Patrick Hudson: Teen Wanted To Shoot Up Katy School, Leave Some Students Alive To Suffer With The Memories
A 19-year-old man who allegedly planned to shoot up a Katy school before committing suicide has been arrested after cops were tipped off about his online bragging, police say. Patrick Joseph Hudson, who works at a Rosenberg Office Max, dubbed himself “SS_Patrick” online in an October 1 posting and praised…
Alexander Fishenko: Houston Company Schemed To Get High-Tech Hardware To Russian Military & Spies, Feds Say
Did you feel a chilling breeze of Cold War nostalgia wafting though Houston today? Yeah, neither did we. But we could have, because the elements were present as U.S. Department of Justice officials here and in New York announced they’d busted a major ring credited with supplying secret high-tech hardware…
Cover Story: Is Biomedical Testing on Primates Still Necessary?
On October 24, scientists from around the world will come to San Antonio to discuss how testing on monkeys might one day lead to an AIDS cure. They’ll be talking baboons, macaques, and vervets at the 30th Annual Symposium on Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS, not chimpanzees. Once thought to…
UPDATED: Memorable Houston Concerts of 1992
UPDATE (2:03 p.m.): Alice In Chains was advertised but dropped out, and was replaced with Australia’s Baby Animals. The year 1992 was an important one for me as far as Houston concerts are concerned: It’s the first time I went to a concert within the Houston city limits, the “Outside…
It’s National Chili Week: Top 5 Unusual Chili Ingredients
Every region has its own rendition of chili. New Mexico has green chili (interesting), Cincinnati has spaghetti with chili (still don’t understand) and Texas puts meat in its chili (definitely the best). I always love classic chili with beef or sirloin (I’m a Texas girl, what can I say?), but…
Rockets Rookie Royce White Battles Anxiety in the Brutal Spotlight of Pro Sports
Imagine waking up in the middle of the night unable to breathe, feeling like you are suffering a heart attack. Your first instinct is to dial 911, but your hand is paralyzed, unable to move out of fear. You lay there, completely still, struggling with every breath without the power…
Porsche Design: More Than a Car Company
Most don’t immediately think fashion when they hear the word Porsche. (Unless you’re a car collector, in which seeing the 2013 Porsche 911 Camera S at a car show is your version of NYFW 2012.) With a new store in the Galleria, and 10 stores to be opened in other…
Robert Ellis’ New “Friends Like Those” Clip Uses Friends Like Yours
This week Robert Ellis released an interactive clip for his latest single “Friends Like Those” off of his 2011 Photographs LP. You can check out the clip here at friendslikethose.com preferably with your Google Chrome browser. The video, which uses a plug-in from your personal Facebook account and culls through…
Two Ways to Get to Know Straits
Although it’s been open for nearly two years, I’ve only recently gotten well-acquainted with Straits — the subject of this week’s cafe review — and my biggest regret is not dining at the San Francisco import sooner. Every time I’ve attended a cooking competition in which Straits chef John Sikhattana…
“Leave Or Die Fags”: Message Scrawled on Gay Texas Couple’s Porch
A gay couple from the Panhandle woke to find a threatening message painted on their porch, and they think the perpetrator was egged on by an anti-gay and blatantly political newspaper ad taken out by a Church of Christ pastor. According to Connectamarillo.com, Joshua Harrison and Jeremy Jeffers say they…
Why Mitt Romney Won’t Win The Debate Tonight: He Won’t Shut Up About The Economy. Mitt, We Get It Already.
Once, while reflecting on his tumultuous tenure as Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War, Robert McNamara said: “Don’t answer the question you were asked. Answer the question you wish you were asked.” This may have allowed the folly of the Vietnam War to continue for nearly a decade, but…
First Look at Adair Kitchen
While there’s nothing groundbreaking about the new Adair Kitchen in the Galleria area off Sage and San Felipe, there’s something refreshing about that. I found myself charmed by the fast-casual restaurant — run by brother-and-sister duo Katie Barnhart Adair and Nick Adair, second-generation Houston restaurateurs — and its commitment to…
Medicine Girl Is the “Night Nurse” Is the Medicine Girl
I don’t know if this is unacceptable, but I’m fairly certain it’s not acceptable: At any given point in time, there are no less than eight very talented female rappers in town. There’s UZOY and there’s Tawn and there’s Candi. There’s TroubleSum and there’s Surreall (and her Gutta Mamis associates)…
Reality Bites: The American Bible Challenge (With Jeff Foxworthy!)
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. I know, I don’t usually check out game shows for Reality Bites, but ever since making a throwaway joke about The American Bible Challenge a few weeks ago, I’ve been…
Comment of the Day: Good Old NFL Schadenfreude Over Mario Williams
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
Is 666 Park Avenue The Greatest Show Of All-Time In The History Of Television Or Just The Past Four Days
This past Sunday night ABC premiered their newest drama, the spooky, ooky, devilishly corny 666 Park Avenue, based on Gabriella Pierce’s novel by the same name. The author helped write the first five episodes of the series too. The unintentional farce of a horror series centers on The Drake, a…
UPDATED: Houston Blues Museum Pushes For a Place of Its Own
UPDATED (October 4, 3:55 p.m.) to correct the name of Blues for Two and the Billy Blues sign. The saxophone-shaped sign is in fact still in front of The Horn; the HBM owns a different Billy Blues sign. The Houston Blues Museum is hoping to jump-start its campaign for a…
10 Oyster Dishes To Try in Houston: No. 10, Oyster Caesar Salad at Ragin’ Cajun
You know what I love about SeptembeR, OctobeR, NovembeR, and DecembeR? It’s oyster season! Not that I don’t indulge in bivalves year-round, but during these months oysters are, some say, at their peak in taste. For the next few weeks, I’ll be sampling the most memorable and tasty oyster dishes…
Hilary Harnischfeger’s Little Monsters at Front Gallery
Hilary Harnischfeger’s vessels have a natural earthiness to them. It’s in the muted earth tones she uses, the purples, greens and blues; the materials that are regular players in natural history museum gift shops — quartz, mica, pyrite (aka Fool’s Gold); and the organic shape they take on, as if…
Houston’s Rosehill Gets Personal, Thinks Crooked Thoughts
Last year’s Ziegfest was like nothing Mitch McBain and Blake Myers of Houston-based Texas country duo Rosehill had seen before. “We’ve played many festivals over the years and I have never been a part of a festival that was as well organized or as well run as Ziegfest Houston,” Myers…
October, Crisp Air and Squashes Galore
Pumpkins, squashes and gourds; you are seeing them at the doorway of every grocery store in town. Little tiny ones, giant ones, bumpy ones, long ones and fat ones: Are they all edible, do you just decorate with them, or do you carve them for Halloween? With names like Carnival,…
The Wonders Of Facebook: Arturo, “The Life Of The Party,” Fights 50-Year Sentence For Shooting His Kid’s Mom In Face
Sometimes you just have to let the Internet speak for itself. Such is the case with Arturo, a Houstonian who is the subject of a nascent web crusade seeking to get him a new trial and reduced sentence for shooting in the face the mother of one of his kids…
Get Your Tebow-Texans Week Started With…Memes!
This week brings the Houston Texans — suddenly the hot talk as Super Bowl contenders, undefeated, looking to roll — into the Big Apple for a big-stage Monday Night Football game against the reeling New York Jets. Adding to the drama is the fact that Mark Sanchez, the Jets’ starting…
Floyd-Flouting Aussies a “Tribute” Act Like No Other
While they are technically a “tribute band,” there is nothing amateur, half-assed or untrue to the source about the Australian Pink Floyd Show. In fact, these Down Under Wonders put on such an eerily accurate PF experience, they were asked by none other than David Gilmour himself to play his…
Texas Wine Shipping Prohibition Is Morally Indefensible (and Bad for Business)
“Where’d You Get That Wine?” asked Wine Spectator editor Mitch Frank in a blog post last week. It’s easy for him to say. He lives in Louisiana, where out-of-state retailers are allowed to ship wine. Here in neighboring Texas, it’s illegal for out-of-state retailers to ship wine to our state’s…
Festival des Métiers at Hermès Houston With Birkin Bags (Gasp!)
If all you know about fashion label Hermès is that it’s hard to pronounce (air-MEZZ) you will have the opportunity to learn a lot more next week at the Festival des Métiers, an in-store event at Hermès Houston. The event, billed as “a rendez-vous with Hermès craftsmen” promises to let…
Arian Foster’s Projected 2012 Workload: An Historical Perspective
“He can handle it, I know that. You never know how the season’s gonna go, and what it’s gonna take to win each week. We’re giving Arian some breaks at practice during the course of the week, but he looks fine to me. He’s holding up fine. He hasn’t missed…
Fuccing the Devil With Against Me!’s Andrew Seward
If there is something that is sadly lacking in the world, it’s musicians directing music videos. Some do it, of course, like Blitzen Trapper’s Brian Adrian Koch or Taylor Momsen who does her own storyboards. For better or for worse, though, most bands turn their product over to a professional…
Bottom Five Halloween “Treats,” or How to Guarantee an Egging
I’m not sure what I liked best about Halloween: the candy itself, or the inevitable back-room, black-market bartering that went on after the fact. Into the wee hours following Halloween, my brothers and I would sit on the rug in our bedroom, candy piled in front of us like Smaug…
100 Creatives 2012: Carl Lindahl, folklorist, UH professor
Carl Lindahl is a folklorist, Fulbright Distinguished Scholar, fellow of the American Folklore Society and a humanitarian. Originally from Chicago, Lindahl received his BA in English literature and medieval studies at Harvard University. It was during his freshman year at Harvard that he took a folklore course, Oral and Early…
KPRC Busts It: The Story Of HPD Sergeant Stacey Soro, Nude Model (UPDATED: NSFW Pics)
Oh, Houston police sergeant Stacey Suro — you tease with your semi-NSFW shots, the ones artfully pixeled out by KPRC, which broke the story of your nude-modeling sidejob — but when it comes to delivering the goods, you and Channel 2 fail. The station taunts with a nyah-nyah description like…
This Week In Food Blogs
29-95: This week, take a trip out to Marfa with J.C. Reid, who heads to far west Texas in search of a Tex-Mex item rarely found this far east. What is it? The “elusive flat enchilada,” which sees tortillas and cheese stacked lasagna style and then baked before being topped…
Reader’s Poll: The Compact Disc Turns 30
This week the compact disc turned 30 years old, and will no doubt spend it drinking with friends and wondering where the time went and lamenting the fact that they haven’t gotten married yet. Few people know that the first commercial CD produced was Billy Joel’s 1978 release 52nd Street,…
Reviews for the Lazy Gamer: Double Dragon Neon
Game: Double Dragon Neon Platform: PSN/XBLA Publisher/Developer: Majesco/WayForward Genre: Beat ’em up Describe This Game in Three Words: Welcome back ’80s. Plot Synopsis: In case you were utterly absent in the ’80s (And you might have been… Dear Christ I’m getting old), let’s recap. Karate master brothers Jimmy and Billy…
Apparently, Church and State Are Still Not Separated: ACLU of Texas Reports
The ACLU of Texas filed a report today stating that many of our good state’s public schools seemed to have forgotten that little document called the Constitution. The report states that the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization whose doctrine is to be the “nation’s guardian of liberty,” has received…
Unidentified Male In Westside Drive-By, Bayou Body Count No. 171; He Called 911 But Too Late
Two men were shot early this morning as they sat in a car in front of a far westside apartment complex, police say; they managed to drive away and call 911 but one died and the other is hospitalized with gun wounds. HPD has not released the name of either…
Justin Rowe — When Keepin’ It Real Goes Wrong, Volume XXXIV: Keying a Cop Car With A Cop Inside
What is it with Trinity County ne’er-do-wells? They can’t seem to refrain from taunting cops in utterly asinine ways. Four months ago, there was Jonathan Thompson, a frequent miscreant who deemed it wise to taunt the chief county constable by getting a tattoo reading “Woody Wallace Can Suck My Dick.”…
“The Smiths Are Never Going To Reunite Ever”: When Are The Smiths Reuniting?
This week, Morrissey’s possibly long-suffering publicist told Rolling Stone that “The Smiths are never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever going to reunite — ever.” The statement, meant to quell old rumors and quotes being dragged out on a slow music news week, was meant with smirks and laughs…
Comment of the Day: More Reasons Why Autumn In Texas Rocks
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
Berryhill Baja Grill Food Truck Hitting the Streets, But Not Without a Few Bumps in the Road
Walter Berryhill was a mobile food pioneer in Houston, walking the streets of River Oaks and selling 200 dozen tamales from his little push-cart every week along with his wife, Billie, for nearly 40 years. A lit Coleman lantern hanging from the side of the cart let people know that…
Okay, Who’s the A-hole Who Stole a Dog Rescuer’s Expensive Camera?
Yvette Holzbach has been photographing dogs for the Forgotten Dogs of the 5th Ward rescue group for at least eight months; her often heartbreaking pics have helped the group place 144 dogs since forming in November 2011. That’s why we were saddened when group member Holly Kelch told us some…
“How I Met Your Mother”: Now More Thoughtful and Self Aware
I’m ashamed to say it took me seven years to stumble upon “How I Met Your Mother,” whose rumored final season began last week. It’s easy to see why it’s been a critics’ favorite from the get-go; smart, hilarious and subtly poignant, it’s a more thoughtful and self-aware sitcom than…
Upcoming: Cypress Hill, Merle Haggard, The Wallflowers, Roberta Flack, Etc.
The 71’s, The Rocketboys: Fri., Dec. 14, 8 p.m., $10/$14. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Authority Zero: Fri., Nov. 23, 8 p.m., $12/$14. Scout Bar Clear Lake, 18307 Egret Bay Blvd., Houston. Bombay Bicyle Club, Vacationer: Thu., Oct. 11, 8 p.m., $12/$16. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Brokencyde: Wed., Nov…
Half-Price at Pico’s Mex-Mex and Beaver’s, Chef’s Table for Four at Sorrel
Patio weather has arrived, and you can enjoy it–and 50 percent savings on delicious food — with this week’s Houston Press Voice Daily Deal, where $15 gets you $30 at Pico’s Mex-Mex. Pico’s is a multiple Best of Houston ® winner, with awards for Best Patio Dining and Best Mexican…
Edward Carrizales-Saucedo: Meet Just One of the Kids Helped by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Scholarships
He didn’t have a cow. He’d never raised a goat or gathered eggs from a chicken, or nursed a rabbit through an illness. But what Edward Carrizales-Saucedo, a senior at Scarborough High School, had was an outstanding academic and extracurricular record. And that was more than enough for the Houston…
DVDs & Blu-rays: Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, Chained and Beatles Stories
The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate stars Jet Li, Mavis Fan, Kwai Lun-mei and Chen Jun; Tsui Hark directs. Just because you don’t have an IMAX theater in your living room, don’t pass up the DVD/Blu-ray release of Tsui Hark’s The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate. The wuxia action film…
Kevin Fowler Keeps Hangin’ In and Hangin’ On
Texas country rocker Kevin Fowler doesn’t just have a new record label, he’s also got a brand new back-to-the-basics kind of attitude. Shortly after Fowler signed with Lyric Street Records in 2010, the record label shut its doors, and Fowler was transferred to the label’s parent company, Disney Music Group…
Culinary School Matriarch Marie Lenôtre Awarded Chevalier Award by Daniel Boulud
It’s not every day that legendary chefs come to Houston. In fact, the last time Thomas Keller visited Houston, it was 1986. For one whirlwind weekend, however, Keller, Daniel Boulud, Jerome Bocuse, and the Bocuse d’Or USA team of chefs graced Houston with their presence. First on their agenda was…
Video Released Yesterday Shows Houston Journalist Austin Tice Alive, But Terrified
In the first glimpse of Austin Tice since a message he tweeted on August 11, the captured Houston journalist appeared in a video clip released yesterday on a website supporting the Syrian government. It shows Tice marching in rugged and arid terrain, blind-folded, among men armed with bazookas and machine…
C.I.T.Y.’s Top 6 Geographically-Based Rap Songs
The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place — lots of times, you’re even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good — so once a week we’re going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to…
Where Are We Drinking? Clue: Go Texas
The draft selection at this newish Washington Avenue lounge concentrates almost exclusively on Texas beers, with at least two local Oktoberfest brews on tap right now. All of the beers — draft or not — are $1 off during happy hour and bottles of wine are a whopping 25 percent…
Opposites Attract at PG Contemporary
PG Contemporary has two shows up that couldn’t be more different from each other. In one room, you have Hillevi Baar’s elaborate drawings and wall hangings that rely heavily on nature imagery. In the other, you have J Hill’s straight-forward design consisting mostly of reproductions of electronic equipment in MDF…
Awesome America! from Ohana Theatre Company: A Most Entertaining Evening
The set-up: In its inaugural production Awesome America!, the Ohana Theatre Company is presenting four short plays, unrelated, but with each representing a singular geographical idiosyncrasy, a landmark of sorts – but not necessarily monumental. The execution: The evening opens with Whatever Happened to Big Nose George, by Pamela Jamruszka…
NIN’s Broken at 20: The Movie Trent Reznor Didn’t Want You to See
Fans of Nine Inch Nails and loud music know the story of the Broken EP, but for those less familiar, here is the Reader’s Digest version: Upset with his record label Trent Reznor recorded, in secret, an album of loud aggressive rock completely unlike his first album (1989’s Pretty Hate…
What’s Cooking on Pinterest? Golden Grahams S’More Bars
I remember eating Golden Grahams cereal bars all the time as a kid. I loved the sticky marshmallow-coated Golden Grahams with chocolate chips and even more marshmallows; sugar, sugar and more sugar … what more could a kid ask for? So, when I found the at-home recipe for these bars…
Stormy Christopher Smith: Splendora Dandy Is a Skyperv, Police Say
In June, after the 15-year-old Humble girl at the center of these alleged crimes ran away from home to be with her secret boyfriend, 23-year-old Stormy Christopher Smith of Splendora, the girl’s father confiscated all her electronic devices. He thought that would bring the age-inappropriate relationship to an end. But…
Pop Rocks: Let’s All Imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger Having Sex
I’m sure somebody out there was really eager for actor/former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to write a memoir. Whoever you are, your prayers have been answered: Arnold Schwarzenegger says his lifelong penchant for secrecy and ability to put his emotions “on deep freeze” led him to keep many secrets from…
Buffalo Bills Fans Tweet Their Hatred For Mario Williams
Hard to believe now, but there was a time not too long ago when Texan fans openly debated the appropriate amount for the Texans to allocate this past offseason to re-sign defensive end/outside linebacker/chronic underachiever Mario Williams. Sure, the Texans defense was just fine without Mario for the final eleven…
The Rocks Off 100: Fiskadoro’s Richard Kimball
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. Who: Richard Kimball plays guitar and sings in one of Houston’s finest noise bands,…
Muddled Mediterranean at La Fendee
I keep a list pinned up in my office of places Houston Press commenters suggest I try — and it’s a long one, because you guys are opinionated! I love it, though, because it usually leads me to excellent foods at restaurants I have yet to try. Needing a place…
Kevin Meyer, Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy, Arrested At His Own Wedding; Fellow Deputy Also Charged in SPJST Hall Fracas (UPDATED: Charges Dropped)
Updated: The charges against Meyer and Lock were dropped. Apparently Harris County Deputy Sheriff Kevin Meyer’s Saturday night wedding reception was a doozy, because at some point, management at the SPJST Hall on Beall Street in the Heights area wanted to pull the plug on the shindig. Two Precinct One…
Too Bad It Rained: Top 5 Fried Foods I Wish I Had Tasted at the State Fair of Texas
Unfortunately, it rained literally all day long in Dallas on Saturday. Which just so happened to be the day I planned to attend the State Fair of Texas. There were many things I was looking forward to doing. I wanted to see Big Tex, ride the Ferris Wheel, watch the…
Third Day’s Mac Powell Makes Hard Country Turn
While they were on tour behind 1987’s The Joshua Tree, U2 — either homesick and looking for fun, bored or legitimately curious to see if the people who showed up that early would recognize them — booked themselves as their own opening act on the Los Angeles, Indianapolis and Hampton,…
Fall/Winter 2012: Nice Outfit — Did You Get That Last Year?
It’s that time of year when you realize all that awesome stuff in your closet is decidedly less awesome because All the Big Designers Said So. Now, go and throw out absolutely everything you own –keep something to go shopping in, but then toss it–it’s time to shop, people. Think…
Alabama Teabagger’s Trial Begins In Louisiana Today: What To Look For
On the night of January 9, 2012, the city of New Orleans saw Alabama commit one of the most heinous assaults in the city’s history on the LSU Tigers. And no, I’m not talking about the University of Alabama’s 21-0 whitewashing of Les Miles’ completely overmatched bunch of Tigers in…
10-Plus Vinyl Albums You’ll Always See at Thrift Stores
I have been cursed with an affliction to mindlessly buy vinyl at thrift stores, garage sales, flea markets, and estate sales, without regard for how much room I have at home. The problem now encompasses compact discs too. It’s a genetic trait. My father collects containers. His garage looks like…
Still Haven’t Updated Your iPhone? You Are Not Alone.
I was out with a few friends the other day making future plans to meet, when I opened the calendar on my iPhone to find that I was really, incredibly busy. “I was busy,” as in I had something to do every day of the week for the next century…
Top 10 Restaurants in Montrose
It’s been a while since we tackled neighborhood lists on Eating Our Words, yet posts such as “Top 10 Restaurants in the Heights” continue to be perennial favorites with our readers each month. The last time we compiled a Top 10 Restaurants in Montrose list was well over two years…
And The Most Gripping Photo Of The Dynamo Game Was Taken By…Me, Mr. Red-Eye?
A few things you have to know before you realize how unlikely the events of Saturday night were. 1. I am completely inept at photography. You want a portrait of a lovely pair of friends, standing perfectly still with smiles cemented impatiently on their faces, waiting waiting WAITING for the…
Jarmaine Darnell Simon: Charged With Arson In Azul Lounge Blaze
A Houston man has been charged with second-degree arson in connection with the September 18 blaze at a southside nightclub. Jarmaine Darnell Simon, 23, is charged with setting the fire at Azul Lounge at 9880 Buffalo Speedway about 4:30 a.m. that day, destroying the club that is near Reliant Stadium…
Clutch Win Over Revolution Keeps Dynamo In Playoff Chase
There’s a reason why Houston professional sports were meant to be played indoors. If the scorching summer days at BBVA Compass Stadium weren’t reason enough, the monsoon that swept through the area Saturday night made the Dynamo’s match against the New England Revolution a sloppy affair. Once the rain finally…
Seth MacFarlane Set To Host Oscars Next Year
If you watched Seth MacFarlane’s recent Saturday Night Live hosting gig, you know that he is a charming performer with an old-school bent. He can sing, dance, and has a throwback northern charm. That is, when he is not trotting out his Family Guy voices. Today we learned that he…
Video: Council Member Andrew Burks on Food Trucks, Terrorists and the Threat Against U.S. Embassies
In case anyone thought that Council Member Andrew Burks’s statements on food trucks and terrorists at a City Council public hearing on Tuesday, September 18, were misrepresented or exaggerated, a new video puts those ideas to rest. The video was created by local community activist Kyle Nielsen, whom the Houston…
Copper And “The Hudson River School”
Judging from the previews that came ahead of Sunday night’s episode of Copper, we were supposed to see part of New York City burn at the hand of Confederates. That didn’t happen, though the episode did a good job of staving it off in favor of more fuckery and creepiness…
Comment of the Day: The Oddities Surrounding Once-Pristine Rice Basketball Recruiting
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
What Wine Didn’t Romney Drink in Boca Raton?
This weekend, after-dinner conversation with family focused on presidential politics, the upcoming campaign, and politically hued media bias. Talk of Romney’s “47 percent” comment got me thinking: Which red wine was in the decanter on the table seen in the now infamous candid video of Romney that surfaced a few…
Miss Julie from Classical Theatre Company Lacks Essential Sexual Chemistry
The set-up: Miss Julie, August Strindberg’s ground-breaking psychological drama originally set in Sweden in 1874, is transferred to New Orleans in the 1920s, but a valet engaged to the cook still beds the lady of the house, and this violation of social taboos still leads to complications most dire. The…
Cooking Notes: The 5 Most Unnecessary Musical Cookbooks
This past week, international superstars and hard rock musical auteurs Smash Mouth announced that they were bestowing down upon us a cookbook from the heavens, which would give us some All Star recipes. You may have your doubts, but these recipes will have you Walkin’ on the Sun and saying…
Michelle Warner, 31, Buried By Ex-Boyfriend In Oilfield, Bayou Body Count No. 170
A man who has admitted burying his ex-girlfriend in an Odessa oilfield after killing her here has been charged with murder, Houston police say. Mark Augustin Castellano, 37, faces charges in the September 22 murder of Michelle Warner, 31, who was last seen in the 7200 Bellerieve on that day…
Best Comics in September: The End of After Twilight and More Evidence I’m a Bad Parent
Once a month the amazing staff at 8th Dimension Comics selects a pile of the best new releases for us to peruse and judge. Rose & Thorn #1 Rose Canton was a somewhat silly Golden Age Flash villain with a split-personality and plant powers. In the New 52 DC Universe,…
UPDATED: Friday Night: The Wiggins, Wicked Poseur, etc. at Walters
UPDATED (Monday, 11:50 a.m.) to reflect proper Wicked Poseur personnel. The Wiggins, Wicked Poseur, Fiskadoro, Hearts of Animals Walters Houston September 28, 2012 Four local acts, zero drummers. That was the promise of Friday night’s show at Walters headlined by the Wiggins. If that sounds like a tough sell in…
Where Are We Eating? Clue: B.Y.O.S.
At this new Galleria-area restaurant, you’re encourage to B.Y.O.S. — build your own salad, to order — from an array of interesting ingredients. During a recent lunch, I enjoyed a spinach salad with bacon, beets, goat cheese and pumpkin seeds in a light lemon vinaigrette that paired nicely with a…
And Charles Sims Shall Lead The Cougars To Victory: UH Tops Rice For Bayou Bucket
Maybe it was the weather outside of Reliant Stadium that had something to do with the sluggishness of Saturday’s Bayou Bucket. The grayness. The wetness. The dreariness. Maybe all of that worked against a football game being played inside of a gigantic aircraft hanger before a crowd that didn’t even…
Dole Fruit Shakers: A Simple On-The-Go Meal
I love skimming the freezer sections for new and interesting products … I am a college student, after all. I always look at the frozen dinners to make my long study nights easier and occasionally stop by the frozen desserts section — a little ice cream never hurts anyone, right?…
Saturday Night: Florence + The Machine at The Woodlands
Florence and the Machine Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 29, 2012 Was it really a mere five months ago that local girl Florence Welch and her band were playing the (then) Verizon Wireless Center? Life moves pretty fast, as Ferris Bueller once said, and F+tM’s rise has been meteoric indeed…
Classical Pianist Jade Simmons Plays with Fire: Rap
Whatever you do, don’t flip up Jade Simmons’s skirt. She’ll punch you. “My first playground fight happened when a little boy flipped up my skirt and I told him, ‘If you do that again, I’m gonna punch you.’ He did it again, and I had to punch him,” Simmons laughingly…
Texans-Titans: The 10 Best Rapper Tweets From Sunday’s Game
Houston has a professional football team. They are called the Houston Texans. A lot of people like them. Some of those people are rappers. The Internet has several forms of social media. One of them is called Twitter. A lot of people use it. Some of those people are rappers…
SPA Presents the Versatiity of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
The Set-Up: On September 29, the Society for the Performing Arts kicked off its new season with a program performed by Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (ASFB). The mixed-rep program included three dances by acclaimed choreographers Alejandro Cerrudo, Jiri Kylian and Jorma Elo. The Execution: The beauty of the mixed-rep format…
Halloween Treats: Glow-in-the-Dark Cupcakes
Cobwebs, witches, monsters and other creepy things always get incorporated into Halloween desserts. But, if you want to take your cupcakes to a whole new level, try making them glow in the dark. I love looking up fun recipes for Halloween. For some reason, themed food and desserts always catch…
Aresha Griffin, Passenger Victim Of DWI, Bayou Body Count No. 169
A 22-year-old passenger was killed when the driver of the car she was in sideswiped a cop car and crashed into a tree early Sunday, Houston police say. Aresha Griffin was killed in the 9100 block of Richmond a little after 2:30 a.m. Sunday, HPD says. Toccarra Victoria Dubose, 28,…
Boom. Roasted. — Arkansas Sucks, OSU Cheats(?) : The Monday Morning College Football Roast
As I type this, I’m sitting in the Reliant Stadium press box after the Texans’ 38-14 win over the Titans on Sunday afternoon, and admittedly it’s incredibly difficult to focus on writing about college football — partially because of the four television screens showing the late games and partially because…
7 Movie Endings We Would Change For the Hell Of It
A few weeks ago there was a completely pointless brouhaha on the Internet over whether the ending to James Cameron’s epic film Titanic was plausible. Not that the Titanic sinking wasn’t factual, but whether or not the tragic love affair between Jack and Rose needed to end so abruptly. The…
What’s Cooking This Week? Apple, Bacon, & Onion Flatbread + More!
I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don’t make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredients I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
Should Rappers Be Allowed to Release Music While Incarcerated?
Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. From time to time, Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. This Week’s Roster: E.S.G., Killa Kyleon, B L A C K I E, Brad Gilmore, Kyle Hubbard, Fat Tony, more. Not Invited: SPM This…
The 25 Best Reasons To Love Texas In The Fall
Fall has arrived in Texas, and thank God. There is no better time in the Lone Star State, for so many reasons. The switch in season may be more subtle than it is in the north — you never can get that far away from a Texas summer, after all…
Otello from Opera in the Heights: Downright Electrifying
The set-up: After hearing Opera in the Heights’s stirring production of Gioacchino Rossini’s 1816 “lyric tragedy,” based very broadly on Shakespeare’s mighty drama of jealousy, you will wonder, as did I, why this opera lies forgotten, a rarity among his many magnificent works (Barber of Seville, Italian Girl in Algiers,…
Shore Leave: (Non)DEFCON Dining at Underbelly
Dining out with children is an exercise in situational awareness. Each experience is unique, with different variables leading to different possible outcomes, DEFCON-like in their escalating threat levels. Keen observation, forward planning and prior experience are critical in determining the proper strategy. Here at DEFCON Dining, we do the grunt…
RIP Bobby Lewis of Third Ward Blues Joint Miss Ann’s Playpen
Bobby Lewis, whose no-cover Blue Monday jams at his Third Ward juke joint Miss Ann’s Playpen welcomed professionals and amateurs alike and became legendary among the Houston blues community, passed away over the weekend from a number of health problems. His age was unknown. Reg Burns, Director of Finance and…
Texans 38, Titans 14: After Early Scare, Houston Finally Proves It Can Handle Success
One week after exorcising their Peyton Manning demons, the Texans found themselves squarely in the crosshairs of another familiar enemy: complacency. In 2011, a 3-1 start turned sour with a demoralizing loss to Oakland in Reliant Stadium. Likewise, a home disappointment against Carolina ensued after the division-clinching win in Cincinnati…
Doctor Who: Untouched by an Angel
The Ponds are gone… and of the all the departures of the modern companions it was probably the worst. Strange to say after such an opening sentence, but the episode itself was phenomenal, maybe Steven Moffat’s best in fact. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory land in modern day New York…
If More Kid Book Authors Had Written For Adults
J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, arrived in bookstores last week. According to advance reports, the new book contains lots of sex (in the form of “a miraculously unguarded vagina” and a used condom that is “like the gossamer cocoon of some huge grub”), domestic abuse and…
The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: Victor Wooten, Merchandise, etc.
Victor Wooten San Jacinto College Central Victor Wooten is the kind of musician who leaves other musicians, especially bass players, in awe. One of his four older brothers taught Wooten the four-string arts at age three, and he’s gone on to a distinguished career that includes stints with both jazz-fusion…
First Look at Lucy Ethiopian Restaurant & Lounge
After being thoroughly disappointed with the one Ethiopian meal I had in Washington D.C., I began pining for a good meal at Blue Nile — my favorite Ethiopian restaurant here in Houston as well as the place where I’d first tried the cuisine many years ago. And then I remembered:…
Texans 38 — Titans 14: A Hasslebeck at QB Means a Pick-Six Fest
If Texans fans were expecting tense fingernail-biting to become a part of their season this week, they were disappointed. But it’s the only disappointment they’ve had to endure so far in 2012, and the locals look in fine shape as the schedule finally begins to toughen up. A bit, anyway…
James Black’s Sudden Illness Delays Death of a Salesman, Casting Change Announced
The Alley Theatre has just announced that due to an illness, actor James Black has withdrawn from the Death of a Salesman production and will be replaced in the lead role of Willy Loman. The Alley said Opening Night will be moved and it does not yet have a date…
HISD Financial Head Melinda Garrett Retiring After 30 Years in Schools
Melinda Garrett, who’s been directing the finances of the Houston school district for more than a decade, announced today she’ll be retiring after 30 years in education. “I am deeply honored to have had the privilege of serving the children, taxpayers and employees of HISD for all these years,” Garrett…
The Daily Show on Cafeteria Food, and Why the Criticisms Will Never, Ever Apply to HISD (According to HISD)
The Daily Show has tackled the tackling of an apparently growing problem — kids don’t like cafeteria food. As TDS points out, in terms of complaints this isn’t exactly new — kids have been turning up their noses at cafeteria food for as long as there have been noses to…
Comment of the Day: Just What Was Kroger Customer Service Thinking?
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
Music Not a Real Big Selling Point for Houston Right Now
Look, we all know Houston has a lot going on, and a lot to be proud of. As one of America’s biggest and busiest cities, it offers an almost infinite array of diversions and amusements to go along with world-class shopping, restaurants, universities and medical care. But some of us…
Braylon Lionell Marshall: Inside the Addled Mind of an Alleged Bank Robber
This one begins with a wig, sunglasses, yellow capri pants and a man dressed as a woman. On September 5 at First Convenience Bank, the strangely dressed man, who police say was Braylon Lionell Marshall, 24, handed a teller a rather dramatic note. It read, “I have a bomb. If…
This Week in Deliciousness: That Candy Inspector Van Is Totes Legit
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating…Our Words, where we’ve spent the better part of the week trying to think up food-themed voodoo hexes. So far the best we’ve got is “May it rain torrentially when you are unloading your collection of miniature rock-candy Tiffany lamps.” It’s pretty…
Stephen Chbosky Perks Up: The Writer/director Talks about His New Movie and His Dream Cast
Stephen Chbosky’s novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower was an instant hit with teen readers when it was released in 1999. The touching, tender story about Charlie, a troubled, awkward high school freshman who’s befriended by a couple of off-beat seniors, the book has now become a movie which…
The 5 Stupidest Things Musicians Want You to Have In the Kitchen
Earlier this week, we talked about all the stupid cookbooks that are out there either written or endorsed by celebrity musicians. For the most part, they were just endorsed because, and this gets down to the heart of the problem, musicians are musicians, not chefs. They don’t know anything about…
Chaise Green: EMT Getting Served Child-Porn Warrant Found in Bed with Underage Boy
It’s bad enough when cops come knocking on your door to serve you with a warrant for having child porn. Things get much worse when those cops find you in bed with a young boy as they’re doing their job. Chaise Green, 28, a firefighter and EMT from Louisiana and…
Guardian on Nance: The Week In Art Photos
It’s time again to check out the Houston Press Flickr Pool and see what kinds of art shots our talented photographers have added. We love street art, unique perspectives and beautiful photos of Houston’s creative community. If you think you’ve got a good eye, drop your pictures in the pool…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Matt Marcus of the Eatsie Boys Food Truck, A Snapshot of Some of His Food
Matt Marcus Eatsie Boys Food Truck 845-430-8479 www.eatsieboys.com This is Part 3 of a three-part chef chat series. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. This week, we found out what many gourmet food truck owners already know: Food truck chefs are not to be underestimated. Matt Marcus of…
Gothic Council Tries to Figure Out Nick Cave
A little while back, I was tasked with defining the seven ages of goth. Basically, the goal was to go from the birth of the genre to its modern forms and incarnations based on the years which each of those subgenres were at their height. It was a fair bit…
Today’s Voice Daily Deal: $24 of Food for $12 at Beaver’s
The famous Chick-on-Chick sandwich may no longer be on the menu at Monica Pope’s playful icehouse, Beaver’s, but plenty of other great dishes are — and today, you can get that food for a bargain price. Those dishes includes our own favorites like: 2011 Best of Houston® Best Veggie Burger…
Person of Interest: What’s the [Contingency], Kenneth?
Aaaaaand we’re back. Hope everyone had a good summer. Now where were we? Oh right, last season ended with a literal bang, as Caroline Turing, Reese and Finch’s latest POI, turned out to be none other than the mysterious hacker known as “Root.” On one hand, she solved Finch’s “Alicia…
Week in Photos: Mopar
Each week, we take a dip into the Houston Press Flickr pool and see what our talented photographers have been up to. We’re looking for pictures that represent the best of Houston, from food to art to events, to secret hidden spots of beauty. Just drop them in our Flickr…
Get This Man a Wine Bar! A Chat with Houston Celeb Sommelier Antonio Gianola
In the five years that it was open, the sorely missed Catalan Food & Wine Bar on Washington earned no less than three nods for the Best Wine List in Houston here at the Houston Press Best of Houston® Awards. It was certainly my favorite wine list in the city,…
Last Night: Scarface & Digital Underground’s Shock G at Warehouse Live
Arts, Beats & Lyrics feat. Scarface, Shock G, DJ Lord, Clyde “The Funky Drummer” Stubblefield & Mansions on the Moon Warehouse Live September 27, 2012 How to guarantee a successful event: Step 1: Select an appropriate venue to accommodate your guests. Step 2: Diversify your guest list to include a…
Alcohol Enemas: Texas Was “Butt-Chugging” Long Before Tennessee
Showcasing the strange and wonderful thing that is the frat boy’s creativity and imagination, several members of the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter at the University of Tennessee decided that sucking down booze the old-fashioned way was boring and decided to administer alcohol enemas to one another. Bottoms up! This “butt-chugging”…
Upcoming Events: Free Mexican Food, Plus Drink Pink in October
Discovery Green’s new Green Film Series begins tonight, September 28, and will run until November, showing films designed to educate and challenge the community on how to respect and care for the earth. Tonight’s offering, which will begin just as the sun goes down, will be “FRESH,” a documentary that…
Cable Channels That Need to Exist NOW
Getting cable was the worst thing that ever happened to me. When I am not at work writing about pop culture, I am at home participating in pop culture. And when I am at the gym, I am watching cable; the only thing that makes cardio a pleasure is watching…
For Even “Failed” Musicians, Influence Is Success
Welcome to Ask a Failed Musician, in which I will help struggling musicians make sense of their careers and even offer some advice. Whether or not it will work, who knows? It obviously didn’t work for me. But then again, I was on Kimmel once, so there’s that.Black Flag: Very…
100 Favorite Dishes 2012: The Map
View 100 Favorite Dishes 2012 in a larger map Being the map nerd that I am, I look forward to mapping out our list of 100 Favorite Dishes every year to see the geographical distribution of our picks throughout the city. If you look back through our 100 Favorites lists…
The New Movement Houston Is Now the Station Theater
It’s undeniable that Houston’s comedy scene has been on the rise. You can catch a cheap comedy show just about any day of the week, and a lot of it is really good. Some of this is due in part to the improv troupe The New Movement Houston (TNM). Based…
Dear Obama, I Don’t Really Want to Have Dinner with Beyonce. How About These 5 Celebs?
Awhile back I made a vow that rather than getting upset and arguing over radical rightwing posts on Facebook, I would instead donate $5 to the Obama campaign. It’s a lot more proactive, and cuts down on the number of bullshit screamfests that have probably cut years off my lifespan…
Your Texans Gamewatching Prep: Lord, How Times Have Changed With The Team’s Success
Man, NFL Sundays used to be so much easier when the Texans sucked. You knew they were going to lose, they knew they were going to lose, all your friends knew they were going to lose — what was the sense in putting a lot of effort into watching? Unless…
Top 5 Regular Folks Who Were Immortalized as Game Characters
Game designers are like any other artists in that they draw inspiration from the world around them. Plenty of very famous video game characters owe their existence to celebrities. Master Chief is meant to embody the Man With No Name played by Clint Eastwood, Gordon Freeman was inspired by a…
Bartender Chat: Amy Singletary of J. Black’s Feel Good Lounge on Hockey Fights and More
At J. Black’s Feel Good Lounge, bartender Amy Singletary — whose last name is spelled just like that of Minnesota Vikings linebacker coach Mike Singletary — says she gets asked all the time if she’s related to the famous football player. (Amy is white; Mike is black.) “I’m like, what…
Hearing Garth Brooks’ No Fences for the Very First Time
Twenty-two years ago this week, Garth Brooks’ second album, No Fences entered the charts and made itself comfortable. It was a titanic, monumental record for country music, eventually going platinum 17 times over on its way to becoming a global smash. No Fences is often credited with ushering in a…
What the Hell’s Going On with Rice Basketball? Their Best Players, Connected to Former Coach Marco Morcos, Leaving in Droves
John RoyalArsalan Kazemi and assistant coach Marco Morcos, two of the recent Rice basketball depaturesJust what is going on with the Rice Owls men’s basketball team? It was supposedly a program on the rise the last time they played a game in Houston. But since that time, only about six…
Health Department Report: CoCo’s, Field of Green’s & More
There were quite a few clean or nearly clean places in this week’s reports. That’s good news for nearly everyone. Also good news: We’re currently at 176 years without a mobile food unit-based terrorist attack! Councilmember/Lord Protector of Houston Andrew Burks must be ecstatic. Sullivan’s (4608 Westheimer) was completely clean…
100 Creatives 2012: Sutapa Ghosh, Film Producer and Indian Film Festival of Houston Organizer
Film producer Sutapa Ghosh wants to be clear – not all Indian films are done in the Bollywood style. “We love Bollywood, but we’re beyond Bollywood,” she tells us. “The new generation has evolved into something new now. There was a stagnation for a long time, where we were doing…
Turning 10, American Idol Struggles to Make New Stars — But Mostly Misses
It’s hard to imagine it now, just a shade less than a decade later, but at one time American Idol was able to crank out star after star in a succession of seasons. Most people couldn’t name at least one of the last five winners of Fox’s cash-cow pop show,…
Football! This Weekend’s Best Bets, “Roger Goodell Is Better Than FEMA” Edition
So how bad was the controversial ending of Monday night’s Seahawks-Packers game for the NFL? Well, consider that the story got coverage on every major national news show Tuesday morning, was the subject of a David Letterman Top 10 list, and prompted President Obama to comment publicly on the topic…
7 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: Jackie Greene, Sander Van Doorn, Yes Indeed Fest, etc.
All of 31 years old (growl), Jackie Greene’s preternatural resemblance to hip ’70s roots-rockers like J.J. Cale and Little Feat has already led The New York Times to dub the San Francisco singer-songwriter “the prince of Americana.” He has already sang lead with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh’s group Phil…
Openings & Closings: September 2012, Plus Picking a New Name for Calliope’s Po-Boy
After a supremely busy seven days for restaurant news last week, this week let up a little bit — but not by much. Starting off the week was news that chef Erin Smith is leaving Plonk. Her last day will be October 13 and after a brief trip to visit…
Get Into the Fall Season With These 9 Movies
Whether it feels that way or not, it’s been autumn now for several days. You would never know it, however, from the 90-degree temperatures we are sweating through. How can you think about hot apple cider and doughnuts when you are still wearing cut-offs? I was in the east coast…
AG Greg Abbott Can’t Keep Himself Out of the Kountze Cheerleader Bible Case
In a development that really only has people asking, “What took so long?” Texas attorney general Greg Abbott, ever eager to flail whatever red-meat rightwing issue that crosses his desk, has “offered assistance” to the good folks at the Kountze school district who have received a “menacing and misleading letter”…
Comment of the Day: On the End of an Astros Era
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
Tiesto Hurts Back, Cancels October Tour Dates
Dutch superstar DJ/producer has been forced to cancel all of his October tour dates, including a set at the first-ever Something Wicked festival, according to a statement on Tiesto’s Web site this afternoon: Rewind: Something Wicked: More Light on Houston’s Halloween EDM Bash Tiësto regrets to announce that due to…
Unidentified Robbery Suspect Shot By Homeowner, Bayou Body Count No. 168
A southside homeowner broke up a robbery attempt by fatally shooting one of the suspects, and a Harris County grand jury will examine the case, Houston police say. The homeowner, 58, had arrived at his home in the 5800 block of Glenhurst about 10 p.m. Tuesday night when two armed…
OMG Helena Brown Was Right! We Are Drowning in Debt (Or Are We? Susan Combs Decides)
Quick, someone find a fiscal cliff to jump from. Susan Combs, the Texas comptroller of public accounts, released a report Wednesday saying we’re all screwed. Public debt at the local level — including community colleges, municipalities, school districts, etc. — has more than doubled in the last decade from $87…
100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 1, Korean Braised Goat and Dumplings at Underbelly
This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we’re counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston’s cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least once…
HISD Staff Goes Gangnam Style: This Is Not a Joke
Rocks Off saw something so disturbing today on the morning news, but it was early we were sure it couldn’t possibly be real. It is. The Houston Independent School District has produced a video to promote early voting featuring teachers, faculty and other district staff — including what must be…
Obesity Ads Targeting Fat People and Pissing Them Off
There’s been quite a ruckus over a series of new PSA’s by the Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota asking overweight parents to set a better example for their overweight children. In the ads, parents see their bad habits spilling over into their children’s lives in the form of Cocoa Krispies…
Z Rock 106.9 FM Returns In Web Form
A few months back, Heath Bilbrey made waves in Houston by resurrecting the KLOL brand and format with an online radio station. This week Rocks Off has learned that he has also brought back Z Rock 106.9 KKZR from the radio cemetery with the same treatment. “We plan to follow…
April Boggs: Police Searching for Edgar Zavala in Grisly Murder of Heights Woman
Houston police had little to go on when they found a dead body in a Heights apartment this summer Since then, they’ve identified the victim as April Boggs, 42, and have determined that she was robbed, raped and beaten with a baseball bat by the killer who left her to…
Something Wicked: More Light on Houston’s Halloween EDM Bash (UPDATED)
UPDATED to correct lineup after Tiesto’s back injury. “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” — Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1 It’s exactly one month until Something Wicked, the Halloween electronic dance music festival at Sam Houston Race Park co-produced by Houston’s Nightculture and EDM megapromoter…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Matt Marcus of the Eatsie Boys Food Truck, on Life in The Fat Duck Kitchen and Where He’ll Be in 5 Years
Matt Marcus Eatsie Boys Food Truck 845-430-8479 www.eatsieboys.com This is Part 2 of a three-part chef chat series. Read Part 1 here and Part 3 in this same space on Friday. Yesterday we chatted with Matt Marcus of the Eatsie Boys about everything from selling burgers in his military school…
We Dared to Go: The Astros’ Last Home Game of a Godawful 2012, and the End of Several Eras
Check out our slideshow of Milo Hamilton saying goodbye and more during the Astros’ final 2012 home game. Astros fans probably knew back in April that they would have a hard row to hoe this year, but even still, every April brings out a sense of optimism in fans, and…
Aggressive Pricing Makes Wine Go Down Easier in Houston
As a Texan transplant (by way of southern California and New York City), I have always been impressed by Houston’s across-the-board aggressive wine pricing in restaurants. A few weeks ago, when I visited Osteria Mozza, the swank Los Angeles outpost of the Bastianich empire, one of the wine buyers told…
Last Night: 2 Chainz at House of Blues
2 Chainz House of Blues September 26, 2012 “It’s ya birthday, It’s ya birthday! Bad bitch contest, you in first place!” — 2 Chainz At the #MadeInAmerica festival in Philly a few weeks ago, only two performers graced the main stage both nights. The first was Jay-Z, the mastermind and…
Free for All: “CraftTexas 2012,” Peter Max and Libba Bray
Is it art or is it craft? Or is it arty craft? Crafty art? Agh, that debate will make your head spin. Let’s just say the pieces at “CraftTexas 2012,” opening Friday at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, are beautiful and well done. Take for example, Paula Gron’s oversized…
Welcome to Your Dad’s STDs: Syphilis on the Rise in Houston
Hey soldier!! Wrap that rascal!! Loose lips sink ships!! Careless talk costs lives!!! Loose women may also be LOADED with disease!! The WWII vibe is heavy these days in Houston, as health officials have announced a comeback of the Greatest Generation’s STD, syphilis. The Houston Department of Health and Human…
Blackmarket Syndicate: The Crime of Free Speech
It’s a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we’re trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. Every morning I drop off the Kid With One F at her daycare. As I stumble out and get ready to head into the…
Farmers’ Market Spotlight of the Week: Persimmons
Cooler temperatures mean that the City Hall Farmers Market is open once again and that more Houstonians will be heading out to enjoy the many other excellent farmers’ markets across the city. Each week, we’ll be spotlighting a produce pick from the Urban Harvest network of farmers’ markets by showing…
Companhia de Danca Deborah Colker Is bringing MIX to Jones Hall
Deborah Colker isn’t your usual dancer-choreographer. Hers isn’t the story of the toddler who could barely walk thrust into dance lessons and discovering the joys of being onstage. “I used to be an athletic person [volleyball] and I used to study piano,” she told Art Attack. “Also, I studied psychology…
Game Day Snacks: Spinach Dip Bread Bowls
Football — it’s finally here! I could not be more excited to throw on a jersey, stress over my fantasy team and get a nice buzz while watching the games every weekend. But equally as important — the food! While I love me some spinach dip, I loathe having to…
Here’s the Screwed Up Click Take on ZZ Top’s “25 Lighters” Cover
Rocks Off is a huge fan of DJ Screw and the Screwed Up Click. We also love and adore ZZ Top. So when ZZ reimagined the DJ DMD classic “25 Lighters” as “I Gotsta Get Paid” for their new record La Futura, we had to reach out to the DJ…
One Woman’s Kroger Nightmare: Thanks to Staff, Wallet Trashed, Credit Cards Slashed, Driver’s License MIA
Bonnie Sheeren says she has shopped at the West 11th Street Kroger for 20 years. A former teacher at nearby Reagan High School, she knew many of the employees. It felt like home, less like a corporate leviathan than a neighborhood mom-and-pop. All of that changed at around 9 a.m…
Steve Beckholt: Game-Day Video of the Ultimate Texans Fan
You may not know the name Steve Beckholt, but if you’ve watched a Texans game on TV you’ve seen him. The cameras love to catch him being what he is — the ultimate Texans fan. The Tomball dude has a wide array of gear, an endless fountain of enthusiasm, an…
Pop Rocks: In Defense of the AMC 30
In case you were confused, “AMC 30” doesn’t refer to a group of defendants in the grisly Appalachian Mountain Club murders, but rather our own multiplex out on Dunvale between Richmond and Westheimer. In case you hadn’t heard, it won “Best Theater” in the Houston Press Best of Houston® 2012…
The Rocks Off 100: DJ Gracie Chavez
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. Who: In a city abundant with talented DJs, Gracie Chavez shines bright above the…
Cocktails from the Office Coffee Bar: Build-A-Bar and the Nature of Inspiration
I don’t drink at work. Let’s get that out of the way right off the bat. I never know who reads this thing, after all. I do, however, drink an awful lot of coffee. I split my time between making coffee I want to drink (I love my Aeropress and…
Father Ronald Bollich: Two More Men Accuse Beaumont Diocese of Negligence in Alleged Abuse
Two more men have joined a lawsuit accusing a deceased Beaumont priest of molestation. Identified as John Does, the two men join another anonymous plaintiff who sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Beaumont and Bishop Curtis Guillory in April over abuse that allegedly occurred in 1976 and 1977. The accused…
5 Horrifying Video Game Plots That Are Coming True As We Speak
If you’re like me, you play video games to escape from real life… which is kind of pointless in my case since my job involves playing video games and writing about them. You, however, probably have a real job with like pens and keycards and bosses that aren’t willing to…
What’s Beef? Houston’s Wine-O Says “Happy Birthday T.I.,” Doesn’t Mean It
If you want to have a squabble with a rapper, you’re going to need just cause. And Houston’s own Wine-O believes he has all the right in the world to set his sights on T.I. Known mostly for being a feared presence on a microphone and in stature, Wine-O has…
Top 5 Halloween Treats of Yesteryear
Remember Halloween of yesteryear? Those decades when costumes weren’t necessarily slutty and Oreo cookies came in one variety? Probably not, unless you’re a Baby Boomer. If you’ve ever wondered what America’s favorite October holiday (sorry, Columbus) was like in the 1940s and 1950s, here are five Halloween treats of yesteryear…
6 Thoughts on Tim Tebow’s Lifetime Membership in the Museum of Sex
This past summer, my employer was kind enough to give me a few extra days off around the Fourth of July. Rather than go on an exotic journey somewhere far less humid than Houston, I opted to stay in Houston to relax and experience a few of the Houston landmarks…
Anything Worth Missing About Myspace? Actually, Tons
This week the return of a spiffed-up and glossy Myspace was heralded by a viral Vimeo clip — leaked by Justin Timberlake no less — touting a new chapter in the history of the formal social media. Timberlake has owned a huge part of the company since 2011. The two-minute…
Country Farewell Tours: How Well Do They Stick?
Wednesday’s noontime announcement by Country Music Hall of Famer George Strait that he would retire from the road after his 2013-14 “The Cowboy Rides Away” farewell tour hit Rocks Off harder than it should have. True, he’s 60, has a ranch and grandchildren, and has earned his golden years many,…
Texans Tailgate Thursdays: Team Duck Fallas on Eating the Other Team’s Mojo
It’s well known that the Houston Texans have one of the greatest tailgating traditions in the country, a fact made more impressive by the team’s relative youth. On Thursdays during football season, we’re spotlighting groups that make Texans tailgating the pride of Houston. It should come as no surprise that…
Best Dance Club
While some of us weren’t looking, guitars became obsolete. Everybody else was over at Stereo Live. The spacious discotheque at 6400 Richmond — once home to the legendary Club 6400, whose alumni still hold reunion nights — has actually been booking some of the world’s top DJs for a few…
Best Arts Organization
The Fresh Arts Coalition-Spacetaker merger is a solid illustration of one team being stronger than two individuals. In April, the ten-year-old Fresh Arts Coalition (a marketer for select art presenters) and the nine-year-old Spacetaker (an established support system for creative types) made the tying of the knot official. Headed by…
Best Piano Bar
The first thing you need in a great piano bar is a piano, and a master behind it, and Fuad’s has one in the form of Geoff Allen, an unstumpable maestro on the keys. The second thing you need is great atmosphere, and Fuad’s vaults that bar with gold-medal ease…
Best Brunch
Who needs to go to Vegas when you can get Sunday brunch at Hugo’s? The Sunday all-you-can-eat brunch consistently offers an excellent sampling of regional Mexican cuisine that is the staple of Hugo’s trademark. Beautiful shrimp and octopus salads, hearty rich seafood soups, rack of lamb and roasted pork ribs,…
Best Beer Selection
The new craft beer bar from Anvil Bar & Refuge co-owners Bobby Heugel and Kevin Floyd is bigger in both size and beer selection, with 80 taps that include five devoted solely to cask selections. Within those 80 taps, you’ll find nearly every style of beer conceivable, from Rauchbiers to…
Best Sommelier
Being one of the few female sommeliers in town doesn’t make Vanessa Treviño-Boyd any less of a powerhouse; if anything, this only makes her more fascinating. In what is a typically male-dominated industry, Treviño-Boyd worked her way through some of New York City’s finest restaurants before returning home to Houston…
Best Cheese Shop
One of the best things about this not-so-hidden treasure is its support of Texas cheesemakers. The titular maids comb the state for the best home-grown cheeses (note: Cheese, we’re told, isn’t technically “grown”) like Sand Creek Farm’s gouda, farmhouse and brick varieties, or CKC Farms’s baby caprino. Although we were…
Best Taco
Tacos are one of those foods best enjoyed outdoors — yes, even on a sweltering day. It’s the Houston way. That’s why the all-outdoors Karanchos is such a destination for taco hounds. That, and the rotating pork-on-a-spit called trompo, which marinates in pineapple juice while it cooks. Like barbecue, trompo…
Best Service
The massive, multisensory menu at Uchi can be intimidating — even to hardcore food lovers. Machi cure with yucca crisp and garlic brittle? Walu walu with yuzupon and myoga? It could all be a bit much if it weren’t for Uchi’s impeccable service. With a waitstaff that knows the menu…
Best Junk Store
Whether you’re looking for old-school cowboy boots to play up your Texanism (they got ’em) or a funky new lamp for the guest room (check), the Texas Junk Company has you more than covered. This is a Montrose institution through and through, and worth a visit if you have out-of-towners…
Best Antiques
Usually, when an antique mall moves, it heralds bad news. But that’s not the case with Thompson’s Antique Center of Texas. The new place, in the former JC Penney’s in Northwest Mall, is movin’ on up, as the Jeffersons would say. The old venue was musty; now, it’s cheerful, with…
Best Carpet Cleaning
Even though Oops! uses an all-natural pretreatment solution “made of citric acid or orange peels, so safe you can drink it,” we recommend just enjoying an ice-cold lemonade while you watch the Oops! team bring your carpet back to life. One of the many things we like about Oops! is…
Best Shoe Store
Oh, DSW, what would we do without you? We’d run all over town, from store to store, looking for the best prices and a different style of shoe at each store, that’s what we’d do. Fortunately, we don’t have to endure such a nightmarish existence, because DSW (that’s “Designer Shoe…
Best Dynamo
Geoff Cameron has emerged as a versatile and key player for the Dynamo, good enough to train with the U.S. Team gunning for the World Cup. He’s a defender but has shown he can play other roles as well and contribute significantly. He makes a big impression off the field,…
Yelawolf
Yelawolf, the “tatted-up skater with a trailer-park twang,” has been the topic of much discussion in rap circles since he first hit the scene, captivating audiences with his slurry-to-frantic cadence (heavy on punkish howls) and bringing it all on home with a killer live show. The 32-year-old is currently recording…
Best CD Shop
Do people even buy CDs anymore? They must, because Half Price Books keeps stocking them. The budget-media retailer may not have a Cactus-like variety, but it usually has a few titles by most major artists, especially if they weren’t big blockbuster albums. It also seems to specialize in CDs by…
Best First Date
With the perfect mix of fancy and casual, this eatery/drinkery in the Heights is a dynamic spot to take a first date for caffeine, a kickback lunch or a romantic dinner. Open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., the coffee/restaurant/bar — decked out in Victorian decor in some spots,…
Best Hotel Bar
Once you see the Line and Lariat’s central bar tower while walking through the recently remodeled lobby of the Hotel Icon, you’re going to want to sit down at the bar. The soft glow will coax you to order a drink, then you’ll probably order another because chit-chatting with the…
Best Indian Restaurant
Shri Balaji Bhavan’s sparse atmosphere and counter service don’t dissuade Houstonians in search of delicious and authentic Udipi-style cuisine. The place is always packed with people sitting at feast-laden tables. Prices are so reasonable here, you can generously feed a family of four for around $50. It’s so delicious that…
Best French Restaurant
Chef Olivier Ciesielski made Tony’s into one of Houston’s top destinations for years, and finally branched out into a place all his own with the effortlessly chic L’Olivier. Inside what was once a convenience store (among other things), Ciesielski has transformed the space with cool, herringbone marble floors in the…
Best Margarita
The shrine to tequila near El Gran Malo’s entrance should give you some indication as to how seriously this bar takes its spirits. Its signature tequila infusions range from fruits and vegetables (strawberry-cucumber or blueberry-jalapeño-cilantro) to herbs and spices (cinnamon-vanilla or hops) and even meats (a beef jerky-infused tequila makes…
Best T-Shirt Store
Besides, you know, music, Cactus Music is an excellent place to replenish your wardrobe. The Shepherd Plaza institution’s T-shirt stock features bands from the Strokes to the Stooges and local landmarks like Saint Arnold’s beer. And every self-respecting Houstonian should own a plain old Cactus shirt to go alongside their…
Best Sandwich
Located inside the old Antone’s Deli spot in Rice Village, Local Foods does its former tenant a great honor by continuing to turn out spectacular sandwiches that are wholly Houston. Made with as many local ingredients as possible, whether it be produce, meat or cheese, Local Foods’ sandwiches are chock…
Best Egg Salad
As far as sandwich fillings go, egg salad can often be tame, mild — dare I say, effete? Not so at DaCapo’s Pastry Cafe, whose version is genuinely peppy thanks to an infusion of honey mustard in the dressing and a sprinkling of dill. After experiencing this sweet-spicy punch, you’ll…
Best Baby Store
Don’t let the name fool you: Yes, they’ve got furniture, which we’ll get to in a minute, but they also have books, toys, strollers, clothes, wall art and even something called a PeePee TeePee. Basically, if you’ve spawned a tiny human being, then your new best friend is now Baby’s…
Best Mechanic
North Shepherd is an ugly, functional thoroughfare: Houston’s undisputed Muffler Row, lined with one used car dealership, spare-parts peddler, tire barn and transmission barn after another. The immaculately white, bunting-adorned, vintage-neon-announced Hoepfl garage appears almost as a mirage amid this sea of asphalt, exhaust miasma and general automotive grunge. Once…
Best Used Bookstore
Old books are like old friends — they should be cared for and revisited often. With more than 65,000 titles in stock, Long Lost Friends is a treasure trove of used and rare books. New titles are added almost daily, and the shop often makes large bulk purchases, such as…
Best Strip Mall
In many ways, Braes Heights seems more like Rice Village than Rice Village. First, there’s the food: It’s home to iconic and storied local eateries in Molina’s Cantina, and two Village refugees in Fuzzy’s Pizza and one of the last redoubts of the once-sprawling Antone’s po-boy empire, not to mention…
Best Outdoor Playground
Sited at the intersection of two of Houston’s foremost bicycle routes (Heights Boulevard and the MKT Trail), Donovan Park is an ideal destination for two-wheeled family adventures. As a private park, this little gem is not affiliated with any cash-strapped City of Houston or Harris County entity, and so Donovan…
Burger Bars
Top 10 With the new Texans season in full swing and plenty of great spots around town to catch the game, we decided to scope out the best burgers at our city’s pubs and sports bars, because you can’t put your body through the stress of an NFL game without…
Best View
Since it seems like all you can see of Houston from the air is sprawl, the ideal view of the city should come at ground level and include something besides our justifiably famous downtown skyline — like the fact that Houston is a city of trees. Since we’re so damn…
Best Curator (Non-museum)
After making an international name for himself as a graffiti artist and leader of Aerosol Warfare, GONZO247 branched out into new territory and began curating shows for other walls. Most notable was this year’s “Grandalism” series at DiverseWorks, a program of commissioned works by individual artists who, in turn, each…
Best New Gallery
Even though outgoing McClain Gallery director Scott Peveto debuted his Peveto Gallery in March, the space — located in the old New Gallery building near the intersection of Kirby Drive and Richmond Avenue — has already been lauded by some locals as a heavy-hitting addition to the potent arts scene…
Best Fries
Though primarily known for its innovative burgers (like the Sticky Monkey with peanut butter, bacon and grilled bananas), Hubcap Grill offers fries that can steal the show from the patties. The Hell Fries, thin strips of deep-fried potato topped with jalapeños, cayenne and chile powders, and a Siracha mayonnaise, are…
Best Hot Dog
When you see Good Dog’s baby-blue-and-white food truck with cheerful red and gold lettering parked next to a coffee shop, museum or bar, it’s hard not to pull over immediately and get your hands on one of its signature hot dogs. All of the condiments are handmade, the soft buns…
Best Mac -n- Cheese
Of all the incarnations of macaroni and cheese served in a miniature cast-iron skillet that have decorated menus in the past few years, BRC’s interpretation of this dish is the best. And that’s because the gastropub keeps it smartly simple, with elbow macaroni soaking up a sharp cheddar sauce that’s…
Best European Auto Repair and Body Work
Just because K&H Autohaus has a waiting room as beautifully appointed as a Bugatti Veyron and as comfortable as a Mercedes S550 doesn’t mean you can’t afford to take your VW Beetle there. But unfortunately, there’s little excuse to stay and enjoy yourself, because not only is the shop a…
Best Wine List
Just as the sign-less Plonk is a secret treasure here in Garden Oaks, so does its wine list feature hidden gems from the peerless mind of owner Scott Miller. Miller, the former wine director at Pappas Steakhouse, is smart enough to know his clientele on both ends of the wine…
Best Romantic Restaurant
There’s a reason Houstonians continue to host their weddings and celebrate their anniversaries at this beloved institution — and it’s not just the verdant views onto the lush bayou or the romantic, lodge-like feel imparted by the wood-beamed, fireplace-warmed structure. The food is amazing, too, as is the warm, high-end…
Best Paint Store
Houston is covered in paint, or it soon will be. With all the new dwellings going up in Montrose and Fourth Ward the past few years, the cans must be practically flying off the shelves at Southwestern Paint. Southwestern recently renovated its Montrose location, the one that’s been there since…
Best Chocolate Shop
The almond-pecan florentines are deceptively innocent-looking at Expressions Fine Chocolate. They are, in fact, decadent, as are most of the concoctions owner Valerie Gamble creates. Gamble, a former stockbroker, started her shop in 2004. She makes everything by hand and uses only the finest ingredients with no preservatives, which means…
Best Camera Store
While record stores have made a comeback, the opposite can be said about their analog brethren known as camera shops. That’s why we hold onto the old Durham Drive standby a little tighter, especially since the longtime photography spot employs an eager-to-help staff that’s hip to analog and digital hardware…
Best Aero
Houston is really going to miss Aero Jon DiSalvatore, who was team captain and a top offensive player who did tons of charity work and loved interacting with fans. He’s left to play with a team closer to his home in Connecticut. We’ll remember him as a coach’s dream who…
Best Coach
Yeah, yeah, we know: A late-season collapse meant no playoffs and a mediocre draft pick for the Rockets. So what else is new? The staggering finish made many fans forget that McHale got more out of his lineup than many expected for much of the season. And one of the…
BEST OF HOUSTON®
Houston is one strong city — one of the fastest-growing in the nation, and a leader in new jobs. As new residents move in, they discover what the rest of us have long known: This is a great place to live, and it’s not just our population that’s pumped up…
Best Blues Club
They don’t make ’em like Mr. Gino’s anymore. They probably didn’t make ’em like Mr. Gino’s in 1973, when the ramshackle but well-kept bar near 610 south and Cullen Boulevard opened. With Christmas lights on the walls, plywood partitioning and a small stage in the corner, Gino’s feels more like…
Best Drag Bar
The favorite drag bar of a certain member of the Houston talk-radio community, TC’s in Montrose is the first drag haunt that many curious Houstonians will find themselves in once they get bitten by the fabulous bug. The club features full-on shows five nights a week. Leave your inhibitions at…
Best Dive Bar
Some of the best establishments in fast-growing Houston are situated in quickly slapped-together-looking strip malls, including The Fountainhead, located off of Farm to Market Road 1960. The tavern-like hole in the wall makes it worth trekking Interstate 45 past Beltway 8 to feel the right-at-home goodness that will probably include…
Best Breakfast
A true Houston landmark, the breakfast klub in Midtown is a hub of activity during its limited operating hours — 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays. Featuring a rib-sticking soul-food menu and service that is both quick and friendly, the breakfast…
Best Deli
Step into Kenny & Ziggy’s, and it feels like you’ve landed in the middle of a New York City neighborhood, complete with the Jewish grandmothers, waiters in black-vested uniforms, and red booths with classic brass accents. Order a pastrami sandwich with meat piled high on rye, smoked salmon that tastes…
Best Cupcake
As far as food celebrities go in Houston, Top Chef: Just Desserts season two contestant Rebecca Masson is definitely one of our most famous. But her fame isn’t just of the TV kind. People familiar with her desserts become devoted fans of everything, from her French-style macarons to her famous…
Best Bookstore
The best-read member of the Houston Pavilions family, Books-a-Million is an ideal browsing stop before a meal at McCormick & Schmick’s or Andalucia and/or some live music at Scott Gertner’s or House of Blues. You can grab a quick cup of java at the in-store coffeehouse while you peruse something…
Best Seasonal Cuisine
At the Washington Avenue location of this Houston classic, chef Mike Potowski — a native of Japan — showcases seasonal produce and local products in his diverse but streamlined menu, with echoes of Asian influences. Free-range chicken is served with summer succotash, and pork rib eye is paired with Texas…
Best Steakhouse
Not only is Vic & Anthony’s currently the city’s best steakhouse, it’s one of the best all-around restaurants in Houston, period. The charmingly old-school service is exemplary, the dining rooms are lushly appointed and lavishly handsome, the food is always impeccable — hell, even the piano player in the dark,…
Best Boutique
An island of cool stuff made with love and by hand amid an ocean of crap cranked out by indifferent machines (or wage slaves in brutal sweatshops), Hello Lucky stands as an extension of owner Teresa O’Connor’s nurturing philosophy. All of the locally handmade jewelry, clothing, accessories and knickknacks in…
Best Hobby Shop
Jam-packed with model kits and remote-controlled everything, M&M Hobby Shop would be overwhelming if it weren’t so damned awesome. This place is a remote-control and model kit enthusiast’s dream on steroids. And if you do get a little overcome by all the marvels inside, step outside and race a remote-controlled…
Best Mexican Candy Store
If you’re looking for tasty candy to fill a piñata, your first and only stop should be Las Delicias Mexicanas. But even if a piñata isn’t involved, Las Delicias should be a regular stop for dulce lovers. The shop regularly imports candy directly from Mexico under the Las Delicias label…
Best Garden
Some 80 years of careful planning and pruning have gone into creating the Bayou Bend gardens we see today. Originally the home of Houston socialite and philanthropist Ima Hogg, the house and grounds were donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 1957. By that time, Miss Hogg and…
Best Yoga Studio
It’s easy to get turned off by a lot of modern yoga studios. There’s either too many skinny, sexy, bendy people showing off, or there’s the marketing aspect promising you enlightenment and righteousness with just three headstands a week. Big Yoga does neither, though the studio’s motto is to “Live…
Best Live-Music Venue
Since Free Press Summer Fest’s Omar Afra and Jagi Katial bought Fitzgerald’s in July 2010, the old Heights dance hall’s transformation has been remarkable. Already one of Houston’s most historic venues (Elvis and James Brown played the building), Fitz has upgraded its sound, raised the floor in the big upstairs…
Best Solo Exhibition
Consider yourself really lucky, Houston. The only other nationwide museums to score this treat of an exhibit, which showcased the first retrospective of the artist’s drawings, were New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art. The Menil’s Michelle White and Bernice Rose co-curated the…
Best Ultimate-Fighting Bar
We’re of the mind that if you aren’t going to do something right, you might as well not do it at all. That’s why we prefer to watch our UFC matches off Washington Avenue, that drunken and amorous avenue full of men with shaved arms and the women who love…
Best Pizza
Pizaro’s became an instant classic almost the moment that Bill Hutchinson opened its doors in a Memorial-area strip mall, because there’s nothing else like it in town. The Napoletana-style pizza cooks in 90 seconds in a wood-fired 900-degree oven that’s the centerpiece of the small, bare-bones dining room. What emerges…
Best BYOB
Although it has a small and well-edited wine list, Lucio’s is still a BYOB first and foremost. That’s why you’ll find many of the city’s wine geeks tucked away in one of its cozy dining rooms or sprawled on the inviting, manicured back patio. The big draw here is the…
Best Italian — neighborhood
George’s Pastaria is the epitome of a friendly neighborhood restaurant, staffed with kids from the local high schools and stuffed with families enjoying old-school Italian food of the red-and-white-checkered tablecloth variety. Beef ravioli bears a mention of being the favorite dish of a nearby resident, while the sign out front…
Best Italian — Upscale
Gourmet once called chef Marco Wiles’s flagship restaurant, Da Marco, “as close to Italy as you can get without leaving Texas,” and this still holds true. Part of that is due to Wiles’s insistence on flying in the best Italian ingredients on a weekly basis such as fresh Mediterranean seafood…
Best Laundromat
With a lot of Laundromats, we sometimes feel like our clothes come out even dirtier; it seems like the median age of washers and dryers in the city is a quarter-century, and owners never seem to want to splurge on amenities like air conditioning or asbestos abatement. In short, a…
Best Peruvian Restaurant
Chef Roberto Castre lives and breathes Peruvian food at his restaurant, Latin Bites — because he’s from Peru himself. He brought with him to Houston not only an innate understanding of the cuisine, but also a deft touch in the modern treatments he gives to classics like ceviches and causitas…
Best Restaurant
Billing itself as “The Story of Houston Food,” Underbelly has taken Houston’s extremely diverse array of ethnic cuisines and combined them all seamlessly into a modern menu that somehow feels timeless and organic. Chef Chris Shepherd’s love for all things Asian shows in dishes like Korean goat dumplings and Peking…
Best Bicycle Shop
Nestled just outside Memorial Park on a quiet neighborhood street, West End Bicycles is one of the city’s oldest bike shops, and it’s still the best. It started as a mountain-bike shop, and though it offers much more, including an impressive selection of Dutch-style cruiser bikes, the muddy buddy ethos…
Best Motorcycle Shop
Stubbs caters to the weekend road warrior and the grizzled, bug-crusted biker. Few shops are as synonymous with Houston motorcycle culture as Stubbs is. It’s where most people buy their first helmets, gloves and other gear. Saturdays are the best time to go to Stubbs, because the looks of aggravation…
Best Lighting/Lamp Store
Say you’re digging through Grandma’s attic and find a charming old lamp adorned with a chap holding a lantern, but the cord and plug are so old you’d scarcely risk plugging it in? Take the little guy to A & O Lamp Company, where they’ll rig up new works for…
Best Basketball Courts
Located across the street from Toyota Center in Downtown Houston, Root Memorial is hopping with activity at most every time of the morning, afternoon or evening. Anytime there is an event at the arena, you can stop and watch a serious pick-up game. There is always someone shooting around at…
Best Announcing Team
It might be time to retire this award, because we don’t see anyone coming along who’s going to top this Astros pair. As has been the case all too frequently lately, listening to Astro games can sometimes seem more like a chore than a joy. But Brown and Deshaies manage…
Best Local-Music Venue
Head down to the little house at Westheimer and Taft any night of the week and you’ll likely hear live music by a local band, ranging from a new ensemble that’s playing for the first time to an established outfit honing its set. The venue never discriminates against genres, meaning…
Best Pumpkin Patch
A sort of agricultural AstroWorld, Dewberry Farm offers far more than just pumpkin pleasures, though you can pick your own here every fall. There are also pig races, huge slides, the singing chickens of the Cackle Palace, a multicolored sunflower patch, and a corn maze that will remind you of…
Best Karaoke
If karaoke makes you queasy — that is, if you don’t relish the thought of standing onstage with a giant room full of strangers staring you down while you butcher “Rollin’ in the Deep” — then what you need to do is gather ten of your closest friends and head…
Best Raw Bar
This seafood-heavy Heights hot spot consistently turns out some of the best seafood dishes in town, from gumbo to whole-fried trout. But the sleek, marble-topped oyster bar straight out of a New England restaurant is equally ambitious. Here, you can dive into an ocean of different raw seafood dishes: Hawaiian-style…
Best Ice Cream
Le Mistral is probably best known for its French cuisine, but lately it has upped the ante in the dessert department, starting with the acquisition of a commercial-grade Italian ice cream machine that produces house-made ice creams easily and frequently. Fruit-based sorbets are outstanding, with a wide array of seasonal…
Best Thai
Tucked away in an unassuming strip mall on Richmond near Hillcroft, Thai Gourmet is one of those places that are authentically Thai yet still accessible to relatively untutored palates. Dishes like Penang Beef ordered “Thai hot” may scorch the tongue in true Thai style, while others, like the basil beef…
Best Art Supplies
Sure, you may have seen this one coming a mile away, but it’s not without reason: Simply put, this place meets the needs of anyone from casual doodlers to professional painters. Brushes, pens, ink, clay, paper, stencils, mosaics, fabric — there’s no way you can spend five minutes at Texas…
Best Vinyl Shop
It’s not a bad problem to have. In the past few years, Houston’s record scene has exploded. One of the newest kids on the block, Heights Vinyl, has already made an impression with its in-store shows, collection of old, refurbished turntables and clever record-pricing system based on the characters from…
Best Japanese Restaurant
Sushi Miyagi definitely strives to keep its overhead low. There are only a few tables in this tiny restaurant and a staff of exactly two people. It’s a true mom-and-pop joint; Pop makes wonderful, artistic sushi, while Mom runs basically everything else. What you get is just about the best…
Best Coffeehouse
Owner and coffee roaster Max Gonzales has made sure that Catalina stays at the top of its game by keeping its baristas well-trained, its coffee selection well-curated and its cortados well-made, every single time. There is no such thing as a bad cup of coffee here, whether it’s a flat…
Best Shoe Repair
It’s always been a dream of ours to have a pair of custom cowboy boots made. One day, when the riches roll in, we’ll be heading to family-owned Tejas Boots in The Montrose to get those babies fitted. In the meantime, we can console ourselves by heading to Tejas to…
Best Party Supply Store
If you live in Houston and love Halloween, it’s a good chance you have found yourself in line at Party Boy near I-10 battling for a last-minute costume at the end of October. When you aren’t looking for just the right slutty nurse outfit, you can get all the theme-party…
Best Cheap Haircut
Lest you think, due to the name, that this is one of those cheap chain places, you’d be wrong. It is cheap — ahem, inexpensive — but the shop is owned by a talented stylist named Celina Arzola, who gives a good-quality haircut, and for men, will do a superb…
Best Weekend Getaway
A lot has changed at the 86-year-old resort village on the rim of one of the Frio River’s most scenic canyons. Sure, the boulder-strewn, aquamarine-watered old swimming hole is still one of the finest in Texas, the dining hall’s still offering up chicken-frieds to die for (or kill over), and…
Best Tourist Attraction
Despite the fact that it derives its name from a Native American word meaning “friends,” Texas is a pugnacious state, one far more in line with its unofficial “Don’t Mess With Texas” motto than any other. And there’s nowhere better in the area to revel in that orneriness than at…
Best Museum
Think of the John C. Freeman Weather Museum as the little museum that could. Sitting in the shadow of its bigger, shinier cousins, the Weather Museum is housed in what was once a private two-story home. Each room downstairs has been transformed into an exhibit area, the most popular of…
Best Jukebox
Said to be the oldest commercial building in Houston, La Carafe is encrusted with history, its walls brimming with old photographs, newspaper clippings and other artifacts. The same is true of its jukebox, whose leaves preserve near-forgotten corners of 20th-century pop music like doo-wop (the Platters, the Ink Spots) and…
Best Public Art
The 66-foot-high ceiling in the Jones Hall lobby is home to this year’s Best Public Art winner, Gemini II. Commissioned by the Houston Endowment in 1966, Gemini II was created by Richard Lippold. The hanging sculpture looks like a flash of light swooshing overhead. But while it seems fluid, it’s…
Best Tapas
Named after an island in the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain, Majorca in Midtown is creating food that was inspired by those islands: tapas. Chef Hicham Nafaa’s extensive menu includes typical Spanish classics like paella, albóndigas (meatballs) and gambas con arroz (prawns with rice). In typical tapas fashion,…
Best Vietnamese
Whether it’s the “Heart Throb” banh mi with double pork, double chicken, two eggs and bacon; a rice vermicelli bowl topped with freshly grilled chicken and egg rolls; or a bowl of the best vegan curry you’ll find anywhere in town, Cafe TH delivers Vietnamese with food that’s made with…
Best Veggie Burger
Green Seed Vegan’s all-veggie Dirty Burque burger is so good, we’ll put it up against a meat-based burger any day of the week. It’s hard to miss the meat, in fact, when there’s so much deliciousness between the buns: The patty is mostly buckwheat, a pseudo-cereal that’s gluten-free, high in…
Best Perfumery
We like smelling good — and our significant others smelling good — without spending a fortune. And we learned the hard way that this isn’t reasonably accomplished by buying knockoff brands at gas-station convenience stores. (We also learned that Drakkar Noir actually isn’t the best man-scent out there, regardless of…
Best People-Watching
An anarchist punk, a woman in a sexy dress, a musician who plays the guitar strings with pieces of yellow and red chalk, some chess players and a homeless man walk into a bar. That bar is Notsuoh, which is connected to the equally curious Dean’s. It’s a sleepy Tuesday…
Best Bagel
Hot Bagel Shop is a true hole-in-the-wall, as any good bagel shop should be. New Jersey natives opened the store more than 25 years ago, and it’s been pumping out fresh, crisp and perfectly doughy New York-style bagels ever since. Don’t expect a lavish dining experience; besides the one or…
Best Comfort Food
Natachee’s Super ‘n Punch’s motto is “Sit back and relax…This is real down-home cookin!” They couldn’t be more right. Open for breakfast and dinner, the restaurant serves up made-from-scratch comfort food just like your mama makes — that is, if your mama tops her meatloaf with spicy tomato gravy and…
Best Psychic
Marva, who runs the Psychic and Holistic Fair the first weekend of every month, has a wealth of quivers in her bow. If she doesn’t feel “on” with a client, she’ll turn to tarot, palmistry or astrology — or perhaps a blend of all three occult arts. She’s taught hundreds…
Best Flea Market
Long a must-see for people on the south side of Houston, Cole’s is like a slice of Mexico in the middle of suburbia. Sprawling 145,000 square feet of air-conditioned space just inside Pearland city limits, this place has been in business for decades. On Sundays there is a traffic jam…
Best Adult Video Store
Look, the fact of the matter is that Barely Legal #91 loses its luster on the small screen. Some porn deserves true silver-screen presentation, and that’s where Executive comes in (so to speak). The theater is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 6 a.m., and students, members…
Best Sports Talk Host
In an industry becoming increasingly cluttered with boisterous blowhards who want to be Jim Rome, stat geeks who worship at the Moneyball altar, and seriously unfunny wannabe comedians, Lance Zierlein is a rare triple threat. He is equally comfortable asserting his opinion, dissecting complex statistical analysis or creating funny characters…
Best Bike Trail
“The Anthills” at Terry Hershey Park are more than nine miles of single dirt track that feature lots of ups and downs, roller-coaster-style (how the trail got its name), with some portions skirting the banks of Buffalo Bayou. It’s considered an intermediate trail, though some hills are bigger than others…
Best Rock Club
Houston’s favorite dark, hip and nasty rock bar, The Dirt, is now located across from the House of Blues off Caroline after spending its first few years incubating in the Heights. The bar’s staff comes complete with fun rocker attitude, with extremely pretty, sorta-dressed girls and tattooed boys who will…
Best Museum Exhibit
Some 3,000 years after his death at the age of 19, King Tutankhamun still fascinates people around the world, including thousands of fans who visited the “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs” exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. (The museum had to open seven days a…
Best All-Ages Venue
For those who believe that the young brain should be exposed to all sorts of culture, Houston’s one-stop spot is Super Happy Fun Land. Husband-and-wife team Brian Arthur and Olivia Dvorak — who, in 2008, moved the now nine-year-old project from a Heights-area house to its current East End spot…
Best Beer Bar
Houston’s oldest and best craft beer bar is still going strong since opening in 2007, thanks to the guidance of beer god Ben Fullelove. Of the 30-odd taps that Fullelove has in the bar, all are interesting and dynamic beer selections, whether it be a fruity Dogfish Head Festina Pêche…
Best Sushi
Ask anyone where to go for sushi in Houston, and Kata Robata will most assuredly make the list. From traditional nigiri sushi to some of the freshest sashimi and inventive new sushi dishes, Kata Robata has it all. At the core of this restaurant is Executive Chef Manabu Horiuchi, the…
Best Burger
It may look like a school bus, but it’s a lean, mean, burger-grilling machine. Winner of the 2012 Houston Press Burger Bracket, Bernie’s Burger Bus is the true definition of gourmet food truck, utilizing the freshest ingredients — fresh-ground Black Angus beef, freshly made baked buns, and homemade condiments —…
Best Novelty Store
Because you just never know when you might want to buy a Pink Panther clock at 1:30 in the morning. Fantasy Gifts and Toys resembles an overstuffed, naughty museum, and has been outfitting Houstonians who are up to no good for more than 30 years. Conveniently located near most Lower…
Best Arcade
Joystix is the kind of arcade you have to plan your month around. The rest of the time it’s a retailer of all sorts of tabletop amusements available for sale and rental: billiard and air-hockey tables, photo booths, etc. But the first and last Fridays of every month, after 9…
Best African Restaurant
If you’re brand-new to African — or Nigerian, in this case — food, Finger Licking Bukateria is the perfect place to start. The flagship restaurant of Houston’s Little Nigeria, FLB is housed in an old Bennigan’s, with plenty of room to spread out with friends and get your hands into…
Best Pakistani Restaurant
Pakistani food is often regarded as a subset of Indian cuisine, but it has an identity all its own. One huge difference between the two types of restaurants: beef, which you’re not likely to find at Indian places. No one is doing it better, or more visibly, than Chef Kaiser…
Best Plumber
The Hot Water Guys proudly proclaim that they “install more tankless water heaters in one week than most plumbers do in one year” — and they’ll invade your home like a well-organized army in that pursuit. Going tankless is the right thing to do, as it saves water, a more…
Best Knitting Store
Since Yarns 2 Ewe closed its storefront on Shepherd last year, several smaller knitting shops have stepped in to fill the void. Our favorite is the cleverly named Knitting in the Loop (knitters will get it). Located in an off-the-beaten-path old house in River Oaks, this store is warm and…
Best Comic-Book Store
Always wanted to get your hands on a Superman #1, and just happen to have an extra $44,000 lying around? Visit Bedrock City Comic Company, and you’re all set. Of course, if your budget isn’t in that league, you can always pick up a set of Spider-Man playing cards for…
Best Swimming Hole
When Galveston Island gets overrun with tourists, one of the best and easiest things to do is hop on over the San Luis Pass to the tiny hamlet of Quintana, a wonderful summertime Gulf haunt. Just south of Freeport and its factories, Quintana Beach Park has picnic facilities, hook-ups for…
Best Sports Bar
If you like your sports bars crammed full of as many televisions as can fit on the wall, populated by real sports fans and brimming with good bar food and drink, Nick’s is your place. This bar on the west side is typical of sports bars in that it’s a…
Best Bingo
Sure, you could belly up to a hot singles club or Upper Kirby haunt looking for love in all the wrong places, but why not roll the clock back and head into the Heights for some beer, burgers and bingo? This Thursday night institution in the neighborhood starts the weekend…
Best Strip Club
Do you like a good Philly cheesesteak or pollo poblano with your boobs? What we’re saying here is that, besides the lovely ladies gracing the club’s three main stages, there’s a bountiful menu. And if for some reason you need a break from looking at half-naked gyrating young females, the…
Best Darts Bar
It would be a bummer if Khon’s, which flaunts “darts” in its name, didn’t do the throwers thing very well. Well, no worries, because the venue’s well-kept dartboards make this a destination for rookies as well as the dart teams that sometimes post up inside of the Midtown spot. Khon’s…
Best Vegetarian
Chef German Mosquera, who is vegan, takes his greens as seriously as most chefs take their proteins, but has fun with them at the same time. And his restaurant, Roots Bistro (which also features meat on the menu), encourages diners to do the same. In lieu of a stuffy, self-righteous…
Best Meat Selection
Chris Shepard is known for his charcuterie and passion for whole-animal cooking, so it’s no wonder that Underbelly, the chef’s first restaurant of his own, processes all of its meat in its own full-scale, back-of-the-house butcher shop. And the restaurant’s ever-rotating, meat-centric menu, inspired by the various cuisines in Houston…
Best New Restaurant
With Oxheart, husband-and-wife chefs Justin Yu and Karen Man have created a restaurant that feels everything like and nothing like Houston at once. The bold menus offer only three different tastings nightly — two four-course meals (one of which is vegetarian) and one seven-course meal. They use a fascinating array…
Best Vintage Store
Laura Levine and “Crazy” Mike Hildebrand curate their Heights-area store so carefully, they almost have an encyclopedic knowledge of every item and its location. Looking for embroidered cowboy boots, Polynesian mod or an old concert T-shirt? Just ask at the desk, and if they have it (they likely do), they’ll…
Best Neighborhood Bar
The patron saint of NJ’s is Miss Norma Jeane Baker, the pinup model who became film icon Marilyn Monroe. Her glorious image is plastered all over the front room of this Oak Forest neighborhood haunt just off the Northwest Freeway. From the street, NJ’s looks a lot smaller than it…
Best Bottomless Brunch
If you wake up feeling particularly saucy on a Saturday or Sunday morning, then Farrago World Cuisine is the place for you. This trendy fusion restaurant is packed during its famous weekend brunch, serving up a refreshing menu alongside tall glasses of bottomless mimosas. The vibe is Miami-in-the-summertime, with a…
Best Newsstand
Leave it to a store devoted to magazines actually printed on paper to not have an online presence. That’s because Issues doesn’t screw around. They claim to have more than 3,000 titles, and we believe it: The no-frills space is jam-packed with every magazine you’ve ever heard of, and a…
Best Asian Grocery
The west side of Houston approximates Pacific geography. If you are looking for Southern Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino or Indonesian groceries, head for Bellaire Boulevard. If on the other hand you’re in search of stuff from the colder reaches of the Pacific, head to Super H Mart, Houston’s top purveyor of…
Best Pet Adoption
Barrio Dogs isn’t exactly an adoption service — it’s a nonprofit staffed entirely by volunteers dedicated to educating lower-income Houston neighborhoods about animal overpopulation, neglect, low-cost sterilization and state animal cruelty statutes. But through the Barrio Dogs Facebook page and Web site, the group often unites hardscrabble barrio strays with…
Best Gas Station
Let’s face it: Gas is gas, and who really cares if it’s $3.25 a gallon at one place and $3.40 at another? Even if you have a mammoth tank to fill, you’re saving what, $4 each time you fill up? Nope, what really sets the best gas stations apart is…
Best Athlete Tweeter
No, he doesn’t get this award for tweeting a picture of his MRI when he suffered a hamstring injury. Although that’s certainly an indication of the freewheeling content on Texan running back Arian Foster’s Twitter account, which can range from philosophical observations (“There is life outside of your beliefs”) to…
Best Campground
Huntsville State Park is only about 90 miles north of downtown, but a world away in terms of the pace of life. Skyscrapers are replaced by towering pines, and the sound of traffic gives way to birds and the rustling of leaves. This fairly small, heavily wooded state park is…
Best Hip-Hop Club
Warehouse Live is hardly Houston’s “best hip-hop club” per se — legions of emo and hardcore bands would beg to differ — as much as it is simply the city’s place to see hip-hop. However, it does have a few features that make it especially well-suited for hosting a rap…
Best Lounge
The Big Top’s circus-themed decor always makes it seem a little like a Fellini movie. First of all, it’s dark enough that you almost need to strike a match to see your drink, like every great lounge should be. There’s also something a little surreal about nursing a cold one…
Best Curator
Art-film dorks, especially those into found-footage collages, were in hog heaven from April 13 to July 8 when “Perspectives 178: CINEPLEX” posted up at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. For that, we must thank Peter Lucas, who doubles as CAMH’s education associate. The curator of the exhibit/film series brought his programming…
Best Tex-Mex Restaurant
This family-run restaurant has been serving Montrose its Tex-Mex since 1982, and the food reflects those years of loving care. You’ll find old favorites like entomatadas here that are a rarity on more modern Tex-Mex menus, as well as huge weekend portions of soul-saving stuff like menudo and barbacoa breakfast…
Best Korean
Located on Long Point Road between Gessner and Blalock, Bon Ga is a favorite among local chefs, offering authentic, everyday Korean cuisine that can be ordered à la carte for one or eaten family-style. The menu is extensive, with several pages of illustrated dishes, ranging from popular boiling hot pot…
Best New Bar
Midtown has no shortage of bars. But it does have a shortage of bars that are serious about their product — craft beer in this case — while playful and casual at the same time. You don’t have to dress up to enjoy a Friday night here. You don’t even…
Best Junkyard
Sometimes, just for fun, we’ll browse through Big LeRoy’s enormous online inventory, randomly picking a car, looking at the photo of it sitting there in the yard, and poring over the VIN breakdown. The other day, we clicked on a 1991 Accord at random, saw all the parts that were…
Best Cheap Date
You want cheap? Even today, the most economical beer selections on the menu at Rice’s venerable student pub are available for less than a buck, and the wine is just as good a deal, relatively speaking. (And we’re talking Lone Star and Ziegenbock, not Schaefer and Texas Pride. Volunteer bar…
Best Burrito
Barnaby’s Cafe is a consistent, healthy and dependable local chain. Whether you are out on a date, need a quick bite before a show or are looking to take out the family without breaking the bank, you will find friendly service and tasty food here. The burrito is one of…
Best Pawn Shop
The titular double-Rs are Rodney and Rhonda, part of this family-owned establishment that’s been around since 1993. And Shaw’s does it all: buying, trading and selling jewelry, electronics, firearms, musical instruments, sporting goods — you name it. They also offer check-cashing and payday advance services. Oh, did we forget to…
Best Gun Shop
For Houston fanatics, Collectors Firearms is to gun geeks as Cactus Music in Montrose is to record geeks, or something like that. New guns, old guns and collectible guns are all here and accounted for, and the store’s staff is always on hand to help school you on each piece…
Best Jewelry Store
It’s not the kind of jewelry store you’d go to for an engagement ring (though you might find one there, depending on how funky your style is), but local designer J. Landa brings together the best of well-crafted modern jewelry designed by indie jewelers throughout the country. The store’s shelves…
Best Musical-Instrument Shop
The inside of Lisle Violin Shop’s Bissonnet location is a small space cluttered with instrument cases, a couple of bookshelves with beginning theory books, accessories from cakes of resin to shoulder rests, and a couple of racks of violins and violas. Another room has the cellos and double basses and…
Best Dog Hangout
Houston has plenty of nice neighborhood city-run dog parks, but we think the funnest place for both Fido and you is the Boneyard. Why? Because you can get your drink on while Fido plays fetch. The bar just north of Memorial Park has a 7,000-square-foot double-fenced yard with picnic tables,…
Best Sports Talk Show
The Big Show pairs two of Houston’s most underrated personalities in Matt Jackson and Adam Wexler. The duo has worked together on and off for many years in Houston radio and finally has a permanent home in morning drive time on KBME. Even though The Big Show recently lost Lance…
Best Public Sculpture
Joan Miró’s Personage and Birds dominates downtown Houston’s JPMorgan Chase Tower plaza like a colorful guard standing watch. The steel and cast-bronze sculpture is a representation of a person with birds in flight around the head. The body is a triangle made up of wide bands of metal painted in…
Best Arts Community Outreach
Under the deft direction of Sandra Bernhard and program director Evan Wilderstein, the community outreach arm of Houston Grand Opera takes opera far beyond the confines of the Wortham Theater Center — to the streets, to schools and to the diverse ethnic communities that make up Houston. It is an…
Best Jazz Club
With its ivy-covered walls, Cezanne seems more suited to some leafy university town in the Northeast than to the sprawling, swampy Bayou City. But those willing to seek out its cozy quarters above the Black Labrador Pub near Richmond and Montrose will find a cozy spot for a date night,…
Best Barbecue
The line at Gatlin’s never gets any shorter, but the city’s barbecue fans keep coming. Could this one day be Houston’s answer to Franklin’s, outside of Austin? Perhaps, but for now it’s our little secret. And the secret lies in Greg Gatlin’s ribs, cooked low and slow over pecan wood,…
Best Chocolate Chip Cookie
The simple chocolate chip cookie is surprisingly difficult to make well, judging from the host of dry, bland discs that regularly pose as America’s favorite cookie. Tiny Boxwood’s has managed to find the perfect combination of ingredients, prepared with the appropriate timing and temperature, to produce lusciously chewy, soft-but-sturdy assemblages…
Best Grilled Cheese
Ordering something other than a burger at The Counter may seem akin to going to Long John Silver’s for chicken strips. But the Grilled Cheese Trifecta, oozing with robust flavors of cheddar, provolone and American cheeses, all wedged between two slices of crispy, buttery white toast, definitely holds its own…
Best Used Furniture
Though Reeves, located at the corner of Taft and Fairview, specializes in Mid-Century modern, that’s not all the father-and-son team has to offer. Their selection of MCM is, however, one of the best in the city, especially when you factor in the prices, which are the lowest we’ve seen for…
Best Installation
Earlier this year, Japanese artist Yasuaki Onishi filled the Rice Art Gallery with what seemed to be a floating mountain. Onishi, who uses a process he calls “casting the invisible,” created the installation over a three-week period. He and an assistant first draped plastic sheeting over stacked cardboard boxes, then…
Best Wine Bar
So named for the temperature at which it carefully stores its hoard of wine, 13 Celsius has become the paradigm by which all other wine bars in Houston are judged. The meticulously restored building is a metaphor for the meticulously compiled wine list, which prominently features Old World wines that…
Best Cheap Massage
This low-cost but reputable massage chain allows its members to frequent any Massage Envy facility, no matter the franchise owner. So for $49 per month, you can get a one-hour massage all over the country. But why skip around when the best is in Houston’s very own Meyerland? Barbara Peschon…
Best Dollar Store
Whether you are buying birthday party favors for the kids, stocking up on cleaning supplies for the house or just penny-pinching, you can’t do much better than Giant $ and their ten Houston stores. Their clean locations and daily deals make this a valuable resource for families looking to make…
Best Chiropractor
When Montrose-area chiropractor Jacqueline Doval says she serves patients from all walks of life, she means it literally. Along with serving human clients, she’s also certified in animal chiropractic care (she was the first one in Texas to earn the distinction). In practice for a decade, Dr. Doval believes that…
Best Tea Shop
You don’t have to sip your tea at Té House of Tea — you can eat it, too, with the shop’s Green Tea White Chocolate Cookies (finger cookies topped with ground green tea and white chocolate icing). With more than 130 teas on the menu, the shop boasts robust blacks,…
Best Shooting Range
Now that you have bought your rifle or handgun, you have to learn how to use it, right? Drive on out to League City and spend a few hours at The Arms Room, a gun store and range built inside an old Circuit City. Weekends get pretty hectic, and the…
Best Municipal Golf Course
Most Houstonians don’t realize that Memorial Park is one of the largest urban parks in America. And one thing it has on many of those other urban retreats is a world-class golf course. Surrounded by huge pine trees despite the drought last year, the course sits just a couple miles…
Best Movie Theater
Being bigger isn’t enough when it comes to movie theaters. Having 30 screens won’t do you much good if those 30 screens are filled with lame films. That’s where AMC Studio 30 beats out the competition to take this year’s Best Movie Theater award. It’s not only big, it has…
Best Wall Art
Nestled between Crawford Elementary School and the Eastex Freeway’s Lyons Avenue off-ramp, the “Fruits of Fifth Ward” mural is an impressive tribute to both the Fifth Ward dwellers enshrined on it and the neighborhood they all helped to blossom. Seeded by a $10,000 grant from the History Channel and composed…
Best Large Venue
With a capacity of about 2,750, Arena Theatre is the redheaded stepchild of Houston music venues. The part of Houston that doesn’t use the Southwest Freeway as their major commuter artery tends to forget it’s even over there by Sharpstown Mall, but it’s been there — albeit not continually operating…
Best Falafel
With locations all around town, family-run Fadi’s offers diners wonderful Mediterranean cuisine — always fresh and incredibly tasty — in a cafeteria-style setting. Fadi’s offers outstanding fried cauliflower, lamb shanks, kebabs and hummus. The falafel is absolutely a must-try. With the exact balance of crispy outside and soft, airy inside,…
Best Wings
This artsy neighborhood dive is more than just a laid-back spot to grab drinks with friends; Max’s Wine Dive makes some serious fried chicken wings. The wings are butchered daily, soaked in a jalapeño buttermilk batter, and deep-fried low and slow to form the most incredibly crisp, moist and juicy…
Best Neighborhood Restaurant
Do residents of the nearby Tanglewood neighborhood know how lucky they are to have Arturo Boada Cuisine in their backyard? Longtime Houston chef Boada could have easily opened his restaurant anywhere else in Houston — certainly inside the Loop — and made a killing. Instead, he chose a very tucked-away…
Best Spice Shop
Of course Penzeys Spices is the best spice shop in the Houston area, you say. It’s the only spice shop. Not true: There are specialty shops and grocers all over, some catering to only one type of cuisine. There are Chinese stores, Vietnamese purveyors, a Russian general store…we’ve seen them…
Best Smoking Patio
It may lack a skyline view, and it might not sprawl alongside a so-called “creek” like a nearby competitor, but damned if we haven’t had more fun sucking down coffin-nails in the backyard of Brad Moore’s Big Star Bar than anywhere else. Amid all the picnic tables, there’s a quasi-military,…
Best Spring Rolls
When you’re getting ready to go to a concert at Warehouse Live, or fueling to cheer on your Houston Dynamo at the new stadium a few blocks away, you must first have yourself a plate of Huynh’s spring rolls. Whether or not you order shrimp, tofu, pork or all of…
Best Dive Shop
Believe it or not, one of the best diving sites in the world is located just a few hundred miles south of the Texas/Louisiana border. The Flower Gardens, as they’re known, are an oasis of coral only 60 feet below the surface of the water, surrounded by oil rigs and…
Best Bed and Breakfast
Wake up to the smell of a country breakfast at the Honey Farm Bed and Breakfast. Located far enough away from downtown Houston to have a country feel but close enough to allow for quick trips in to major attractions and entertainment districts, Honey Farm is a working family farm…
Best Florist
Lexis’s 2,900-square-foot cooler holds every kind of flower for every kind of occasion. They offer stunningly beautiful signature designs, same-day delivery and convenient online shopping. Sure, Lexis tends to be on the pricey side, but it’s not like they’re just jacking up the prices on run-of-the-mill roses; the flowers are…
Best Convenience Store
Not many Houston quickie-marts get a 95 (“world-class”) rating from the brew snobs at Beeradvocate.com, but D&Q richly deserves that acclaim. The nondescript convenience store may look like any other on Lower Richmond, but step inside and you will quickly see that D&Q is to the art of malt and…
Best Texan
On the field, Connor Barwin was able to make Texans fans forget the loss of Mario Williams to injury. Off the field, we’re not sure Houston’s ever seen an athlete like him. He’s intensely into the local music and arts scenes — he even wrote a Summer Fest review for…
Best Gym
Remember the old downtown YMCA? You know, that dark underground bunker that was awesome if you and your mustachioed friend wanted to toss around the medicine ball in 1935? Yeah, this is the opposite. This bright and shiny, state-of-the-art facility is about to celebrate its second year, and if you…
Best After Hours
Sneer if you must, but no über-hip, in-the-know, secret-knock speakeasy is going to be anywhere near as interesting as an IHOP at 3 a.m. Here you’re likely to find a much broader cross section of modern society than almost anywhere else, from truckers on an interstate haul and working stiffs…
Best Alternative Club
At this point Walter’s seems almost invulnerable. Pam Robinson’s club spent the last half of 2011 in limbo as Robinson had difficulty moving into her new quarters near UH-Downtown. But now that it’s all smoothed over, the newly rechristened Walters Houston (no more apostrophe) is even more of a melting…
Best Country-and-Western Bar
Equally friendly to tourists wanting to see “Texas” and locals jonesing for some two-step, Blanco’s has been hooking up folks with a pretty darn authentic country and western experience for 30 years. Along with a $10 bucket-of-beer happy-hour special, Blanco’s serves wings, burgers and Tex-Mex classics for lunch and supper…
Best Cocktail Bar
Don’t go to Anvil looking for a vodka and soda. The name of the game at Anvil is cocktails, and whether it’s a Pimm’s cup, a French 75 or something mixed with bourbon, gin or another spirit, Anvil’s bartenders get it right, every time. What started out as a project…
Best Chinese Restaurant
There is no better nor more consistently excellent Chinese restaurant in town right now than Mala Sichuan, thanks to the peerless stewardship of owner Cori Xiong and her team of highly trained Sichuan chefs. The flavors in Mala’s water-boiled fish or mapo tofu are clean, vibrant and piercing, while less…
Best Happy Hour
Happy hours are best when there’s great music, fun nibbles and awesome drinks. Coppa fulfills all these criteria with $5 drink specials, discounts on food, a good-looking after-work crowd, ample seating room at the bar and patio, and an upbeat soundtrack that adds to the overall happy vibe. Order a…
Best Sporting Goods Store
Conveniently located just a few blocks away from Memorial Park, Finish Strong Sports is a runner’s paradise. Staffers help fit you in the right running shoes, offering expert advice so you don’t end up wearing a pair of fancy sneakers that will turn your feet into hamburger meat. When you…
Best Dance Floor
You’ll likely experience one of the unique evenings in your adult life dancing alongside (and oft-times with) the regulars to live and legit soul, blues and R&B on the Silver Slipper’s black-and-white checkerboard dance floor. And even if you’re saddled with two left feet, the heavy eyes of judgment from…
Best Vegan
Vegan Mexican food? Why not? Lard makes a lot of things better, but its use is rendered moot here at Staci Davis’s all-veggie paradise. Instead, she’s perfected a tortilla recipe that features no lard at all — nor are her tamales, enchiladas or tacos laced with the fatty stuff. Instead,…
Best Boutique Hotel
Located in a 1920s-era building that formerly housed the precursor to The Houston Post, the Magnolia symbolizes sleek, understated elegance. From its rooftop pool to its hardwood-floored lobby to its modern-yet-cozy rooms in between, everything about the Magnolia was designed with a sharp eye for detail and dignity. There is…
Best Kids’ Clothing
Who wants to buy brand-new clothes for their kid? It’s wasteful, needlessly expensive and the little whippersnappers will outgrow them before you know it. Of course, you don’t want to have your offspring looking like latter-day Dickensian ragamuffins, either, which is where Kid to Kid Clothing comes in. There, you…
Best Tobacconist
The staff here is so friendly that there’s almost a club-like atmosphere. The owners often invite customers to bring in a bottle of alcohol to sip and stay awhile. In addition to a wide selection of loose tobacco which you can blend to your liking, they also have a great…
Best Ski / Snowboard Shop
For most Inner Loop dwellers, M2 Sports’ location way down Westheimer is a hike, but if you are looking for great deals and greater gear for your excursion, then you can’t do any better than the locally owned M2 Sports. They carry wakeboarding gear, snowboard stuff and even skateboarding supplies…
Best Indoor Soccer
Kicks is 28,000 square feet of fun, including a multipurpose field, a gym and — praise Pelé — a full-on bar open seven days a week! (The sports extends to the bar, too, with billiards, beer pong, flip cup and FIFA PlayStation 3 competitions.) Kicks offers games for adults and…
Best Astro
It’s hard not to root for second baseman Jose Altuve. At five-foot-five, he’s one of the shortest major leaguers around, which ups the cuteness angle, but it doesn’t affect his range in the field. Plus the dude can hit, something the Astros sorely need, and he knows — well, let’s…
Best Radio Station
There’s a double dose of right-wing madman Michael Berry, who, in January, was accused of backing his car into another vehicle in a peculiar hit-and-run incident at gay-bar standby TC’s Showbar. On the weekends, local sports-talk vet Lance Zierlein, formerly of KILT 610 AM and KGOW 1560 AM, raps about…
Best Dance Studio
We don’t know what we want to learn first — swing? Salsa? Bachata? Ballroom? A bunch of others? Well, whenever we decide, we’re going to bachata over to the Houston Dance Factory, whose top-notch instructors teach everyone from toddlers to seniors. They offer private and group classes, and they can…
Best Art Gallery
Nearly three years later, Arturo Palacios’s ballsy decision continues to pay off. In early 2010, the gallerist relocated Art Palace from Austin to a ground-floor space of Midtown’s Isabella Court. Today, the gallery that represents some of Houston’s best contemporary artists like Seth Alverson and Elaine Bradford also presents repeat-visit-worthy…
Best Banh Mi
Thim Hing Sandwiches has been serving sandwiches to Alief for at least a decade. The hole-in-the-wall shows signs of long-term wear with chipped melamine tables, chairs and floors that have seen better days, but their banh mi sandwiches are still top-notch. The secret is in the bread: They use just-toasted…
Best Fish and Chips
Although there’s snazzier fare to enjoy at the Queen Vic, dismissing the fish and chips would be a royal mistake. This classy take on the dish involves a bouquet of spry fries and several thick halibut filets encased in a perky coriander batter. Sides of ketchup and dill yogurt sauce…
Best Classic Restaurant
Although it’s a classic in every sense of the word, Tony Vallone’s namesake restaurant is not content to rest on its laurels. A big, bold space reflects the expansive and adventurous menu under Chef Grant Gordon, who is able to cook Elysian Field Farms lamb racks with mint jus for…
Best Fabric Store
Want to spruce up your place but aren’t sure where to start? Have no fear: The professionals at Calico Corners will help find the right look for you, whether you choose an in-store or in-home appointment. Oh, and did we mention that this wonderful consultation is free? Yeah, free guidance…
Best Punk Bar
Even when this complete dive in the East End isn’t hosting real-deal punk and metal shows that run in the $5 to $7 cover-charge range, the punk-ness oozes from the cans of PBR and the raucous back patio. The best times are Fridays and Saturdays, but even off nights are…
Best Bistro
The epitome of a cozy, welcoming neighborhood bistro, Roost hosts local residents — many of whom walk or ride their bikes — in its comfortable, low-slung dining room while they nosh on whatever weekly specials chef Kevin Naderi has whipped up. Whether it’s whole roasted Cornish game hen with grilled…
Best Toy Store
Think of Toys To Love as the Sharper Image of toy stores, catering to brainy tykes and parents. Meaning, a lot of the items at TTL have an emphasis on fun and learning, and aren’t geared to a marketing campaign or an awful movie. This shop has been locally owned…
Best Candy Store
Walk into the Kegg’s Candies Meyerland-area store and you might think you see chocolate cupcakes among the offerings. Look a little closer — the yummy cupcake-looking treats are actually oversize peanut butter cups that have a big taste to match their size. Kegg’s dates back to 1946, when Robert Kegg…
Best Furniture Store
You may steer clear of the Highland Village shopping district strictly because of their rent-a-cop parking Nazis, but then you’d miss out on this chic store, which occasionally has good deals to boot. West Elm is not just trendy geegaws; it also provides stylish furniture upon which to rest said…
Best Bead Store
Looking for pre-Columbian beads? Maybe vintage Chinese enamel? Or the latest trend in glass jewelry? The Bead Shop, in business since 1970, has you covered, offering baubles made from stone, glass, wood and precious metals. The beads come in every color and shape, spilling over their containers like colorful candy…
Best Walk
It’s almost too good to be true, and we might regret giving this away, but Sheldon Lake is honestly one of the best kept secrets in Houston. If it weren’t for the sound of the nearby industry, you might think you’d stumbled onto some Precambrian swamp. The terrible lizards are…
Best Gourmet Grocery
It’s all local, all the time at this enormously popular market that also functions as a full-service butcher shop, coffee bar and bistro. The latter two take up half of the store’s small footprint, while the other side is packed with everything from house-made soy sauce to lard-laced pizza crusts…
Best Trivia Bar
Of the six local bars on Buzztime’s official national list of top 100 NTN Trivia hot spots, Catbirds is the only non-sports bar and/or brohalla of the bunch and has the most character by far. What’s more, the bar’s official name is Catbirds Cocktails & Trivia, and it lives up…
Best Art Museum
Like the New York Yankees, the only word to really describe the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is “powerhouse.” True, it has the kind of deep-pocketed endowment that attracts top-dollar traveling exhibits like the recent “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs,” but it concurrently showed its annual collection…
Best Gay Bar
This hip “boutique clubbing” joint that hugs the Midtown/Montrose border pretty much has it all. From the marvelous drag shows on Tuesdays to Thursday-night karaoke to the friendly bartenders and “Life on the Patio” Sundays on the beautiful outdoor hang, Irwin Palchick and Aike Jamal’s 4,200-square-foot venue has become a…
Best Seafood
As any good brasserie should, Brasserie 19 offers a voluptuous selection of seafood to its swanky River Oaks clients — including a super-spendy seafood tower christened “Le Grand Dix Neuf Plateau” — as well as other specialty items like Osetra caviar. Fans of cooked seafood will enjoy classics like trout…
Best Patio Dining
With a view onto sprawling Hermann Park, the beautiful Mecom Fountain and the lush Museum District, dining on the Monarch’s shaded patio feels a little like noshing at a swank Central Park spot — especially as you traipse through the elegant lobby to get there. Much of chef Adam West’s…
Best Middle Eastern
Most people know Abdallah’s for its pita bread, which is baked fresh every day and found in many grocery stores and restaurants across the city. And you can pick up some loaves for yourself at its storefront location, along with an array of fresh and frozen food from its kitchens…
Best Hardware and Housing Materials
If you are smitten with the perfect set of sconces or French doors or bathroom vanity or just about anything in this warehouse, you’d better snap it up: “About one half of the donated inventory moves in about a month,” says staffer Mark Goodson. When Habitat picks up donations from…
Best Food Truck
It’s hard to believe that food coming off a truck can be as inventive, or can taste as good as, what you get at H-town Streats. But then again, it’s not every food truck that has trained chefs working at the helm. On any given day, you’ll find Jason Hill…
Best Greek Restaurant
A Greek restaurant for Texan appetites, Niko Niko’s routinely has a line out the door. Thankfully, it moves quickly. Excellent service and awesome food make Niko Niko’s a bastion of consistency in the Houston food world. Whether you want falafel, baba ghanoush or a gyro, you can find it all…
Best Garden Center
Wabash’s motto couldn’t be more apt: “A little bit of country in the heart of the city.” In addition to organic plants of all genera and species (their fruit tree selection is especially diverse), Wabash also sells fauna: roosters, chickens, the biggest eggs you’ve ever seen, Cornish hens, bunnies and…
Best Dog Groomer
Our dogs are not like our children — they are our children. And you only want the best for your kids, even if they periodically pee on the floor, hump random objects and beg for food. Demi’s Dog House on West Gray is the local choice for grooming, with flexible…
Best Veterinarian
Kind, compassionate and cost-effective, the Montrose Veterinary Clinic has been in business since the Jimmy Carter administration, and the clinic has won several national awards, for both design and performance. Now home to six vets, the clinic offers not just the standard array of healthcare services for cats, dogs and…
Best Bargain Art Shop
The hands that created the art seen at Las Manos Mágicas might very well have magic in them. The shop has been around since the early ’70s and built a solid reputation for itself as the place in Houston for affordable artwork, especially by regional and Latin American artisans, as…
Best Rocket
You might mistake him for Russell Brand in a lineup, and at 32 his prime years are probably behind him, but Luis Scola has been a solid all-around Rocket for five years. Rarely out with an injury, he’s mastered the baseline jumper, gets some rebounds and plays defense about as…
Best Tailor
There must be this unwritten rule that tailor shops should look like buildings forgotten to time, with faded mannequins in the window and fabric scraps and ripped thread all over the floor. Think of your grandmother’s junk room. This makes it hard to distinguish good tailors from bad tailors, so…
Best Romantic Hotel
The thing about a romantic stay at ZaZa is that you really get to choose how you define “romantic.” Its “concept suites” range from Geisha House to An Affair to Remember to SoHo Loft. As if that weren’t indulgent enough, you and your significant other could choose from the hotel’s…
Best Lesbian Bar
Since the demise of Lower Westheimer mainstay Chances, the Usual has been Houston’s only lesbian bar, so luckily it’s a good one. Not exclusively for ladies who love ladies, the Usual sports an inviting front porch with a sweet view of some nearby train tracks, great deals on wine, and…
Best Community Arts Center
The massive circa-1912 brick building that used to house Dow Elementary School is impressive from the outside. On the inside, the activities and tutelage that MECA puts on are pretty much in the blow-you-away department. From Mexican Ballet Folklórico classes to Día De Los Muertos presentations, the community-centric, nonprofit organization…
Best Late-Night Eats
Open until 3 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, the always-hopping BB’s Café is a little bit of New Orleans right in the heart of Montrose. The Creole-style eatery boasts a menu packed with Louisiana favorites like po-boys, gumbo and fried oysters by the pound. But the true standouts are dishes like…
Best Hidden-Gem Restaurant
Outside, there is a 120-year-old oak tree and a tin roof with a large Texas flag painted on it. Inside, there are burgers, onion rings and a chicken-fried steak that will make you thank your lucky stars you were born a Texan. It’s a great place to go if you’re…
Best Mexican
Chef Aquiles Chavez doesn’t serve chips and salsa or fajitas at La Fisheria, because this isn’t a Tex-Mex restaurant: It’s a true Mexican establishment from a Mexican chef who’s more interested in modern, creative interpretations of his home country’s food than in serving standards. For appetizers, tender octopus is served…
Best Mexican Market
Score another one for H-E-B. Last year’s winner was the South Houston/Pasadena location of their Mexican/Central American supermarket; this year’s gran campeón is the Northside behemoth that opened last December and made the first one look like a mere bodega by comparison. Like its predecessor, the Northside Mi Tienda features…
Best Martini
If you need proof that quality and quantity are not mutually exclusive, look no further than The Davenport martini. Non-purists will appreciate all of the well-crafted martini “varieties” (more than 30!), but the original classic (a frosty balance of gin, dry vermouth and a splash of olive juice) is truly…
Best Michelada
What do you get when you mix Connie’s spicy bottled michelada sauce and a cold bottle of beer in a frosty beer mug? One of the best-tasting and refreshing micheladas you’ll ever have the pleasure of tasting. Often described as a Bloody Mary made with beer, the tomato-ey, spicy michelada…
Best Car Wash
As various in-and-out places continue to pop up near main intersections throughout Houston, this little spot in the Fourth Ward has been quietly building a dedicated following of loyal customers for the past five or six years. Despite this, there’s almost never a wait. They can do a hand-wash and…
Best Children’s Bookstore
It’s more than just the selection of books that makes Blue Willow Bookshop the best children’s bookstore — it’s the knowledgeable staff that cinches the deal. Whether you have a seven-year-old girl fascinated by frogs or a 12-year-old boy who’s reluctant to read about anything but space invaders, the Blue…
Best Library
The Heights Neighborhood Library takes the nod for Best Library on two counts: first as an architectural gem, and second as a center of culture and entertainment as well as education for the area. The original structure was built in 1925 by J. M. Glover. It has impressive Italian Renaissance…
Best Mall
Memorial City Mall off I-10 helps you kill two wallet-draining birds with one stone. All your favorite mall staples are here, including an Apple store, The Gap and a plethora of shops to keep you busy on a lazy weekend outing, including a Target. There’s even an ice rink, a…
Best Wildlife Watch
A wise man once said that in order to truly understand Houston, you must learn to see it as the Indians did. There is no better place in the area to get your Karankawa on than Armand Bayou. There you can see what this swampy, bayou-streaked, pond-dotted coastal prairie looked…
Readers’ Choice Awards
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Best Art Gallery The Menil Collection 1515 Sul Ross St. 713-525-9400 www.menil.org Best Dance Club Numbers Nightclub 300 Westheimer 713-526-6551 www.numbersnightclub.com Best Dive Bar Lola’s Depot 2327 Grant 713-528-8342 Best Drag Bar F Bar 202 Tuam St. 713-522-3227 www.fbarhouston.com Best Gay Bar South Beach 810 Pacific 713-521-0107…
Smash Boom
The relatively new Black Lab Theatre brings us Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s comedy Boom, which is both contemporary and futuristic. The play presents what may be a re-enactment of a historical event: a meteor sweeping toward earth, much like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. The setup is that a…
Can I Demand My Day Laborer Work Better?
Dear Mexican, Hey mojado: since when do you think it’s okay to fuck up the facts of your wretched culture and concentrate on the few who have done something with their lives? For the most part, Mexicans are perverted, short, dark, little disgusting animals. You fit into that category. They…
Hotel Transylvania
Casting a tapered, vase-slender silhouette and speaking in a Transylvanian accent with a touch of Borscht Belt, Hotel Transylvania’s de-fanged Count Dracula is introduced in an 1895-set prologue while serenading his infant daughter. No menacing carnivore, this Nosferatu has sworn off fatty human blood, is more scared of humans than…
Back to the Good Stuff
Early on in Rian Johnson’s time-travel thriller Looper, Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) sits at a diner and chats with his self from 30 years in the future (Bruce Willis). When the younger Joe asks the older one about the specifics of temporal displacement, the latter dismisses the question, telling his interlocutor…
Caesar’s Messiah
Those were trying times for Rome. Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian Caesars and a big spender with a reputedly homicidal temper, was on the throne. Stories abound of how he attempted to poison his mother, kicked one of his wives to death, and personally ordered the upside-down crucifixion of…
Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires
If you thought the days of fatback, gutbucket R&B died off with Wilson Pickett, think again. After a transformative moment watching James Brown at the Apollo Theater in 1962, Florida-born Bradley spent a good 20 years working odd jobs in various towns before moving back home to Brooklyn and doing…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Ben Tecumseh DeSoto: ZENtrospective,” “Dieter Balzer: Objects,” “Dog Park,” “Flyaway: New Work by Aaron Parazette,” “Glass Graphica,” “Texas Eclectic”
“Ben Tecumseh DeSoto: ZENtrospective” Redbud Gallery is a hopelessly small venue for a retrospective on Ben Tecumseh DeSoto, the longtime Houston photographer whose work has appeared on the pages of the Houston Chronicle and the walls of the Menil and Contemporary Art Museum Houston. And yet “ZENtrospective” manages to bring…
My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
What better time to get reacquainted with My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult than a few weeks before Halloween? Incredibly, the sample-happy techno-goth gang headed up by Groovie Mann and Buzz McCoy is still going strong, fueled by their endless appetite for lurid B horror movies, pulp novels and…
RIP, Larry Joe Miggins
Spaced City RIP, Larry Joe Miggins Houston’s fabled Irishman dies. John Nova Lomax “It’s for the love of the game that we all play,” Larry Joe Miggins told me this past Cinco de Mayo. We were at a Pony League field out in Katy, where Miggins had just spent four…
Yes Indeed Fest
Another festival in the Houston rock sweepstakes, Yes Indeed is set to invade Dean’s and Notsuoh Saturday afternoon and evening with acts like dUNETX, Alkari, The Gold Sounds, The Wrong Ones, The Fox Derby and Screwtape topping the bill. For the low price of $8 ($12 for you underagers), you…
Hotel Transylvania: Cartoons, Not Animation
“I hate realism,” director Genndy Tartakovsky said last week over the phone. “In America especially, we’re very narrow-minded as far as animation goes. There is only one kind of movie, and that’s that big, family-oriented, four-quadrant, please-everyone kind of film. But if I wanted realism, I’d watch a live-action movie…
Florence + The Machine
Florence Welch and her Machine became music-industry darlings with 2009’s stompy Kate Bush-influenced debut album Lungs and its single “Dog Days Are Over.” In the meantime, the willowy redheaded Welch became an indie pinup girl and something of a fashion icon along the way. The band is currently touring behind…
Cobra Skulls
Thank God for bands like the Cobra Skulls still flying their punk flag high, and huge bills like this for still existing. The Reno outfit comes to the Bayou City with Vegas homeboys Holding Onto Sound, a fearsome quartet in their own right. On hand for local support are the…
Capsule Stage Reviews: 2 Pianos, 4 Hands, Getting Sara Married, Life Could Be a Dream, Life Is a Dream, Superior Donuts, Women@Art
2 Pianos, 4 Hands Richard Greenblatt and Ted Dykstra, both talented Canadian pianists and actors trained for careers as classical musicians, have created a play with music that defies description. It uses humor, musical ability and insightful memories of childhood piano lessons to delineate a world of ambition, frustrations, hard…
Houston Now & Then
We meet again for the fourth installment of vintage Houston mashed with its present-day locations. Here is another look at how much Houston has changed and how its deep-rooted history won’t fade. One of the best examples of change is Main Street. Gone are the movie theaters of the 1920s…
Bonnie Raitt
After decades as one of music’s most-decorated folk/rock/blues/adult-contemporary hyphenates, Bonnie Raitt finally got to make the record she wanted to make, and certainly took advantage of the opportunity. This spring the singer-songwriter-guitarist released Slipstream, her first album both in seven years and since leaving longtime home Capitol Records, on her…
Quite Njoyable
See more photos from Njoy’s pleasant dining room and cozy kitchen in our slideshow. Montrose is lousy with Thai restaurants. There’s old-guard establishments like Nidda Thai, turning out plate after endless plate of slightly overpriced chu chee eggplant for diners who lovingly regard the restaurant as if it were their…
Lil Keke’s Heart of a Hustla
SCREWSTON, TEXAS As a legend and someone who’s done everything on his own terms, Lil Keke sees the current climate in Houston and must adapt. Hence him crafting his first-ever free mixtape in Da Leak. In our conversation, Keke tackles the mentality behind some of the city’s newer artists and…
Dust Off Your Flannel
We’ve almost weathered the ’80s revival without anybody rear-ending the morons stalled at the intersection listening to Spandau Ballet, but it’s official: The ladle’s scraping barrel when it comes to that decade’s nostalgia. The Winona Ryder/Christian Slater movie Heathers is being turned into a series on Bravo. (Bitchy fictional teens,…
Victor Wooten
Victor Wooten is the kind of musician who leaves other musicians, especially bass players, in awe. One of his four older brothers taught Wooten the four-string arts at age three, and he’s gone on to a distinguished career that includes stints with both jazz-fusion master Stanley Clarke and progressive-bluegrass pickers…
