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Best Place to Beer-Nerd Out

Petrol Station

The epicenter of the craft beer movement in Houston is here at Petrol Station, where beer nerds assemble nightly in their efforts to take beer to the next level. But whether you're a connoisseur or a newcomer to the world of beer, Petrol Station has something for you. Interesting and extraordinary kegs and casks are brought in daily, so you never know what you'll find. And if you drink something you just can't live without, Petrol Station will let you take a growler of the stuff home for later consumption.

Best New Book About Houston

Literary Houston, edited by David Theis

If you have anything more than a passing interest in the history and/or soul of Houston, you owe it to yourself to pick up this book. Former Press staff writer (and occasional theater critic) David Theis has done yeoman's work in rounding up this anthology of writings about Houston, ranging from Cabeza de Vaca's accounts of miserable wanderings here through the first Anglo settlement and on down, to the boom/bust years of the late 20th century and Houston's inauspicious entry into the 21st, with an excerpt from Mimi Swartz and Sharron Watkins's account of the Enron meltdown. It's not all nonfiction, either: Theis also features fiction and poetry from natives like Donald Barthelme and Vassar Miller and temporary Houstonians such as Larry McMurtry and Mary Gaitskill. Until now, these writings have been as scattered as the city that inspired them. No more. Theis has slapped together much of the best into one 2.4-pound package.

Best New Gay Bar

F Bar

Freshly opened F Bar is the new favorite hangout of the fabulous, gay Montrose set. Crystal chandeliers preside over an elegant black interior dotted with white marble columns. Mirrored accents lend F Bar an upscale brasserie air. But with drag shows, karaoke nights and happy hours galore, this is still a place to let your hair down. When the dance floor reaches saturation, an outdoor patio with a fire pit and bar are a breath of fresh air. Though the F doesn't mean anything official, it certainly doesn't stand for "frumpy," so dress to impress.

Best Comedian

John Wessling

As a part of the Whiskey Brothers comedy troupe, John Wessling covers a mighty amount of ground. He's ubiquitous on the Houston comedy scene as the leader of the Houston Comedy Union, popping in at open-mike nights around town and rapping about our local sports teams, whose poor records and ways also give him and his comrades more than enough ammunition over on ESPN 97.5 FM The Ticket. On top of all this, you can find him on Twitter almost 24 hours a day, taking on all manner of current events and helping warp your home time-line ever so gently. He's also a family man, and he makes sure that his audiences get to share in his adventures as a father and a husband.

Best Contemporary Art Show

"Johan Grimonprez: It's a Poor Sort of Memory That Only Works Backwards" at the Blaffer Art Museum

This sprawling, video-packed show brought the work of Belgian artist Johan Grimonprez to Houston. The standout was the artist's stellar film essay, Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y. Collaged from the likes of archival news footage, Hollywood films and television commercials, the film presented the evolution of hijacking into a political and media tool. Smart, entertaining and darkly comedic, Grimonprez makes insightful and effective social and political points free of humorless harangue. The exhibition was organized by the Blaffer Art Museum's director and chief curator Claudia Schmuckli, and was accompanied by a reader that was one of the most engaging exhibition catalogues around. Filled with fascinating — and readable — writing about everything from the history of channel changing to stories about hijackers to an essay about ethnography, it was the kind of thing that even people who would never crack open an exhibition catalog would read. In the same way, Grimonprez's films are the kind of work that even people who hate artist films like.

Best Nightlife Trend

Shutting Up at Shows

For a while there, it seemed like every concert review we ran on the Houston Press's Rocks Off music blog contained some complaint about how the audience apparently found their own conversation much more interesting than whatever was happening onstage. It wasn't just us, either; we were at several shows where the performers admonished the crowd to lower their voices with varying degrees of sarcasm and disgust. Over the past year, local crowds may not have turned into church mice, but reviews where we've had to call them on it have grown few and far between. So we'd like to thank these audiences for (finally) realizing there are better places to catch up with their friends than at a concert, and thank them on the artists' behalf as well. That said, now we'll just shut up and watch the show.

Best Theater Company

Alley Theatre

We know, we know, not that grande dame downtown, not Big Sis; the Alley doesn't need another accolade! Oh, yes they do, especially after this past season. Most definitely, it was the best time overall in Houston theater (as long as you conveniently forget Wonderland, which went bye-bye on Broadway faster than Moose Murders). There was Martin McDonagh's mordant black comedy A Behanding in Spokane; the truly lighter-than-air rendition of J.M. Barrie's classic Peter Pan; Yasmina Reza's hilarious sitcom God of Carnage; Tracy Letts's Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning tale of family dysfunction August: Osage County; Peter Shaffer's hallucinogen about Mozart, Amadeus; Rajiv Joseph's world premiere Monster at the Door; and a champagne production of G.B. Shaw's sparkling Pygmalion. The entire season was produced with class and elegance to spare, acted to perfection and fulfilled theater's prime premise: Entertain us. The Alley outdid itself.

Best Open-Mike Night (Comedy)

Sherlock's, River Oaks

Houston was the proving ground for some of stand-up's most renowned — and groundbreaking — names. We're talking folks like Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison. Others, like Mitch Hedberg and Joe Rogan, recorded albums in H-town comedy clubs. Bob Newhart recorded his legendary debut album here — it was the first comedy platter to top the Billboard charts. Our point is, there's a rich comic history here (perhaps something in the bayou water?) and part of the excitement of going to Sherlock's open-mike Mondays is that you'll catch the next big name. Or, if not, you're still guaranteed to laugh your ass off. You probably have no idea how many talented, hardworking amateur comics there are in town, and you're doing yourself a disservice by not going at least once. (Hey — there's no cover, and they have $2 to $4 drink specials; that's enough to make you smile right there.) Get out and support local comedy. What else do you have to do on a Monday night?

Sherlock's is now closed, and the Houston Comedy Union's new home is Baker Street Pub in Rice Village.

Best Phoenix

Agora

Photo by Craig Hlavaty
No one would have thought, while they watched Agora engulfed in flames on Halloween Eve of last year, that the coffee and wine hangout would be back on its feet within mere months, just in time for the spring and great patio weather. The beloved Montrose location looked like a lost cause after the fire, which began at the antique store just next door, but the owners went into action as soon as the smoke cleared. Now the bar is back to normal, there is always a food truck out front, there is a giant phoenix painted on the side of the bar and people are back to throwing back bottles of wine and espresso as if last October 30 never happened.

Best Washington Ave. Bar

Liberty Station

Approaching from the east, Liberty Station is one of Washington Avenue's last outposts of sanity before you hit the horror, the horror of the hardcore strip. Liberty Station is usually immune to the Ed Hardy afflictions of the rest of Washington; the converted old-timey gas station has an authentically bohemian, relaxed vibe. The bar pledges that it has "no crap on tap" and means it, and their specialty drinks often sport fresh herbs and fruit. It's dog- and bike-friendly, and the patio offers up bar sports like Cornhole and Jenga. A rotation of some of Houston's finest food trucks post up out front nightly. This is a place to chill and sip Gulf Coast-style. Those of you who want to get your JWOWW on can just keep a-steppin'.

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