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Best Place to Take a Selfie

The "We Heart Houston" Sign

Selfies are like engagement rings — if you like something, you should take a photo of yourself with it. If you love Houston, as you should, the top place for your selfie is in front of David Adickes's "We Houston" sign. The act may be silly, but the sentiment is not. Houston rules, and having a piece of public art as cool as the sign is just another testament to that. How can you not grin when you drive by those giant letters with their simple colors and that heart that says it all? Which is why at some point you have to stop, get out and get that picture of yourself. It's one of the few times in your life you'll take a photo and no one will have to tell you to smile.

Best Arts Festival

Dance Salad 2014

We can't all travel the world in search of the best in classical and contemporary dance. We can't all spend months catching cutting-edge performances by the best emerging and established dance companies. Thankfully Dance Salad Festival Artistic Director Nancy Henderek can. And does. Under her steady direction, the festival brings more than a dozen world-class companies into town each year for a three-day run. It's literally a gathering of the best dancers and choreographers on the planet. A highlight this year was Liu Lu's Gateway, performed by the men of the Contemporary Dragon KungFu Company — think traditional and demure Chinese folk dance usually performed by women, but turned on its head and infused with testosterone and a few kung fu kicks. Another showstopper was the Norwegian National Ballet's Cygne. A contemporary work by Daniel Proietto, Cygne was inspired by The Dying Swan. Former Houstonian Samantha Lynch, who performed the solo, found a broken beauty in Proietto's angular, sculptural piece.

Best Dive Bar

Cozy Corner

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a good dive bar will have cheap drinks, gruff bartenders and an atmosphere so distinct it simply couldn't be replicated anywhere else. That's Cozy Corner, a bar located in Westbury — and arguably the best thing that neighborhood has ever produced. The Corner has all the usual earmarks of a dive: low ceilings, Jell-O shots and the fact that all patrons get their very own koozie to keep. Located in the area known as "Little Montrose," the Corner is at its best during Friday's and Saturday's amazing karaoke nights. Whether a performer is about to bust out his best Liza Minnelli or has the voice of an actual turkey, the audience is warm, good-humored and liquored up, guaranteeing lots of applause and cheering.

Best CD by a Local Artist

Footprints On the Moon, Doughbeezy

Doughbeezy only plants his Footprints on the Moon after shooting for it. The third volume of hustle diaries by Houston's self-proclaimed "Southeast Beast" is full of swag and poised to make him an even bigger name in the rap scene than he already is. Doughbeezy raps in a nasal tone and occasionally resembles Outkast's Andre 3000 or the late, great Pimp C. He pokes L.A. heir apparent Kendrick Lamar on "Cruisin'," but he's hardly lacking his own identity. Doughbeezy's rapid-fire flow often resembles lines of musical computer code, where you keep expecting him to take a breath but he just won't. Instead he spits lines like "got more game than an Xbox controller" and "I'm from Houston...bitch!" over state-of-the-art tracks that tweak both trap-rap and that classic H-town swang, as designed by top local producers such as Donnie Houston and Trakksounds. Feel free to hate on him, Dough says, "but I'm gonna run my shine 'cause I'm on my grind...working full-time shifts and I ain't even getting paid." But he will one day, believe that.

Best Art Gallery

The Gite Gallery

There's only one art gallery in Houston that sells only contemporary African art — The Gite Gallery. Owner Lloyd Gite was well known to Houston audiences as a popular and respected television news reporter, but when the station where he worked changed management, Gite knew it might be time for a change in careers. He had discovered African art while still a grad student, and began collecting on his various trips to the continent, eventually bringing back pieces for friends as well. On the last day of his television job, Gite got on a plane to Africa and, as he says, "never looked back." Not only does The Gite Gallery focus exclusively on contemporary African art, it displays it in a non-traditional setting. Rather than a large, open space with artwork hanging on white walls, The Gite Gallery resembles a well-appointed home. Gite purchased a pre-WWII-era house in Third Ward and furnished it so that visitors to the gallery would see the artwork displayed as it would be in their own homes rather than in a museum.

Best Food Truck Gourmet

The Modular Unit

When co-owner Joshua Martinez closed The Modular trailer to focus on opening downtown's Goro & Gun, it was bittersweet. Now that G&G is thriving, the much-loved mobile eatery is back...and it's better than ever. With a bit of a makeover (bye-bye, tin can trailer; hello, bright, graffiti-adorned truck), the Modular Unit's menu incorporates Modular classics — such as a stunning, rich and decadent lobster risotto — and Asian-inspired creations — such as fried "hustle" sprouts and Korean chicken-and-waffles. This is one comeback we're thrilled about.

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