Denali, with Rainer Maria and Chris McFarland
At a glance there are plenty of reasons to dismiss this show. First, there’s that band name. How pretentious can you get, using the Alaskan Native American word (which means “the great one”) that is used to describe Mt. McKinley, the highest point in North America. Or maybe it’s not…
Best Comedian
If anyone else in the world tried to do what Chingo Bling does, it wouldn’t work. But he’s got the shtick down pat. This comedic genius has taken the Latino hip-hop community by storm and is sure to cross over to the mainstream. When Chingo strolls on stage wearing his…
Best Downtown Bar
This seafood restaurant/saloon stands out as a NoDo rarity: a bar with a commitment to live music. John Evans has enjoyed a long Thursday-night residency here, and if you add to that frequent gigs by Greg Wood, Jimmy’s Pawn Shop and Little Screamin’ Kenny, it’s plain to see that this…
Best T-Shirt Designer
It’s his “Corporate Hip Hop Sux” shirt that has been known to start confrontations — not because of its blunt statement emblazoned in six three-letter rows, but because everyone wants to say they were the first to wear it. Like an Astros throwback jersey, the “Corporate Hip Hop Sux” shirt…
Best Spectacle
Houston institutions have been done in by many forces through the decades — “progress,” development or sheer stupidity. But success shouldn’t be the cause of death. Yet a couple of years ago, there it was: Houston’s signature event, the Orange Show’s Art Car Ball, bloated and expiring right there on…
Best Family from Hell
Medea has nothing on Regina Giddens. The matriarch at the head of Lillian Hellman’s Southern Gothic melodrama The Little Foxes is one of the most treacherous villains ever to walk across a stage. And with her slithering brothers Benjamin and Oscar Hubbard, she completes a gruesome troika. The cast of…
Best Bright Idea
Houston’s signature waterway has been a murky mystery since before the Allen brothers followed it upstream and planted the future Space City on its banks. But at least back then its green-brown waters were clear of the flotsam and jetsam of modern civilization. Starting this summer, a vessel called The…
Best Place for a First Date
It’s easy to screw up a first date. You could: a) come on too strong or not strong enough, b) bring a vegetarian to a steak house or c) spend the evening detailing your sexual history. If you have a propensity for answer c, we can’t help you. But choosing…
Best Median
This Museum District median was immortalized in the film Rushmore (Bill Murray and Olivia Williams stared at each other under its arch of live oaks), but the pretty street would make anyone feel like they’re on the set of a movie. The sunlight slicing through the branches warms the quaint…
Best Democrat
Like his mentor, former state rep Paul Colbert, Hochberg has developed a reputation in Austin as a master legislative technician, focusing on the explosive public school finance issue. He’s also a tough political survivor who was forced by Republican-controlled redistricting to move out of District 132 into the more GOP-friendly…
Best Weathercaster
Ever since Tropical Storm Allison, many Houstonians have found themselves a lot more interested in severe weather than they used to be. Houston weather has always been about extremes, of course, but when one of those extremes causes $5 billion in damage, people start to pay attention. TV stations know…
Best Margarita
Your boss has been giving you a hard time. Your lower back’s giving you grief. And your girlfriend’s not giving it up. Well, the top-shelf margarita at Noche won’t get you a promotion, it probably won’t heal those aching vertebrae, and it sure won’t get you laid. But once you’ve…
Best Mussels
Full of Francophobia but still want good mussels? Switch from French to Flemish at the only Belgian restaurant in town, Café Montrose. When you do, there are four things you need to know. First, even though they list many varieties of mussels on the menu, the best and most traditional…
Best Tuna This Side of the Atlantic
Leave it to master chef Arturo Boada to turn a healthy fish into a sheer taste delight. His yellowfin tuna Mediterranean stands out even among several stellar offerings on the menu of this downtown restaurant and bar. Boada takes primo sashimi-grade tuna, sears it in the skillet and piles on…
Best Designer Boutique
They have their own label of bottled water. Need we say more? This swanky shop sports Betsey Johnson frocks and darling sequined Ts along with retro Gigi dresses that work from day to evening and Charles Chang-Lima separates made of wonderful fabric. It’s the perfect place to nab a little…
Best Clothing Designer
In a town that’s not all that fashion-forward, up-and-coming British-born designer Vanessa Riley is a true find. Known for her extravagant, corseted couture gowns and sweeping, floor-length coats, Riley has dressed the beautiful people for events like the Grammys, the Academy Awards and Houston’s society balls. But her designs are…
Best Coffee Beans
If you find the aroma of coffee intoxicating, you’ll be in heaven at the House of Coffee Beans, which has an on-premise roaster that constantly emits alluring fragrances. The coffee beans are purchased from all over the world in the green state and then medium-roasted in small batches. Looking for…
Best Sports Music CD
Until we get a CD of classic Houston sports songs (anyone remember that Astros ditty about “stealing round the bases / driving in the runs / no place else but Houston — As-tros Num-ber Ooooone”?), we’ll have to content ourselves with the offerings of Pulltab. Their sound is a little…
Best Beach
Sick of cutting your feet on shells? Annoyed by the inevitable close encounters with jellyfish? Tired of wading through brackish water that looks like it was just churned out of the treatment plant? Head to Moody Gardens. The Galveston Island attraction/resort has created a new, improved beach, and it’s charging…
Best New Stadium
Forget about the stupid corporate name and that god-awful choo-choo train in left field. The best new stadium in Houston is the oldest new stadium in Houston: Minute Maid Park, a.k.a. the Juice Box, Home Run Field and Sponsorship Stadium. Minute Maid wins simply because it offers the best, and…
Best Cajun Restaurant
Joyce’s is a rarity: a high-end restaurant with great Cajun food. There’s lots of grilled fish and a couple of steaks on the menu, but the Louisiana cuisine is the real attraction. The awesome shrimp poor boy is made with shrimp that have been butterflied and dipped in a spicy…
Best Mom-and-Pop Restaurant
The mom-and-pop team of Teo and Carmen Gonzales has been running the funky-looking Tex Chick restaurant since 1982. The food is a schizoid mix of burgers, chicken-fried steaks, tacos and other Tex-Mex dishes, along with the only Puerto Rican food to be found in Houston. The mix owes itself to…
Best Atmosphere
The martini is icy, the club chair is plush, and Frank Sinatra is crooning on the sound system in the cushy lounge at Vic & Anthony’s, the opulent new steak house across the street from Minute Maid Park. On the back wall of the bar is a small black-and-white photo…
Best Auto Repair
Being stranded sucks almost as much as towing fees. No more. Nathaniel Mayes III is on the scene. Give him a call, explain the problem, and he’ll be out there the same day. He’ll check out your car, procure the necessary parts and fix the problem. If he can’t fix…
Best Video Selection
If you’re hunting for hard-to-find videos and DVDs, Cactus is the place to go. Good luck locating, say, the Criterion Collection edition of Jim Jarmusch’s masterpiece Down By Law at your local Best Buy. The store managers at the big chains lack the knowledge and taste to stock such relevant…
Best Public Tennis Courts
Tucked snugly away in the Cherryhurst section of Montrose, this single concrete court is perfect for a quiet match or for showing off your skills. Get there early and squat the court, but if you notice dirty looks from local residents waiting to play, you may want to concede. Looking…
Best Place to Be Glad You’re Alive
Every city has its “central park” — the one in the middle of everything where you can hike, bike or just sit in the grass next to a babbling brook and forget that you live in an urban jungle. Well, our babbling brook is Buffalo Bayou, and while it’s not…
Best Expense-Account Restaurant
Capital Grille is the perfect place for you, if: a) you are male, b) you like a clubby atmosphere, c) you like your meat well hung, and d) you’re spending $100 of someone else’s money. Start out with the Grille’s steak tartare ($9.95), which is the best there is. Skip…
Best Pre- or Post-Theater Restaurant
Dim the lights and let the show begin. The cast of characters in this cozy nook of The Lancaster Hotel ranges from the elegant to the occasionally eccentric. The richly hued set reflects the intimate, refined taste of a real Broadway in the heart of the Theater District. While the…
Best Fried Chicken
“Tierno! Jugoso! Crujiente!” reads the slogan on the outside of the chicken box. And “Tender! Juicy! Crunchy!” is a pretty fair description of the chicken at Pollo Campero, the fast food fried chicken chain that recently invaded Houston from Guatemala. The crust, formed by a simple flour dip, is very…
Best Plantains
In Latin America, plantains — raw, mashed or fried — are what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So it’s no surprise that they show up all over South American menus in Houston. One of the best uses for the banana’s big brother is the plantain chips at Churrascos. Known for…
Best Chicken-Fried Steak
Ouisie’s Table serves a world-class chicken-fried steak — without a doubt, one of the best in Texas. But it’s available only on Tuesdays, when the Southern-fried specialist makes her weekly appearance. The sides are usually mashed potatoes, a vegetable such as mustard greens and custardy corn pudding. The undulating golden-brown…
Best Last-Minute Shopping
You can create a truly interesting wardrobe created without a huge expenditure — if you have the time to sift through thrift stores, garage sales, discount shops like T.J. Maxx or Loehmann’s and sales at fancy stores. But sometimes there’s just no time to mess around — for example, when…
Best Republican
Whenever a political stew is brewing involving Houston’s left and right wings, expect to find the hand of this West University-based swami stirring the pot. Along with his wife and fund-raising partner, Elizabeth, Allen Blakemore is a force in next fall’s supposedly nonpartisan Houston municipal races. He’s strategizing for first-term…
Best Radio Commentary
Every weekday at 4:20 p.m., Houston’s listener-sponsored community radio station KPFT gives you some news you can use. Dean Becker wants his pot-smokin’ buddies to stay out of jail, and to do that they have to be informed. Becker monitors the drug war like Fox News monitors the war on…
Best Way to Park at Reliant Stadium
Parking at Reliant Stadium is a joke. A nightmare. Impossible almost, especially considering the high price you’re paying. And once the game’s over, you have to sit idling in your car for more than an hour because of traffic. So why even try it? Go to your local Metro Park…
Best Kid’s Thrill
A Ferris wheel, a train ride, a carousel, dancing fountains and tanks loaded with hundreds of fish — what more could a kid ask for? This virtual theme park in the Theater District offers a whole afternoon of child-friendly thrills. Think of it as a good, centrally located alternative to…
Best Concert Venue
In a perfect world, we would all get to see our favorite superstars in an intimate setting, like a tiny club or bar. But as long as there are superstars, there are going to be thousands of people who want to see them perform. So why not see them in…
Best Radio Station
Even though it’s owned by an evil radio monolith, golden oldies station KBME manages to contradict every criticism cast the company’s way. You say Clear Channel won’t play local music? KBME does — everything from Grady Gaines to the El Orbits. You say CC doesn’t allow personalities to flourish? KBME…
Best Museum
It’s still about the building. Renzo Piano’s light-washed galleries are the standard by which to measure all other museums. But the building only sets the art in the best light. It’s the curators who choose what goes into the beautiful galleries. And chief curator Matthew Drutt, in his first year,…
Best Ensemble
Conor McPherson’s The Weir revolves around a tiny cast of five actors who spend the entire evening on stage together, telling spooky stories and getting soused. It’s imperative that the actors be perfectly in tune with one another in this demanding play. And the players in Main Street’s luminous production…
Best Court Ruling Best Court Ruling
Talk about perfect timing. On June 26, just two days before the 25th anniversary of Houston’s Pride Parade, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down Texas’s homosexual sodomy law by a 6-3 vote. The law, which outlawed sodomy only when practiced by gays, was challenged by two Houston men named John…
Best Happy Hour
This blue-collar Heights hangout doesn’t draw the sexiest crowd, but for colorful characters and unusual enthusiasm, you can’t beat it — especially on weekdays at 6:30 p.m., when Wheel of Fortune is on. Looking at the long bar flanked by two large TVs (both tuned to the show), you’d think…
Best Place to Launch Fireworks
The Fourth of July is supposed to be about freedom, and where better to celebrate liberty than the anarchistic Bolivar Peninsula? Want to drink openly on the beach? That’s not a problem here. Neither is the possession and liberal use of extremely powerful fireworks. For two solid hours after the…
Remember Shakti
Do you remember fusion? Or would you rather not? If you answered in the affirmative to the second question, that’s understandable, for rarely has an initially captivating musical movement slipped so fast and far into wretched excess. One notable exception was virtuoso guitarist John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, in which the…
Best Movie Theater
This lovely movie palace — really, it has to be described that way — is an antique in a city that doesn’t normally cherish old things. Built in 1939, it’s the only theater in town that’s gotten its very own mayoral proclamation. (River Oaks Theatre Day was March 26, 2000,…
Best Place to Watch Pudding Wrestling
Beer? Check. Shot specials? Check. Half-naked women flailing about in a tub of vanilla pudding? Checkmate! Thursday night is now “Pudding Night,” thanks to this venerable Katy club, which invites the gorgeous women of the Association of Pudding Wrestling to get down ‘n’ dirty for your pleasure. Matches run from…
Best Music Gadfly
A guitarist, songwriter, music journalist, record producer and bandleader, Guy Schwartz is omnipresent on the Houston scene. His New Jack Hippies “band” now boasts more than a hundred members, based on Schwartz’s open admissions policy: If you jam with him once, you’re a New Jack Hippie for life. Schwartz’s recent…
Best Museum
It’s still about the building. Renzo Piano’s light-washed galleries are the standard by which to measure all other museums. But the building only sets the art in the best light. It’s the curators who choose what goes into the beautiful galleries. And chief curator Matthew Drutt, in his first year,…
Best Ensemble
Conor McPherson’s The Weir revolves around a tiny cast of five actors who spend the entire evening on stage together, telling spooky stories and getting soused. It’s imperative that the actors be perfectly in tune with one another in this demanding play. And the players in Main Street’s luminous production…
Best Court Ruling Best Court Ruling
Talk about perfect timing. On June 26, just two days before the 25th anniversary of Houston’s Pride Parade, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down Texas’s homosexual sodomy law by a 6-3 vote. The law, which outlawed sodomy only when practiced by gays, was challenged by two Houston men named John…
Best Place for a Last Date
The love’s run dry, and it’s time to sit down and talk with the person you’ve been seeing. It would be rude to suggest a meeting at KFC. It would be misleading to go to somewhere romantic, like Aries. And it would be dangerous to visit any bar, which could…
Best Renovation
While more and more old downtown structures are getting well-deserved restorations, this makeover is much more than skin-deep. The former 1926 Post-Dispatch building had long been an example of urban blight, a boxlike building that was boarded up and hardly worthy of notice for decades. But the Magnolia hotel chain,…
Best Republican
Whenever a political stew is brewing involving Houston’s left and right wings, expect to find the hand of this West University-based swami stirring the pot. Along with his wife and fund-raising partner, Elizabeth, Allen Blakemore is a force in next fall’s supposedly nonpartisan Houston municipal races. He’s strategizing for first-term…
Best Talk Radio
Currently syndicated on ten stations across Texas, Tom Tynan began broadcasting the Home Improvement Hotline on KTRH in 1987. Kind of like Car Talk for home owners, Hotline tackles listeners’ queries on a myriad of subjects. From plumbing problems to structural questions to energy efficiency issues, it’s likely Tom will…
Best Frozen Margarita
Okay, here’s the situation: There’s this spot near Shepherd Plaza that serves delicious fruit-flavored margaritas that are way too easy to get hooked on. Half the joy comes from watching the fiery seorita behind the bar make them. She puts the flavored syrup (strawberry, raspberry, cranberry, Halle Berry, Ken Berry,…
Best Noodles
The house special noodle soup at Lucky Pot comes with big chunks of Chinese bacon, shiitake mushrooms, black mushrooms and dried tofu in a thick brown broth. The sublimely flavored bowl of noodles will remind you of fresh, rough-cut pasta in a mushroom and bacon sauce. But hey, if that…
Best Use of Asparagus
Asparagus doesn’t make its way onto most beef- and broccoli-laden Chinese restaurant menus. But at Canton Seafood, they’ve got a dish that puts the stalk center stage. They take a chicken breast, pound it flat and wrap it around thick shoots of asparagus. Then they drown it all in a…
Best Chichi Sundries
The only thread that connects the various and sundry goods at Sloan/Hall is taste. Very good taste. Owners Marcus Sloan and Shannon Hall seem to stock their store not with what they think their customers might want but with what they themselves like. The result is a smorgasbord of interesting…
Best Jewelry Designer
She’s exotically beautiful, she speaks four languages, and she designs killer jewelry. Mexican-born Mari Carmen Ibarra’s trademark is unusual clasps — one popular version resembles a ribbon of 18-karat gold. Her contemporary designs, appropriately sold under the name Contemporary Stones, also feature long strands of freshwater pearls and other semiprecious…
Best Pastry Shop
The Austrians take their coffee and cake very seriously. After all, where else do they confer the honor of konditoreimeister, or master pastry chef? (Okay, Germany.) Epicure Cafe owner Khan Esmail is a native of Iran who studied in Austria and brought his knowledge and skills to Houston some 16…
Best Sports Bar
We’ll wager that this spacious restaurant and bar was originally intended as a different kind of “nightlife option.” Sure, Live Sports has plenty going for it as a sports bar: The TVs are big and show a variety of sports; there are more drink options than you’ll know what to…
Best Place to Hike
Brazos Bend is only a 30-mile drive from downtown, but once you get there you’ll feel hundreds of miles away. This peaceful, 4,900-acre state park is located where the Big Creek and Brazos River meet, and it offers up to 20 miles of easy walking trails. (There are no changes…
Best Gift Cards
You wouldn’t expect a 1930s-era drugstore and diner to have an attitude, but Avalon does when it comes to gift cards. In fact, it’s one of the best places in town to grab a greeting. Four rows and a rack are stuffed with paper salutations — Weiner Dog and Sunrise…
Best Chinese Restaurant
Like fresh fish? Pick out a ling cod swimming in one of the aquariums up front and Fung’s Kitchen will rush it to the stove, steam it and serve it up in a minimalist soy and ginger sauce for you. It is the purest fish flavor you will ever taste…
Best Pakistani Restaurant
You expect fiery curries and hot masalas in the Little Karachi neighborhood around Bissonnet and U.S. 59, but La Sani is something special. The food here is spicy in every sense of the word. Whole ginger, fenugreek seeds, chiles, garlic, cumin seeds and coriander come blaring at you in concentrations…
Best Turkish Restaurant
Some say Turkish food is the mother of all Middle Eastern cuisines. The overloaded mezeler plate at Empire Turkish Grill proves the point. The dish includes foods from many different regions, few of which lie within present-day Turkey. But it was the Turkish sultans who first brought Asian eggplant and…
Best Grocery Store
Allegiances run deep among Houston grocery shoppers. Die-hard Kroger devotees are just itchin’ to pop a cap in some Randalls-card-carrier’s ass. And don’t even get us started on the Whole Foods posse. Us, we’re members of the Fiesta crew. If you want good food (especially Mexican specialties) at good prices…
Best Adult Video Store
When it comes to shopping for adult videos, it doesn’t get much pinker or cuter than Cindie’s — the red-and-white awning covered in hearts, the frothy lingerie in the window. But don’t let the candy-coated packaging of this adult novelty store fool you. Cindie’s also stacks top-of-the-line adult videos and…
Best New Golf Course
The two golf courses at Wildcat are the only ones in the city with real hills. Not only does the terrain provide an interesting test of a golfer’s skills, the hilltops also afford spectacular views of nearby Reliant Stadium and the Houston skyline. But it’s the reason that Wildcat boasts…
Best Astro
What better place for a Dartmouth man than wearing the Tools of Ignorance behind home plate? Ausmus, 34, is a certified Ivy Leaguer with a degree in government that probably does him absolutely no good as he mentors the Astros’ young but erratic pitching staff (“Wade, I think a bicameral…
Best French Restaurant
François Rabelais’s writings were known for combining earthy humor and sophisticated themes. And this tiny French cafe honors its namesake with delicious irony. Though located in a sophisticated urban shopping center in Rice Village, Café Rabelais features rustic peasant dishes from the French countryside. Try the astonishing mussels in cream…
Best Retro Mexican Food
Besides the fact that the orange building with hammered-tin ceiling and yellow-stucco interior is pretty retro in itself, the food at Maria Selma harks back to bygone times. Traditional enchilada dishes feature the meat and sauce on top of the tortillas, not rolled up inside. And the old-style Mexican flavors…
Best Bourbon Drink
Drinking bourbon at the Twelve Spot is a celebration of both the new and the old. The bar is one of Houston’s newest hip spots, but its sexy decor is made up of wood as old as the casks that distill this sweetest of whiskeys. The Bourbon Challenger is a…
Best Poor Boy
In their definitive rendition of the oyster poor boy, the humble Main Street dive called Original New Orleans Po’ Boy approaches greatness. They start with a toasted skinny roll, a spatula-full of tartar sauce, a bed of lettuce and a couple of tomato slices. Then come the six golden oysters…
Best Chicken Soup for the Soul
So your sinuses are stuffed and you can’t breathe. You feel like hell, and don’t want to cook. Call Niko Niko’s and order some lemon chicken soup to go. The steam will clear up your sinuses. The strips of chicken will make you feel like you’re getting some protein. The…
Best Department Store
Just when you thought the days of helpful salesclerks and expansive racks of interesting goodies were gone to all but the very rich, Nordstrom department store moves into town to save the day. Not only do they have astonishingly kind clerks, great merchandise (some of which is actually “affordable,” as…
Best New Republican
What do you do if you’re an ambitious young Hispanic politico who has run afoul of the traditional Democratic powers that be in the Latino community? District H City Councilman Gabe Vasquez’s solution was to change playing fields. Earlier this year, he jumped to the Republican Party. Hispanic officials have…
Best Local Boy Made Good
De Aldecoa’s Cadeco Industries bought the old Uncle Ben’s Rice facility on Clinton Drive in the late ’90s and turned it into a world-class coffee storage and processing plant. De Aldecoa is the scion of a family that began the business in Spain in the 1920s and extended it to…
Best Place to See a College Game
The best place to watch a football game is this secret little 70,000-seat place near the Medical Center. Built in nine months in 1950, Rice Stadium was designed solely for the purpose of football. No rodeo. No track and field. No baseball, basketball, no nothing else. It’s got the best…
Best Cheap Thrill
The main attraction at the Boston Market on West Gray is the dancers practicing at the Houston Ballet Academy across the street. Order your chicken lunch and sit down to look through the large window at the performers leaping and limbering up in their rehearsal leotards. But watch out: There…
Best Hip-hop Concerts
We can thank the Engine Room for giving traveling hip-hop shows a reason to make a stop in our city. Last October, the club hosted three consecutive hip-hop shows: the Rhymesayers Tour, starring Minneapolis MCs Atmosphere, Murs and Brother Ali; the Cali Comm 2002 Tour, featuring such West Coasters as…
Best Thing to Happen to Houston Radio
After KIKK-FM switched to smooth jazz, Houston was left with a mere two country stations. Cox Communications saw an opportunity and seized it. They took a struggling rap station — the weakest of four in the area — and flipped the format to classic country. A few months later, it…
Best Art Gallery
Kerry Inman’s stint in Doug Lawing’s downtown space has invigorated the gallery owner, her staff and her artists. Coping with all the street construction is enough to keep anyone on her toes; and while Inman’s shows have always been hung well (make of that what you will), it’s been especially…
Best Playwright
Oh, we are the lucky ones. Thanks to the University of Houston, Edward Albee, who is arguably the greatest living American playwright, chooses to grace our fair city with his presence some four months out of the year. Even better, the Alley Theatre often produces one of his astonishing plays…
Best Cookies for a Cause
Alicia Lee’s son is a resident at Willow River Farms, a division of the nonprofit Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation. Every fall the residents of this Brookshire, Texas, facility made fruitcakes. That is, until Barbara Bush, for whom Lee had once volunteered at the White House, suggested they expand…
Best New Club
Sadly, this is another posthumous award. Stuka as we know it is closing down; when the club reopens it will be under a new name, concept and management. Stuka was harder to pigeonhole than its competitors Numbers and the Proletariat, and former manager Tim Murrah liked it that way. Since…
Best Parade
Each June since 1978, Houston’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community has officially celebrated being proud of who they are with the snazzy, spectacular Pride Parade. Because of Houston’s sweltering summer heat, in 1997 planners started holding the event after sundown, giving the parade the exuberant charge of a nightclub…
Peter Case
Peter Case Most Miami Vice-rerun retro junkies recall Peter Case as the slightly nasal-voiced 1980s desperado who lit up the soundtrack for Nicolas Cage’s first real tongue-wagger, Valley Girl, with the FM hit “A Million Miles Away.” Maybe some can dig deeper and finger him as part of the tag…
BEST OF HOUSTON® 2003:
Houston is a sporting town. We’ve got, count ’em, one, two, three new stadiums, the latest of which, the Toyota Center, is slated to open next month. The Aeros brought home the Calder Cup this year, the Rice baseball team triumphed in the College World Series, the Texans provided another…
Best Cure for the Sunday Blues
It’s Sunday. The work week stretches ahead, and from this vantage point, it seems as endless as the universe itself. Piled on to the sense of doom is a sense of regret — for having spent too much money, kissed an idiot or lost your cell phone over the weekend…
Best CD by a Local Musician
While the inimitable Little Joe Washington did make this CD in Austin, the man himself is Houston to the bone, as are the sounds on this CD. Little Joe’s blues can put a hurt on ya, make you holler out loud and make you want to shake a tail feather,…
Best Art Gallery
Kerry Inman’s stint in Doug Lawing’s downtown space has invigorated the gallery owner, her staff and her artists. Coping with all the street construction is enough to keep anyone on her toes; and while Inman’s shows have always been hung well (make of that what you will), it’s been especially…
Best Playwright
Oh, we are the lucky ones. Thanks to the University of Houston, Edward Albee, who is arguably the greatest living American playwright, chooses to grace our fair city with his presence some four months out of the year. Even better, the Alley Theatre often produces one of his astonishing plays…
Best Cookies for a Cause
Alicia Lee’s son is a resident at Willow River Farms, a division of the nonprofit Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation. Every fall the residents of this Brookshire, Texas, facility made fruitcakes. That is, until Barbara Bush, for whom Lee had once volunteered at the White House, suggested they expand…
Best Place for a Lunchtime Tryst
Not far away, traffic is snarled on the Southwest Freeway as motorists fight to regain those lost minutes of lunchtime. Even closer, the crowds are crushing into Shepherd Plaza-area eateries for the midday rush. Thankfully, no such frenzies will ever find their way into The Lexington Grill. Tucked away on…
Best Use of Taxpayer Dollars Best Use of Taxpayer Dollars
Despite the antics of perhaps the most micromanaging governmental board in the Houston area, the third-largest community college system in the state continues to provide cost-effective education to 53,000 students enrolled at 17 sites around the city and its suburbs. HCCS offers vocational, adult literacy and accredited college-level courses at…
Best New Republican
What do you do if you’re an ambitious young Hispanic politico who has run afoul of the traditional Democratic powers that be in the Latino community? District H City Councilman Gabe Vasquez’s solution was to change playing fields. Earlier this year, he jumped to the Republican Party. Hispanic officials have…
Best Radio Commentary
Every weekday at 4:20 p.m., Houston’s listener-sponsored community radio station KPFT gives you some news you can use. Dean Becker wants his pot-smokin’ buddies to stay out of jail, and to do that they have to be informed. Becker monitors the drug war like Fox News monitors the war on…
Best Mojito
Floridita, Florida’s, whatever. Management can change the name as often as they like, just as long as they don’t change the recipe on the dark rum mojitos. Sweetened lime juice, club soda and fresh mint mingle with dark rum in a tropical paradise. One will get you humming like the…
Best Bread
Steeped in the old-world European tradition of bread-baking, the folks at KraftsMen Baking produce one of the only organic breads in the city. There’s nothing light, airy or dainty about their pain biologique. It’s dense and heavy, laden with lots of different kinds of seeds — like hemp, flax, pumpkin…
Best Veggie Burger
There’s an open grill right by the hostess stand, shamelessly charring the flesh of a variety of animals. Then there’s the low lighting, leather banquettes and black-clad servers. It’s enough to make a vegetarian think, “There’s nothing for me here.” But don’t despair. Houston’s just so happens to make the…
Best Modern Furniture
This place is so mod, it could make Andy Warhol’s blond-wigged head explode. Those with an eye for design, retro-chic and clean lines (and a mother of an expense account) will likely climax here. Fortunately there are plenty of groovy chairs to relax in afterward, like Gaetano Pesce’s line of…
Best Watch Repair
Why do those men in shorts and black dress socks comb the Galveston beaches with metal detectors? Because they know maybe, just maybe, they’ll find a silver Rolex amid the shells and jellyfish. Tony Box sees it all the time. The burly, gregarious owner of Box & Box Jewelers restores…
Best Afghani Restaurant
According to the sign in the window of this no-frills grill on Hillcroft, Kabul serves such traditional Afghani foods as tekka kebab, shami kebab and the ever-popular qaduiy pulow. But don’t worry about the weird names: Everything ends up being highly spiced ground lamb or ground beef shaped onto kebabs…
Best Rocket
He came to the team late because of contract negotiations. He was subjected to intense press scrutiny at every U.S. city he visited. And he had to learn the NBA game on the run and acquaint himself with his teammates in quick practice sessions and on the court. Yet by…
Best Place to Get Wet
It’s hot. Damn hot. Unbearably hot. So put your kids in those swimsuits with the built-in floaties, pile them in the back of the minivan and head out to Splashtown. The 45-acre park is filled with opportunities to get drenched. Kids can get their feet wet in the fountain before…
Best Place to Buy Roses
Despite being choked by the light rail construction, the flower stalls along Fannin Street, like perennials, are making a comeback. Need to redecorate for tonight’s party or impress a date? The indoor-outdoor markets are still the best place to buy roses without breaking the bank. Ten bucks will usually get…
Best Comfort Food Restaurant
Eydie Prior’s parents opened Lankford as a grocery in 1939. After a while, Eydie took over and started serving food. It was well received, so in 1977 she decided to turn the place into a restaurant. Since then, generations of regulars have filled the rickety joint to the gills nearly…
Best Patio
When you sit outside at El Pueblito Place, you’ll start believing you’re on vacation in a foreign land — especially after a couple of margaritas. Palm trees with Christmas lights, tiki torches and candles give the expansive patio a romantic feel, and there’s always live music, usually Latin. If you’re…
Best Vegetarian Restaurant
This new Spring Valley strip mall spot offers a surprising multiculti take on vegetarian food — from its steamed veggie dumplings to soy sausage hot dogs to roasted eggplant Parmesan. Although Soya Cafe exudes the antiseptic aesthetic typical of vegetarian restaurants, the food here is much tastier than what you…
Best Mall Alternative
You won’t find a B. Dalton, Gap or Olive Garden at this Chinatown landmark. You will find an exotic Asian market with fresh produce, meats and seafood; unusual sauces and condiments; inexpensive housewares and decorations; and an outstanding selection of drinks, snacks, candy and sweets. Elsewhere in the building are…
Best Place to Buy Trojans and Truffles
Where can you find rows and rows of hard-core gay porn — and cheesecake? This place is like The Chocolate Bar meets the News Stand. It’s like the Kroger Signature Store of the Hollywood stop-and-shop porn chain. Of all Houston’s various XXX stores, this one has to have the most…
Best Driving Range
Most driving ranges offer little in terms of obstacles. They’re usually just wide open spaces with a few mounds and flags scattered willy-nilly so there’s something to aim at. Hermann Park’s range boasts a cluster of three tall trees smack in the middle of the field. Now that’s useful. It…
Best Sports Role Model
It’s not easy being an athlete. You make millions of dollars, and the public expects you to perform at the highest level and not be a jerk. Craig Biggio is no longer able to perform at the highest level. There’s also word that he can be a bit of a…
Best Indian Restaurant
Grilled mustard shrimp with tomato chutney and a sensational seafood mulligatawny are just a couple of the new Bombay-on-the-Gulf of Mexico seafood dishes you’ll find here. All of the food is remarkably innovative. Owner and head chef Anita Jaisinghani once worked as a pastry chef at Cafe Annie, and the…
Best Russian Restaurant
The Russian Bear is actually two dining establishments in one. The front room is a charming little cafe with excellent Russian food — a wonderful place to take the kids. But on the other side of the room divider, there’s an exotic-looking nightclub with red velvet curtains, huge mirrors and…
Best Fried Shrimp
Remember the carousel of toppings you used to get with your baked potato at fancy restaurants? Well, you’ll still find the old sour cream-go-round at Barbecue Inn. Opened in 1946, this place is a time capsule, and as the long lines at lunch attest, it’s also one of Houston’s most…
Best Road Kill Pork
Never thought you’d ever eat anything that had the words “road kill” in its description? Think again. Daniel Wong’s Road Kill Pork is good, really good. It’s basically the same dish as the restaurant’s garlic pork, but with fewer vegetables and more meat. We recommend starting off with some dumplings…
Best Vegetarian Restaurant
This new Spring Valley strip mall spot offers a surprising multiculti take on vegetarian food — from its steamed veggie dumplings to soy sausage hot dogs to roasted eggplant Parmesan. Although Soya Cafe exudes the antiseptic aesthetic typical of vegetarian restaurants, the food here is much tastier than what you…
Best Designer Boutique
They have their own label of bottled water. Need we say more? This swanky shop sports Betsey Johnson frocks and darling sequined Ts along with retro Gigi dresses that work from day to evening and Charles Chang-Lima separates made of wonderful fabric. It’s the perfect place to nab a little…
Best Lobbyist
Veteran campaign consultant and lobbyist Bill Miller, of the Austin-based Hillco Partners, has represented a lot of tough clients, one of the more demanding being Les Alexander. The Houston Rockets owner is legendary for trying to exploit every angle of a deal, and he pushed the envelope this spring by…
Best Local TV News
There’s little question as to which local station provides the most solid, least sensationalistic, most in-depth news product — it’s KHOU on Channel 11. The station fields a solid team of veteran reporters, not to mention Mister Hurricane himself, Dr. Neil Frank. And as the other big stations in town…
Best Chance for a Championship
No offense to the Rockets, the Astros, the Texans or the Aeros, but we think Houston is a soccer town. Our vast suburbs are filled with soccer fields packed to the gills with people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds kicking the fútbol around. Every other minivan has one of…
Best Charter School
Armed with full scholarships to Andover, Exeter, Miss Porter’s and other elite schools, graduates of KIPP Academy (a middle school, soon to be K-12) know firsthand that “Knowledge Is Power.” Even Kinkaid and St. John’s fight over KIPP graduates. KIPP takes kids from Houston’s most under-resourced, drug- and gang-ridden neighborhoods…
Best Latin Club
At Club Tropicana, the tables may seem empty, but that doesn’t mean you can sit down at them. Die-hard dancers get there early and claim their seats with napkin- covered cocktails. Of course, you probably won’t even think about sitting once you get to shaking your ass on the dance…
Best Spanish-Language Radio Station
We’re not big fans of overly formatted radio, and that’s why we love KEYH. Neither a Tejano nor a strictly regional Mexican station, KEYH plays the music of the Caribbean islands and the east coasts of Central and South America, from Matamoros down to Colombia. Salsa, cumbia, sonidero and merengue…
Best Hipness Quotient
If you’ve been feeling a bit quadrilaterally sharp-angled and clueless lately, go to an opening at Mixture. Between the art (on the walls and elsewhere), by some of the hippest young talent in Houston, L.A., Chi-town and New York, and the youngish hipsters meandering about sipping wine, you’ll soon be…
Best Actor
Thomas Prior made an unlikely heartthrob in Stages’ January production of Syncopation. He played Henry Ribolow, a middle-aged meat-packer who sweated, stomped about and lived with his harping mother. But at night, in the tenement walk-up he’d rented for dancing, Ribolow was a true Fred Astaire, filled with grace and…
Best Place to People-Watch
On a day when it isn’t too terribly hot, take a blanket out to Hermann Park. If it’s Sunday, grab a bagel, some coffee and The New York Times. Then settle in and take a look around. You might see a family on the hill singing “Let’s Go Fly a…
Best Coffeehouse
Tucked behind trees on the corner of Dunlavy and Westheimer in the heart of the Montrose, this funky, mellow hangout is the place to go for a cup of joe. Sure, there’s a wide variety of coffees to choose from, but what turns this cafe into a hangout is the…
Best Comeback
This project has been written off for dead so many times it earned the reputation as the Freddy Krueger of downtown Houston development. In the midst of a fierce City Council contest for the hotel contract in 1995, the FBI used it as the bait in a bribery sting. That…
David Lindley
Best known as Jackson Browne’s hippie-dippy multi-instrumental foil and later the leader of offbeat party band El Rayo-X, David Lindley is Southern California rock’s maestro of goofy yet stunning eclecticism. Paired with drummer and percussionist Wally Ingram, who did Texas time as a member of Timbuk 3, Lindley has been…
Niko Niko’s
Greece is considered the cradle of civilization. This is especially true when it comes to gastronomy, since the first cookbook can be traced to 330 BC, when Archestratos of Gela wrote down his thoughts on cooking. Most Greek cuisine is simple, straightforward and unpretentious, and it makes use of abundant…
Best Concert Venue
In a perfect world, we would all get to see our favorite superstars in an intimate setting, like a tiny club or bar. But as long as there are superstars, there are going to be thousands of people who want to see them perform. So why not see them in…
Best Radio Station
Even though it’s owned by an evil radio monolith, golden oldies station KBME manages to contradict every criticism cast the company’s way. You say Clear Channel won’t play local music? KBME does — everything from Grady Gaines to the El Orbits. You say CC doesn’t allow personalities to flourish? KBME…
Best Hipness Quotient
If you’ve been feeling a bit quadrilaterally sharp-angled and clueless lately, go to an opening at Mixture. Between the art (on the walls and elsewhere), by some of the hippest young talent in Houston, L.A., Chi-town and New York, and the youngish hipsters meandering about sipping wine, you’ll soon be…
Best Actor
Thomas Prior made an unlikely heartthrob in Stages’ January production of Syncopation. He played Henry Ribolow, a middle-aged meat-packer who sweated, stomped about and lived with his harping mother. But at night, in the tenement walk-up he’d rented for dancing, Ribolow was a true Fred Astaire, filled with grace and…
Best Long Good-bye
If it’s September, it must be Stanton Welch — as artistic director of Houston Ballet, that is. But it was a long good-bye for now-emeritus artistic director Ben Stevenson. He first resigned back in February 2002, but a change of heart kept him here through June 2003. Well, in spirit…
Best Place to Get Discovered
Cool evenings find the umbrella-studded corner patio at Taco Milagro packed with the young and the beautiful. Whether you’re looking to be discovered by modeling agents from Page Parkes down the street or the politicos and oil magnates who frequent the Downing Street cigar bar next door, this place is…
Best Benefit to Living Downtown
Houston’s hardy downtown residents have earned charter memberships in the first real community among the skyscrapers since the early 1900s. “Almost everybody who lives down here now knows each other, and it’s a good bunch of professionals,” notes Solero restaurant owner Bill Sadler, who lives just a block away at…
Best Lobbyist
Veteran campaign consultant and lobbyist Bill Miller, of the Austin-based Hillco Partners, has represented a lot of tough clients, one of the more demanding being Les Alexander. The Houston Rockets owner is legendary for trying to exploit every angle of a deal, and he pushed the envelope this spring by…
Best Local Boy Made Good
De Aldecoa’s Cadeco Industries bought the old Uncle Ben’s Rice facility on Clinton Drive in the late ’90s and turned it into a world-class coffee storage and processing plant. De Aldecoa is the scion of a family that began the business in Spain in the 1920s and extended it to…
Best Martini
The folks at CharBar take martini-making seriously, precisely measuring their cocktails as if they were fitting a new suit. And that makes sense, since this bar shares space and ownership with the Duke of Hollywood tailor shop. In fact, about the only thing missing from the fabulous chocolate Tuxedo Martini…
Best Onion Rings
You may not want, or need, to order anything else after polishing off the tower o’ rings at Fleming’s. The stack of lightly battered, perfectly fried, giant white onion rings is a full foot tall. Japanese bread crumbs, garlic, salt, peppercorns and parsley make up the lighter-than-air batter that clings…
Best Breakfast Tacos
What can you get for less than a dollar these days? One heck of a breakfast taco at La Flor Taqueria. You’ll find a line every morning as the cooks ladle out taco after taco. The standard fare on the steam table includes eggs with potatoes, eggs with sausage and…
Best Antiques Store
One of the largest family-owned and -run antiques stores in town, Brownstone has more than 14,000 square feet of floor space cram-packed with treasures. The expansive space is so full of wonderful finds, it’s advisable to visit several times before making your final selection; you might overlook the perfect sideboard…
Best Dry Cleaner
Van Pham’s Swans Cleaners is one of the few places in town where it’s hotter inside than out. That’s because there’s no separation between the counter and work area. Steam rises constantly from the presses, and some 30 fans tilt quixotically against the heat. Pham’s loyal following doesn’t mind, though…
Best Brazilian Restaurant
Most Americans seem to think that Brazilians are all cowboys, like the gaucho waiters at Fogo de Chão. But if you want to experience the African-inspired home cooking that represents Brazil’s true cuisine, you have to go a little farther down Westheimer. Emporio Brazilian Café is a homey affair. The…
Best Place to Play Ping-Pong
Suck at pool? Then travel to The Tavern’s patio to enjoy the ancient art of table tennis. Wow the crowd with your wicked backhand and work off that beer gut chasing stray balls from under your fellow Ping-Pong enthusiasts’ feet. When you need a break, quench your thirst with one…
Best Place to Water-Ski
Why suffer the crowded, choppy waters of lakes Conroe and Livingston? If you’re willing to drive a little farther, you can head to the Hill Country for a far superior skiing experience. The man-made Lake McQueeney is just outside Seguin in Guadalupe County (near New Braunfels) and has its own…
Best Place to Buy an Engagement Ring
Diamonds might be a girl’s best friend, but they’re also as common as a flat highway in East Texas. The mall’s no help. Every bauble there is a cookie-cutter version of every other. Instead, try A.A. Benjamin, a tiny showroom hidden in the back of a bank building. Among the…
Best Cuban Restaurant
This is the place for home-style Cuban food. The restaurant could never be considered fancy, but the food, that’s another story. The mariquitas con mojo make a great starter. Thin plantain chips are covered with an onion, garlic, olive oil and lime sauce that will have your taste buds singing…
Best Pizzeria
Frozen dough, machine sheeters and conveyor belt ovens long ago took over the pizza business. Thanks to the miracle of technology, Houston pizzerias can now turn out crappy pizzas in under five minutes! But compared to most pizzerias in Houston, Pizza Bella is making perfect pies. They use a stainless-steel…
Best Vegetarian Indian Buffet
In the Indian community, Bombay Sweets is known for its huge candy case and elaborate selection of chaat, the popular Bombay snacks made with crunchy stuff that tastes like breakfast cereal. For everyone else, the buffet is the main attraction. Try the awesome chickpea curry called chana masala and the…
Best Mexican Bakery
If you let a six-year-old loose in here, the contact high would probably last a week. Sugar. The place smells like pure sugar. There are multicolored cookies; strawberry, pineapple and peach tiramisu; and fresh, original versions of those cinnamon and sugar sticks that Taco Bell and Domino’s Pizza ripped off…
Best Tattoo Artist
Too few tattoo artists do more than stencil work. Such is not the case with Dan Martin, an artist for Scorpion Tattoos, Houston’s only shop to be published in a national tattoo magazine. A graphic designer for eight years, Martin worked at The Houston Post and elsewhere before taking to…
Best Putt-Putt
Show off, Tiger Woods-style, at Celebration Station’s three 18-hole miniature golf courses. You know those panty-waists in the PGA are scared of obstacles like the 20-foot waterfall on the Rio Grande Course, but with a little practice, you could impress a date or even the whole family. (It’s only $6…
Best Coach
Only one coach in this city has led a team to four straight championships. While his point guard died from cancer. While his two star players fought so much that it made the Clyde-and-Chuckster feud look like a couple of preschoolers fighting over a toy. While his home court got…
Best Chef
Among the smiling faces on the cover of July’s Food & Wine magazine is Scott Tycer, the chef and co-owner of Aries restaurant. Tycer and nine other young chefs were chosen by the magazine as “America’s Best New Chefs 2003.” According to the magazine, Tycer’s work at Aries fits in…
Best Seafood Restaurant
Jim Goode is a fisherman. If you don’t believe it, check out the photos on the wall. Goode is the intense-looking character in the flowing ZZ Top beard and the chef’s pants decorated with skulls. And he seems to have been photographed holding up a string of nearly every variety…
Best Gelato
This place started as a wholesale showroom for an Italian food wholesaler. Nundini makes most of the gelati and sorbetti you see in local Italian restaurants. The front of the warehouse doubles as a retail store and Italian deli. The gelati are very good, and the sorbetti are absolutely outrageous…
Best Pupusas
Any late-night Inner Looper knows what a taqueria is. But a pupuseria? Ask a Salvadoran and they’ll tell you that’s where you go to get pupusas. These delicious little treats are thick, soft, corn masa tortillas stuffed with cheese, refried beans, chicharrones (pork cracklings) or any combination thereof. Eaten with…
Best Vegetarian Indian Buffet
In the Indian community, Bombay Sweets is known for its huge candy case and elaborate selection of chaat, the popular Bombay snacks made with crunchy stuff that tastes like breakfast cereal. For everyone else, the buffet is the main attraction. Try the awesome chickpea curry called chana masala and the…
Best Chichi Sundries
The only thread that connects the various and sundry goods at Sloan/Hall is taste. Very good taste. Owners Marcus Sloan and Shannon Hall seem to stock their store not with what they think their customers might want but with what they themselves like. The result is a smorgasbord of interesting…
Best Bureaucrat
After Mayor Lee Brown took office in 1998, he deposed veteran public works chief Jimmie Schindewolf and ushered in an era of anarchy in the city department that fixes streets and sewers and is most visible to voters. After several directors turned out to be duds, a desperate Brown called…
Best Local TV News Anchor
Maybe this category should be Best TV Anchor You Probably Haven’t Seen, because KHWB’s generally solid — if underfinanced — nightly 9 p.m. news show is still trying to amass an audience after three years. One of the reasons ratings are at least moving in the right direction is the…
Best Portuguese Restaurant
Owner Jorge Fife is the chef, bartender and occasionally the waiter. He also provides the entertainment at this wacky little joint in the northern suburbs. Fife isn’t from Portugal — he grew up in Mozambique, one of its former colonies. So while there’s Portuguese chourico and feijoada on the menu,…
Best Zoo Animal
The name alone will bring merriment to grade schoolers and socially stunted adults worldwide. But this miniature mutated antelope’s god-awful territorial habits ensure its place in the Kick-Ass Mammal Hall of Fame. Not much larger than a hare, the male of this African species has a scat fetish so bizarre,…
Best Blues Club
Sadly, this is a posthumous award — Miss Ann’s shut its doors early this summer. But, boy, was it fun while it lasted. We remember being asked to sit in with Sherman Robertson and politely declining because, well, we can’t play a lick. We remember seeing I.J. Gosey tear the…
Best Place for Cocktails
When you walk into this bar, it feels like you’re stepping onto a set for Sex and the City. The furniture is funky and the people are pretty. The Social helps them stay pretty, too — even in hot, hot Houston. The outdoor patio is outfitted with pose-worthy sofas and…
Best Use of Old Sonys
TV boldly goes where it’s never gone before in the artwork of Brian Heiss. An amalgam of architect, sculptor and tinkerer, Heiss is on a crusade to change the way we look at television. Heiss changes both the forms and the electronics of new and vintage sets, creating art objects…
Best Icehouse
Sure, it’s the obvious choice, but you just can’t front on the good-time atmosphere at this airy juke joint. Cheap beers, pretty bohemian bartenders, roots rock and free hot dogs on Friday make this icehouse in the heart of the Montrose a weekly stop for many River Oaks rednecks, broke…
Best Place for a First Date
It’s easy to screw up a first date. You could: a) come on too strong or not strong enough, b) bring a vegetarian to a steak house or c) spend the evening detailing your sexual history. If you have a propensity for answer c, we can’t help you. But choosing…
Best Strip Club
There’s something appropriate about naming a titty bar after an insane, bloodthirsty, incestuous Roman emperor. And, as if that weren’t enough, they have free lunch until 3 p.m. during the week. In fact, there’s always something to nibble on: The good folks at Caligula XXI offer a barbecue buffet on…
Best Bathrooms
Unless you’re crazy about Lysol and Tilex, we can almost guarantee that the bathrooms at Jenni’s Noodle House are cleaner than yours. You could eat a plate of Jenni’s famous disco dumplings right off the floor (not that Jenni would appreciate that). But it’s not just the shiny surfaces and…
Lowbrow, Meet Eyebrow
The script for The Rundown has lingered for more than a decade and was originally a Patrick Swayze vehicle, well before those wheels fell off. Universal Studios revived it because the studio knows what it has in Dwayne Johnson: a gold mine made of bulging biceps, the man who was…
Best Happy Hour
This blue-collar Heights hangout doesn’t draw the sexiest crowd, but for colorful characters and unusual enthusiasm, you can’t beat it — especially on weekdays at 6:30 p.m., when Wheel of Fortune is on. Looking at the long bar flanked by two large TVs (both tuned to the show), you’d think…
Best Hip-hop Concerts
We can thank the Engine Room for giving traveling hip-hop shows a reason to make a stop in our city. Last October, the club hosted three consecutive hip-hop shows: the Rhymesayers Tour, starring Minneapolis MCs Atmosphere, Murs and Brother Ali; the Cali Comm 2002 Tour, featuring such West Coasters as…
Best Thing to Happen to Houston Radio
After KIKK-FM switched to smooth jazz, Houston was left with a mere two country stations. Cox Communications saw an opportunity and seized it. They took a struggling rap station — the weakest of four in the area — and flipped the format to classic country. A few months later, it…
Best Use of Old Sonys
TV boldly goes where it’s never gone before in the artwork of Brian Heiss. An amalgam of architect, sculptor and tinkerer, Heiss is on a crusade to change the way we look at television. Heiss changes both the forms and the electronics of new and vintage sets, creating art objects…
Best Icehouse
Sure, it’s the obvious choice, but you just can’t front on the good-time atmosphere at this airy juke joint. Cheap beers, pretty bohemian bartenders, roots rock and free hot dogs on Friday make this icehouse in the heart of the Montrose a weekly stop for many River Oaks rednecks, broke…
Best Quote
We like our quotes short, to the point and all-encompassing, and Dave Hickey’s definition of Tex-Mex fills the bill on all three counts. In the Houston Press issue of December 26, 2002, in an attempt to clarify an earlier pithy quote (“Rock and roll is like Mexican food. As it…
Best Place to Pretend You’re South of the Border
The front of this market is much like that of any other grocery store. But walk past the pretty piles of fresh strawberries and green beans to the back of the market, and you’ll be tempted to look over your shoulder for the border patrol. Here, the vegetables are dirt-cheap…
Best Houston Info on the Web
These days of low interest rates make us a little homesick — for a new house, that is. Whether you see yourself ensconced in a little Heights bungalow, perched in a high-rise condo downtown or building your own place on some land outside the city, the Houston Association of Realtors’…
Best Bureaucrat
After Mayor Lee Brown took office in 1998, he deposed veteran public works chief Jimmie Schindewolf and ushered in an era of anarchy in the city department that fixes streets and sewers and is most visible to voters. After several directors turned out to be duds, a desperate Brown called…
Best Local TV News
There’s little question as to which local station provides the most solid, least sensationalistic, most in-depth news product — it’s KHOU on Channel 11. The station fields a solid team of veteran reporters, not to mention Mister Hurricane himself, Dr. Neil Frank. And as the other big stations in town…
Best Hurricane
Hurricanes come and hurricanes go, but the question is which one did the most damage? Floyd’s takes no prisoners with its off-the-cuff version, and it pleases us to no end that the drinks are not served in regulation Pat O’Brien hurricane glasses. Grab yourself a seat at the bar, order…
Best Pasta
When a dish that started out as a daily special makes it to the regular menu, it’s got to be good. The avocado pasta at Annabelle’s is just such a dish. A whole avocado is pitted and stuffed with a delicious, cheesy crawfish mixture. It’s then reassembled and rolled in…
Best Breakfast
Mmm, butter. From the neatly folded three-egg omelettes to the crisp Texas toast to the mess o’ fluffy grits, The Breakfast Klub’s grub is saturated with it. And what’s not dripping with butter is perfectly fried, which is what makes the wings-and-waffle breakfast plate and the catfish and grits so…
Best Bookstore
Book collector Jim Taylor opened this field of literary dreams in Rice Village 13 years ago with several thousand of his own books. In February, he moved to his current location, a quaint former fire station with stained concrete floors and a classy, minimalist decor. Taylor specializes in leather-bound books…
Best Florist
Nothin’ brown at David Brown. This chichi Rice Village florist shop is filled with greenery and riots of colorful flowers. In addition to the fabulous flower fashions, there are garden sculptures and gifts for the green- and not-so-green-thumbed. But your best bets are the special arrangements — you’re just a…
Best Barbecue Restaurant
Thelma’s might best be described as a joint. It’s a joint, however, that serves terrific barbecue. When brisket is cooked to perfection, the outside is black and a little charred. Underneath the char should be a thin layer of pinkish-red meat. The meat should have a deep, smoky flavor, but…
Best Place to Play Bocce Ball
Bocce ball, basically a prehistoric version of bowling that involves what look like croquet balls, is best played in Boston’s Little Italy. But Houston doesn’t have a Little Italy, so we have to make do. Go eat some pasta. Have dessert at Dolce & Freddo to get in the mood…
Best Skate and Bike Park
Skaters and bikers coexist mostly happily at Dirtwood Ramp Park. Less than a year ago, Jay Evans, 24, rented two Garden Oaks warehouses that combine into 15,000 square feet of riding space. In an effort to keep patrons challenged, he and his friends regularly change the layout of the ramps…
Best Vinyl Record Store
Sound Exchange on Richmond and Black Dog Records were neck and neck for top honors in this category. Both stores have an exquisite collection of rare and long-lost vinyl LPs, often at affordable prices, and they both have their share of eccentric regulars who like to hip the knowledgeable employees…
Best Deli
Alfred’s in the Village was once Houston’s favorite New York Jewish deli — legendary for its overstuffed sandwiches, kosher-style pickles and box lunches. Today, Alfred Kahn’s son, Michael Kahn, carries on the tradition at Kahn’s Deli in Rice Village, not far from his father’s original location. The walls are decorated…
Best Place to Feed Five People for $5
The General Tso’s chicken comes to the table in a heaping portion. There’s enough for five people — five big people. If you order it by yourself, the leftovers will last a week. The chicken seems to be a favorite here, as it’s almost always on every table. But it’s…
Best Vietnamese Restaurant
This is no tourist joint, so don’t expect anybody to explain things in English for you. But if you’re looking for exotic Vietnamese specialties, you can’t beat A Dong. Muc rang muoi, hot fried cuttlefish over a cold watercress salad, is the No. 1 thing to order here. “Summer delight,”…
Best Tofu/Soy Products
Are you a soy newbie? That is, you hear about the soy craze on the news but don’t know what the hell you’re supposed to do with the stuff? Does the idea of eating tofu make you want to yawn with boredom or gag with disgust, even though it’s been…
Best Way to Break In to the Big Time
Strake Jesuit College Preparatory and Dallas Jesuit, its brother school in the Metroplex, had a big problem: For years, they had competed in the Texas Catholic Interscholastic League, but when that league merged with the rest of the private schools, they left the Jesuits in the cold, saying Strake and…
Best Frisbee Golf Course
Discriminating disc golf players laud Rice University’s object course for having the best variety of surfaces and air clearance. A combination of streets, gravel and lawn, the 18-hole course includes wide expanses where players can really open up and let fly, as well as tight corridors and hazards. The front…
Best Cheerleaders
They don’t get half-hour specials on KTRK. Ken Hoffman doesn’t write about judging their tryouts. Rich and Charlie don’t talk about one of them being robbed for not making the squad. No. The Power Dancers just show up every night — for far more games than the Texans’ cheerleaders. They…
Best Italian Restaurant
When The New York Times reviewed San Domenico, a restaurant thought by many to serve the best Italian food in Manhattan, the critic raved about an incomparable pasta dish that was so good it was unfair to the competition. It was a giant ravioli stuffed with a poached egg yolk…
Best Steak House
Brenner’s was well loved by several generations of Houstonians, and there were a lot of moans and groans when it closed its doors last year. But the place has reopened after a complete renovation by its new owner. Landry’s Restaurants Inc. CEO Tilman Fertitta had fond memories of eating here…
Best Green Beans
The first time a friend ordered the L-2 lunch special of garlic string beans at Kam’s, we thought she was insane. Maybe all the hot yoga she was doing was melting her mind. Who would order just a plate of green beans for lunch? Have one, she said, as we…
Best Ravioli
Who in their right mind would go to Romano’s and not order the pizza? This shopping center spot is known for its thin, crispy, delicious pies, but if you never try the portobello ravioli, you’re denying yourself an insanely indulgent pleasure. The Queens, New York, transplants at Romano’s make this…
Best Vietnamese Restaurant
This is no tourist joint, so don’t expect anybody to explain things in English for you. But if you’re looking for exotic Vietnamese specialties, you can’t beat A Dong. Muc rang muoi, hot fried cuttlefish over a cold watercress salad, is the No. 1 thing to order here. “Summer delight,”…
Best Modern Furniture
This place is so mod, it could make Andy Warhol’s blond-wigged head explode. Those with an eye for design, retro-chic and clean lines (and a mother of an expense account) will likely climax here. Fortunately there are plenty of groovy chairs to relax in afterward, like Gaetano Pesce’s line of…
Best Flack
It takes a reporter to think like a reporter, and this former KTRH police beater has put his four years of news experience to invaluable use. The 39-year-old Cannon draws top reviews from current police and crime watchdogs for unfailing courtesy and prompt processing of information requests. He understands the…
Best Local TV News Reporter
There are some talented, intrepid, headline-grabbing television reporters in Houston (Anna Werner, Wayne Dolcefino). But it’s time to give a shout out to someone who isn’t necessarily a marquee name in town, just a guy consistently doing a solid, intelligent job: Channel 11’s Doug Miller. Now in his tenth year…
Best Sanctuary from the Fast Track
Every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. you can step inside the cool peacefulness of the Rothko Chapel and leave the sights and sounds of Inner Loop life behind. Founded by John and Dominique de Menil in 1971, the chapel is part gallery, part sanctuary. The quiet, minimal interior…
Best Mural
Anyone who lives in the Woodland Heights has probably already seen them, the enormous purple and green dinosaurs tromping across the back wall of Travis Elementary. Thanks to artist and parent extraordinaire Dale Barton, the wild mural, a cartoon dreamscape of prehistoric proportions, is the sort of colorful image that…
Best Club for Local Acts
Whether you pick blues on a six-string or spin dance records on the decks, Helios will give you a place to perform. The rambling converted three-story house on lower Westheimer has a total of three performance areas: There are stages upstairs, downstairs and one outdoors for special occasions. On any…
Best Hip-hop Radio Show
Dennis Lee’s radio show, which broadcasts every Tuesday night out of the student center at Rice University, is three hours of unadulterated hip-hop ecstasy. Lee scours the earth looking for undiscovered hip-hop finds, and it’s amazing how he can fill a three-hour show with nothing but unsuckable music. We’re serious…
Best Curator
University art galleries aren’t typically known for cutting-edge contemporary art. But when Kim Davenport arrived at Rice Gallery almost ten years ago, she transformed a moribund institutional space into a venue for dynamic site-specific installations. The gallery was only the second U.S. institution — after the Museum of Modern Art…
Best Actress
Redheaded diva Elizabeth Heflin reigns supreme at the Alley Theatre. She can’t really help it. Besides the fact that she’s drop-dead gorgeous, with porcelain skin and flaming hair, she’s also a firecracker of energy on stage. Anyone who saw her in Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? felt…
Best Place for a Last Date
The love’s run dry, and it’s time to sit down and talk with the person you’ve been seeing. It would be rude to suggest a meeting at KFC. It would be misleading to go to somewhere romantic, like Aries. And it would be dangerous to visit any bar, which could…
Best Bar Decor
Even though the front bar at Leon’s Lounge is hung with brilliant chandeliers, the place isn’t what you’d call opulent. After all, the twinkling lights illuminate a sandy shuffleboard table. But the lounge’s contradictions are what make it interesting. Its two back rooms couldn’t be more different. One is dark,…
Best Place to Take Out-of-Towners
The Sunday-night Etta’s experience never fails to leave a lasting impression on visitors. It isn’t simply the soul music or the burgers or the buckets of Budweiser (or the guilty pleasure of partying into the working week). The atmosphere here is spiritual. This is night church. The older, sharply dressed…
On the Rocks
Houston has to be one of the most horizontal cities on the planet. The hills of Austin look like mountains in comparison to our coastal flatlands. So where do we go if we want to climb some rocks? Austin, of course — or an indoor climbing gym. The popularity of…
The Italian Rob
The dumbed-down movie version of Frances Mayes’s best-selling travel memoir Under the Tuscan Sun is a virtual case study of Hollywood’s irrepressible urge to lower the bar in the hopes of upping the take. Mayes’s 1996 book is a nicely written, carefully observed meditation on buying a decrepit Italian villa…
Best New Club
Sadly, this is another posthumous award. Stuka as we know it is closing down; when the club reopens it will be under a new name, concept and management. Stuka was harder to pigeonhole than its competitors Numbers and the Proletariat, and former manager Tim Murrah liked it that way. Since…
Best Latin Club
At Club Tropicana, the tables may seem empty, but that doesn’t mean you can sit down at them. Die-hard dancers get there early and claim their seats with napkin- covered cocktails. Of course, you probably won’t even think about sitting once you get to shaking your ass on the dance…
Best Spanish-Language Radio Station
We’re not big fans of overly formatted radio, and that’s why we love KEYH. Neither a Tejano nor a strictly regional Mexican station, KEYH plays the music of the Caribbean islands and the east coasts of Central and South America, from Matamoros down to Colombia. Salsa, cumbia, sonidero and merengue…
Best Curator
University art galleries aren’t typically known for cutting-edge contemporary art. But when Kim Davenport arrived at Rice Gallery almost ten years ago, she transformed a moribund institutional space into a venue for dynamic site-specific installations. The gallery was only the second U.S. institution — after the Museum of Modern Art…
Best Actress
Redheaded diva Elizabeth Heflin reigns supreme at the Alley Theatre. She can’t really help it. Besides the fact that she’s drop-dead gorgeous, with porcelain skin and flaming hair, she’s also a firecracker of energy on stage. Anyone who saw her in Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? felt…
Best Role Model
An admirer calls her the Mother Teresa of the Houston environmental movement, and her credentials make that an understatement. Born Terese Tarlton in Fort Worth 80 years ago, the former model and art dealer eventually met and married barge company millionaire Jake Hershey and settled into their four-acre Longbow Lane…
Best Place to Gawk at Rich People
The best way to glimpse what youre missing as a nonmember of the country club set is to attend the annual River Oaks International Tennis Tournament. While the ticket is pricey, you dont need one to get on the grounds, only to enter the stadium. Sneak in some alcohol, because…
Best New Construction
Three years ago, if you were traveling from downtown Houston to the Great Southwest along Highway 59 anytime between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on a weekday, you’d hit the wall around Bissonnet. The wall of traffic, that is. For the next eight miles, all the way to State Highway…
Best Flack
It takes a reporter to think like a reporter, and this former KTRH police beater has put his four years of news experience to invaluable use. The 39-year-old Cannon draws top reviews from current police and crime watchdogs for unfailing courtesy and prompt processing of information requests. He understands the…
Best Local TV News Anchor
Maybe this category should be Best TV Anchor You Probably Haven’t Seen, because KHWB’s generally solid — if underfinanced — nightly 9 p.m. news show is still trying to amass an audience after three years. One of the reasons ratings are at least moving in the right direction is the…
Best Empanada
The menu at Marine’s lists 46 different empanadas. The rest of the menu items play second fiddle to these little pockets, filled with delicious delicacies. On the savory side of the menu, the Chuck Wagon ($2) is the way to go. It consists of chopped sirloin steak with mushrooms in…
Best Pie
A long, long time ago, Publius Syrus said that to do two things at once is to do neither. Sorry, Pub, but having visited the Flying Saucer Pie Company, we strongly disagree. Since 1967, co-owners Bill Leeson and Marilyn Smith have been doing at least a dozen things at once,…
Best Ceviche
It’s hard to find something great to say about Anthony’s since it moved into Vallone’s old spot on Kirby, but their seafood martini wins Best Ceviche hands down. This is no watery, frozen-fish-tomato-goo dish. Instead, it’s all about fresh mangos with Asian cabbage in a lemon vinaigrette. You want crustaceans…
Best Rustic Furniture
Like many boutiques on Yale and Heights, the converted house where Yubos resides probably goes unnoticed by many a driver. Pity. Passers-by are missing out on an eclectic bevy of Latin luxury. Recognized mostly for its gorgeous rustic furnishings, Yubos specializes in custom furniture and can make anything you like…
Best Hardware Store
While The Home Depot and Lowe’s continue to assert themselves as the Starbucks of hardware stores, putting the fear of God into more modest chains like Ace, this humble Montrose shop — one of the oldest hardware stores in Houston — is staying alive. Its smaller size makes it much…
Best Burger Joint
How can a Fifth Ward hole-in-the-wall with a burned-out TV and a bunch of falling-apart chrome dinettes be considered the city’s best burger joint? Tradition. Adrian Cooper may run this place, but it isn’t really his hamburger — it’s his grandmother’s. Vivian Wilson started serving it at Vivian’s Lounge on…
Best Dart House
About two decades ago, when there were only a few dart bars around, darts enthusiast Ron Towne went from managing the original Sherlock’s Pub to founding the one bearing his name. Ron’s Pub doesn’t sponsor regular traveling league teams and isn’t a major tournament host — it’s simply the best…
Best Place to Learn to Ride a Hog
Can you ride a bicycle? Do you have a driver’s license? If so, then for about $200, you can learn all the skills you need to safely ride a motorcycle in just five days. First, you’ll spend two evenings in the classroom, becoming familiar with the parts and functions of…
Best Maternity Clothes
Can a pregnant woman find happiness in a clothing boutique? She can if it’s Rice Village’s Nine, the trendy maternity store where the trust-fund babies with babies on board come to shop. With an atmosphere that feels more like Neiman’s than nine months in waiting, the little store caters to…
Best Dim Sum Restaurant
On the weekend, Kim Son’s carts carry an average of 70 dim sum items. Don’t miss the velvety eggplant stuffed with shrimp paste, mushroom-capped meatballs, Chinese broccoli, golden-fried turnip cakes, slurpy rice noodle rolls, cylinders of shrimp paste wrapped in seaweed and deep-fried in tempura batter, pork dumplings with quail…
Best Hostess with the Mostess
Maeve Pesquera may have graduated from hostess at Anthony’s to operating partner of the new Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, but she hasn’t lost her touch with diners. Like children following the Pied Piper, the in-crowd flocked to Fleming’s right along with her. While running a restaurant keeps her…
Best Service
Oh, come on. You knew it was still Tony’s, right? The Post Oak institution is the white-glove, cork-waving place to dine if you want to really be waited on. And it’s not just about being surrounded by help — it’s the feeling that you’re somebody. If Cheers is the place…
Best Coffee Beans
If you find the aroma of coffee intoxicating, you’ll be in heaven at the House of Coffee Beans, which has an on-premise roaster that constantly emits alluring fragrances. The coffee beans are purchased from all over the world in the green state and then medium-roasted in small batches. Looking for…
Best Color Commentator
The best managers in baseball are those who made the worst players. That’s because they had to work harder, to try more things to succeed. It’s easier for them to teach the game because they understand the struggles. This holds true for color commentators as well. Jim Deshaies survived in…
Best Ice Rink
Boy, it’s not easy picking the best ice rink in Houston. There are just so many…But even without hordes of competitors, the Aerodrome in Sugar Land stands out. It’s the practice home of the Houston Aeros, so obviously the rink has to be in top shape. And the connection with…
Best Fans
There’s just something about a woman in a hockey jersey grabbing a big beer in one hand and slamming the sideline glass with the other as she screams for someone, anyone, to beat the pulp out of some visiting glamour-puss center. But even if there weren’t, there’d still be something…
Best Late-Night Restaurant
You’re out having fun. You’ve had a few. You get the munchies. But you want to keep partying (or a member of your party wants to keep partying). Cosmos Cafe will keep everyone happy. The bar/live music venue/eatery serves food until midnight Mondays through Thursdays, until 2 a.m. on Fridays…
Best Transylvanian Restaurant
An intense-looking man with very short dark hair and a Bela Lugosi accent, Charivari chef and co-owner John Schuster grew up in the Transylvanian region of Romania. He worked as a chef in Vienna and Budapest before opening his first restaurant in the Black Forest of Germany. So as you…
Best Homemade Organic Cookies
If you go to the Third Ward community convenience store Reggae Bodega, you’ll find Ariell’s cookies all laid out on the counter just waiting for you. They come in several scrumptious flavors: oatmeal raisin, cocoa butter, Belgian chocolate chunk, organic rolled oat and, let’s not forget the mutha of them…
Best Salsa
The way we see it, if a Mexican restaurant doesn’t make its chips and salsa in its own kitchen every day, then it’s not worth your time. There’s nothing like dipping one of La Jaliscience’s hot, greasy chips into their smoky, spicy, tomato souplike salsa. Served steaming hot — if…
Best Service
Oh, come on. You knew it was still Tony’s, right? The Post Oak institution is the white-glove, cork-waving place to dine if you want to really be waited on. And it’s not just about being surrounded by help — it’s the feeling that you’re somebody. If Cheers is the place…
Best Antiques Store
One of the largest family-owned and -run antiques stores in town, Brownstone has more than 14,000 square feet of floor space cram-packed with treasures. The expansive space is so full of wonderful finds, it’s advisable to visit several times before making your final selection; you might overlook the perfect sideboard…
Best Gadfly
River Oaks accountant Bob Martin may make his living balancing other folks’ books and tax accounts, but he has the soul of a reporter, albeit a conservative one. He hangs around KSEV radio and maintains a wide circle of media pals. He also may be the only person in Houston…
Best Local Cable TV Personalities
They might not be the funniest guys on Houston Media Source. They’re probably not the most devoutly religious. And they’re definitely not the craziest cats to ever produce a public access show. But Dez and Van have filled a giant void in the Houston hip-hop community. They work like flies…
Best Cemetery
Spanning 60 acres east of Studemont, between Washington and Memorial, lies Glenwood Cemetery, the final resting place for a who’s who of Houston families. Names such as Binz, Cooley, Elgin, Foley, Hermann, Hofheinz, Hobby and Jones all can be found here. Perhaps the most famous people interred at Glenwood are…
Best Post Office
Why on earth would the struggling U.S. Postal Service want to go and “improve” some of its best attractions — those old wood-paneled nostalgic post offices of its past — into cookie-cutter, strip-mall sameness? Thank goodness the old Sam Houston is still around to show younger generations how things used…
Best Band
Every Chango Jackson show is different. Sometimes they wear pimp clothes and other times chemical suits. Lately, they’ve taken to hurling out free tamales from the stage while they roar a tribute to the pre-Columbian snack. Musically they are like no other band on earth: a jazzy, post-punk blend of…
Best AM Radio Personality
In 1950, 19-year-old Paul Berlin came to Houston and became an immediate success as a DJ. Back then, he promoted concerts and dances with the likes of Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and the Platters. Today he takes the knowledge he’s gained over the course of his life…
Best Artist
Billed as “networked electro-mechanical kinetic sculpture with integrated music,” Jeff Shore’s work is far more haunting and poetic than its literal description. The artist builds tiny models of everything from low-rent living rooms to airplane interiors. Then his elaborate mechanical contraptions move tiny surveillance cameras through the miniature worlds. The…
Best Dancer
Balletomanes have been eyeing Nicky Walsh for years at Houston Ballet. He shines in the classical works as well as contemporary pieces by the likes of Christopher Bruce. But this past season was a real breakthrough: Walsh simultaneously solidified his role as one of the ballet’s leading males (snagging the…
Best Place for a Lunchtime Tryst
Not far away, traffic is snarled on the Southwest Freeway as motorists fight to regain those lost minutes of lunchtime. Even closer, the crowds are crushing into Shepherd Plaza-area eateries for the midday rush. Thankfully, no such frenzies will ever find their way into The Lexington Grill. Tucked away on…
Best Bar Food
Any Irish or English transplant would be right at home at The Stag’s Head, where the bangers and mash and fish ‘n’ chips measure up to the exacting standards of the old country. Competing with them are American finger-food favorites: fajita nachos and stuffed jalapeños as well as succulent Angus…
Cirque du Soul
When you take the family to the circus, you expect to see flying acrobats, roaring lions and lollygagging clowns under the big top. But you can witness an impression of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, only at UniverSoul Circus, a unique blend of circus, live concert and tent revival…
A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose
Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater, 501 Texas Avenue, 713-227-2787, www.houstonball et.org. $11.50-$115.50.
Best Coffeehouse
Tucked behind trees on the corner of Dunlavy and Westheimer in the heart of the Montrose, this funky, mellow hangout is the place to go for a cup of joe. Sure, there’s a wide variety of coffees to choose from, but what turns this cafe into a hangout is the…
Best Blues Club
Sadly, this is a posthumous award — Miss Ann’s shut its doors early this summer. But, boy, was it fun while it lasted. We remember being asked to sit in with Sherman Robertson and politely declining because, well, we can’t play a lick. We remember seeing I.J. Gosey tear the…
Best Place for Cocktails
When you walk into this bar, it feels like you’re stepping onto a set for Sex and the City. The furniture is funky and the people are pretty. The Social helps them stay pretty, too — even in hot, hot Houston. The outdoor patio is outfitted with pose-worthy sofas and…
Best Artist
Billed as “networked electro-mechanical kinetic sculpture with integrated music,” Jeff Shore’s work is far more haunting and poetic than its literal description. The artist builds tiny models of everything from low-rent living rooms to airplane interiors. Then his elaborate mechanical contraptions move tiny surveillance cameras through the miniature worlds. The…
Best Dancer
Balletomanes have been eyeing Nicky Walsh for years at Houston Ballet. He shines in the classical works as well as contemporary pieces by the likes of Christopher Bruce. But this past season was a real breakthrough: Walsh simultaneously solidified his role as one of the ballet’s leading males (snagging the…
Best Whistle-Blower
Call it big-time seller’s remorse. Former Coastal Corporation CEO Oscar Wyatt Jr. voted as a board member to sell the company for $22 million to El Paso Corporation in 2001, then decided he’d made a big mistake. He became the lead plaintiff in a shareholders’ suit alleging the management of…
Best Place to Read a Book
It’s hard to stay focused when reading a book at a coffee shop. You’re deep into Bel Canto, and suddenly the next table erupts into guffaws. The spell is broken. But it’s always easy to find a quiet spot at the Houston Municipal Rose Garden. You can wander around and…
Best Nonprofit
When the good old days turned bad, American Red Cross volunteers were familiar sights at the scenes of tragedies — the tornadoes or hurricanes or floods that rocked the Bayou City. Now add to that the new global era, when disasters are both natural and man-made. The Red Cross is…
Best Gadfly
River Oaks accountant Bob Martin may make his living balancing other folks’ books and tax accounts, but he has the soul of a reporter, albeit a conservative one. He hangs around KSEV radio and maintains a wide circle of media pals. He also may be the only person in Houston…
Best Local TV News Reporter
There are some talented, intrepid, headline-grabbing television reporters in Houston (Anna Werner, Wayne Dolcefino). But it’s time to give a shout out to someone who isn’t necessarily a marquee name in town, just a guy consistently doing a solid, intelligent job: Channel 11’s Doug Miller. Now in his tenth year…
Best Fried Chicken
“Tierno! Jugoso! Crujiente!” reads the slogan on the outside of the chicken box. And “Tender! Juicy! Crunchy!” is a pretty fair description of the chicken at Pollo Campero, the fast food fried chicken chain that recently invaded Houston from Guatemala. The crust, formed by a simple flour dip, is very…
Best Plantains
In Latin America, plantains — raw, mashed or fried — are what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So it’s no surprise that they show up all over South American menus in Houston. One of the best uses for the banana’s big brother is the plantain chips at Churrascos. Known for…
Best Chicken-Fried Steak
Ouisie’s Table serves a world-class chicken-fried steak — without a doubt, one of the best in Texas. But it’s available only on Tuesdays, when the Southern-fried specialist makes her weekly appearance. The sides are usually mashed potatoes, a vegetable such as mustard greens and custardy corn pudding. The undulating golden-brown…
Best Lighting
Bernard Wolf loves lighting. His store is aglow with table lamps, floor lamps, desk lamps, sconces, chandeliers and ceiling fans. Solid name brands like Artemide, Luceplan and Schonbek are in abundance, with your choice of halogen, fluorescent or incandescent bulbs. Lighting Unlimited offers the widest range of lighting styles in…
Best Texas Stuff
The cheesy Alamo facade is a dead giveaway: The Goode Co. Barbeque Hall of Flame is all about Texas. Here you’ll find Texas food from the Goode Co. Barbeque smokehouse across the street, the Lone Star State’s best and biggest grills, Texas cuisine cookbooks, Western wear, Texas-style jewelry, toys for…
Best Hype
The sign at the entrance of Bush Intercontinental is already touting it. A number of nightclubs are already booked up for it. One Midtown comedy spot has already been bought out for the entire week of Super Bowl XXXVIII by an out-of-town corporation that wants a private place to drink…
Best Place for a Basketball Pickup Game
Unless you’ve got game, you’d best stay away from the basketball courts at Fonde Community Center. The guys who play here are ruthless about who they pick for their teams, and they don’t take kindly to a sucky novice who can’t hang. They’re especially annoyed by high schoolers who try…
Best Place to Skydive
First things first: No one’s ever died here. Everything else is just icing on the cake. At Skydive Spaceland, they drop you from 14,000 feet — that’s 1,000 feet higher than the industry minimum. Plus, they’re open all week long, with $169 weekly rates and $189 weekend rates for first-time…
Best Place to Buy Cigars
Sisters Pat and Donna O’Connor have turned this store, which their mother opened more than 40 years ago, into a stogie smoker’s oasis. With a 200-square-foot walk-in humidor featuring everything from Arturo to Zeno, you can’t go wrong. The shop(pe) also features a wide selection of pipes, wine, liquor and…
Best Ethiopian Restaurant
Resist the temptation to ask for a knife and fork. When you eat Ethiopian-style, the spongy flatbread called injera serves as both your plate and your eating utensil. You pull off a chunk of bread and wrap it around the food, turning everything into an injera taco. There’s even Ethiopian…
Best Place to Skip Dinner and Go Straight to Dessert
There are two kinds of people in the world: dessert people and people who do not even bat an eyelid when dessert is mentioned. The former can get more excited about a piece of Chocolate Decadence than any appetizer or entrée. The Dessert Gallery was created especially for these people…
Best Jewelry Designer
She’s exotically beautiful, she speaks four languages, and she designs killer jewelry. Mexican-born Mari Carmen Ibarra’s trademark is unusual clasps — one popular version resembles a ribbon of 18-karat gold. Her contemporary designs, appropriately sold under the name Contemporary Stones, also feature long strands of freshwater pearls and other semiprecious…
Best Pastry Shop
The Austrians take their coffee and cake very seriously. After all, where else do they confer the honor of konditoreimeister, or master pastry chef? (Okay, Germany.) Epicure Cafe owner Khan Esmail is a native of Iran who studied in Austria and brought his knowledge and skills to Houston some 16…
Best Play-by-Play Announcer
The job of the play-by-play announcer is simple: Give the score and the details of the play. The job of the play-by-play announcer is also difficult: Keep the viewer involved in the game and direct traffic so that the color commentator can explain and enlighten. Nobody in Houston is better…
Best Comet
Sheryl Swoopes has been a regular winner in our Best Comet category since the WNBA came into existence in 1997, and for good reason. Swoopes was the league’s first superstar, and she’s never done anything but carry that title with class. She came back from both a debilitating ACL injury…
Best New Stadium
Forget about the stupid corporate name and that god-awful choo-choo train in left field. The best new stadium in Houston is the oldest new stadium in Houston: Minute Maid Park, a.k.a. the Juice Box, Home Run Field and Sponsorship Stadium. Minute Maid wins simply because it offers the best, and…
Best Long Lunch
The wine room at the Rainbow Lodge will seat six, but to enjoy a really long lunch, it’s better to go just as a pair. The cozy room is actually the wine steward’s office, so you’ll be luxuriating next to some of the all-time great bottles of wine. (Don’t be…
Best Sushi Bar
If you’re bored with the minimalistic architecture and uncluttered decor of Japanese restaurants, you’ll find Sasaki refreshingly bizarre. The place goes overboard on goofy serving contraptions and Japanese tchotchkes. But Sasaki is on the opposite end of the hipness spectrum from popular sushi restaurants like Coco’s and The Fish. There…
Best Hot Dog
It’s surprising, but the best-tasting dog comes from a veg joint. Yes, we realize how insane it sounds to pick a vegetarian Best Hot Dog, but tasting is believing. Whether you choose the soy or the vegan dog (served on a whole wheat bun with chips or excellent fries), this…
Best Sangria
Finding good sangria at a restaurant is as difficult as predicting summer rain. Don’t fool around with commercial, store-bought knockoffs when you can have the real thing made with love by the owners of Otilia’s. A former hamburger stand, this family-owned Mexican eatery concocts a sangria that would make Jerry…
Best Afghani Restaurant
According to the sign in the window of this no-frills grill on Hillcroft, Kabul serves such traditional Afghani foods as tekka kebab, shami kebab and the ever-popular qaduiy pulow. But don’t worry about the weird names: Everything ends up being highly spiced ground lamb or ground beef shaped onto kebabs…
Best Bookstore
Book collector Jim Taylor opened this field of literary dreams in Rice Village 13 years ago with several thousand of his own books. In February, he moved to his current location, a quaint former fire station with stained concrete floors and a classy, minimalist decor. Taylor specializes in leather-bound books…
Best Activist
Veteran land broker and appraiser Tom Bazan first got involved in the municipal arena when he launched a lead paint detection business and fought city contractors who were all too eager to ram through deals without completing proper inspections. From there he ventured onto Houston’s transit battlefield — first producing…
Best Local TV Commercial
Imagine what it must be like being a furniture store owner trying to make a name in Houston through cheesy television ads. You are in the home of Jim McIngvale, a.k.a. Mattress Mac — the Michael Jordan, the Stephen Sondheim, the Shakespeare of cheesy furniture ads. You are destined to…
Best Statue
This is one of the strangest statues in town. The life-size angel itself isn’t that odd. But if you walk a little closer, you’ll see a plaque that says the limestone for the statue’s pedestal was taken from room 301 of Brackenridge Hall, the now-demolished University of Texas dormitory where…
Best Election Polling Place
There’s something about walking into a polling place that just makes you feel like a good citizen. There you are, doing your best to select from among the candidates, acting informed even if you really aren’t. So what better place to perform such a civic duty than a schoolhouse, especially…
Best Unsigned Band
Plenty of Houston bands get signed. They just rarely get famous. J.W. Americana wants fame. And while unsigned, the band (Rodney Elliott, Shane Lauder, Doug Kosmo and Arthur Moreno) has promise. Wickedly named after a controversial American expat, the band’s music is just as uncompromising, bold and rooted as a…
Best New Magazine
There’s not enough written on Houston’s thriving independent rap scene. A few local magazines and newspapers have come and gone, and the major hip-hop rags haven’t given up much ink on anyone from H-town but the Geto Boys. So it’s about time that someone local stepped up to document the…
Best Graffiti Artist
His whereabouts these days are unknown, but take a walk or a drive down any one of Houston’s center-city streets or freeways, and you’re bound to see some of his work. Possibly the most “up” graffiti writer in Houston, NEXT took over this city for a couple of good years,…
Best Lighting Designer
Tony Tucci may call Austin home, but his lustrous lighting in last season’s revival of Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella proves that he’s still the best lighting designer working in Houston. From ballet to musical theater to film, Tucci’s work has inspired directors, choreographers and audiences alike. He’s won numerous awards and…
Best Place to Get Discovered
Cool evenings find the umbrella-studded corner patio at Taco Milagro packed with the young and the beautiful. Whether you’re looking to be discovered by modeling agents from Page Parkes down the street or the politicos and oil magnates who frequent the Downing Street cigar bar next door, this place is…
Best Poet
First, he’s courtly in a way that only an Eastern European intellectual could be. Just imagine him sipping imported tea from a tiny porcelain cup in his attic apartment as he composes his exquisite poems. Second, he is one of the kindest thinkers living among the rest of us troglodytes;…
Caribbean Cabaret
What if all the best acts in Houston got shipwrecked in the Bermuda Triangle? Would they simply vanish off the face of the earth, or would they be transported to some foggy state of limbo where they can entertain crowds of party-hearty sailors? Theatre Illuminata imagines that it’s the latter,…
Party Time, Excellent
Through October 11 at The Masquerade Theatre, 1537 North Shepherd, 713-861-7045. $20-$25.
Best Strip Club
There’s something appropriate about naming a titty bar after an insane, bloodthirsty, incestuous Roman emperor. And, as if that weren’t enough, they have free lunch until 3 p.m. during the week. In fact, there’s always something to nibble on: The good folks at Caligula XXI offer a barbecue buffet on…
Best Club for Local Acts
Whether you pick blues on a six-string or spin dance records on the decks, Helios will give you a place to perform. The rambling converted three-story house on lower Westheimer has a total of three performance areas: There are stages upstairs, downstairs and one outdoors for special occasions. On any…
Best Hip-hop Radio Show
Dennis Lee’s radio show, which broadcasts every Tuesday night out of the student center at Rice University, is three hours of unadulterated hip-hop ecstasy. Lee scours the earth looking for undiscovered hip-hop finds, and it’s amazing how he can fill a three-hour show with nothing but unsuckable music. We’re serious…
Best Graffiti Artist
His whereabouts these days are unknown, but take a walk or a drive down any one of Houston’s center-city streets or freeways, and you’re bound to see some of his work. Possibly the most “up” graffiti writer in Houston, NEXT took over this city for a couple of good years,…
Best Lighting Designer
Tony Tucci may call Austin home, but his lustrous lighting in last season’s revival of Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella proves that he’s still the best lighting designer working in Houston. From ballet to musical theater to film, Tucci’s work has inspired directors, choreographers and audiences alike. He’s won numerous awards and…
Best Citizen
This Houston developer shelved his mayoral ambitions earlier this year and dived into the less glamorous assignment of spearheading Metro’s campaign to pass its upcoming transit referendum. Wulfe, an informal member of Mayor Lee Brown’s kitchen cabinet for the last six years, is the commercial force behind the revitalization of…
Best Preservation Group
Jaded Houstonians have gotten used to losing architectural treasures to the wrecking ball. After all, the cavalier attitude of most Houston developers seems to be “out with the old, in with the new,” regardless of the results. Even modern architectural gems risk destruction — but not if Houston Mod can…
Best Kid’s Thrill
A Ferris wheel, a train ride, a carousel, dancing fountains and tanks loaded with hundreds of fish — what more could a kid ask for? This virtual theme park in the Theater District offers a whole afternoon of child-friendly thrills. Think of it as a good, centrally located alternative to…
Best Activist
Veteran land broker and appraiser Tom Bazan first got involved in the municipal arena when he launched a lead paint detection business and fought city contractors who were all too eager to ram through deals without completing proper inspections. From there he ventured onto Houston’s transit battlefield — first producing…
Best Local Cable TV Personalities
They might not be the funniest guys on Houston Media Source. They’re probably not the most devoutly religious. And they’re definitely not the craziest cats to ever produce a public access show. But Dez and Van have filled a giant void in the Houston hip-hop community. They work like flies…
Best Bourbon Drink
Drinking bourbon at the Twelve Spot is a celebration of both the new and the old. The bar is one of Houston’s newest hip spots, but its sexy decor is made up of wood as old as the casks that distill this sweetest of whiskeys. The Bourbon Challenger is a…
Best Poor Boy
In their definitive rendition of the oyster poor boy, the humble Main Street dive called Original New Orleans Po’ Boy approaches greatness. They start with a toasted skinny roll, a spatula-full of tartar sauce, a bed of lettuce and a couple of tomato slices. Then come the six golden oysters…
Best Chicken Soup for the Soul
So your sinuses are stuffed and you can’t breathe. You feel like hell, and don’t want to cook. Call Niko Niko’s and order some lemon chicken soup to go. The steam will clear up your sinuses. The strips of chicken will make you feel like you’re getting some protein. The…
Best Place to Pretend You’re Kirstie Alley on a Budget
If you’re living on Cheers royalties, you can afford to buy hundreds of $10 candles. You can wander around Pier 1 dressed like a fairy and say stupid things like “True or false, this whole table setting cost less than my shoes!” But for those of us without the Jimmy…
Best Place to Buy a Gun
Carter’s Country doesn’t sell hunting supplies. It sells huntin’ supplies. That’s how you know you’re getting the real deal when it comes to buying gear you use to kill stuff. It stocks more than 800 makes and models of firearms, from purty li’l things for the ladyfolk to handheld cannons…
Best Texan
After seven seasons of frigid Decembers in the windswept New Jersey Meadowlands with the New York Jets, cornerback Aaron Glenn was happy to return to his home town of Houston in 2002 as a newly minted Texan. And Houston was equally glad to welcome him back. Glenn, who went to…
Best Public Tennis Courts
Tucked snugly away in the Cherryhurst section of Montrose, this single concrete court is perfect for a quiet match or for showing off your skills. Get there early and squat the court, but if you notice dirty looks from local residents waiting to play, you may want to concede. Looking…
Best Place to Be Glad You’re Alive
Every city has its “central park” — the one in the middle of everything where you can hike, bike or just sit in the grass next to a babbling brook and forget that you live in an urban jungle. Well, our babbling brook is Buffalo Bayou, and while it’s not…
Best Toy Store
Frederick August Otto Schwarz came all the way to Baltimore from Germany 141 years ago so that you could get some kick-ass toys. The least you could do is check out his store. So they’re not local — so what? The huge Houston location across the street from the Galleria…
Best Expense-Account Restaurant
Capital Grille is the perfect place for you, if: a) you are male, b) you like a clubby atmosphere, c) you like your meat well hung, and d) you’re spending $100 of someone else’s money. Start out with the Grille’s steak tartare ($9.95), which is the best there is. Skip…
Best Portuguese Restaurant
Owner Jorge Fife is the chef, bartender and occasionally the waiter. He also provides the entertainment at this wacky little joint in the northern suburbs. Fife isn’t from Portugal — he grew up in Mozambique, one of its former colonies. So while there’s Portuguese chourico and feijoada on the menu,…
Best Watch Repair
Why do those men in shorts and black dress socks comb the Galveston beaches with metal detectors? Because they know maybe, just maybe, they’ll find a silver Rolex amid the shells and jellyfish. Tony Box sees it all the time. The burly, gregarious owner of Box & Box Jewelers restores…
Best Gift Cards
You wouldn’t expect a 1930s-era drugstore and diner to have an attitude, but Avalon does when it comes to gift cards. In fact, it’s one of the best places in town to grab a greeting. Four rows and a rack are stuffed with paper salutations — Weiner Dog and Sunrise…
Best Sports Talk Show
Native Houstonians are rare on the sports radio dial. Most of the guys on 610 and 740 came to Houston as adults, and don’t identify with Houston teams as strongly as people who grew up here. Sports Rap host Ralph Cooper is a notable exception to that rule. He’s not…
Best Park
Donovan Park should be called Donovan Land. The sprawling wooden kid-world could make even the most unimaginative tyke imagine he’s the ruler of a vast kingdom. Turrets, bridges and secret compartments link the more typical playground accessories: slides, jungle gyms, climbing nets, swings and the like. The park is surrounded…
Best Restaurant
Houston is a Mexican food town. And Hugo’s Mexican food is among the best in the nation. Rick Bayless in Chicago and Zarela Martinez in New York are chef Hugo Ortega’s main competitors — few others come close. As a native of Puebla who received his culinary training here, Ortega…
Best-Looking Restaurant Staff
We should be up front and say that there are plenty of other reasons to visit Istanbul Grill and Deli besides the fine-looking staff. They have amazing stuffed mushrooms, soft bread that melts in your mouth and a wonderful Rice Village setting that includes outdoor dining. But what’s wrong with…
Best Tex-Mex Restaurant
The two-plate Mexico City dinner at Molina’s is a classic of the genre. The salad plate includes a beef taco, a bean tostada, a puffy tortilla with queso and a guacamole salad. And on the hot plate, there are gooey cheese enchiladas in chili gravy with onions, a tamale with…
Best Ice Cream Flavor
Any of The Chocolate Bar’s homemade ice creams could be in contention for this award (Root Beer Float and Orange Blossom leap to mind), but their most popular concoction, Creamy Dreamy Truffle, made from triple-chocolate ice cream and chocolate truffles, is to a chocoholic what water is to a fish…
Best Cheap Sandwich
Pass on the $6 panini. Decline the $8 deli sandwich. Instead, visit the original Givral’s sandwich shop and try a banh mi thit for between $1.50 and $2 each. At Givral’s, they use time-honored methods for making these Vietnamese hunger-busters. They start by heating an eight-inch-long French roll until it’s…
Best Brazilian Restaurant
Most Americans seem to think that Brazilians are all cowboys, like the gaucho waiters at Fogo de Chão. But if you want to experience the African-inspired home cooking that represents Brazil’s true cuisine, you have to go a little farther down Westheimer. Emporio Brazilian Café is a homey affair. The…
Best Rustic Furniture
Like many boutiques on Yale and Heights, the converted house where Yubos resides probably goes unnoticed by many a driver. Pity. Passers-by are missing out on an eclectic bevy of Latin luxury. Recognized mostly for its gorgeous rustic furnishings, Yubos specializes in custom furniture and can make anything you like…
Best Champion of the Underdog
Texas has the nation’s busiest executioner’s chamber, and Harris County sends more convicted murderers to Huntsville’s gurney than any other. Fighting this state-sanctioned killing machine are a handful of idealistic lawyers and the Texas Defender Service, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of legal representation afforded to poor…
Best Local Girl Made Good
Bankruptcy law specialist Nancy Rapoport graduated from Rice University and headed off to California, where she got her legal training at Stanford. Although she quickly climbed the academic ranks to the deanship of the University of Nebraska College of Law, she never lost touch with her East Texas roots. After…
Best Reincarnation
Compaq Center (née the Summit) has been everything from the home of the Rockets to the host of rock and roll superstars like the Rolling Stones. But the place that once held a shimmying Mick Jagger and a slamming Hakeem Olajuwon will now house charismatic Lakewood Church preacher Joel Osteen…
Best Politician
This 60-year-old civil rights and anti-apartheid activist-turned-elected official continues to amaze observers with her energy, grassroots common sense and a service ethic reflected in her diverse young staff. Her district is an ethnic and cultural rainbow stretching from black precincts in Sunnyside to heavily gay Montrose, and Edwards has made…
Best Band to Break Up
We put this excellent rap-rock band on the cover last summer with a kiss-of-death “next big thing” headline. We thought they were going straight to the top. Well, they played about five more gigs and then broke up. Like Billy Joel said, and the continuing career of Ezra Charles confirms,…
Best Nightlife Trend
It comes as some surprise that an increasing number of just-turned-bar-legal adults are turning to night-time cycling rather than partying. You can see them, thrift-store-outfitted, cruising the Montrose in intimate packs, looking like defiant, asexual Morrisseys on sparkly retro two-wheelers. Riders usually alert folks of their intentions on public Internet…
Best Art Show
When The New York Times nominates you to win a Nobel Prize and be first lady — in the same sentence! — you know you’ve got something going on. But New York’s just finding out what Texas art lovers have known for quite a while: San Antonio’s Dario Robleto is…
Best Modern Dance Company
The tide has raised all boats in Houston’s modern dance community. And the consistently improving quality of contemporary dance here is at least partially attributable to the arrival of dancer and choreographer Jane Weiner in 1997. Today, new companies, like Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, are exploding onto the scene, while…
Best Place to Pretend You’re South of the Border
The front of this market is much like that of any other grocery store. But walk past the pretty piles of fresh strawberries and green beans to the back of the market, and you’ll be tempted to look over your shoulder for the border patrol. Here, the vegetables are dirt-cheap…
Best Place to Smoke
These days, it’s hard for a smoker to enjoy himself. Even sitting in the smoking section of a restaurant, puffers get accusing stares. The fact is, lighting up in a big room is kind of like peeing in a swimming pool: The whole shebang gets contaminated. That’s why there’s nothing…
Frankly Funny
The history of picnics, teenage dance shows and pornographic film acting are all part of the same cabal in Jerry’s World. Infernal Bridegroom Productions’ latest delightfully absurd production takes its inspiration from radio personality Joe Frank. Frank began his career in 1977 at the Pacifica radio station in New York…
Blueprints for the Future
Danielle Tegeder’s paintings are as elaborately named as they are intricately constructed. Try reading this one aloud without taking a breath: Cherry Pink Headquarters (Version City II); with major Center Production, Maze Circle Netting with Square Community Network and Failing Short Escape Route; with Two Floating Shelters; and Pink Side…
Best Bar Decor
Even though the front bar at Leon’s Lounge is hung with brilliant chandeliers, the place isn’t what you’d call opulent. After all, the twinkling lights illuminate a sandy shuffleboard table. But the lounge’s contradictions are what make it interesting. Its two back rooms couldn’t be more different. One is dark,…
Best Band
Every Chango Jackson show is different. Sometimes they wear pimp clothes and other times chemical suits. Lately, they’ve taken to hurling out free tamales from the stage while they roar a tribute to the pre-Columbian snack. Musically they are like no other band on earth: a jazzy, post-punk blend of…
Best AM Radio Personality
In 1950, 19-year-old Paul Berlin came to Houston and became an immediate success as a DJ. Back then, he promoted concerts and dances with the likes of Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and the Platters. Today he takes the knowledge he’s gained over the course of his life…
Best Art Show
When The New York Times nominates you to win a Nobel Prize and be first lady — in the same sentence! — you know you’ve got something going on. But New York’s just finding out what Texas art lovers have known for quite a while: San Antonio’s Dario Robleto is…
Best Modern Dance Company
The tide has raised all boats in Houston’s modern dance community. And the consistently improving quality of contemporary dance here is at least partially attributable to the arrival of dancer and choreographer Jane Weiner in 1997. Today, new companies, like Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, are exploding onto the scene, while…
Best Reason to Stay in Houston During the Summer
Party on the Plaza has been the most popular way for Houston’s music lovers to let off a little steam in the summertime for years. Working-class stiffs and yuppie execs have packed this little grandstand in the middle of downtown every summer since the 1980s. And it’s no wonder: Houston…
Best Place for a Wedding
Recent statistics show that the average American wedding costs $20,000. Not only is that the cost of a car or four years at a state university spent on one single day, we guarantee you that most of your guests will be too drunk or bored to care if the bridesmaids’…
Best Cheap Thrill
The main attraction at the Boston Market on West Gray is the dancers practicing at the Houston Ballet Academy across the street. Order your chicken lunch and sit down to look through the large window at the performers leaping and limbering up in their rehearsal leotards. But watch out: There…
Best Local Girl Gone Bad
When the Colombia-born Clara Suarez Harris ran her luxury car over husband David at the Nassau Bay Hilton last summer, she stepped from an innocuous life as one-half of a prosperous dentist couple with young twin boys into national tabloid legend as “The Mercedes-Benz Murderess.” Although videotapes were never too…
Best Local TV Commercial
Imagine what it must be like being a furniture store owner trying to make a name in Houston through cheesy television ads. You are in the home of Jim McIngvale, a.k.a. Mattress Mac — the Michael Jordan, the Stephen Sondheim, the Shakespeare of cheesy furniture ads. You are destined to…
Best Fried Shrimp
Remember the carousel of toppings you used to get with your baked potato at fancy restaurants? Well, you’ll still find the old sour cream-go-round at Barbecue Inn. Opened in 1946, this place is a time capsule, and as the long lines at lunch attest, it’s also one of Houston’s most…
Best Road Kill Pork
Never thought you’d ever eat anything that had the words “road kill” in its description? Think again. Daniel Wong’s Road Kill Pork is good, really good. It’s basically the same dish as the restaurant’s garlic pork, but with fewer vegetables and more meat. We recommend starting off with some dumplings…
Best Clown School
Start clowning around — it could earn you a cool 35 large a year. Instructor Larry Kibbey, 76, has been clowning since 1949 and has written seven books on the subject, so he’s got the Bozo thing down pat. He’s also the patriarch of what he calls the world’s largest…
Best Place to Meet People with Large Discretionary Incomes
These are the types who will pay $100 for a pair of socks. There are people in this very store buying $300 T-shirts. The best way to find out who the Richie Riches are is to watch them shop. Now, there is the remote possibility of meeting someone’s personal shopper…
Best Cowboy Outfitter
Looking for a big-ass belt buckle with a buckin’ bronco? Or perhaps a pair of tasteful boot-shaped earrings? Well, look no further. Ed Kane’s has been selling this kind of stuff for more than 30 years. With more Stetsons than you can shake a latigo flogger at, a boatload of…
Best Way to Park at Reliant Stadium
Parking at Reliant Stadium is a joke. A nightmare. Impossible almost, especially considering the high price you’re paying. And once the game’s over, you have to sit idling in your car for more than an hour because of traffic. So why even try it? Go to your local Metro Park…
Best New Golf Course
The two golf courses at Wildcat are the only ones in the city with real hills. Not only does the terrain provide an interesting test of a golfer’s skills, the hilltops also afford spectacular views of nearby Reliant Stadium and the Houston skyline. But it’s the reason that Wildcat boasts…
Best Astro
What better place for a Dartmouth man than wearing the Tools of Ignorance behind home plate? Ausmus, 34, is a certified Ivy Leaguer with a degree in government that probably does him absolutely no good as he mentors the Astros’ young but erratic pitching staff (“Wade, I think a bicameral…
Best Pet Store
Face it: Unlike those poseurs at the mall pet stores, the animals here really need you. At any given time, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has 300 to 400 pets waiting to be adopted — every kind of critter, from dogs and cats to horses and…
Best French Restaurant
François Rabelais’s writings were known for combining earthy humor and sophisticated themes. And this tiny French cafe honors its namesake with delicious irony. Though located in a sophisticated urban shopping center in Rice Village, Café Rabelais features rustic peasant dishes from the French countryside. Try the astonishing mussels in cream…
Best Pre- or Post-Theater Restaurant
Dim the lights and let the show begin. The cast of characters in this cozy nook of The Lancaster Hotel ranges from the elegant to the occasionally eccentric. The richly hued set reflects the intimate, refined taste of a real Broadway in the heart of the Theater District. While the…
Best Dry Cleaner
Van Pham’s Swans Cleaners is one of the few places in town where it’s hotter inside than out. That’s because there’s no separation between the counter and work area. Steam rises constantly from the presses, and some 30 fans tilt quixotically against the heat. Pham’s loyal following doesn’t mind, though…
Best Place to Buy Roses
Despite being choked by the light rail construction, the flower stalls along Fannin Street, like perennials, are making a comeback. Need to redecorate for tonight’s party or impress a date? The indoor-outdoor markets are still the best place to buy roses without breaking the bank. Ten bucks will usually get…
Best Sports Columnist
Viewers of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption best know Richard Justice as that show’s Southwest bureau chief. But Richard Justice is also the only reason to read the Houston Chronicle’s Sunday sports section. In his column, which appears every Sunday during baseball season, he’s not gossipy and he doesn’t kiss up…
Best Bird-Watching
Each spring, avid birders from around the globe make a pilgrimage to High Island to see one of the most famed birding spots in the world. And Houstonians are lucky enough to have it (almost) in our backyard. Located about 80 miles from the city on the Gulf Coast, High…
Best New Restaurant
Michael Cordúa’s best dishes are shockingly imaginative combinations of bold flavors presented in wild new ways. And there has never been a better stage for Cordúa’s brilliance than Artista, his extraordinary new restaurant in the Hobby Center. The location in the performing arts center has inspired everything about the restaurant,…
Best Mexican Restaurant
When you walk in the front door, the scent of mutton commands your attention. Or is it goat? The restaurant’s specialties are barbacoa de borrego estilo Hidalgo (Hidalgo-style lamb “barbecued” in maguey leaves) and chivito asado al pastor (charcoal-roasted kid goat). For a weekday lunch try the fabulously decadent tulancigueñas,…
Best Atmosphere
The martini is icy, the club chair is plush, and Frank Sinatra is crooning on the sound system in the cushy lounge at Vic & Anthony’s, the opulent new steak house across the street from Minute Maid Park. On the back wall of the bar is a small black-and-white photo…
Best Italian Sausage
Candelari’s owner Michael Mays calls himself “The King of Sausages.” He even has the slogan curving across the top of the pizzeria’s logo. His sausage pizza is very good, but Mays could put his Italian sausage on Wonder bread and still draw raves. As the story goes, Mays founded Candelari…
Best Tofu for Carnivores
There are many reasons to like tofu: It’s good for you, and it’s versatile. But there are some people who think tofu basically tastes like nothing — no matter how many spices you put on it or how much soy sauce you drown it in. These are people who could…
Best Barbecue Restaurant
Thelma’s might best be described as a joint. It’s a joint, however, that serves terrific barbecue. When brisket is cooked to perfection, the outside is black and a little charred. Underneath the char should be a thin layer of pinkish-red meat. The meat should have a deep, smoky flavor, but…
Best Lighting
Bernard Wolf loves lighting. His store is aglow with table lamps, floor lamps, desk lamps, sconces, chandeliers and ceiling fans. Solid name brands like Artemide, Luceplan and Schonbek are in abundance, with your choice of halogen, fluorescent or incandescent bulbs. Lighting Unlimited offers the widest range of lighting styles in…
Best Criminal Court Judge
Nobody was surprised when former assistant district attorney Caprice Cosper ran for, and narrowly won, her court bench in 1992. But the dynamo from Louisiana has surprised most of the courthouse crowd since then. Cosper has a charming way of never taking herself too seriously — while taking her job…
Best Collector
We don’t care what the Chron said in its June reaction to a glowing profile of Carolyn Farb in the London Financial Times (essentially: We knew Dominique de Menil, and you madam, are no Dominique de Menil), we still think Ms. Farb-ulous is the best collector in town. Oh, no,…
Best Landmark
Down but not out: Mecom Fountain, at the gateway to Hermann Park, is undergoing repairs but should be back up and spouting in time for the Super Bowl. This 40-year-old, three-bowled fountain has appeared in wedding pictures, travel spots and even the early-1980s flick My Best Friend Is a Vampire…
Best Bartender
After the legendary Junior Brown made his exit from the stage at the Continental Club recently, the patrons at the crowded nightspot were greeted with a shock. Out of nowhere came a tall, curly-haired young man who leapt on stage and began to dance like a monkey. “Woo-hoo!” he hollered…
Best Neighborhood Bar
This is the perfect bar. It has good local and touring bands playing upstairs for those interested in checking out something new; and it has well-worn stools downstairs for the fat-bottomed dudes who show up for every happy hour. There’s a full menu of greasy food to absorb the oceans…
Best Comedian
If anyone else in the world tried to do what Chingo Bling does, it wouldn’t work. But he’s got the shtick down pat. This comedic genius has taken the Latino hip-hop community by storm and is sure to cross over to the mainstream. When Chingo strolls on stage wearing his…
Best Dive
True dives are almost always found downtown. True dives have to serve liquor — a divelike bar that doesn’t is called a beer joint. True dives have to make you wonder what really pays the bills. True dives have to have really weird jukeboxes and have to open as early…
Best Ballet
Stanton Welch may have clinched the artistic directorship of Houston Ballet when he set his highly stylized 1995 Madame Butterfly on the company last fall. This not-quite-full-length story ballet married a moving tale with crisp, modern movement. And Ben Stevenson’s dancers looked at home in the choreography — a sign…
Best Place to Gawk at Rich People
The best way to glimpse what youre missing as a nonmember of the country club set is to attend the annual River Oaks International Tennis Tournament. While the ticket is pricey, you dont need one to get on the grounds, only to enter the stadium. Sneak in some alcohol, because…
Best Local Girl Gone Bad
When the Colombia-born Clara Suarez Harris ran her luxury car over husband David at the Nassau Bay Hilton last summer, she stepped from an innocuous life as one-half of a prosperous dentist couple with young twin boys into national tabloid legend as “The Mercedes-Benz Murderess.” Although videotapes were never too…
Pavlovian Pork Chops
Lunch special$5.95
Hamburger$5.95
Catfish sandwich$4.95
Vegetables$1.60
Peach cobbler$2
Mark Ronson
When you’re better known for the people who attend your party than for your music, you might be facing a credibility problem. Such is the case with the New York-based “celebrity DJ” Mark Ronson, who has played at the White House correspondents’ dinner and P. Diddy’s 29th birthday party (at…
Best Bar Food
Any Irish or English transplant would be right at home at The Stag’s Head, where the bangers and mash and fish ‘n’ chips measure up to the exacting standards of the old country. Competing with them are American finger-food favorites: fajita nachos and stuffed jalapeños as well as succulent Angus…
Best Unsigned Band
Plenty of Houston bands get signed. They just rarely get famous. J.W. Americana wants fame. And while unsigned, the band (Rodney Elliott, Shane Lauder, Doug Kosmo and Arthur Moreno) has promise. Wickedly named after a controversial American expat, the band’s music is just as uncompromising, bold and rooted as a…
Best New Magazine
There’s not enough written on Houston’s thriving independent rap scene. A few local magazines and newspapers have come and gone, and the major hip-hop rags haven’t given up much ink on anyone from H-town but the Geto Boys. So it’s about time that someone local stepped up to document the…
Best Dive
True dives are almost always found downtown. True dives have to serve liquor — a divelike bar that doesn’t is called a beer joint. True dives have to make you wonder what really pays the bills. True dives have to have really weird jukeboxes and have to open as early…
Best Ballet
Stanton Welch may have clinched the artistic directorship of Houston Ballet when he set his highly stylized 1995 Madame Butterfly on the company last fall. This not-quite-full-length story ballet married a moving tale with crisp, modern movement. And Ben Stevenson’s dancers looked at home in the choreography — a sign…
Best Weekend Getaway
Maybe you’re a pilot looking for an interesting jaunt. Perhaps you’re a WWII buff nostalgic for a blast from the past. Or maybe you’re just a Houstonian hankering for an unusual weekend getaway. If so, Fredericksburg’s new Hangar Hotel fills the bill. Bypass Fredericksburg’s German beer halls and quaint B&Bs,…
Best Place for Wedding Pictures
The Rice University campus is a world unto itself. When you drive past its stately gates, suddenly you’re enveloped in a collegiate, oak tree-shaded enclave populated with old brick buildings. Unlike most other parts of Houston, the campus has a sense of history. Lovett Hall, which has been around since…
Best Charter School
Armed with full scholarships to Andover, Exeter, Miss Porter’s and other elite schools, graduates of KIPP Academy (a middle school, soon to be K-12) know firsthand that “Knowledge Is Power.” Even Kinkaid and St. John’s fight over KIPP graduates. KIPP takes kids from Houston’s most under-resourced, drug- and gang-ridden neighborhoods…
Best Champion of the Underdog
Texas has the nation’s busiest executioner’s chamber, and Harris County sends more convicted murderers to Huntsville’s gurney than any other. Fighting this state-sanctioned killing machine are a handful of idealistic lawyers and the Texas Defender Service, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of legal representation afforded to poor…
Best Local Girl Made Good
Bankruptcy law specialist Nancy Rapoport graduated from Rice University and headed off to California, where she got her legal training at Stanford. Although she quickly climbed the academic ranks to the deanship of the University of Nebraska College of Law, she never lost touch with her East Texas roots. After…
Best Gelato
This place started as a wholesale showroom for an Italian food wholesaler. Nundini makes most of the gelati and sorbetti you see in local Italian restaurants. The front of the warehouse doubles as a retail store and Italian deli. The gelati are very good, and the sorbetti are absolutely outrageous…
Best Pupusas
Any late-night Inner Looper knows what a taqueria is. But a pupuseria? Ask a Salvadoran and they’ll tell you that’s where you go to get pupusas. These delicious little treats are thick, soft, corn masa tortillas stuffed with cheese, refried beans, chicharrones (pork cracklings) or any combination thereof. Eaten with…
Best Spanish Classes
Did your understanding of Spanish stop somewhere between agua and adiós? Well, Leisure Learning Unlimited offers an imaginative way for you to habla mas espaol. For about $200, you can take LLU’s accelerated Spanish classes, which combine role-playing, singing and dancing to maximize your learning potential. The small classes (12…
Best Hotel
The new downtown luxury hotels, like the Magnolia and the Sam Houston, could’ve been contenders in this category if it weren’t for one thing: construction. Downtown demolition ruins the luxury. Until the city center is put back together again, the stylish Hotel Derek remains the place to be seen lodging…
Best Barbershop
In this era of über-chic salons and bewilderingly varied hair products, a visit to a traditional barbershop is a rare treat. And the Avalon Barber Shop is a classic, complete with revolving red-and-white-striped barber pole. Ask for Paul, who’ll sit you down in one of the vintage chairs and deftly…
Best Place to See a College Game
The best place to watch a football game is this secret little 70,000-seat place near the Medical Center. Built in nine months in 1950, Rice Stadium was designed solely for the purpose of football. No rodeo. No track and field. No baseball, basketball, no nothing else. It’s got the best…
Best Driving Range
Most driving ranges offer little in terms of obstacles. They’re usually just wide open spaces with a few mounds and flags scattered willy-nilly so there’s something to aim at. Hermann Park’s range boasts a cluster of three tall trees smack in the middle of the field. Now that’s useful. It…
Best Sports Role Model
It’s not easy being an athlete. You make millions of dollars, and the public expects you to perform at the highest level and not be a jerk. Craig Biggio is no longer able to perform at the highest level. There’s also word that he can be a bit of a…
Best Place for a Kid’s Birthday Party
Even if your kid isn’t a budding Jackson Pollock, he will be blissfully occupied at the Mad Potter. This place has birthday parties down to a science: Carefully smocked children joyfully smear clay animals, boxes and plates with paint while adoring adults sip cocktails. Helpful staffers dole out small blobs…
Best Indian Restaurant
Grilled mustard shrimp with tomato chutney and a sensational seafood mulligatawny are just a couple of the new Bombay-on-the-Gulf of Mexico seafood dishes you’ll find here. All of the food is remarkably innovative. Owner and head chef Anita Jaisinghani once worked as a pastry chef at Cafe Annie, and the…
Best Retro Mexican Food
Besides the fact that the orange building with hammered-tin ceiling and yellow-stucco interior is pretty retro in itself, the food at Maria Selma harks back to bygone times. Traditional enchilada dishes feature the meat and sauce on top of the tortillas, not rolled up inside. And the old-style Mexican flavors…
Best Florist
Nothin’ brown at David Brown. This chichi Rice Village florist shop is filled with greenery and riots of colorful flowers. In addition to the fabulous flower fashions, there are garden sculptures and gifts for the green- and not-so-green-thumbed. But your best bets are the special arrangements — you’re just a…
Best Place to Buy an Engagement Ring
Diamonds might be a girl’s best friend, but they’re also as common as a flat highway in East Texas. The mall’s no help. Every bauble there is a cookie-cutter version of every other. Instead, try A.A. Benjamin, a tiny showroom hidden in the back of a bank building. Among the…
Best Sports Music CD
Until we get a CD of classic Houston sports songs (anyone remember that Astros ditty about “stealing round the bases / driving in the runs / no place else but Houston — As-tros Num-ber Ooooone”?), we’ll have to content ourselves with the offerings of Pulltab. Their sound is a little…
Best Beach
Sick of cutting your feet on shells? Annoyed by the inevitable close encounters with jellyfish? Tired of wading through brackish water that looks like it was just churned out of the treatment plant? Head to Moody Gardens. The Galveston Island attraction/resort has created a new, improved beach, and it’s charging…
Best Cajun Restaurant
Joyce’s is a rarity: a high-end restaurant with great Cajun food. There’s lots of grilled fish and a couple of steaks on the menu, but the Louisiana cuisine is the real attraction. The awesome shrimp poor boy is made with shrimp that have been butterflied and dipped in a spicy…
Best Mom-and-Pop Restaurant
The mom-and-pop team of Teo and Carmen Gonzales has been running the funky-looking Tex Chick restaurant since 1982. The food is a schizoid mix of burgers, chicken-fried steaks, tacos and other Tex-Mex dishes, along with the only Puerto Rican food to be found in Houston. The mix owes itself to…
Best Turkish Restaurant
Some say Turkish food is the mother of all Middle Eastern cuisines. The overloaded mezeler plate at Empire Turkish Grill proves the point. The dish includes foods from many different regions, few of which lie within present-day Turkey. But it was the Turkish sultans who first brought Asian eggplant and…
Best Meatball Sub
When you get a meatball sub to go at Zinnante’s, get the sauce on the side so you can heat it up yourself at home. Not only will this keep the sandwich from getting soggy, it also prevents the flying meatball problem. See, the meatballs, bread and red sauce on…
Best Tropical Drink
Tropical drinks just seem to taste better when they’re served in proximity to a large body of water. And it’s almost too appropriate to order a drink called a Tidal Wave — rum, pineapple juice and blue curaçao — within spitting distance of Seawall Boulevard. Most bars have ’em (tropical…
Best Burger Joint
How can a Fifth Ward hole-in-the-wall with a burned-out TV and a bunch of falling-apart chrome dinettes be considered the city’s best burger joint? Tradition. Adrian Cooper may run this place, but it isn’t really his hamburger — it’s his grandmother’s. Vivian Wilson started serving it at Vivian’s Lounge on…
Best Place to Pretend You’re Kirstie Alley on a Budget
If you’re living on Cheers royalties, you can afford to buy hundreds of $10 candles. You can wander around Pier 1 dressed like a fairy and say stupid things like “True or false, this whole table setting cost less than my shoes!” But for those of us without the Jimmy…
Best Civil Court Judge
In 1988, voters narrowly elected a former tax master named Mark Davidson to the bench. And the rest is history — years, decades, even centuries of it, as Davidson continues his studies of the rich legacy of law and justice in Harris County. Of course, Davidson has more than earned…
Best Barbecued Veal
Kozy Kitchen opened in 1946, during the era of segregation. Back then, it was one of many Fifth Ward barbecue restaurants for blacks. The brisket is juicy and tender here, and the beef links are the best in the city. But it’s the veal that makes this place worth a…
Best Median
This Museum District median was immortalized in the film Rushmore (Bill Murray and Olivia Williams stared at each other under its arch of live oaks), but the pretty street would make anyone feel like they’re on the set of a movie. The sunlight slicing through the branches warms the quaint…
Best Jukebox
Most jukes these days are stocked by companies armed with demographic studies. Not so at Under the Volcano, where owner Pete Mitchell don’t need no steenkin’ studies. Instead, this box is full of stuff he likes, which ranges from Cesaria Evora to New Orleans brass bands to sacred steel to…
Best Band Name
Who hasn’t been dosed by a bearded guy in a black hat at some point in their lives? Amish Acid Dealer’s got all a band name needs: a drug reference, a humorously unlikely concept, even a little assonance, not to mention a nice flowing rhythm. Their song titles are clunkier…
Best Movie Theater
This lovely movie palace — really, it has to be described that way — is an antique in a city that doesn’t normally cherish old things. Built in 1939, it’s the only theater in town that’s gotten its very own mayoral proclamation. (River Oaks Theatre Day was March 26, 2000,…
Best Theater Season
One of the best things about the Alley Theatre’s 2002-2003 season was its diversity. The productions ran the gamut from Kaufman and Hart’s 1930s comedy You Can’t Take It with You to Shakespeare’s daunting Hamlet. Then there were the shows covering such oddball subjects as sex with goats and conspiracy…
Best Circus
Like the great huckster P.T. Barnum, the folks at Cirque du Soleil know how to elicit the sort of oohs and aahs that come only with, well, the greatest show on earth. They proved this once again this past spring when they pitched their grand white tent downtown for a…
Best Place to Read a Book
It’s hard to stay focused when reading a book at a coffee shop. You’re deep into Bel Canto, and suddenly the next table erupts into guffaws. The spell is broken. But it’s always easy to find a quiet spot at the Houston Municipal Rose Garden. You can wander around and…
Best Long Good-bye
If it’s September, it must be Stanton Welch — as artistic director of Houston Ballet, that is. But it was a long good-bye for now-emeritus artistic director Ben Stevenson. He first resigned back in February 2002, but a change of heart kept him here through June 2003. Well, in spirit…
Radiohead Rorschach
You’ve absorbed the deified albums, quarreled over the rock critic pontifications, frowned at the guarded, combative interviews. Thom Yorke’s ugly-stick-beaten mug has peered at you from the pages of every magazine known to man; his every word and every note has ignited its own individual Internet flame war. Mass media…
A Farewell to Art
Two months shy of its second anniversary, OneTen Gallery will bid adieu to Houston’s alternative art scene. The gallery’s founder and owner, Michael Andrews, who was prevented from renewing his month-to-month lease, says the space never felt permanent. “There was always a sense of urgency in getting the most of…
Best Bartender
After the legendary Junior Brown made his exit from the stage at the Continental Club recently, the patrons at the crowded nightspot were greeted with a shock. Out of nowhere came a tall, curly-haired young man who leapt on stage and began to dance like a monkey. “Woo-hoo!” he hollered…
Best Band to Break Up
We put this excellent rap-rock band on the cover last summer with a kiss-of-death “next big thing” headline. We thought they were going straight to the top. Well, they played about five more gigs and then broke up. Like Billy Joel said, and the continuing career of Ezra Charles confirms,…
Best Austin Import
Dinner and a movie just got easier. The Alamo Drafthouse shows first-run features as well as repertory films usually showcasing a specific genre, like zombie flicks or chicks-in-prison movies. It also offers a full menu and a good selection of imported and domestic draft beers. You get served right there…
Best Theater Season
One of the best things about the Alley Theatre’s 2002-2003 season was its diversity. The productions ran the gamut from Kaufman and Hart’s 1930s comedy You Can’t Take It with You to Shakespeare’s daunting Hamlet. Then there were the shows covering such oddball subjects as sex with goats and conspiracy…
Best Circus
Like the great huckster P.T. Barnum, the folks at Cirque du Soleil know how to elicit the sort of oohs and aahs that come only with, well, the greatest show on earth. They proved this once again this past spring when they pitched their grand white tent downtown for a…
Best Place to Launch Fireworks
The Fourth of July is supposed to be about freedom, and where better to celebrate liberty than the anarchistic Bolivar Peninsula? Want to drink openly on the beach? That’s not a problem here. Neither is the possession and liberal use of extremely powerful fireworks. For two solid hours after the…
Best Place of Worship
Where will you be when a giant ball of flame engulfs Houston’s skyline? If you’re smart, you’ll hightail it to Bread of Life Church. Or at least that’s what the ominous ad in the yellow pages seems to be saying. “Experience Revival Fire and the Presence of God,” the ad…
Best Zoo Animal
The name alone will bring merriment to grade schoolers and socially stunted adults worldwide. But this miniature mutated antelope’s god-awful territorial habits ensure its place in the Kick-Ass Mammal Hall of Fame. Not much larger than a hare, the male of this African species has a scat fetish so bizarre,…
Best Criminal Court Judge
Nobody was surprised when former assistant district attorney Caprice Cosper ran for, and narrowly won, her court bench in 1992. But the dynamo from Louisiana has surprised most of the courthouse crowd since then. Cosper has a charming way of never taking herself too seriously — while taking her job…
Best Collector
We don’t care what the Chron said in its June reaction to a glowing profile of Carolyn Farb in the London Financial Times (essentially: We knew Dominique de Menil, and you madam, are no Dominique de Menil), we still think Ms. Farb-ulous is the best collector in town. Oh, no,…
Best Green Beans
The first time a friend ordered the L-2 lunch special of garlic string beans at Kam’s, we thought she was insane. Maybe all the hot yoga she was doing was melting her mind. Who would order just a plate of green beans for lunch? Have one, she said, as we…
Best Ravioli
Who in their right mind would go to Romano’s and not order the pizza? This shopping center spot is known for its thin, crispy, delicious pies, but if you never try the portobello ravioli, you’re denying yourself an insanely indulgent pleasure. The Queens, New York, transplants at Romano’s make this…
Best Thrift Store
The sign in the window of Savers promises “4000 new items daily,” and they’re not kidding. This cavernous thrift store has every type of clothing, along with a variety of housewares and some furniture, on sale for cheap, cheap, cheap. Start your shopping trip by picking up one of Savers’…
Best Day Spa
Trellis is the newest, fanciest day spa in Houston. From the interior float pool to the Mediterranean-style balcony, this 17,000-square-foot spa wraps up luxury and serenity into one nice package. Visitors can relax with a Vichy rainfall shower or a tension relief cocoon body wrap. Those self-conscious about baring their…
Best Record Store
The biggest store in the Soundwaves chain knows how to soothe the savage beasts that are music consumers. Their wide collection of new and used CDs, not to mention hard-to-find import albums and indie releases, is enough to satisfy any music junkie. And the place has become a haven for…
Best Chance for a Championship
No offense to the Rockets, the Astros, the Texans or the Aeros, but we think Houston is a soccer town. Our vast suburbs are filled with soccer fields packed to the gills with people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds kicking the fútbol around. Every other minivan has one of…
Best Putt-Putt
Show off, Tiger Woods-style, at Celebration Station’s three 18-hole miniature golf courses. You know those panty-waists in the PGA are scared of obstacles like the 20-foot waterfall on the Rio Grande Course, but with a little practice, you could impress a date or even the whole family. (It’s only $6…
Best Psychic
Patricia Williams has been helping folks cleanse their auras and balance their chakras for 30 years. But that’s not all: A gift passed on from her great-grandmother allows her to read palms, tarot cards and crystal balls, as well as assist with something called Tibet meditation, which sounds pretty darn…
Best Video Selection
If you’re hunting for hard-to-find videos and DVDs, Cactus is the place to go. Good luck locating, say, the Criterion Collection edition of Jim Jarmusch’s masterpiece Down By Law at your local Best Buy. The store managers at the big chains lack the knowledge and taste to stock such relevant…
Best Chef
Among the smiling faces on the cover of July’s Food & Wine magazine is Scott Tycer, the chef and co-owner of Aries restaurant. Tycer and nine other young chefs were chosen by the magazine as “America’s Best New Chefs 2003.” According to the magazine, Tycer’s work at Aries fits in…
Best Russian Restaurant
The Russian Bear is actually two dining establishments in one. The front room is a charming little cafe with excellent Russian food — a wonderful place to take the kids. But on the other side of the room divider, there’s an exotic-looking nightclub with red velvet curtains, huge mirrors and…
Best Hardware Store
While The Home Depot and Lowe’s continue to assert themselves as the Starbucks of hardware stores, putting the fear of God into more modest chains like Ace, this humble Montrose shop — one of the oldest hardware stores in Houston — is staying alive. Its smaller size makes it much…
Best Vinyl Record Store
Sound Exchange on Richmond and Black Dog Records were neck and neck for top honors in this category. Both stores have an exquisite collection of rare and long-lost vinyl LPs, often at affordable prices, and they both have their share of eccentric regulars who like to hip the knowledgeable employees…
Best Sports Bar
We’ll wager that this spacious restaurant and bar was originally intended as a different kind of “nightlife option.” Sure, Live Sports has plenty going for it as a sports bar: The TVs are big and show a variety of sports; there are more drink options than you’ll know what to…
Best Place to Hike
Brazos Bend is only a 30-mile drive from downtown, but once you get there you’ll feel hundreds of miles away. This peaceful, 4,900-acre state park is located where the Big Creek and Brazos River meet, and it offers up to 20 miles of easy walking trails. (There are no changes…
Best Chinese Restaurant
Like fresh fish? Pick out a ling cod swimming in one of the aquariums up front and Fung’s Kitchen will rush it to the stove, steam it and serve it up in a minimalist soy and ginger sauce for you. It is the purest fish flavor you will ever taste…
Best Pakistani Restaurant
You expect fiery curries and hot masalas in the Little Karachi neighborhood around Bissonnet and U.S. 59, but La Sani is something special. The food here is spicy in every sense of the word. Whole ginger, fenugreek seeds, chiles, garlic, cumin seeds and coriander come blaring at you in concentrations…
Best Margarita
Your boss has been giving you a hard time. Your lower back’s giving you grief. And your girlfriend’s not giving it up. Well, the top-shelf margarita at Noche won’t get you a promotion, it probably won’t heal those aching vertebrae, and it sure won’t get you laid. But once you’ve…
Best Mussels
Full of Francophobia but still want good mussels? Switch from French to Flemish at the only Belgian restaurant in town, Café Montrose. When you do, there are four things you need to know. First, even though they list many varieties of mussels on the menu, the best and most traditional…
Best Tuna This Side of the Atlantic
Leave it to master chef Arturo Boada to turn a healthy fish into a sheer taste delight. His yellowfin tuna Mediterranean stands out even among several stellar offerings on the menu of this downtown restaurant and bar. Boada takes primo sashimi-grade tuna, sears it in the skillet and piles on…
Best Clown School
Start clowning around — it could earn you a cool 35 large a year. Instructor Larry Kibbey, 76, has been clowning since 1949 and has written seven books on the subject, so he’s got the Bozo thing down pat. He’s also the patriarch of what he calls the world’s largest…
Best Place to Meet People with Large Discretionary Incomes
These are the types who will pay $100 for a pair of socks. There are people in this very store buying $300 T-shirts. The best way to find out who the Richie Riches are is to watch them shop. Now, there is the remote possibility of meeting someone’s personal shopper…
Best Criminal Lawyer
Waiting at a red light, a Press editor hears honking coming from a truck in the next lane. The news type looks over and sees the face of the prosecutor he’d written about only days earlier. Kelly Siegler leans out her window and grins. “Pull over,” she says. “Pull over…
Best Bibim Bap
Bibim means “mixed” and bap means “rice” in Korean. So bibim bap means “rice hash.” Bibim bap is all the rage lately because it’s light and healthy. And the Green Pine Tree is the place to eat it. Their version includes carrots, zucchini, cucumbers and sprouts, all of them marinated…
Best Renovation
While more and more old downtown structures are getting well-deserved restorations, this makeover is much more than skin-deep. The former 1926 Post-Dispatch building had long been an example of urban blight, a boxlike building that was boarded up and hardly worthy of notice for decades. But the Magnolia hotel chain,…
Best Club for Your Grandparents and/or Grandchildren
This funky and authentic slice of Cajun country offers a great time to both the Geritol and Flintstones Chewables sets. Every Saturday afternoon for the last 20 years, Pe-Te’s has morphed from a Cajun barbecue stand to a whirling zydeco dance hall. The Saturday dances start at two and last…
Best Up-and-Coming Singer
Sometimes you have to wonder if people fail to pay attention on purpose. How else could they not notice this great local singer? You don’t have to look hard to find her. She’s performed alongside the rock-funk outfit Snowshoe ‘N Lewis at the Gatsby, DJ Sun at his Monday-night stint…
Best Austin Import
Dinner and a movie just got easier. The Alamo Drafthouse shows first-run features as well as repertory films usually showcasing a specific genre, like zombie flicks or chicks-in-prison movies. It also offers a full menu and a good selection of imported and domestic draft beers. You get served right there…
Best Production
In the 1960s one critic called Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? “a sick play for sick people.” Who can argue with such a statement when the infamous couple at the center of Albee’s tale are the sort of middle-aged vipers Americans love to hate? And of course, now…
Best Show to Make You Want to Break into Song
Anyone who loves old-time musicals walked out of TUTS’s February production of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady humming just a little — though most probably waited until they got into their cars before fully launching into the grand lyrics of such terrific tunes as “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” “Just…
Best Preservation Group
Jaded Houstonians have gotten used to losing architectural treasures to the wrecking ball. After all, the cavalier attitude of most Houston developers seems to be “out with the old, in with the new,” regardless of the results. Even modern architectural gems risk destruction — but not if Houston Mod can…
Best Quote
We like our quotes short, to the point and all-encompassing, and Dave Hickey’s definition of Tex-Mex fills the bill on all three counts. In the Houston Press issue of December 26, 2002, in an attempt to clarify an earlier pithy quote (“Rock and roll is like Mexican food. As it…
Art Theory
Back in the late 1950s, a group of young Parisian students and artists, led by filmmaker Guy DeBord, started a movement called Internationale Situationist, a heady blend of anarchism, dadaism and Marxism. Though it started out as an anti-art, anticommercialism movement, it soon morphed into something more: a political project…
This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks
Thursday, September 25The ’60s and ’70s were a time when worldwide revolution seemed imminent. It was a time of grand ideals and protests against unfair and unpopular orders, and many people were swept up in the change. New leaders emerged, and the idealists on the ground were often manipulated into…
Best Jukebox
Most jukes these days are stocked by companies armed with demographic studies. Not so at Under the Volcano, where owner Pete Mitchell don’t need no steenkin’ studies. Instead, this box is full of stuff he likes, which ranges from Cesaria Evora to New Orleans brass bands to sacred steel to…
Best Neighborhood Bar
This is the perfect bar. It has good local and touring bands playing upstairs for those interested in checking out something new; and it has well-worn stools downstairs for the fat-bottomed dudes who show up for every happy hour. There’s a full menu of greasy food to absorb the oceans…
Best Reading Series
For more than 20 years the Margarett Root Brown Reading Series has been an oasis for those who crave the literary arts. Presented by Inprint, Inc. and the University of Houston Creative Writing Program, this series of readings and talks has brought some of the best writers on the planet…
Best Production
In the 1960s one critic called Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? “a sick play for sick people.” Who can argue with such a statement when the infamous couple at the center of Albee’s tale are the sort of middle-aged vipers Americans love to hate? And of course, now…
Best Show to Make You Want to Break into Song
Anyone who loves old-time musicals walked out of TUTS’s February production of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady humming just a little — though most probably waited until they got into their cars before fully launching into the grand lyrics of such terrific tunes as “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” “Just…
Best Parade
Each June since 1978, Houston’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community has officially celebrated being proud of who they are with the snazzy, spectacular Pride Parade. Because of Houston’s sweltering summer heat, in 1997 planners started holding the event after sundown, giving the parade the exuberant charge of a nightclub…
Best Sanctuary from the Fast Track
Every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. you can step inside the cool peacefulness of the Rothko Chapel and leave the sights and sounds of Inner Loop life behind. Founded by John and Dominique de Menil in 1971, the chapel is part gallery, part sanctuary. The quiet, minimal interior…
Best Mural
Anyone who lives in the Woodland Heights has probably already seen them, the enormous purple and green dinosaurs tromping across the back wall of Travis Elementary. Thanks to artist and parent extraordinaire Dale Barton, the wild mural, a cartoon dreamscape of prehistoric proportions, is the sort of colorful image that…
Best Civil Court Judge
In 1988, voters narrowly elected a former tax master named Mark Davidson to the bench. And the rest is history — years, decades, even centuries of it, as Davidson continues his studies of the rich legacy of law and justice in Harris County. Of course, Davidson has more than earned…
Best Barbecued Veal
Kozy Kitchen opened in 1946, during the era of segregation. Back then, it was one of many Fifth Ward barbecue restaurants for blacks. The brisket is juicy and tender here, and the beef links are the best in the city. But it’s the veal that makes this place worth a…
Best Homemade Organic Cookies
If you go to the Third Ward community convenience store Reggae Bodega, you’ll find Ariell’s cookies all laid out on the counter just waiting for you. They come in several scrumptious flavors: oatmeal raisin, cocoa butter, Belgian chocolate chunk, organic rolled oat and, let’s not forget the mutha of them…
Best Salsa
The way we see it, if a Mexican restaurant doesn’t make its chips and salsa in its own kitchen every day, then it’s not worth your time. There’s nothing like dipping one of La Jaliscience’s hot, greasy chips into their smoky, spicy, tomato souplike salsa. Served steaming hot — if…
Best Resale Shop
Perhaps you’ve always craved a sterling silver tea set, or a vintage rhinestone brooch or a velvet couch. From the sublimely beautiful to the ridiculously tacky, the Guild Shop has it all — and at great prices. Because parishioners at the upscale St. John the Divine Church donate their often…
Best Manicure
At Mai’s Nail Perfection, a converted house on Sunset Boulevard, everything is purple. When you get a pedicure, you sit on a purple throne, surrounded by purple walls. You’ll feel like a queen, unless you don’t take good care of your feet — in which case Mai will chastise you…
Best Auto Repair
Being stranded sucks almost as much as towing fees. No more. Nathaniel Mayes III is on the scene. Give him a call, explain the problem, and he’ll be out there the same day. He’ll check out your car, procure the necessary parts and fix the problem. If he can’t fix…
Best Way to Break In to the Big Time
Strake Jesuit College Preparatory and Dallas Jesuit, its brother school in the Metroplex, had a big problem: For years, they had competed in the Texas Catholic Interscholastic League, but when that league merged with the rest of the private schools, they left the Jesuits in the cold, saying Strake and…
Best Frisbee Golf Course
Discriminating disc golf players laud Rice University’s object course for having the best variety of surfaces and air clearance. A combination of streets, gravel and lawn, the 18-hole course includes wide expanses where players can really open up and let fly, as well as tight corridors and hazards. The front…
Best Coach
Only one coach in this city has led a team to four straight championships. While his point guard died from cancer. While his two star players fought so much that it made the Clyde-and-Chuckster feud look like a couple of preschoolers fighting over a toy. While his home court got…
Best Adult Video Store
When it comes to shopping for adult videos, it doesn’t get much pinker or cuter than Cindie’s — the red-and-white awning covered in hearts, the frothy lingerie in the window. But don’t let the candy-coated packaging of this adult novelty store fool you. Cindie’s also stacks top-of-the-line adult videos and…
Best Italian Restaurant
When The New York Times reviewed San Domenico, a restaurant thought by many to serve the best Italian food in Manhattan, the critic raved about an incomparable pasta dish that was so good it was unfair to the competition. It was a giant ravioli stuffed with a poached egg yolk…
Best Seafood Restaurant
Jim Goode is a fisherman. If you don’t believe it, check out the photos on the wall. Goode is the intense-looking character in the flowing ZZ Top beard and the chef’s pants decorated with skulls. And he seems to have been photographed holding up a string of nearly every variety…
Best Texas Stuff
The cheesy Alamo facade is a dead giveaway: The Goode Co. Barbeque Hall of Flame is all about Texas. Here you’ll find Texas food from the Goode Co. Barbeque smokehouse across the street, the Lone Star State’s best and biggest grills, Texas cuisine cookbooks, Western wear, Texas-style jewelry, toys for…
Best Maternity Clothes
Can a pregnant woman find happiness in a clothing boutique? She can if it’s Rice Village’s Nine, the trendy maternity store where the trust-fund babies with babies on board come to shop. With an atmosphere that feels more like Neiman’s than nine months in waiting, the little store caters to…
Best Rocket
He came to the team late because of contract negotiations. He was subjected to intense press scrutiny at every U.S. city he visited. And he had to learn the NBA game on the run and acquaint himself with his teammates in quick practice sessions and on the court. Yet by…
Best Place to Get Wet
It’s hot. Damn hot. Unbearably hot. So put your kids in those swimsuits with the built-in floaties, pile them in the back of the minivan and head out to Splashtown. The 45-acre park is filled with opportunities to get drenched. Kids can get their feet wet in the fountain before…
Best Comfort Food Restaurant
Eydie Prior’s parents opened Lankford as a grocery in 1939. After a while, Eydie took over and started serving food. It was well received, so in 1977 she decided to turn the place into a restaurant. Since then, generations of regulars have filled the rickety joint to the gills nearly…
Best Patio
When you sit outside at El Pueblito Place, you’ll start believing you’re on vacation in a foreign land — especially after a couple of margaritas. Palm trees with Christmas lights, tiki torches and candles give the expansive patio a romantic feel, and there’s always live music, usually Latin. If you’re…
Best Frozen Margarita
Okay, here’s the situation: There’s this spot near Shepherd Plaza that serves delicious fruit-flavored margaritas that are way too easy to get hooked on. Half the joy comes from watching the fiery señorita behind the bar make them. She puts the flavored syrup (strawberry, raspberry, cranberry, Halle Berry, Ken Berry,…
Best Noodles
The house special noodle soup at Lucky Pot comes with big chunks of Chinese bacon, shiitake mushrooms, black mushrooms and dried tofu in a thick brown broth. The sublimely flavored bowl of noodles will remind you of fresh, rough-cut pasta in a mushroom and bacon sauce. But hey, if that…
Best Use of Asparagus
Asparagus doesn’t make its way onto most beef- and broccoli-laden Chinese restaurant menus. But at Canton Seafood, they’ve got a dish that puts the stalk center stage. They take a chicken breast, pound it flat and wrap it around thick shoots of asparagus. Then they drown it all in a…
Best Spanish Classes
Did your understanding of Spanish stop somewhere between agua and adiós? Well, Leisure Learning Unlimited offers an imaginative way for you to habla mas español. For about $200, you can take LLU’s accelerated Spanish classes, which combine role-playing, singing and dancing to maximize your learning potential. The small classes (12…
Best Hotel
The new downtown luxury hotels, like the Magnolia and the Sam Houston, could’ve been contenders in this category if it weren’t for one thing: construction. Downtown demolition ruins the luxury. Until the city center is put back together again, the stylish Hotel Derek remains the place to be seen lodging…
Best Civil Lawyer
Joe Jamail is an attorney with ethics. Former Texas attorney general Dan Morales tried to lure the Houston civil icon into a scheme involving the most lucrative of cases, a suit against tobacco companies. But Jamail blew the whistle when Morales attempted to shake him and others down for $1…
Best Doughnuts
Everyone goes on and on about Krispy Kreme, but its down-home vibe feels a little bit forced now that the chain is taking over America. So why not go for the real thing? Christy’s Donuts on the corner of Montrose and West Gray is a Houston institution. You can’t miss…
Best Use of Taxpayer Dollars Best Use of Taxpayer Dollars
Despite the antics of perhaps the most micromanaging governmental board in the Houston area, the third-largest community college system in the state continues to provide cost-effective education to 53,000 students enrolled at 17 sites around the city and its suburbs. HCCS offers vocational, adult literacy and accredited college-level courses at…
Best Place to Hang with High Schoolers
After a hot, sweaty night of dancing and slamming to punk rock legends the Queers on the bottom level of Fitzgerald’s, a group of tough-looking teenage girls waited in line for the bathroom. As they leaned against the wall, wiping their Manic Panic hair out of their eyes, they couldn’t…
Best Battle DJ
DJs in Houston generally don’t get much respect on the national scene. Not including the late DJ Screw, you’d be hard-pressed to find a spinner from our fair city who has established a crowd outside its limits. Enter Fast4ward, a young, hip-hop-reared, experimental turntablist known for inciting near-riots of sound…
Best Reading Series
For more than 20 years the Margarett Root Brown Reading Series has been an oasis for those who crave the literary arts. Presented by Inprint, Inc. and the University of Houston Creative Writing Program, this series of readings and talks has brought some of the best writers on the planet…
Best Performance by Out-of-Towners
Suspense on stage is difficult to achieve. But New York’s Collective: Unconscious succeeded with its play Charlie Victor Romeo. The title refers to a plane’s black box, or cockpit voice recorder. The theater group took public-domain transcripts of plane crashes and staged the scenes with a cockpit mock-up. Before each…
Best Rock and Roll Theater
In 1975, Dave Hickey wrote in The Village Voice that A Soap Opera, created by Kinks star Ray Davies, was one of “only two really successful rock theatricals.” Judging by Infernal Bridegroom Productions’ performance of the rock classic last November, A Soap Opera hasn’t lost anything to the passing years…
Best Place for a Wedding
Recent statistics show that the average American wedding costs $20,000. Not only is that the cost of a car or four years at a state university spent on one single day, we guarantee you that most of your guests will be too drunk or bored to care if the bridesmaids’…
Best Role Model
An admirer calls her the Mother Teresa of the Houston environmental movement, and her credentials make that an understatement. Born Terese Tarlton in Fort Worth 80 years ago, the former model and art dealer eventually met and married barge company millionaire Jake Hershey and settled into their four-acre Longbow Lane…
Woodlands Wonders
They say that the road to fame is a bumpy one. Well, so is the road to the rehearsal space of Woodlands-based rockers Paris Green. Actually, to call it a “road” is sort of like saying that the shaving cream-and-sombrero birthday song at El Patio is an authentic Mexican tradition…
It Once Was Lost
We are all voyeurs. Celebrity gossip, tales of true crime and that fortuitous intersection, celebrity true crime gossip, keep the media in business. We fill in the blanks with conjecture, fancying ourselves, for example, armchair marriage counselors to the Clintons. This pastime has found a less fame-driven expression in Davy…
Best Club for Your Grandparents and/or Grandchildren
This funky and authentic slice of Cajun country offers a great time to both the Geritol and Flintstones Chewables sets. Every Saturday afternoon for the last 20 years, Pe-Te’s has morphed from a Cajun barbecue stand to a whirling zydeco dance hall. The Saturday dances start at two and last…
Best Band Name
Who hasn’t been dosed by a bearded guy in a black hat at some point in their lives? Amish Acid Dealer’s got all a band name needs: a drug reference, a humorously unlikely concept, even a little assonance, not to mention a nice flowing rhythm. Their song titles are clunkier…
Best Book by a Local Author
It’s been said that Houston doesn’t hang on to its history, but longtime resident Roger Wood is out to challenge that theory with his new, lovely book, Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues. Wood, a Houston Community College literature professor (and sometime Press contributor), has woven together a masterful piece…
Best Performance by Out-of-Towners
Suspense on stage is difficult to achieve. But New York’s Collective: Unconscious succeeded with its play Charlie Victor Romeo. The title refers to a plane’s black box, or cockpit voice recorder. The theater group took public-domain transcripts of plane crashes and staged the scenes with a cockpit mock-up. Before each…
Best Rock and Roll Theater
In 1975, Dave Hickey wrote in The Village Voice that A Soap Opera, created by Kinks star Ray Davies, was one of “only two really successful rock theatricals.” Judging by Infernal Bridegroom Productions’ performance of the rock classic last November, A Soap Opera hasn’t lost anything to the passing years…
Best Comeback
This project has been written off for dead so many times it earned the reputation as the Freddy Krueger of downtown Houston development. In the midst of a fierce City Council contest for the hotel contract in 1995, the FBI used it as the bait in a bribery sting. That…
Best Cemetery
Spanning 60 acres east of Studemont, between Washington and Memorial, lies Glenwood Cemetery, the final resting place for a who’s who of Houston families. Names such as Binz, Cooley, Elgin, Foley, Hermann, Hofheinz, Hobby and Jones all can be found here. Perhaps the most famous people interred at Glenwood are…
Best Post Office
Why on earth would the struggling U.S. Postal Service want to go and “improve” some of its best attractions — those old wood-paneled nostalgic post offices of its past — into cookie-cutter, strip-mall sameness? Thank goodness the old Sam Houston is still around to show younger generations how things used…
Best Criminal Lawyer
Waiting at a red light, a Press editor hears honking coming from a truck in the next lane. The news type looks over and sees the face of the prosecutor he’d written about only days earlier. Kelly Siegler leans out her window and grins. “Pull over,” she says. “Pull over…
Best Bibim Bap
Bibim means “mixed” and bap means “rice” in Korean. So bibim bap means “rice hash.” Bibim bap is all the rage lately because it’s light and healthy. And the Green Pine Tree is the place to eat it. Their version includes carrots, zucchini, cucumbers and sprouts, all of them marinated…
Best Hot Dog
It’s surprising, but the best-tasting dog comes from a veg joint. Yes, we realize how insane it sounds to pick a vegetarian Best Hot Dog, but tasting is believing. Whether you choose the soy or the vegan dog (served on a whole wheat bun with chips or excellent fries), this…
Best Sangria
Finding good sangria at a restaurant is as difficult as predicting summer rain. Don’t fool around with commercial, store-bought knockoffs when you can have the real thing made with love by the owners of Otilia’s. A former hamburger stand, this family-owned Mexican eatery concocts a sangria that would make Jerry…
Best Vintage Clothing Store
Tucked just a few blocks away from the main vintage clothing drag on Westheimer is Houston’s best-kept resale secret, The Way We Wore. Its locale, an old Montrose home, gives the place heaps of character. And inside you’ll find a resale shopper’s dream — the place is chock-full of high-quality…
Best Tanning Salon
It’s December 1, and you’re spending the holidays in the Caribbean. Lucky you. Of course, your pale skin hasn’t seen the light of day in months, and that could be a problem. If you don’t want to spend the first few days of your vacation hiding under an umbrella or…
Best Grocery Store
Allegiances run deep among Houston grocery shoppers. Die-hard Kroger devotees are just itchin’ to pop a cap in some Randalls-card-carrier’s ass. And don’t even get us started on the Whole Foods posse. Us, we’re members of the Fiesta crew. If you want good food (especially Mexican specialties) at good prices…
Best Color Commentator
The best managers in baseball are those who made the worst players. That’s because they had to work harder, to try more things to succeed. It’s easier for them to teach the game because they understand the struggles. This holds true for color commentators as well. Jim Deshaies survived in…
Best Ice Rink
Boy, it’s not easy picking the best ice rink in Houston. There are just so many…But even without hordes of competitors, the Aerodrome in Sugar Land stands out. It’s the practice home of the Houston Aeros, so obviously the rink has to be in top shape. And the connection with…
Best Comic Book Store
For 13 years comic book fans — and more recently, parents exasperatingly herding Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh enthusiasts — have trekked out to the intersection of Westheimer and Hillcroft to visit Bedrock City, the friendliest and most helpful comic book store in town. The shop is relatively bright and airy (rare…
Best Place to Buy Trojans and Truffles
Where can you find rows and rows of hard-core gay porn — and cheesecake? This place is like The Chocolate Bar meets the News Stand. It’s like the Kroger Signature Store of the Hollywood stop-and-shop porn chain. Of all Houston’s various XXX stores, this one has to have the most…
Best Late-Night Restaurant
You’re out having fun. You’ve had a few. You get the munchies. But you want to keep partying (or a member of your party wants to keep partying). Cosmos Cafe will keep everyone happy. The bar/live music venue/eatery serves food until midnight Mondays through Thursdays, until 2 a.m. on Fridays…
Best Steak House
Brenner’s was well loved by several generations of Houstonians, and there were a lot of moans and groans when it closed its doors last year. But the place has reopened after a complete renovation by its new owner. Landry’s Restaurants Inc. CEO Tilman Fertitta had fond memories of eating here…
Best Place to Buy a Gun
Carter’s Country doesn’t sell hunting supplies. It sells huntin’ supplies. That’s how you know you’re getting the real deal when it comes to buying gear you use to kill stuff. It stocks more than 800 makes and models of firearms, from purty li’l things for the ladyfolk to handheld cannons…
Best Place to Buy Cigars
Sisters Pat and Donna O’Connor have turned this store, which their mother opened more than 40 years ago, into a stogie smoker’s oasis. With a 200-square-foot walk-in humidor featuring everything from Arturo to Zeno, you can’t go wrong. The shop(pe) also features a wide selection of pipes, wine, liquor and…
Best Place to Play Ping-Pong
Suck at pool? Then travel to The Tavern’s patio to enjoy the ancient art of table tennis. Wow the crowd with your wicked backhand and work off that beer gut chasing stray balls from under your fellow Ping-Pong enthusiasts’ feet. When you need a break, quench your thirst with one…
Best Place to Water-Ski
Why suffer the crowded, choppy waters of lakes Conroe and Livingston? If you’re willing to drive a little farther, you can head to the Hill Country for a far superior skiing experience. The man-made Lake McQueeney is just outside Seguin in Guadalupe County (near New Braunfels) and has its own…
Best Cuban Restaurant
This is the place for home-style Cuban food. The restaurant could never be considered fancy, but the food, that’s another story. The mariquitas con mojo make a great starter. Thin plantain chips are covered with an onion, garlic, olive oil and lime sauce that will have your taste buds singing…
Best Pizzeria
Frozen dough, machine sheeters and conveyor belt ovens long ago took over the pizza business. Thanks to the miracle of technology, Houston pizzerias can now turn out crappy pizzas in under five minutes! But compared to most pizzerias in Houston, Pizza Bella is making perfect pies. They use a stainless-steel…
Best Mojito
Floridita, Florida’s, whatever. Management can change the name as often as they like, just as long as they don’t change the recipe on the dark rum mojitos. Sweetened lime juice, club soda and fresh mint mingle with dark rum in a tropical paradise. One will get you humming like the…
Best Bread
Steeped in the old-world European tradition of bread-baking, the folks at KraftsMen Baking produce one of the only organic breads in the city. There’s nothing light, airy or dainty about their pain biologique. It’s dense and heavy, laden with lots of different kinds of seeds — like hemp, flax, pumpkin…
Best Veggie Burger
There’s an open grill right by the hostess stand, shamelessly charring the flesh of a variety of animals. Then there’s the low lighting, leather banquettes and black-clad servers. It’s enough to make a vegetarian think, “There’s nothing for me here.” But don’t despair. Houston’s just so happens to make the…
Best Thrift Store
The sign in the window of Savers promises “4000 new items daily,” and they’re not kidding. This cavernous thrift store has every type of clothing, along with a variety of housewares and some furniture, on sale for cheap, cheap, cheap. Start your shopping trip by picking up one of Savers’…
Best Day Spa
Trellis is the newest, fanciest day spa in Houston. From the interior float pool to the Mediterranean-style balcony, this 17,000-square-foot spa wraps up luxury and serenity into one nice package. Visitors can relax with a Vichy rainfall shower or a tension relief cocoon body wrap. Those self-conscious about baring their…
Best Chronicle Columnist
Maybe we’re being a little optimistic — as of this writing, new columnist Rick Casey has not yet filed a story for the Houston Chronicle. But hey, who’s his competition? Leon Hale and Thom Marshall? Seriously, though, if you’ve read Casey in the San Antonio Express-News, you know that his…
Best Drink List
Don’t ask the bartenders at the Davenport if they have any suggestions, or you’ll be drinking Barbie’s Bathwater before the guy next to you makes his first move with his silicone date. Luckily, you don’t need to ask for help, because the drink menu at your fingertips offers a long…
Best Benefit to Living Downtown
Houston’s hardy downtown residents have earned charter memberships in the first real community among the skyscrapers since the early 1900s. “Almost everybody who lives down here now knows each other, and it’s a good bunch of professionals,” notes Solero restaurant owner Bill Sadler, who lives just a block away at…
Best Place to Drink Alone
The Wine Bucket is part fancy boutique, part bar — which may be one reason it’s such a comfortable place to drink alone. The store adds an air of casualness to the dimly lit bar. So you can stop in for a glass of wine after a day of shopping…
Best Retro DJ
Picture this: You’re hanging out at a bar, guzzling down some cheap beers, getting just wasted enough to enjoy yourself. And then, the DJ plays a song — not just any song, but a song that wakes you up, a song that makes you question everything you’ve ever known, a…
Best Book by a Local Author
It’s been said that Houston doesn’t hang on to its history, but longtime resident Roger Wood is out to challenge that theory with his new, lovely book, Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues. Wood, a Houston Community College literature professor (and sometime Press contributor), has woven together a masterful piece…
Best Gay-Themed Show
The gothic setting of rural North Carolina, with its hidden back roads and lost graveyards, is part of what made Stargaze Theatre’s spring production of Eric Rosen’s Dream Boy so gripping. But it was a terrible paradox — that such a bucolic setting could hide puritanical repression and extreme violence…
Best Pool Hall
When you play pool at a bar, cigarette burns, drinks stains, crappy cues and uneven tables go with the territory. But when you play at a pool hall, you expect well-maintained equipment. The thing is, some halls are better than others about upkeep. At Fast Eddie’s, you won’t find any…
Best Place for Wedding Pictures
The Rice University campus is a world unto itself. When you drive past its stately gates, suddenly you’re enveloped in a collegiate, oak tree-shaded enclave populated with old brick buildings. Unlike most other parts of Houston, the campus has a sense of history. Lovett Hall, which has been around since…
Best Whistle-Blower
Call it big-time seller’s remorse. Former Coastal Corporation CEO Oscar Wyatt Jr. voted as a board member to sell the company for $22 million to El Paso Corporation in 2001, then decided he’d made a big mistake. He became the lead plaintiff in a shareholders’ suit alleging the management of…
Richard X
On the back cover of the booklet that accompanies Richard X’s first full-length is an antipiracy statement from EMI Music (Astralwerks’ parent), a polite but strongly worded missive reminding listeners about the danger of the Internet, CD burners and the like. Bit strange, really, since that’s pretty much how Richard…
Rev Up
Who says you can’t make your own luck? Participants in this weekend’s Lone Star Rally in Galveston will try to visit every joint, hangout, cafe and market on the official rally hit list. With each stop, they’ll get a stamp — and increase their chances of winning the game, since…
Best Place to Hang with High Schoolers
After a hot, sweaty night of dancing and slamming to punk rock legends the Queers on the bottom level of Fitzgerald’s, a group of tough-looking teenage girls waited in line for the bathroom. As they leaned against the wall, wiping their Manic Panic hair out of their eyes, they couldn’t…
Best Up-and-Coming Singer
Sometimes you have to wonder if people fail to pay attention on purpose. How else could they not notice this great local singer? You don’t have to look hard to find her. She’s performed alongside the rock-funk outfit Snowshoe ‘N Lewis at the Gatsby, DJ Sun at his Monday-night stint…
Best Poet
First, he’s courtly in a way that only an Eastern European intellectual could be. Just imagine him sipping imported tea from a tiny porcelain cup in his attic apartment as he composes his exquisite poems. Second, he is one of the kindest thinkers living among the rest of us troglodytes;…
Best Gay-Themed Show
The gothic setting of rural North Carolina, with its hidden back roads and lost graveyards, is part of what made Stargaze Theatre’s spring production of Eric Rosen’s Dream Boy so gripping. But it was a terrible paradox — that such a bucolic setting could hide puritanical repression and extreme violence…
Best Pool Hall
When you play pool at a bar, cigarette burns, drinks stains, crappy cues and uneven tables go with the territory. But when you play at a pool hall, you expect well-maintained equipment. The thing is, some halls are better than others about upkeep. At Fast Eddie’s, you won’t find any…
Best Bathrooms
Unless you’re crazy about Lysol and Tilex, we can almost guarantee that the bathrooms at Jenni’s Noodle House are cleaner than yours. You could eat a plate of Jenni’s famous disco dumplings right off the floor (not that Jenni would appreciate that). But it’s not just the shiny surfaces and…
Best Statue
This is one of the strangest statues in town. The life-size angel itself isn’t that odd. But if you walk a little closer, you’ll see a plaque that says the limestone for the statue’s pedestal was taken from room 301 of Brackenridge Hall, the now-demolished University of Texas dormitory where…
Best Local Boy Gone Bad
To his neighbors and friends, Andrew Fastow was a good-looking young business executive with an art-loving wife and young children. But inside a corporation chock-full of self-proclaimed piranhas competing to chew the most lucrative deals out of customer hides, Chief Financial Officer Andy prided himself on being the biggest and…
Best Civil Lawyer
Joe Jamail is an attorney with ethics. Former Texas attorney general Dan Morales tried to lure the Houston civil icon into a scheme involving the most lucrative of cases, a suit against tobacco companies. But Jamail blew the whistle when Morales attempted to shake him and others down for $1…
Best Doughnuts
Everyone goes on and on about Krispy Kreme, but its down-home vibe feels a little bit forced now that the chain is taking over America. So why not go for the real thing? Christy’s Donuts on the corner of Montrose and West Gray is a Houston institution. You can’t miss…
Best Ice Cream Flavor
Any of The Chocolate Bar’s homemade ice creams could be in contention for this award (Root Beer Float and Orange Blossom leap to mind), but their most popular concoction, Creamy Dreamy Truffle, made from triple-chocolate ice cream and chocolate truffles, is to a chocoholic what water is to a fish…
Best Cheap Sandwich
Pass on the $6 panini. Decline the $8 deli sandwich. Instead, visit the original Givral’s sandwich shop and try a banh mi thit for between $1.50 and $2 each. At Givral’s, they use time-honored methods for making these Vietnamese hunger-busters. They start by heating an eight-inch-long French roll until it’s…
Best Place to Buy Cheap Shoes
There are two different types of shoppers. There are people who shop because there are things that they need; for instance, they need a pair of khaki pants to go with their boring white button-down shirt. Then there are people who shop for the thrill, the joy, the adventure, the…
Best Acupuncturist
Is your biological clock ticking overtime? Are you having trouble conceiving a child? Eastern Harmony treats scores of stressed-out wannabe mothers with caring, compassionate acupuncture treatments in a soothing atmosphere complete with Eastern mood music. Acupuncturists Randine Lewis and Sadhna Singh hold both Western medical degrees and acupuncture certifications. They…
Best Mall Alternative
You won’t find a B. Dalton, Gap or Olive Garden at this Chinatown landmark. You will find an exotic Asian market with fresh produce, meats and seafood; unusual sauces and condiments; inexpensive housewares and decorations; and an outstanding selection of drinks, snacks, candy and sweets. Elsewhere in the building are…
Best Play-by-Play Announcer
The job of the play-by-play announcer is simple: Give the score and the details of the play. The job of the play-by-play announcer is also difficult: Keep the viewer involved in the game and direct traffic so that the color commentator can explain and enlighten. Nobody in Houston is better…
Best Comet
Sheryl Swoopes has been a regular winner in our Best Comet category since the WNBA came into existence in 1997, and for good reason. Swoopes was the league’s first superstar, and she’s never done anything but carry that title with class. She came back from both a debilitating ACL injury…
Best Cheerleaders
They don’t get half-hour specials on KTRK. Ken Hoffman doesn’t write about judging their tryouts. Rich and Charlie don’t talk about one of them being robbed for not making the squad. No. The Power Dancers just show up every night — for far more games than the Texans’ cheerleaders. They…
Best Tattoo Artist
Too few tattoo artists do more than stencil work. Such is not the case with Dan Martin, an artist for Scorpion Tattoos, Houston’s only shop to be published in a national tattoo magazine. A graphic designer for eight years, Martin worked at The Houston Post and elsewhere before taking to…
Best Long Lunch
The wine room at the Rainbow Lodge will seat six, but to enjoy a really long lunch, it’s better to go just as a pair. The cozy room is actually the wine steward’s office, so you’ll be luxuriating next to some of the all-time great bottles of wine. (Don’t be…
Best Transylvanian Restaurant
An intense-looking man with very short dark hair and a Bela Lugosi accent, Charivari chef and co-owner John Schuster grew up in the Transylvanian region of Romania. He worked as a chef in Vienna and Budapest before opening his first restaurant in the Black Forest of Germany. So as you…
Best Cowboy Outfitter
Looking for a big-ass belt buckle with a buckin’ bronco? Or perhaps a pair of tasteful boot-shaped earrings? Well, look no further. Ed Kane’s has been selling this kind of stuff for more than 30 years. With more Stetsons than you can shake a latigo flogger at, a boatload of…
Best Toy Store
Frederick August Otto Schwarz came all the way to Baltimore from Germany 141 years ago so that you could get some kick-ass toys. The least you could do is check out his store. So they’re not local — so what? The huge Houston location across the street from the Galleria…
Best Place to Play Bocce Ball
Bocce ball, basically a prehistoric version of bowling that involves what look like croquet balls, is best played in Boston’s Little Italy. But Houston doesn’t have a Little Italy, so we have to make do. Go eat some pasta. Have dessert at Dolce & Freddo to get in the mood…
Best Skate and Bike Park
Skaters and bikers coexist mostly happily at Dirtwood Ramp Park. Less than a year ago, Jay Evans, 24, rented two Garden Oaks warehouses that combine into 15,000 square feet of riding space. In an effort to keep patrons challenged, he and his friends regularly change the layout of the ramps…
Best Deli
Alfred’s in the Village was once Houston’s favorite New York Jewish deli — legendary for its overstuffed sandwiches, kosher-style pickles and box lunches. Today, Alfred Kahn’s son, Michael Kahn, carries on the tradition at Kahn’s Deli in Rice Village, not far from his father’s original location. The walls are decorated…
Best Place to Feed Five People for $5
The General Tso’s chicken comes to the table in a heaping portion. There’s enough for five people — five big people. If you order it by yourself, the leftovers will last a week. The chicken seems to be a favorite here, as it’s almost always on every table. But it’s…
Best Martini
The folks at CharBar take martini-making seriously, precisely measuring their cocktails as if they were fitting a new suit. And that makes sense, since this bar shares space and ownership with the Duke of Hollywood tailor shop. In fact, about the only thing missing from the fabulous chocolate Tuxedo Martini…
Best Onion Rings
You may not want, or need, to order anything else after polishing off the tower o’ rings at Fleming’s. The stack of lightly battered, perfectly fried, giant white onion rings is a full foot tall. Japanese bread crumbs, garlic, salt, peppercorns and parsley make up the lighter-than-air batter that clings…
Best Breakfast Tacos
What can you get for less than a dollar these days? One heck of a breakfast taco at La Flor Taqueria. You’ll find a line every morning as the cooks ladle out taco after taco. The standard fare on the steam table includes eggs with potatoes, eggs with sausage and…
Best Resale Shop
Perhaps you’ve always craved a sterling silver tea set, or a vintage rhinestone brooch or a velvet couch. From the sublimely beautiful to the ridiculously tacky, the Guild Shop has it all — and at great prices. Because parishioners at the upscale St. John the Divine Church donate their often…
Best Manicure
At Mai’s Nail Perfection, a converted house on Sunset Boulevard, everything is purple. When you get a pedicure, you sit on a purple throne, surrounded by purple walls. You’ll feel like a queen, unless you don’t take good care of your feet — in which case Mai will chastise you…
Best Local Blog
Sure, he’s a Republican, an Oklahoman and a Sooners and Cowboys fan, but in spite of all that we are drawn to Kevin Whited’s weblog almost daily. Maybe it’s the fact that he has a lot to say about Texas country music and is not shy about expressing what he…
Best Drink Name
To name a drink is to love a drink. Harvey Wallbangers are for old geezers, Sex On the Beach is not all it’s cracked up to be, and having a Screaming Orgasm is what life’s all about. But why not just say it like it is? A rainy night at…
Best Houston Info on the Web
These days of low interest rates make us a little homesick — for a new house, that is. Whether you see yourself ensconced in a little Heights bungalow, perched in a high-rise condo downtown or building your own place on some land outside the city, the Houston Association of Realtors’…
Best Downtown Bar
This seafood restaurant/saloon stands out as a NoDo rarity: a bar with a commitment to live music. John Evans has enjoyed a long Thursday-night residency here, and if you add to that frequent gigs by Greg Wood, Jimmy’s Pawn Shop and Little Screamin’ Kenny, it’s plain to see that this…
Best T-Shirt Designer
It’s his “Corporate Hip Hop Sux” shirt that has been known to start confrontations — not because of its blunt statement emblazoned in six three-letter rows, but because everyone wants to say they were the first to wear it. Like an Astros throwback jersey, the “Corporate Hip Hop Sux” shirt…
Best Gay Bar
Ripcord, let us count the ways we love thee. Your walls are painted with an eye-catching image of a guy’s nutsack hanging below the parted cheeks of his ass. Shirtless men on flashing roller-skates zip around your tables taking orders. Your patrons wear chaps, tiny shorts and leather, and if…
Best Two-Man Show
Most of the time it’s the stars who get all the attention. But Irish playwright Marie Jones turned all that around with her story about two extras on location in a small Irish village. The Alley’s April production of Stones in His Pockets starred Todd Waite and Jeffrey Bean as…
Best Brewpub
It wasn’t too long ago that Houston was awash in brewpubs. There was the Rock Bottom Brewery, the Village Brewery, the Bank Draft and the Houston Brewery. One by one, they all went overboard, leaving the craft-brew aficionados almost dry. Thankfully, there’s still Two Rows Restaurant and Brewery to quench…
Best Place of Worship
Where will you be when a giant ball of flame engulfs Houston’s skyline? If you’re smart, you’ll hightail it to Bread of Life Church. Or at least that’s what the ominous ad in the yellow pages seems to be saying. “Experience Revival Fire and the Presence of God,” the ad…
Best Citizen
This Houston developer shelved his mayoral ambitions earlier this year and dived into the less glamorous assignment of spearheading Metro’s campaign to pass its upcoming transit referendum. Wulfe, an informal member of Mayor Lee Brown’s kitchen cabinet for the last six years, is the commercial force behind the revitalization of…
Señor Coconut
“Riders on the Storm,” merengue-style? “Smoke on the Water” as a cha-cha? Have you had one too many mojitos, or can classic rock and Caribbean rhythms coexist? They can if German electronica producer Uwe Schmidt has anything to do with it. His maraca-shaking alter ego Señor Coconut is a willful…
Reprogram Your Life
To Racket, at least, chaos is usually more interesting than order, certainly in the case of post-Garland Ganter KPFT. Ganter’s streamlined “Sounds Like Texas” format at times slid dangerously close to a “Sounds Like a Fern Bar” format, and since his ouster, weekdays over there have been a lot more…
Best Place to Drink Alone
The Wine Bucket is part fancy boutique, part bar — which may be one reason it’s such a comfortable place to drink alone. The store adds an air of casualness to the dimly lit bar. So you can stop in for a glass of wine after a day of shopping…
Best Battle DJ
DJs in Houston generally don’t get much respect on the national scene. Not including the late DJ Screw, you’d be hard-pressed to find a spinner from our fair city who has established a crowd outside its limits. Enter Fast4ward, a young, hip-hop-reared, experimental turntablist known for inciting near-riots of sound…
Best Gay Bar
Ripcord, let us count the ways we love thee. Your walls are painted with an eye-catching image of a guy’s nutsack hanging below the parted cheeks of his ass. Shirtless men on flashing roller-skates zip around your tables taking orders. Your patrons wear chaps, tiny shorts and leather, and if…
Best Two-Man Show
Most of the time it’s the stars who get all the attention. But Irish playwright Marie Jones turned all that around with her story about two extras on location in a small Irish village. The Alley’s April production of Stones in His Pockets starred Todd Waite and Jeffrey Bean as…
Best Brewpub
It wasn’t too long ago that Houston was awash in brewpubs. There was the Rock Bottom Brewery, the Village Brewery, the Bank Draft and the Houston Brewery. One by one, they all went overboard, leaving the craft-brew aficionados almost dry. Thankfully, there’s still Two Rows Restaurant and Brewery to quench…
Best Place to Take Out-of-Towners
The Sunday-night Etta’s experience never fails to leave a lasting impression on visitors. It isn’t simply the soul music or the burgers or the buckets of Budweiser (or the guilty pleasure of partying into the working week). The atmosphere here is spiritual. This is night church. The older, sharply dressed…
Best Reincarnation
Compaq Center (née the Summit) has been everything from the home of the Rockets to the host of rock and roll superstars like the Rolling Stones. But the place that once held a shimmying Mick Jagger and a slamming Hakeem Olajuwon will now house charismatic Lakewood Church preacher Joel Osteen…
Best Election Polling Place
There’s something about walking into a polling place that just makes you feel like a good citizen. There you are, doing your best to select from among the candidates, acting informed even if you really aren’t. So what better place to perform such a civic duty than a schoolhouse, especially…
Best Chronicle Columnist
Maybe we’re being a little optimistic — as of this writing, new columnist Rick Casey has not yet filed a story for the Houston Chronicle. But hey, who’s his competition? Leon Hale and Thom Marshall? Seriously, though, if you’ve read Casey in the San Antonio Express-News, you know that his…
Best Drink List
Don’t ask the bartenders at the Davenport if they have any suggestions, or you’ll be drinking Barbie’s Bathwater before the guy next to you makes his first move with his silicone date. Luckily, you don’t need to ask for help, because the drink menu at your fingertips offers a long…
Best Italian Sausage
Candelari’s owner Michael Mays calls himself “The King of Sausages.” He even has the slogan curving across the top of the pizzeria’s logo. His sausage pizza is very good, but Mays could put his Italian sausage on Wonder bread and still draw raves. As the story goes, Mays founded Candelari…
Best Tofu for Carnivores
There are many reasons to like tofu: It’s good for you, and it’s versatile. But there are some people who think tofu basically tastes like nothing — no matter how many spices you put on it or how much soy sauce you drown it in. These are people who could…
Best Last-Minute Shopping
You can create a truly interesting wardrobe created without a huge expenditure — if you have the time to sift through thrift stores, garage sales, discount shops like T.J. Maxx or Loehmann’s and sales at fancy stores. But sometimes there’s just no time to mess around — for example, when…
Best Psychic
Patricia Williams has been helping folks cleanse their auras and balance their chakras for 30 years. But that’s not all: A gift passed on from her great-grandmother allows her to read palms, tarot cards and crystal balls, as well as assist with something called Tibet meditation, which sounds pretty darn…
Best Mexican Bakery
If you let a six-year-old loose in here, the contact high would probably last a week. Sugar. The place smells like pure sugar. There are multicolored cookies; strawberry, pineapple and peach tiramisu; and fresh, original versions of those cinnamon and sugar sticks that Taco Bell and Domino’s Pizza ripped off…
Best Sports Talk Show
Native Houstonians are rare on the sports radio dial. Most of the guys on 610 and 740 came to Houston as adults, and don’t identify with Houston teams as strongly as people who grew up here. Sports Rap host Ralph Cooper is a notable exception to that rule. He’s not…
Best Park
Donovan Park should be called Donovan Land. The sprawling wooden kid-world could make even the most unimaginative tyke imagine he’s the ruler of a vast kingdom. Turrets, bridges and secret compartments link the more typical playground accessories: slides, jungle gyms, climbing nets, swings and the like. The park is surrounded…
Best Clothing Designer
In a town that’s not all that fashion-forward, up-and-coming British-born designer Vanessa Riley is a true find. Known for her extravagant, corseted couture gowns and sweeping, floor-length coats, Riley has dressed the beautiful people for events like the Grammys, the Academy Awards and Houston’s society balls. But her designs are…
Best Restaurant
Houston is a Mexican food town. And Hugo’s Mexican food is among the best in the nation. Rick Bayless in Chicago and Zarela Martinez in New York are chef Hugo Ortega’s main competitors — few others come close. As a native of Puebla who received his culinary training here, Ortega…
Best-Looking Restaurant Staff
We should be up front and say that there are plenty of other reasons to visit Istanbul Grill and Deli besides the fine-looking staff. They have amazing stuffed mushrooms, soft bread that melts in your mouth and a wonderful Rice Village setting that includes outdoor dining. But what’s wrong with…
Best Sushi Bar
If you’re bored with the minimalistic architecture and uncluttered decor of Japanese restaurants, you’ll find Sasaki refreshingly bizarre. The place goes overboard on goofy serving contraptions and Japanese tchotchkes. But Sasaki is on the opposite end of the hipness spectrum from popular sushi restaurants like Coco’s and The Fish. There…
Best Barbershop
In this era of über-chic salons and bewilderingly varied hair products, a visit to a traditional barbershop is a rare treat. And the Avalon Barber Shop is a classic, complete with revolving red-and-white-striped barber pole. Ask for Paul, who’ll sit you down in one of the vintage chairs and deftly…
Best Pet Store
Face it: Unlike those poseurs at the mall pet stores, the animals here really need you. At any given time, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has 300 to 400 pets waiting to be adopted — every kind of critter, from dogs and cats to horses and…
Best Dart House
About two decades ago, when there were only a few dart bars around, darts enthusiast Ron Towne went from managing the original Sherlock’s Pub to founding the one bearing his name. Ron’s Pub doesn’t sponsor regular traveling league teams and isn’t a major tournament host — it’s simply the best…
Best Place to Learn to Ride a Hog
Can you ride a bicycle? Do you have a driver’s license? If so, then for about $200, you can learn all the skills you need to safely ride a motorcycle in just five days. First, you’ll spend two evenings in the classroom, becoming familiar with the parts and functions of…
Best Dim Sum Restaurant
On the weekend, Kim Son’s carts carry an average of 70 dim sum items. Don’t miss the velvety eggplant stuffed with shrimp paste, mushroom-capped meatballs, Chinese broccoli, golden-fried turnip cakes, slurpy rice noodle rolls, cylinders of shrimp paste wrapped in seaweed and deep-fried in tempura batter, pork dumplings with quail…
Best Hostess with the Mostess
Maeve Pesquera may have graduated from hostess at Anthony’s to operating partner of the new Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, but she hasn’t lost her touch with diners. Like children following the Pied Piper, the in-crowd flocked to Fleming’s right along with her. While running a restaurant keeps her…
Best Hurricane
Hurricanes come and hurricanes go, but the question is which one did the most damage? Floyd’s takes no prisoners with its off-the-cuff version, and it pleases us to no end that the drinks are not served in regulation Pat O’Brien hurricane glasses. Grab yourself a seat at the bar, order…
Best Pasta
When a dish that started out as a daily special makes it to the regular menu, it’s got to be good. The avocado pasta at Annabelle’s is just such a dish. A whole avocado is pitted and stuffed with a delicious, cheesy crawfish mixture. It’s then reassembled and rolled in…
Best Breakfast
Mmm, butter. From the neatly folded three-egg omelettes to the crisp Texas toast to the mess o’ fluffy grits, The Breakfast Klub’s grub is saturated with it. And what’s not dripping with butter is perfectly fried, which is what makes the wings-and-waffle breakfast plate and the catfish and grits so…
Best Vintage Clothing Store
Tucked just a few blocks away from the main vintage clothing drag on Westheimer is Houston’s best-kept resale secret, The Way We Wore. Its locale, an old Montrose home, gives the place heaps of character. And inside you’ll find a resale shopper’s dream — the place is chock-full of high-quality…
Best Tanning Salon
It’s December 1, and you’re spending the holidays in the Caribbean. Lucky you. Of course, your pale skin hasn’t seen the light of day in months, and that could be a problem. If you don’t want to spend the first few days of your vacation hiding under an umbrella or…
Best Weathercaster
Ever since Tropical Storm Allison, many Houstonians have found themselves a lot more interested in severe weather than they used to be. Houston weather has always been about extremes, of course, but when one of those extremes causes $5 billion in damage, people start to pay attention. TV stations know…
Best Hype
The sign at the entrance of Bush Intercontinental is already touting it. A number of nightclubs are already booked up for it. One Midtown comedy spot has already been bought out for the entire week of Super Bowl XXXVIII by an out-of-town corporation that wants a private place to drink…
Best New Construction
Three years ago, if you were traveling from downtown Houston to the Great Southwest along Highway 59 anytime between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on a weekday, you’d hit the wall around Bissonnet. The wall of traffic, that is. For the next eight miles, all the way to State Highway…
Best Place to Watch Pudding Wrestling
Beer? Check. Shot specials? Check. Half-naked women flailing about in a tub of vanilla pudding? Checkmate! Thursday night is now “Pudding Night,” thanks to this venerable Katy club, which invites the gorgeous women of the Association of Pudding Wrestling to get down ‘n’ dirty for your pleasure. Matches run from…
Best Music Gadfly
A guitarist, songwriter, music journalist, record producer and bandleader, Guy Schwartz is omnipresent on the Houston scene. His New Jack Hippies “band” now boasts more than a hundred members, based on Schwartz’s open admissions policy: If you jam with him once, you’re a New Jack Hippie for life. Schwartz’s recent…
Best Cultural Center
C’mon, the Orange Show founded the Art Car Parade, the most uniquely Houston cultural event in existence. If that’s not enough for you, the organization is also nationally known for its programs, projects and files on self-taught, folk and outsider artists. In spite of its success, the Orange Show remains…
Best Special Effects
No theater group in town is better equipped to pull off Sarah Kane’s fiery Phaedra’s Love than the folks at Infernal Bridegroom Productions. All about incest, murder and mayhem, the fall 2002 production, under Jason Nodler’s direction, was filled with the technical magic that sets IBP apart. Fires blazed, bellies…
Best Musical
Don’t get technical on us: Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince was an opera, to be sure, but it was so opera lite (under three hours long and sung in English) that we’re calling it a musical — the best musical. Houston Grand Opera premiered the work last June, and the…
Best Local Boy Gone Bad
To his neighbors and friends, Andrew Fastow was a good-looking young business executive with an art-loving wife and young children. But inside a corporation chock-full of self-proclaimed piranhas competing to chew the most lucrative deals out of customer hides, Chief Financial Officer Andy prided himself on being the biggest and…
Best Reason to Stay in Houston During the Summer
Party on the Plaza has been the most popular way for Houston’s music lovers to let off a little steam in the summertime for years. Working-class stiffs and yuppie execs have packed this little grandstand in the middle of downtown every summer since the 1980s. And it’s no wonder: Houston…
Pennywise
Like Noam Chomsky in Dickies, Pennywise has always spiked its jet-engine punk with social commentary. But on 2001’s Land of the Free?, the Cali quartet looked at the White House and saw red, upping the political invective with an album full of fist-in-the-air fight songs taking the president to task…
Best Nightlife Trend
It comes as some surprise that an increasing number of just-turned-bar-legal adults are turning to night-time cycling rather than partying. You can see them, thrift-store-outfitted, cruising the Montrose in intimate packs, looking like defiant, asexual Morrisseys on sparkly retro two-wheelers. Riders usually alert folks of their intentions on public Internet…
Best Place to Smoke
These days, it’s hard for a smoker to enjoy himself. Even sitting in the smoking section of a restaurant, puffers get accusing stares. The fact is, lighting up in a big room is kind of like peeing in a swimming pool: The whole shebang gets contaminated. That’s why there’s nothing…
Best Retro DJ
Picture this: You’re hanging out at a bar, guzzling down some cheap beers, getting just wasted enough to enjoy yourself. And then, the DJ plays a song — not just any song, but a song that wakes you up, a song that makes you question everything you’ve ever known, a…
Best Cultural Center
C’mon, the Orange Show founded the Art Car Parade, the most uniquely Houston cultural event in existence. If that’s not enough for you, the organization is also nationally known for its programs, projects and files on self-taught, folk and outsider artists. In spite of its success, the Orange Show remains…
Best Special Effects
No theater group in town is better equipped to pull off Sarah Kane’s fiery Phaedra’s Love than the folks at Infernal Bridegroom Productions. All about incest, murder and mayhem, the fall 2002 production, under Jason Nodler’s direction, was filled with the technical magic that sets IBP apart. Fires blazed, bellies…
Best Musical
Don’t get technical on us: Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince was an opera, to be sure, but it was so opera lite (under three hours long and sung in English) that we’re calling it a musical — the best musical. Houston Grand Opera premiered the work last June, and the…
Best Place to People-Watch
On a day when it isn’t too terribly hot, take a blanket out to Hermann Park. If it’s Sunday, grab a bagel, some coffee and The New York Times. Then settle in and take a look around. You might see a family on the hill singing “Let’s Go Fly a…
Best Landmark
Down but not out: Mecom Fountain, at the gateway to Hermann Park, is undergoing repairs but should be back up and spouting in time for the Super Bowl. This 40-year-old, three-bowled fountain has appeared in wedding pictures, travel spots and even the early-1980s flick My Best Friend Is a Vampire…
Best Politician
This 60-year-old civil rights and anti-apartheid activist-turned-elected official continues to amaze observers with her energy, grassroots common sense and a service ethic reflected in her diverse young staff. Her district is an ethnic and cultural rainbow stretching from black precincts in Sunnyside to heavily gay Montrose, and Edwards has made…
Best Local Blog
Sure, he’s a Republican, an Oklahoman and a Sooners and Cowboys fan, but in spite of all that we are drawn to Kevin Whited’s weblog almost daily. Maybe it’s the fact that he has a lot to say about Texas country music and is not shy about expressing what he…
Best Drink Name
To name a drink is to love a drink. Harvey Wallbangers are for old geezers, Sex On the Beach is not all it’s cracked up to be, and having a Screaming Orgasm is what life’s all about. But why not just say it like it is? A rainy night at…
Best Meatball Sub
When you get a meatball sub to go at Zinnante’s, get the sauce on the side so you can heat it up yourself at home. Not only will this keep the sandwich from getting soggy, it also prevents the flying meatball problem. See, the meatballs, bread and red sauce on…
Best Tropical Drink
Tropical drinks just seem to taste better when they’re served in proximity to a large body of water. And it’s almost too appropriate to order a drink called a Tidal Wave — rum, pineapple juice and blue curaçao — within spitting distance of Seawall Boulevard. Most bars have ’em (tropical…
Best Department Store
Just when you thought the days of helpful salesclerks and expansive racks of interesting goodies were gone to all but the very rich, Nordstrom department store moves into town to save the day. Not only do they have astonishingly kind clerks, great merchandise (some of which is actually “affordable,” as…
Best Comic Book Store
For 13 years comic book fans — and more recently, parents exasperatingly herding Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh enthusiasts — have trekked out to the intersection of Westheimer and Hillcroft to visit Bedrock City, the friendliest and most helpful comic book store in town. The shop is relatively bright and airy (rare…
Best Tofu/Soy Products
Are you a soy newbie? That is, you hear about the soy craze on the news but don’t know what the hell you’re supposed to do with the stuff? Does the idea of eating tofu make you want to yawn with boredom or gag with disgust, even though it’s been…
Best Sports Columnist
Viewers of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption best know Richard Justice as that show’s Southwest bureau chief. But Richard Justice is also the only reason to read the Houston Chronicle’s Sunday sports section. In his column, which appears every Sunday during baseball season, he’s not gossipy and he doesn’t kiss up…
Best Bird-Watching
Each spring, avid birders from around the globe make a pilgrimage to High Island to see one of the most famed birding spots in the world. And Houstonians are lucky enough to have it (almost) in our backyard. Located about 80 miles from the city on the Gulf Coast, High…
Best Fans
There’s just something about a woman in a hockey jersey grabbing a big beer in one hand and slamming the sideline glass with the other as she screams for someone, anyone, to beat the pulp out of some visiting glamour-puss center. But even if there weren’t, there’d still be something…
Best New Restaurant
Michael Cordúa’s best dishes are shockingly imaginative combinations of bold flavors presented in wild new ways. And there has never been a better stage for Cordúa’s brilliance than Artista, his extraordinary new restaurant in the Hobby Center. The location in the performing arts center has inspired everything about the restaurant,…
Best Mexican Restaurant
When you walk in the front door, the scent of mutton commands your attention. Or is it goat? The restaurant’s specialties are barbacoa de borrego estilo Hidalgo (Hidalgo-style lamb “barbecued” in maguey leaves) and chivito asado al pastor (charcoal-roasted kid goat). For a weekday lunch try the fabulously decadent tulancigueas,…
Best Tex-Mex Restaurant
The two-plate Mexico City dinner at Molina’s is a classic of the genre. The salad plate includes a beef taco, a bean tostada, a puffy tortilla with queso and a guacamole salad. And on the hot plate, there are gooey cheese enchiladas in chili gravy with onions, a tamale with…
Best Record Store
The biggest store in the Soundwaves chain knows how to soothe the savage beasts that are music consumers. Their wide collection of new and used CDs, not to mention hard-to-find import albums and indie releases, is enough to satisfy any music junkie. And the place has become a haven for…
Best Place for a Kid’s Birthday Party
Even if your kid isn’t a budding Jackson Pollock, he will be blissfully occupied at the Mad Potter. This place has birthday parties down to a science: Carefully smocked children joyfully smear clay animals, boxes and plates with paint while adoring adults sip cocktails. Helpful staffers dole out small blobs…
Best Place for a Basketball Pickup Game
Unless you’ve got game, you’d best stay away from the basketball courts at Fonde Community Center. The guys who play here are ruthless about who they pick for their teams, and they don’t take kindly to a sucky novice who can’t hang. They’re especially annoyed by high schoolers who try…
Best Place to Skydive
First things first: No one’s ever died here. Everything else is just icing on the cake. At Skydive Spaceland, they drop you from 14,000 feet — that’s 1,000 feet higher than the industry minimum. Plus, they’re open all week long, with $169 weekly rates and $189 weekend rates for first-time…
Best Ethiopian Restaurant
Resist the temptation to ask for a knife and fork. When you eat Ethiopian-style, the spongy flatbread called injera serves as both your plate and your eating utensil. You pull off a chunk of bread and wrap it around the food, turning everything into an injera taco. There’s even Ethiopian…
Best Place to Skip Dinner and Go Straight to Dessert
There are two kinds of people in the world: dessert people and people who do not even bat an eyelid when dessert is mentioned. The former can get more excited about a piece of Chocolate Decadence than any appetizer or entrée. The Dessert Gallery was created especially for these people…
Best Empanada
The menu at Marine’s lists 46 different empanadas. The rest of the menu items play second fiddle to these little pockets, filled with delicious delicacies. On the savory side of the menu, the Chuck Wagon ($2) is the way to go. It consists of chopped sirloin steak with mushrooms in…
Best Pie
A long, long time ago, Publius Syrus said that to do two things at once is to do neither. Sorry, Pub, but having visited the Flying Saucer Pie Company, we strongly disagree. Since 1967, co-owners Bill Leeson and Marilyn Smith have been doing at least a dozen things at once,…
Best Ceviche
It’s hard to find something great to say about Anthony’s since it moved into Vallone’s old spot on Kirby, but their seafood martini wins Best Ceviche hands down. This is no watery, frozen-fish-tomato-goo dish. Instead, it’s all about fresh mangos with Asian cabbage in a lemon vinaigrette. You want crustaceans…
Best Place to Buy Cheap Shoes
There are two different types of shoppers. There are people who shop because there are things that they need; for instance, they need a pair of khaki pants to go with their boring white button-down shirt. Then there are people who shop for the thrill, the joy, the adventure, the…
Best Acupuncturist
Is your biological clock ticking overtime? Are you having trouble conceiving a child? Eastern Harmony treats scores of stressed-out wannabe mothers with caring, compassionate acupuncture treatments in a soothing atmosphere complete with Eastern mood music. Acupuncturists Randine Lewis and Sadhna Singh hold both Western medical degrees and acupuncture certifications. They…
Best Talk Radio
Currently syndicated on ten stations across Texas, Tom Tynan began broadcasting the Home Improvement Hotline on KTRH in 1987. Kind of like Car Talk for home owners, Hotline tackles listeners’ queries on a myriad of subjects. From plumbing problems to structural questions to energy efficiency issues, it’s likely Tom will…
Best Texan
After seven seasons of frigid Decembers in the windswept New Jersey Meadowlands with the New York Jets, cornerback Aaron Glenn was happy to return to his home town of Houston in 2002 as a newly minted Texan. And Houston was equally glad to welcome him back. Glenn, who went to…
Best Nonprofit
When the good old days turned bad, American Red Cross volunteers were familiar sights at the scenes of tragedies — the tornadoes or hurricanes or floods that rocked the Bayou City. Now add to that the new global era, when disasters are both natural and man-made. The Red Cross is…
Best Cure for the Sunday Blues
It’s Sunday. The work week stretches ahead, and from this vantage point, it seems as endless as the universe itself. Piled on to the sense of doom is a sense of regret — for having spent too much money, kissed an idiot or lost your cell phone over the weekend…
Best CD by a Local Musician
While the inimitable Little Joe Washington did make this CD in Austin, the man himself is Houston to the bone, as are the sounds on this CD. Little Joe’s blues can put a hurt on ya, make you holler out loud and make you want to shake a tail feather,…
Best Spectacle
Houston institutions have been done in by many forces through the decades — “progress,” development or sheer stupidity. But success shouldn’t be the cause of death. Yet a couple of years ago, there it was: Houston’s signature event, the Orange Show’s Art Car Ball, bloated and expiring right there on…
Best Family from Hell
Medea has nothing on Regina Giddens. The matriarch at the head of Lillian Hellman’s Southern Gothic melodrama The Little Foxes is one of the most treacherous villains ever to walk across a stage. And with her slithering brothers Benjamin and Oscar Hubbard, she completes a gruesome troika. The cast of…
Best Bright Idea
Houston’s signature waterway has been a murky mystery since before the Allen brothers followed it upstream and planted the future Space City on its banks. But at least back then its green-brown waters were clear of the flotsam and jetsam of modern civilization. Starting this summer, a vessel called The…
Best Democrat
Like his mentor, former state rep Paul Colbert, Hochberg has developed a reputation in Austin as a master legislative technician, focusing on the explosive public school finance issue. He’s also a tough political survivor who was forced by Republican-controlled redistricting to move out of District 132 into the more GOP-friendly…
Best Weekend Getaway
Maybe you’re a pilot looking for an interesting jaunt. Perhaps you’re a WWII buff nostalgic for a blast from the past. Or maybe you’re just a Houstonian hankering for an unusual weekend getaway. If so, Fredericksburg’s new Hangar Hotel fills the bill. Bypass Fredericksburg’s German beer halls and quaint B&Bs,…
