Movie Nights
  Movie Nights at Domy Books are a varied affair. Films are screened as many as five nights a week and include classics (The Third Man), anime (Akira), horror (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) and even industrial shorts (The Steel Reef). There are even foreign-language gems (Lemonade Joe) and pop-culture... More >>
• Best Film Festival
  Houston Palestine Film ­Festival
  The Houston Palestine Film Festival focuses on cinema that fights against what organizers call "reductively politicized depictions." Festival organizers, including the two founders, Houston-based Palestinian-Americans Iman Saqr and Hadeel Assali, present a slate of complicated, often surprising... More >>
• Best Movie Theater
  River Oaks Theatre
  Built in 1939, this historic jewel has so far escaped the clutches of townhouse development that first threatened to destroy it in 2006. The idea was blasphemy to preservationists and folks who just think it's a damn cool theater. And it is — both aesthetically, and by the selection of... More >>
• Best Movie Theater with Dinner (2 Comments)
  Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
  Okay, so a $3.50 Lone Star isn't exactly the best price, but you're not going to Alamo for a bargain; you're going to spoil yourself. You're going so you can kick back and watch the latest Harry Potter or Seth Rogen "comedy" while chowing down a burger, fish and chips, or perhaps the Kevin Bacon... More >>
• Best Downtown Bar
  La Carafe
  La Carafe or Warren's, Warren's or La Carafe? That is the question. That anything other than one of Carolyn Wenglar's two venerable Market Square bars is the downtown's best is a fool's proposition. Right now we are in a La Carafe mood. We love the candlelight and the stalagmite-like wax... More >>
• Best Local Poet
  Tony Hoagland
  You get a sense of poet Tony Hoagland's outlook from the titles of his books (What Narcissism Means to Me and Donkey Gospel) and poems ("Benevolence" and "The Replacement"). His commentary on contemporary life is straightforward, sans flourish. He seems to avoid appearing intellectual when being... More >>
• Best Comedian (1 Comment)
  John Gard
  They say write what you know, and John Gard is a dork from Houston, so he jokes about Star Wars and the ever-present thick Texas accent of his hecklers. His unique perspective allows him to find an inappropriate angle for any situation, such as why it's not the best idea to engage in sexual... More >>
• Best Photographer
  Ben Tecumseh DeSoto
  Documentary photographer Ben Tecumseh DeSoto spent 25 years as a photojournalist for the Houston Chronicle. He shot tragedies, historic moments, everyday people and famous faces. These days, photography is still his medium, but his message has changed a bit. Now the award-winning artist is... More >>
• Best Artist(s)
  Patrick Medrano and Katy Anderson
  Painter/sculptor Patrick Medrano and photographer Katy Anderson were two of the winners of last January's Mastermind Awards, and we just thought they deserved another win. The married couple conceptualized the Fodice Foundation, an artist residency compound housed in an abandoned WPA school in... More >>
• Best Nonprofit Art Series
  Impulse! Artist Series
  Pianist Jade Simmons has just one mission in life — to give classical music a new reputation. She's out to replace the image of a stuffy, staid collection of dead guys in white wigs with fresh, young, cutting-edge artists (herself included). While she'll say she's had plenty of help in... More >>
• Best Art Show (1 Comment)
  Ben DeSoto and Ann Walton Sieber's "Understanding Poverty"
  Ben Tecumseh DeSoto and Ann Walton Sieber's photography exhibit "Understanding Poverty" at DiverseWorks was harrowing for its unflinching look at Houston's homeless. The show chronicled, from the late '80s to today, the story of Judy Pruitt, a.k.a. "Snow," an abandoned street kid begging,... More >>
• Best Museum
  Station Museum of ­Contemporary Art
  Before you step into the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, be forewarned — it ain't gonna be pretty. It's going to be glorious and challenging. It might even be life-changing, but it's definitely not going to be pretty. The Station Museum most often deals with social and political... More >>
• Best Art Gallery (1 Comment)
  Gallery Sonja Roesch
  No one is more dedicated to the maxim "less is more" than Gallery Sonja Roesch. Focused on reductive and concept-based art, the gallery breaks with the pop culture norm and instead shows work by artists who rebel against visual overload. Case in point is German painter Mario Reis, a frequent... More >>
• Best Student Art Program
  FotoFence
  FotoFest likes to start them young — as photographers and as fans. Its student art program FotoFence, a Literacy Through Photography project, had 2,500 kids in 22 Houston-area schools producing some surprising results. Working with professional photographers and arts educators, students... More >>
• Best Original Theater Show
  Ps and Qs:The ABCs of Manners at Main Street Theater
  It might seem that life is just too busy to be polite anymore. But don't tell that to the folks at Main Street Theater, where Steve Garfinkel, along with the Emmy-nominated band Trout Fishing in America, has developed Ps and Qs: The ABCs of Manners. Shaped like a radio show along the lines of A... More >>
• Best Dance Club
  Brazos River Bottom
  The people at this gay dance hall like line dancing so much, they'll teach you for free. Lessons on the spacious wood dance floor (with disco ball overhead) are on the house from 8 until 10:30 every Thursday night, and on the second and fourth Fridays of the month. The instructors try to bring... More >>
• Best Musical
  Grey Gardens at Stages
  A musical about two old cat ladies bitching at each other endlessly in annoying accents? Doesn't sound like a great idea. Even if you toss in the facts that it's based on a true story, the two eccentric recluses were related to Jackie O, and one dated Joe Kennedy, Jr. But Stages' production of... More >>
• Best Theater Company
  Catastrophic Theatre ­Company
  Good things come in small packages — that's the lesson to take from the short season, only three shows long, produced in 2008-2009 by Catastrophic Theatre Company. Last fall, the company produced two plays by Mickle Maher: The Strangerer, a disturbing story about the bizarre lies and... More >>
• Best Actor
  Todd Waite as Jan in Rock 'n' Roll at the Alley Theatre
  Few characters are as complicated as those built by the mighty brain of Tom Stoppard. Happily, actors as fine as Todd Waite make sure that all that complexity gets translated to the stage. The guiding force of the Alley Theatre's supercharged production of Rock 'n' Roll this past spring, Waite... More >>
• Best Actress (1 Comment)
  Luisa Amaral-Smith as Bessie Berger in Awake and Sing! at Main Street Theater
  The kvetching character at the center of Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing! is no walk in the park for any actress — she's mean, destructive, even cruel. But Luisa Amaral-Smith managed to find the soul of Bessie Berger, the iron-fisted matriarch of the Jewish family Odets created. Bessie is... More >>
• Best Public Dick
  Greg Dean in Hunter Gatherers
  The Catastrophic Theatre's production of the comedy/drama Hunter Gatherers won a rave from our reviewer, but Lee Williams failed to mention Greg Dean's incredible hard-on, waving around for all to see in the intimate Stages setting. Dean, playing a disturbed ex-jock, had been off-stage for a... More >>
• Best Dance Performance
  Houston Ballet's Marie
  Every once in a while, audiences witness a performance that goes beyond being excellent, but that actually moves the art form forward. Such was the case for this year's Marie, presented by the Houston Ballet. Based on the life of French queen Marie Antoinette, Marie is not the stuff that fairy... More >>
• Best Dance Company (1 Comment)
  Dominic Walsh Dance ­Theater
  Innovative and daring, the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater rests on the broad shoulders of its founder and namesake, Dominic Walsh. Formerly a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet, Walsh struck out on his own, founding his own company and becoming a highly respected choreographer of contemporary... More >>
• Best Gay Bar
  Montrose Mining Company
  In the shadow of massive, irreverent South Beach and its sparkling, Christmas light-coated palm trees sits the unassuming entrance to the Montrose Mining Company. Inside, there are studly table-dancing cowboys to rival any club in the city, along with pool tables and a long, inviting bar. The... More >>
• Best Sound System
  House of Blues
  Really, now: You didn't think we were going to give Houston's newest (and priciest) concert hall "Best Drink Prices," did you? But House of Blues deserves credit where it's due, and it has due aplenty for bringing in artists who might otherwise skip Houston altogether — legends like Willie... More >>
• Best Jukebox
  Little Bigs
  Owner Bryan Caswell is a fervent proponent of local music, and when he acquired a jukebox for his slider shack off Montrose, he set out to de-Journey the machine by adding in some of our city's best indie acts. From the spry indie-pop of Wild Moccasins to the wail of The Tontons, the jukebox is... More >>
• Best Bar Atmosphere/Decor
  D&D Inn
  This clapboard East End beer joint might not look like much from the outside, but a surprise awaits those who venture in. A golden Buddha squats in one corner, while paintings of Frida Kahlo and Marilyn Monroe take pride of place on two walls, where they compete with several specimens of the... More >>