Houston Music Legend Joe Sample Undergoes Surgery
Rocks Off has just learned that Houston Press Music Hall of Famer Joe Sample is scheduled for surgery this afternoon. According to Dr. Horace Alexander Young of the Texas Southern University Jazz Studies Program, where Sample is artist in residence, Sample has been diagnosed with pneumonia. A consummate keyboardist, Sample…
This Week’s Cafe Review: Play With Your Food at Michiru Sushi
Eating at Michiru Sushi is like playing on a playground made of food. No, it’s not necessarily meant to be played with per se, but everyone — from the chefs to the servers to the diners — seems to be having fun with it. The chefs serve up inventive creations…
Peter and the Starcatcher Fills in the Peter Pan Back Story With Stardust
The set-up: Have you ever seen true theater stardust? Not that plastic, manufactured spangly stuff that Miley Cyrus or those ubiquitous boy bands excrete, but real, genuine theater magic? The kind that makes you weep because of its surprise, talent, and imagination? Fly over to the Hobby Center for the…
Rockets Chemistry Experiment Seems to Be Working
The Rockets finally made it back home from a trip to Asia last week that saw them twice dismantle the Indiana Pacers, a team that took the World Champion Miami Heat to the brink of elimination in last year’s Eastern Conference playoffs. This was without last year’s starting center, Omer…
Reality Bites: House Hunters International
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. Of all the programs I’ve written about in this weekly exercise in masochism, I think I’ve seen more episodes of House Hunters and House Hunters International than anything other than…
Cover Story: A Lawsuit Says a Child Placement Agency Should Be Held Accountable for the Gang Rape of a 13-Year-Old Foster Child
A foster child runs away and is allegedly raped. Who’s accountable?Most foster children in Texas are placed in their temporary homes through child placement agencies that contract with the state. These agencies are supposed to find and vet foster parents and monitor the homes. They are of course expected to…
This Week In Food Blogs: Crazy Mac & Cheese Creations, Buttery Lobster Tacos & More
Urban Swank: BRC Gastropub recently changed its menu, and Urban Swank has the low-down on the new comfort food items. Executive Chef Lance Fegen added a multitude of comforting dishes, such as the Foie Gras Poutine — crispy fries, chilled foie gras, mushroom brown gravy and farm cheese. There’s also…
Emily Snow; Model, Photographer and Free Speaker About Sex (NSFW)
Emily Snow knows a lot about sex, and she’s channeled that knowledge into a career as a fetish model, photographer, and as the host of the Nocturnal Addictions podcast where she fields any and all kinky questions, queries, and cries for help. If you need an erotic Jill of All…
CSN, Astros Trading Barbs in Bankruptcy Case
You would think by now Jim Crane would have made his point. But, then again, the government is shut down due to a small group of hardline Republicans, so I guess keeping the Astros and Rockets off TV due to one hardline MLB owner seems reasonable these days. As CSN…
TUTS Underground Sets Up Wine & Craft Beer Garden Right Outside the Hobby Center
To go along with its new approach of edgier fare in a smaller venue with TUTS Underground, Theatre Under the Stars has launched a wine and craft beer garden right outside its shows at Zilka Hall in the Hobby Center. Artistic Director Bruce Lumpkin says when they were making the…
Wingtoberfest 2013 Is Upon Us! Find Out Who’s Competing for the Honor of Top Wing
Ah, October. Time for pumpkin spice lattes, Halloween parties, cold fronts and gluttonous candy consumption. Also a time for Oktoberfests around the world (and most famously in Munich, Germany — yes, we know the only official Oktoberfest ended on October 6 this year, but still). Beer, beer, lederhosen and more…
Maria Shriver’s Site Taps “Children Are Sexy” Group Member for Contributing Writer
Award-winning journalist Maria Shriver’s Web site is full of ostensibly terrific people telling inspirational tales, but one really sticks out: a spokeswoman for a Houston-based organization that believes “young children are incredibly sexy.” Blossom Benedict, a high-ranking member of Access Consciousness, which relocated to Houston from Santa Barbara in 2012…
First Date (Original Broadway Cast Album) is Unoriginal
A certain aura always surrounds a new musical. Vibrations of excitement fill the air. A heart-quickening hum drives interest. On the opposite end of the spectrum, these feelings create a nauseating dirge of distress when preparing for a blind date. The disparity in these emotions, naturally, make a musical comedy…
Sublime Spiral: Charles Is Definitely in Charge of Cinnamon Rolls in Houston
Garden Oaks and Oak Forest residents go to Shipley’s for glazed doughnuts, but for cinnamon rolls, it’s Charles Donuts.
Skeeters’ Gaetti Named Manager of the Year, No Mention of Bo Porter
One has to wonder if the Astros lined up for a three-game series against un-affiliated minor league team the Sugarland Skeeters, could they take two out of three. Before you answer with your, “But, the Astros are a major league ball club” response, keep in mind that they were barely…
Rosemary’s Baby Is Even Scarier When You’re Pregnant
Of all the horror films out there, Rosemary’s Baby is my absolute favorite. I love the original book by Ira Levin, I love Roman Polanski as a director, Ruth Gordon as Minnie the creepy neighbor is brilliant and Mia Farrow’s haircut is awesome. I’ve watched the movie every Halloween for…
More Creamy Spinach, Please: Then and Now at Fusion Grillerz
April 2013: I’ve spent the past few months locked in a cycle of pain. The pain of eating three pounds of fried rice for lunch every day, regretting it, and comforting that regret with more fried rice. It’s a vicious cycle, really, and one conveniently fueled by a lunch hour…
Forgotten Houston for Kids: Watercoaster
When I was in middle school, I was not the cool, studly vision of awesome I am today. I was a nerdy kid, who struggled to be popular even if I was hilariously funny and devastatingly handsome even then. Ahem. But, what helped raise my status among my fellow middle…
The Best-Tasting Throat Lozenges for Cold and Flu Season
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be largely inoperative because of the government shutdown and, as the Web site states, “the lapse in government funding,” but here at the Houston Press, we’ve still got your back. So sure, we can’t with any medical authority tell you what this…
100 Creatives 2013: James Glassman, Houstorian Historian and Artist
What He Does James Glassman is the founder of Houstorian, a website dedicated to “telling the story of Houston.” Glassman also runs Houstorian’s popular Twitter feed, where he tweets “this day in history” tidbits about the city. Glassman said Houstorian started out in 2006 as group dedicated to educating Houstonians…
Houston Transplant Lizzo Stirs Up National Taste For “Batches & Cookies”
Say what you will about our music scene, Houston has served as a platform for the emergence of successful commercial recording artists from ZZ Top and Kenny Rogers all the way to Destiny’s Child and Slim Thug — and that dynasty may yet survive today. Case in point: rising hip-hop…
Homemade Halloween No-Sew Costumes are the Greatest Costumes Ever
Halloween costumes are a really big deal in my house. Like, really big. The children in my house don’t even know the things out of plastic bags — made of cheap fabric and silk-screened logos — even exist. They know where costumes come from — they appear courtesy of fabric…
Cheap and Good Eats: The Top 5 Budget Lunch Spots in Montrose
Montrose has its fair share of fantastic dining, from upscale classics Mark’s and Hugo’s to trendy new kids on the block Uchi and Underbelly. But don’t be fooled, there are also plenty of amazing, hole-in-the-wall eateries in this ‘hood. Today, we’re focusing on the small joints that offer the best…
Whodunit? The Great Chris Duhon Attempted Vehicular Manslaughter Case
When someone is involved in a car accident, there is a certain etiquette to how you treat the story. On Saturday night, former Duke/Chicago/New York/Orlando/Laker point guard Chris Duhon was involved in a car accident inside an Orlando parking garage. Well, it wasn’t so much an accident as it was…
Vote or Die: The Last VJ’s Top Five Music Videos of the Week
Welcome back to The Last VJ, music fans. Once again we’ve scoured the Internet in search of the newest and best music videos for you to vote on, in order to see which one will high-five the hand of Apollo and which shall wrought naught but a spanking from Hades…
Spud Boys’ Revenge: Devo’s Innovative Videos Drive U of H Crowd Nuts
On November 30, 1982, two years after “Whip It” made its rounds through radio and television airwaves, Devo’s spazzy music had become the encapsulation of everything pop culture at the time had to offer. Though their catchy synths and calculated kitsch had brought them to fame, come the band’s second…
The Five Best Shoes Designed by Musicians
Lately I’ve been having a problem, dear readers. I typically do my clothes shopping at thrift stores because a) I’m cheap and b) I’m a hipster (just saying it for you pre-emptively). But if you’re like me, you know that it’s practically impossible to find a nice pair of size…
Are Some Houston Music Venues Haunted?
Halloween is right around the corner, and once again it’s time to talk spooky stuff… for y’all, I mean. Here at the House With One F it’s always time to talk spooky stuff, but today we want to look around the city to see which music venues might actually be…
Nine Arrested for Allegedly Running an Illegal Horse-Racing Track
Breaking the law is one thing, but breaking the law when you’re in law enforcement knocks it up to a whole other level. Add horses into the mix and crikey have you got a problem. Nine people had their first court appearance Monday morning after being arrested last week for…
The Walking Dead Is The No. 1 Show On TV?
The Walking Dead is the No. 1 show on TV: Sunday’s season 4 premiere of AMC’s zombie drama chowed down on 16.1 million total viewers, according to Nielsen. That’s a record for the series, of course, as well as a remarkable 48% boost from last year’s season 3 rollout. It…
Weather Week: Cloudy, Raining with Cooler Temps by Midweek
If you like wet, overcast, cool weather, this week is going to be your favorite. If you don’t, buck up there, little man, there is good to be had from your misfortune. While anyone who suffers from seasonal affective disorder (i.e., people who live in Seattle) might find this week…
Ben Hall Vs. the Houston Chronicle
So awhile back the Houston Chronicle set up an editorial board meeting featuring Mayor Annise Parker and Ben Hall, the two frontrunners for mayor. The meeting was scheduled for last Friday. Parker and Hall were to meet with the board so the board could consider which candidate the paper would…
Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham Sings the Trouser Role in Die Fledermaus
She enters the room carrying a green bike helmet. This is Susan Graham, world-renowned mezzo-soprano who’s in Houston to sing the role of Prince Orlovsky in the upcoming Houston Grand Opera production of the comic operetta Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”). Graham bikes, she says, as part of the work she…
Caesar Salad Martinis, Sliders, Tandoori and More at the 29th Annual Caesar Salad Competition
How many ways can you make a Caesar salad? This past Friday evening, Houstonians were treated to a total of 19 ways at the 29th Annual Caesar Salad Competition, held at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston. The event, hosted by…
Will Texas Foot the Bill to Open National Parks?
As the government shutdown drags on, it’s created plenty of frustrating situations — people who can’t get into medical programs, thousands of workers furloughed without pay, and of course, the shutting down of all national parks. Texas has some great national parks within our borders — Big Bend, the Guadalupe…
Underbelly’s Chris Shepherd to Star at Meatopia Texas in San Antonio
For years the beau monde of cuisine derided Texas food as slabs of tasteless meat thrown on an open fire. But it’s that relationship with meat and fire, along with a cadre of inventive chefs, that has attracted Meatopia, a self-described celebration of meat, to the state. “I believe in…
NYCC: Inside the Star Wars: Rebels Panel
Editors Note: This blog comes to us from our sister paper The Village Voice, and was written by Tatiana Craine. Star Wars fans got a teaser of the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Rebels show slated to premiere in 2014. Pablo Hidalgo, one of the many people at Lucasfilm behind the new…
Best of Houston® 2013: University of Houston’s Dr. Renu Khator
A great city, no matter where it is, needs an equally powerful university. That’s what Dr. Renu Khator, president and chancellor of the University of Houston System, thinks. Like so many Houstonians, Khator is not a native. When she accepted her position with UH, she had been to the city…
A Stroll Down the Esplanade: SPA Presents Paul Taylor Dance Company
The Setup: On October 12, the Society for the Performing Arts brought to the Jones Hall stage the work of a living legend. The Paul Taylor Dance Company performed three of its famed choreographer’s most beloved works, including his 1975 masterpiece Esplanade. The Execution: The concert opened with Airs, a…
Divine Take-Out: Sunday Fried Chicken Dinner From Revival Market
A few days ago, Revival Market gave me a reason to look forward to Sunday night. Usually the evening of this day finds me incredibly grumpy and more than a little stressed about the workweek to come, but this past Sunday I forgot for at least a few hours to…
Fan Fighting League! Philly Fan Invades Tampa (w/ VIDEO)
A few bad apples spoil the bunch. For the past three weeks, as a collective fan base, Houston Texans fans have been labeled as a bunch of delusional, intrusive, bloodthirsty animals. And why? Because a few idiots burned a Matt Schaub jersey, a couple of kids put a FOR SALE…
Bill Clinton Remains the Greatest Video Game President
Presidents have been appearing in video games at least since the Bad Dudes were sent in to rescue Ronald Reagan from Dragon Ninja back in 1988, but it’s a somewhat rare thing to occur outside of obvious indie parody titles. I saw George W. Bush in at least three juvenile…
The Rocks Off 200: Cindy Pruitt, A Walking Vocal Epiphany
Welcome to The Rocks Off 200, 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. See previous entries in the Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who: There aren’t…
100 Favorite Dishes 2013: No. 80, The Marie Laveau Sandwich at Sandy Witch
This year, leading up to our annual Menu of Menus issue, Kaitlin Steinberg counts down her 100 favorite dishes as she eats her way through Houston. She’ll compile a collection of the dishes she thinks are the most awesome, most creative and, of course, most delicious in town. It’s a…
California, Bucking Other States, Expands Access to Abortion
As you can see from this chart, since the 2010 mid-term elections there has been a significant uptick in abortion restrictions. State legislatures in Texas, Ohio, North Dakota (overturned in Court), Wisconsin (also blocked in court) and Pennsylvania (among others) have all enacted restrictions on abortion making it harder for…
Top 5 Vietnamese-Inspired Dishes in Houston
The cuisine of Houston is not easily defined. It is a symbol of the diversity of our great city. We can of course claim to have amazing Mexican food, barbecue and beef, but we also have some of the best Vietnamese food in the country, thanks to our large Vietnamese…
Veronica’s Room: An American Gothic Horror Story That Spirals Into Depravity
The set-up: Playwright Ira Levin can tackle epic themes – Satan himself in the film Rosemary’s Baby and a nascent Nazi re-emergence in The Boys from Brazil, for example — and is equally adept at claustrophobic drama, such as the five-character, one-set Deathtrap, the longest running comedy thriller ever on…
Schaub Remains the Wrong Choice, Even If His Numbers Are More Respectable
Photo by GroovehouseGary Kubiak and the Texans are still searching for answers with the 2013 season quickly slipping away.On the surface, Sunday was a step forward for Matt Schaub, the Texans’ embattled starting quarterback. Before leaving with a leg injury, Schaub completed 15 of 21 passes for 186 yards, posting…
I’m Over ‘Pinktober’
A while back I was at Luke’s Locker to buy some running gear. One of the things I needed was Body Glide, a deodorant-like stick that runners use to prevent chafing on places like our heels and under our arms. Luke’s had two types of Body Glide — original formula,…
Shemekia Copeland’s Blues Journey: “It Changed Who I Am”
Blues chanteuse Shemekia Copeland may have never actually lived in Houston, but as the daughter of legendary Bayou City bluesman Johnny “Clyde” Copeland (1937-1997), she heard a lot about it growing up. “My daddy was from Houston, and Texans love being from Texas!” she laughs. “So it’s a wonderful thing…
The Top 10 Best Candies for Halloween (Non-Chocolate Edition)
Hey, look on the bright side. For every shitty type of candy there is out there, there are five more that are just mediocre. Har. Seriously, however, there’s a world of great sweets to choose from when it comes to filling your treat-or-treat bowl. Here are ten of our favorite…
Maxo Kream: Houston’s Hottest Young Rapper Strikes Quicc
Maxo Kream understands both the light and dark within him, the duality in his rap: “I know I’m Christ but I know I got the devil in me.” It makes perfect sense; all over Quicc Strikes, his sophomore mixtape following Retro Card, Maxo not only relishes robbing people to further his sneaker…
Upcoming: Amon Amarth, Big Smo, Deadstring Brothers, Flyleaf, Sevendust, Tiesto, etc.
40 Oz To Freedom: With Cassette Tape., Sat., December 14, 8 p.m., $10. Scout Bar, 18307 Egret Bay, Houston, 281-335-0002. Amon Amarth: CHANGED With Skeletonwitch, Enslaved., Wed., January 22, 7 p.m., $25. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston, 888-402-5837. Band of Heathens: Sat., December 21, 8 p.m., $14 to $18…
Hardcore’s Five MVPs Right Now
I feel like hardcore is very much a genre where you either sink or swim. You either become a legend or you fade rapidly into obscurity. If you can’t keep topping yourself, you’re ousted quickly by even younger kids than yourself. Hardcore is one of the few careers where you…
The Best Things We Overheard at ACL’s Second Weekend
“Gary Coleman for governor. Whatchoo talkin’ bout, Davis?” — T-shirt, from a few thousand miles west and a few years earlier than Wendy Dude at Junip: “I was smoking a cigar, I left in the seat and it burned a whole in the upholstry.” Friend of dude: “Nooooooooo??!?!” Dude: “Ya…
UPDATE: Local Food Truck Owner Shot and Killed During Attempted Robbery
UPDATE: During the press conference today regarding the shooting death of 53-year-old taco truck owner Lorenzo Juan Vasquez, police revealed new details about the case. Police confirmed that the suspects attempted to rob the taco truck but did not get away with any money or other items. In an effort…
How New York Comic-Con 2013 Went Down
New York Comic-Con ended yesterday at 5 p.m., and boy, was there a ton of stuff going on. Read on for just a few of the highlights of how it went. Room For Improvement NYCC had some problems this year, all of which can be improved upon or completely fixed…
Alley Offers Deeply Discounted Tickets for Furloughed U.S. & NASA Employees
For just $10, all furloughed federal and NASA employees who show ID can get two tickets to You Can’t Take It With You at the Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue. There are two more performances at which the tickets are being offered: Tuesday, October 15, at 7:30 p.m.; and Wednesday,…
Best of Houston® 2013: Aquiles Chávez left fame and Mexico behind for a restaurant in Houston
Aquiles Chávez was holding his face next to a bottle of Bigote Mexican wine and smiling for the camera. “Bigote” means “mustache” in Spanish, and the label design is a facsimile of his famous eyes and mustache. Produced in limited quantity in Mexico, where it’s bottled just for him, it’s…
Four Reasons Why Being Politically Ignorant May or May Not Matter
The Onion, as it so often does, hits the nail on the head regarding political ignorance with this “headline”: “Man Who Understands 8% Of Obamacare Vigorously Defends It From Man Who Understands 5%.” The satirical headline is simply highlighting the commonplace that Americans simply do not know much about American…
Lizzie Starts off TUTS Underground With a Rock Concert Format
The set-up: Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) inaugurates its new TUTS Underground series with the rock musical Lizzie. The series promises “No revivals. No dead authors. No boundaries”, and prices begin at $24. TUTS Underground debuts with the story of Lizzie Borden, tried and acquitted for the murder of her…
Fact Check Politicians and They Will Lie Less
It is unremarkable to say that politicians, both Democratic and Republican, shade the truth, tell half-truths, spin any topic, or, their favorite, simply refuse to answer the question asked and reiterate a talking point. Indeed, some commentators said that 2012 was the first “post-truth” campaign where the national media essentially…
galleryHOMELAND Presents the Dark Work of Domokos Bencze’di
This weekend, Houston’s galleryHOMELAND presented the first solo exhibition by artist/musician and experimental noise band, Future Blondes contributor, Domokos Bencze’di. VANISH 3: DOMOKOS, is a large scale installation that will evolve and change over the course of its one month run in the gallery though ongoing performances, “noise sets” and…
What’s Cooking This Week? Chicken Tortilla Soup, Pumpkin Enchiladas & More
I love cooking for my fiancé and myself, but cooking for two often 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 ingredient’s I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What’s Cooking This…
Cougars Devour Tigers To Stay Undefeated
Photo by Stephen Pinchback/Houston Athletics CommunicationsKenneth Farrow looks to escape Memphis defendersThey played a football game at BBVA Compass Stadium on Saturday morning. But for most of the UH-Memphis game, there was confusion as to whether it was American football being played, or soccer. Houston was up 18-15 after the…
How To: Make a Pumpkin Cake That Looks Like the Real Thing
No, this is not a cake that tastes like pumpkin. It’s a cake that looks like a pumpkin. Anyone who knows me knows I love to make cakes and sweets, so when I saw that it was possible to make a pumpkin-shaped cake with a Bundt pan, I immediately decided…
10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Legend of Zelda
The original Legend of Zelda is one of the most iconic and beloved video games ever made. It didn’t invent the adventure genre (That was the appropriately titled Adventure), but it definitely perfected it. Yet, as famous as the game is it still has secrets that the average gamer may…
Ted Cruz Calls Hecklers ‘Obama’s Paid Political Operatives’
Sen. Ted Cruz really is the gift that keeps on giving. If he was an animal he’d definitely be the goose that laid golden eggs, only the good stuff comes out the other end. Current case in point: The Values Voter Summit on Friday. Cruz was addressing a packed crowd…
Stark Naked’s All Girls: Wonderful Reminder That Being “You” is, Like, Totally Hard
The set-up: Being a 13-year old girl is so miserable! The raging hormones, the mounting angst, not to mention those growing body parts causing utter confusion both physically and emotionally, it all chokes up to one of the most disturbing times in a young woman’s life. This distressing era is…
A First Look at Fielding’s Wood Grill in The Woodlands
The area where The Woodlands and Shenandoah meet on Research Forest Drive has transformed from small strip centers and rows and rows of trees to a completely new area for residents and those passing through on I-45 to stop and grab a bite to eat. While many of the restaurants…
The Definitive Summary Of The Houston Texans, Post-Letterman Jackets
“I’ll just say this — for the past few weeks, the finger has been pointed in one direction a lot. But we sprung leaks all over the place today as a football team. We got our butt kicked as a football team.” — Gary Kubiak, post game after the Rams…
I’m Not Mad at the Woman Who Probably Thought I Was Going to Rape Her
The other day I had an article that just was not coming together. I don’t remember what it was… stupidest haircuts in Final Fantasy or something non-essential like that. I decided that I needed to go outside to walk and clear my head so I walked to the Sonic nearby…
Baker Spotlight: Belen Bailey, Sweets by Belen
You don’t have to graduate from a culinary institute to be a successful baker. Belen Bailey, owner and baker of Sweets by Belen, proves that a love for a mother’s sweets and treats, combined with a passion for baking, is more than enough to make a name for yourself in…
Jerry Patterson’s Solution to the Great Political Divide? Kick Four States Out (Not Texas)
Well this is a new one. Texas politicians love to get on that old sawhorse of a proposal to secede from the United States (The line of logic seems to go: Because we can dammit. It says so in the Texas Constitution, so despite the fact that things didn’t work…
October Kickstarter Round-Up: Garden Gnomes and Black Leather Jesus
Once a month we’ll be bringing you a look at some of the best local Kickstarter campaigns in order to let you know what’s getting ready to be unleashed through the help of small investors. A Game of Gnomes: Shane Tuttle has three things you need to know about; 20…
The Bacon Hot Dog Is the Future of Travel Breakfast
Yesterday I discovered the true purpose of the hot dog bun: It is bacon. Since I would rather eat in the car than get up one second earlier than is absolutely necessary, I am always on the lookout for a handy mobile breakfast. Protein bars, smoothies, fruit, whatever can be…
Rams 38, Texans 13: Time to Admit This Is Not a Good Football Team
The Texans were supposed to get things straight against what appeared to be a hapless St. Louis Rams team that had struggled in virtually all facets of the game. Turns out, it was the other way around as the Rams feasted on the clearly overmatched Texans and dominated them in…
The Best Acts of ACL Festival’s Second Weekend
BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA If you want to catch an act in the one and only tented stage at ACL, it’s recommended to do it early in the day or towards the end of the weekend. It always seems to get pretty packed on Saturday when people realize they can…
Race and the Runway: Does Houston Have a Problem?
Usually the publication of the Fashion Houston designer line up is met with unanimous excitement, but this year there were a few jeers along with the cheers. A blog post by Sunny B. James of Illusion Model Management brought to light one big question, “in a city as diverse as…
Max’s Wine Dive Serves Up Swagger and Special Chicken-Fried…Lobster?
It may seem antithetical to pair something generally expensive and highbrow like lobster with a Southern classic like chicken-fried steak or chicken. But there it was, plate after plate of chicken-fried lobster with home fries and collard greens sailing past me on the upturned palms of servers to tables throughout…
10 Songs Too Scary for Halloween
Halloween music sucks. We can all agree on that, right? Every year at every party, it’s the same crap: “Thriller,” “Monster Mash” and the “Ghostbusters” theme. Actually, that last one is pretty great, but you get the point: people blast tunes in October that they’d rather deafen themselves with cannon…
Lionel Richie at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 10/12/2013
Lionel Richie Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion October 12, 2013 With a career that has spanned more than four decades, Lionel Richie has been helping us dance, cry, and love better than the sum of all of our current pop stars combined. The talented singer/songwriter/pianist need only deliver the first few…
Today’s 10 Most Promising Young Metal Bands
Metal is a young man’s game. Everyone knows that, even the older guys. The older ones don’t usually quit, mind you, but they show their love for today’s youth and pass the torch as much as possible. That’s how you get things like Gigantour. So in a world where the…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: DJ Sun, Kid Cudi, Steve Aoki, Guitar Wolf, etc.
DJ Sun The Flat, October 14 Now that some of the well-deserved publicity surrounding DJ Sun’s first-ever full-length release, One Hundred, has subsided a little, his true accomplishment on the disc seems even more impressive. In the span of 70 minutes, he pours his 20-plus-year career as one of Houston’s most…
Five Delicious Reasons to Check Out Haute Wheels This Weekend
The Haute Wheels food truck festival returned this weekend with new entertainment, new trucks and a whole new day of edible festivities. For the first time in its existence, the festival kicked off on Friday evening with a special “Truck or Treat” event for folks 21 and up featuring a…
Heavy Rains Force ACL Sunday Cancellation
Due to heavy rains that began shortly after the Cure played “Friday I’m In Love” Saturday night and continued for several hours, this morning the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced on its Web site that Sunday’s portion of the three-day event has been cancelled. “Our first priority is always…
This Weekend’s Best Bets: Father-Son Oakland Raider Weed Smoking Scalpers Edition
At this point, when it comes to my weekly picks, I’ve been abandoned by all my family and friends and I’m basically rubbing two sticks together in the middle of the woods. I have no answers, and if last week was the week you finally decided to go opposite of…
Houstonians, Rejoice! New Food Truck Parks Set to Open
Food truck parks are popping up around Houston! Finally, people all over the city can start enjoying our great mobile kitchens as much as the lucky folks inside the Loop do. Our first food truck park, Houston Food Park, opened in EaDo in June, and the place is so popular…
Election Roundup: Proposition 6 (Funding the State Water Plan)
Referendum: Proposition 6 (the proposed constitutional amendment to fund the State Water Plan), if approved by voters, will allow a one-time transfer of $2 billion from the state Rainy Day Fund to provide local governments with loans to help build water infrastructure in the state. Key issue: The reason behind…
Festivals and Street Art and Bears, Oh My!: The Top 10 Photos of the Week
We here at the Houston Press have long believed that some of the best photographers in the world live right here in Houston. Between the slideshows and blogs we publish and the images you share with us in our Flickr Pool, we see tons of amazing photos every week, and…
TV Club: The Wonder Years “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”
I wasn’t kidding when I said Pete went abroad and found his sappy side. This week, on his insistence, we tuned in to the 1980/90s hit show, The Wonder Years, and the “will they, won’t they,” episode that finally made a dent in all the sexual tension that had been…
Best Of Houston 2013: J.J. Watt made Houstonians love him, whether they wanted to or not
The NFL Draft is a time of hope for every team, and in April 2011, Houston Texans fans were in dire need of some hope. Coming off a 2010 season where their team’s defense was historically awful, fans wanted something big on draft night. So the Texans were on the…
British Horror Cult Classic Club: Madhouse
As serious Anglophiles – that’s people who are heavily into British culture, not some kind of white power thing – Jef With One F and I will be taking a look at some lesser-known British films this month. As the month happens to be October, they will all be horror…
James Nelson Adds His Vision and Bravado to New Willowbrook Restaurant and Bar
After competing on season 4 of MasterChef, James Nelson has been as busy as a bee. If expanding Bravado Spice Company and planning (and implementing) several pop-up dinners isn’t enough for him, Nelson is also the culinary consultant for a brand-new restaurant and bar in the Willowbrook area, set to…
Help! Have You Seen This Stolen Chihuahua?
Some insufferable a-hole or a-holes broke into Michelle Tien Dao’s home in southwest Houston Tuesday and stole cash, an iPad, some laptops, a camera, and a few other valuables. But they took something else that simply cannot be replaced: her five-year-old long-haired Chihuahua, Belle. Neighbors saw two very skinny Vietnamese…
Weekend Weather: Humid, Warm and Possibly Rainy
As the days drift towards more consistent fall-like weather, Houston plays a tug of war with daily temperatures. We don’t really have “seasons” like they think of them in northern parts of the country. Ours is more of a lurching, dry heave towards every new quarter of the year. This…
Tinderbox Brings ‘Adult Creative Zone’ to Bayou City Arts Festival
The Bayou City Arts Festival, which takes place this weekend in downtown at Sam Houston Park and Hermann Square, is doing something a little differently this year. The Tinderbox, Houston’s new local craft space and boutique, will be hosting an Adult Creative Zone with four different crafts for people who…
I Finally Ate at Oxheart…and It Was Pretty Good
“The okra with the crème fraîche? Oh yeah, that’s been on the menu forever.” That’s what my friend told me when I described my favorite plate of the evening, a crescent of thin, delicate roasted and pickled okra pods — the thinnest and least slimy I’ve ever encountered — arranged…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Captain Phillips
Title: Captain Phillips Any Volleyball Cameos? How dare you diminish the memory of a loyal piece of sporting equipment? Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Four bottles of Captain Morgan out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Captain of hijacked container ship defeats army of Somali pirates using nothing…
Top 5 Alternatives to Watching the Texans This Sunday
Let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute. Whether or not we love the Texans, they have been extremely tough to watch lately. With Gary Kubiak committing to Matt Schaub for another game (and hopefully not another pick six), I’m just not sure any of us are ready to trust…
Calling All Matts! Get a Free Burger on Saturday in Support of Schaub
It was the pick six heard ’round the world. When Texans quarterback Matt Schaub threw a game-losing interception with just over five minutes to go in the Texans-Seahawks game two weeks ago, fans had had enough. First came the jersey burning, and then the infamous “Pick Six” burger, in which…
Doctor Who: Lost Episodes Officially Recovered! 5 Adventures We’re Still Hoping For
After months and months of rumor and speculation it was confirmed by the BBC last night that 11 tapes containing nine previously lost episodes of Doctor Who were found in Nigeria in the largest single recovery of lost tapes in three decades. The BBC’s habit of wiping tapes of television…
UH Quarterback’s Career Over Due To Concussions
Photo by Stephen Pinchback/Houston Athletics CommunicationsUH QB David Piland (5) with receiver Deontay Greenberry (3) in happier timesPBS aired a pretty damning and devastating documentary Tuesday night dealing with the NFL, concussions, and the impact of those concussions on the players. The NFL didn’t want this documentary seen. It refused…
Top 5 Lazy and Cheap Halloween Costumes, Couples Edition
Photo by Drew Stephens. If dressing up is the best part of Halloween, coming up with a good costume is the worst. Even though it falls on October 31 every year and even if you spend weeks thinking about it, we’ve all been guilty at one point or another of…
The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Festivals Galore, Gumbo Day & More
Haute Wheels Food Truck Festival Fall 2013 @ Houston Community College – Southwest West Loop Campus Friday, 6-10 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, 12-5 p.m. 5601 West Loop South Freeway Get excited, because the Haute Wheels Food Truck Festival is finally here. Starting tonight, the weekend kicks off with Truck or Treat, complete…
Repeat After Me: Gerrymandering Is Not to Blame
Pundits and talking heads really like to blame gerrymandering — here’s a short history of the term — as a/the reason for political polarization. This CNN news report blames gerrymandering for some of our political ills. Liberal media watch-dog Media Matters partially blames gerrymandering for the tea party. Even President…
Upcoming Events: Feast with the Beasts, Dim Sum Lunch in Chinatown & More
It’s definitely not too early to order your tickets for the 8th Annual Feast with the Beasts, which takes place at the Houston Zoo on November 1. Everything but general admission tickets is sold out, but that doesn’t mean the night won’t be spectacular. This year, 65 Houston restaurants will…
100 Creatives 2013: Lou Vest, Photographer
Photographer Lou Vest, well-known for his series of Houston Ship Channel images, is looking for an ice cream truck. A professional ship pilot (he steers cargo ships from the Ship Channel to the open sea and back again), Vest regularly sees things few other Houstonians see – the sunrise over…
BATTLE-DRINK, Week 6: Last Schaub Standing
I finally finished watching Breaking Bad this week. I was about three years late to the party in watching the show, and then a week or two late in watching the series finale. I don’t know if Breaking Bad wrests the title of “Best Series Ever” from The Sopranos for…
Openings & Closings: Food Truck Parks Head Outside the Loop, The Reason Behind Hungry’s Expansion & More
Since there aren’t that many closings in comparison to most other weeks, let’s get the sad news over with first. Yummy Yummy for my Tummy opened at the beginning of June, but has decided to close its doors. In an announcement on Facebook on Wednesday, October 9, the Latin American…
Top Five Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: “Day of the Dead Rock Stars,” The Paul Taylor Dance Company, and More
There’s a twist to this year’s “Dead Flowers: Day of the Dead Rock Stars” exhibit, one of our picks for Friday. Printmaker and artist Carlos Hernandez, who launched the series seven years ago as a solo show, invited other artists to participate for the 2013 installment. Julia Curan, Tom Huck…
Added Music Takes Bayou City Art Fest to Another Level
Every great band requires a great timekeeper. The man behind the drum set for Houston Press Music Award winners The Suffers is named Nick Zamora. He’s one of those dudes who just gets it, man. The guy is a musician’s musician, who can keep time, sing back-up vocals, act as…
David Grissom at Under the Volcano, 10/9/2013
David Grissom Band Under the Volcano October 9, 2013 These days fans want their music to say something, preferably something stupid. From what I’ve heard recently it holds true across rock, pop, hip-hop, but here I’m going to pick on country because of this appalling timeline Entertainment Weekly published on…
“Your World Offends Me”: Cancerslug’s Alex Story Discusses True Horror
“Fetus Milkshake.” “3 Days She Bled, 3 Days I Bathed.” “In the Dumpster Behind the Clinic.” These are a few of the better-known and loved songs from Alabama underground horror-punks Cancerslug. Alex Story, the group’s founder and driving force, is aware his band’s music might seem offensive to some. But…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Concert Venues
As the Houston Press doffs our kudos cap to local institutions great and small in the Best of Houston® 2013 awards, all through October each of our four blogs will be looking beyond the winners of selected categories in a series we like to call “The Rest of the Best.”…
UPDATED: The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Jason Isbell, The Reivers, Wild Child, etc.
UPDATE (Friday, 11 a.m.): Sadly, Billy Ocean has cancelled. Jason Isbell, Dawes Warehouse Live, October 12 After beating back the sort of demons that often beget great art – a drinking problem that ultimately got him bounced from Drive-By Truckers some years ago – Alabama native Jason Isbell sobered up…
Maximus Coffee Workers Strike to Protest Planned Wage Cuts; Voodoo Queen Supports Strikers
It still smells like coffee outside the Maximus Coffee Group plant on Harrisburg Boulevard in the Second Ward, but there’s no smoke coming from the plant’s exhaust chimneys, and no trucks are driving in and out of the complex carrying Maximus coffee. Ninety percent of the 250 unionized workers at…
Live From New York Comic-Con: Day 1
The New York Comic-Con exhibit hall opened at 3 pm today and the activity and excitement is already in high gear. DC Comics is highly visible this year. A large screen near the long lines of attendees waiting to enter the exhibit hall advertised the upcoming “Batman: Arkham Origins” video…
Banksy Digs Alt Weeklies, We Dig Banksy and Street Art
Banksy is unquestionably the most famous street artist in the world. It’s not even close. Thanks to a combination of talent, mystery, and marketing, he’s become the face of street art, even if no one knows what his actual face looks like. Up in New York, Banksy is hitting the…
Yellow Pages: Five Ways Google Has Changed How Businesses Approach Listings
Remember the Yellow Pages? No, I don’t mean YellowPages.com. I mean the actual giant yellow indexed book of businesses. They would plop that bad boy on your front porch once a year — along with the white pages and the community pages and some neighborhood directory — and when you…
A Houstonian Abroad: Oktoberfest 2013, Y’all (Part 2)
A word on photos. Some of what you see here (and in yesterday’s entry) were taken with my Sony DLSR, others with my phone. There’s no real strategy involved: if I see something interesting, I take a pic. Where I’m going with this is, if you’re looking for a gallery…
Houston Traffic Hotspots: The Clear Lake Narrows
In this series, I take a look at places around Houston to avoid during rush hour and offer some alternatives that might keep you from going road rage and killing somebody. Anytime you need to make a trek out to Clear Lake, Kemah or Galveston, you are practically forced to…
Top 5 Sports Bars in Houston for Healthy Eating
We’re about five weeks into football season, and let’s just say we’ve had our fair share of Buffalo wings, loaded nachos and sliders. It’s been fun, but we kind of want to fit into those slutty Halloween costumes we picked out. Well, guess what, Houston? We’re in luck, because thanks…
Venus in Fur Promises a Young, Sexy Romp Through Power
Playwright David Ives has a “particular kind of off-kilter humor,” says Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd, and its that special approach that’s led the Alley to produce his works before (Mere Mortals, All in the Timing). The difference with Venus in Fur, Boyd says, is that this is the…
The Tea Party Does Not Care About Wall Street’s Money
Whatever else you might want to say about the tea party folks — both the elected representatives and their citizen-supporters — you cannot say that they are in hock to Wall Street the same way the establishment GOP and (much of) the Democrats are. (Including, yes, President Obama. It’s true)…
The Tricks I Use to Determine if Other Parents Are Nuts
Like most Houstonians I woke up over the weekend elated to see that Mr. Sun had been kicked hard in his thermonuclear nutsack by the first true cold front of autumn. For the first time in months I could venture outside without wondering if I was in one of those…
Investigating Food in Film: Berber Couscous from Babel
It’s little surprise many famous movie scenes involve food; there’s a certain pleasure in watching characters eat the foods we enjoy in real life or grapple with the familiar challenges of cooking, say, lobsters. But have you ever been watching a film and someone mentions a food you’ve never heard…
Katherine Webb Makes Sweet Love To A Cheeseburger In New Carl’s Jr. Ad
You’ve really got to feel for Katherine Webb. You all remember her, don’t you? Former Miss Alabama, Auburn grad, and probably best known for being the girlfriend (still? I think?) of Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback A.J. McCarron? She (and to a lesser extent, McCarron’s mom Dee Dee Bonner) were put…
Half-Off at Mytiburger, Live Oak Bar & Grill, The Fish and More
Satisfy your craving for a big, juicy burger and save half-off ($7 for $14) at Mytiburger with today’s Houston Press Voice Daily Deal . Mytiburger has a vintage diner feel (it was established in 1967) and uses 100 percent real, never-frozen beef to craft delicious burgers; pair with homemade onion…
American Horror Story: Coven: No More Mutants*
I went on record last week about how I wasn’t all that thrilled with the way that American Horror Story: Coven looked from the previews, but I did so love the show the first two seasons so I was more than willing to give it a shot. Sadly, much if…
Local Natives at House of Blues, 10/9/2013
Local Natives, Wild Nothing House of Blues October 9, 2013 Fall is officially upon us, and with the cooler weather comes a host of touring bands hitting venues throughout Texas. For the first time, Austin mega-festival Austin City Limits scheduled two weekends in a row. Usually, ACL brings a smattering…
Honey, We Need to Talk: New Research on Cheating
It’s more likely than not, that at some point in your dating career or your marriage (but hopefully not!) you have either cheated on your partner or been cheated on. Ce’st la vie, right? But people have a tendency to universalize their own experiences — especially those as jarring as…
The Rocks Off 200: Kevin Flores, One Busy Guitarist
Welcome to The Rocks Off 200, 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. See previous entries in the Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? Not many…
Pop Rocks: Bieber/Cyrus Voted Worst Role Models. Big Shocker.
The highly anticipated Third Annual “What to Do With Kids” List of Worst Role Models has been released, and I bet you are not the least bit surprised as to who takes home the prize as the celebrity you want your children to have nothing to do with – Miley…
Blood in the Kitchen: Houston Chefs Share Some Horrific Tales
“Pretty much any kitchen has superglue in it,” Joshua Martinez, owner of Goro & Gun, told me recently. “If you cut part of your finger off, you just clean it and superglue it back on.” I’ve always known that a kitchen can be a dangerous place. My aunt is a…
Ex-Cop Busted for Burglary After Leaving His Police-Issue Pager Behind, Trying to Accuse Accomplice
Let’s see if this can quickly be broken down before getting into details. A former cop who resigned from the force on October 1 was arrested because of some stolen tools in Rio Hondo. That seems odd enough. Now, add in the fact that the way he got busted was…
Best of Houston® 2013: Building Theater at Ensemble W/ Eileen Morris
Eileen Morris, Artistic Director for Ensemble Theatre is one of the people highlighted in this year’s edition of Best of Houston® 2013. For more about our 2013 best and brightest, check out the rest of our October 10, 2013 edition. Over the last 30-something years, the Ensemble Theatre has gone…
Mixologist, Bartender and a Hop Shot
A new classic cocktail
Are South Texas Sheep Being Mutilated by Aliens?
The sheep started disappearing about a month ago from the 10-acre tract of land in Port Lavaca, a small town on the coast near Victoria (which is sort of between Corpus Christi and Houston if you had to find it on a map.) Their owners, Karen and Wayne Daggs, couldn’t…
John Mariani Comes Clean About Houston, and He Really Likes Lucille’s
Yesterday we told you about Esquire’s list of the best new restaurants in the U.S. for 2013. And we lamented the fact that, while two Dallas restaurants made the cut, no Houston eateries were on the list. Imagine our delight, then, when Esquire’s food and travel correspondent and the author…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Halloween Attractions
There’s lots and lots to do this Halloween in Houston, from family-friendly festivals to adult-only parties. Here’s a look at our picks for the top 10 Halloween events this season. 10. Halloween Mixer! Spirits and Skeletons 2013 8 p.m., October 25 Houston Museum of Natural Science, 5555 Hermann Park Dr…
Behind the Shades of Rock’s “Other” Man in Black
Rhapsody in Black: The Life and Music of Roy Orbison By John Kruth, 256 pp., $27.99. Dwight Yoakam once likened Roy Orbison’s voice to “the cry of an angel falling backward through an open window.” Tom Waits called him the “Rockabilly Rigoletto.” And Bruce Springsteen, whose own music shows a…
Best Picnic Spot
There’s something microcosmic about setting up a picnic in Menil Park. Bring your jambon and rye and salad and Saint Arnold, spread your bevy of blankets, and soak in the surroundings that exemplify Houston. Watch the well-dressed couples milling around in The Menil Collection and Cy Twombly Gallery. Observe the…
Best Place for a Pick-up Game
From the outside, the building blends into the rest of the foot of Houston’s downtown skyline innocently enough, your average neighborhood recreation center. Seemingly. But head inside and you’ll quickly find out that Fonde Recreation Center is where the best of the best in pickup hoopers in the Bayou City…
Best CD by a Local Musician
DJ Sun knows how to release an album right. For the three months leading up to the launch of his first ever full-length LP, One Hundred, the Houston turntablist, producer and host of KPFT’s Soular Grooves — not to mention a multiple Houston Press Music Awards winner — regularly updated…
Best Jukebox
A pre-WWII converted house with an actual rose garden out back, the Rose Garden could also be Houston’s leading time warp. The north Heights beer joint resembles somebody’s den — toaster oven, mini-fridge, pool table, dusty dartboard in the corner — but the room is dominated by the jukebox, an…
Best Bar Food
The Queen Vic redefines “pub grub” with unexpected twists on bar food favorites, both British and American, thanks to chef/owner Shiva Patel’s Indian influence. Bar bites during happy hour are only $4 and feature such diverse dishes as ground lamb and potato croquettes with cilantro chutney, or try the deviled…
Best College Campus Building
The Blaffer Art Museum’s eclectic, adventurous programming has won it plenty of awards; over the past two years, it’s been getting lots of notice for its new physical design as well. The museum’s $2.25 million renovation brought the total space to almost 14,000 square feet; added an entrance, lounge and…
Best Junk Store
Texas Junk’s hours are wonky. If it’s open at all, it’s only open Friday and Saturday, and calling first is mandatory. But if you have a shred of pack rat in you, you owe yourself a visit even if you have no intention of buying anything. The three garage doors…
Best Greeting Cards
Have you noticed the price of your average birthday card at the grocery store lately? At $5.99, it’s hard to justify another Maxine card, no matter how clever that old hag is. Turns out there’s a shop in Montrose that offers unique handmade cards by local and national artists for…
Best Barber
Whether you’re a sneakerhead or a hipster, an artist or a bartender, if you want to look good in H-Town, a carefully styled set of hair follicles is a must. The barbers at Kings of the Clippers are exceptionally skilled in fades, shaves, edge-ups and designs. This clean, hip and…
Best Ice Cream/Gelato
While the storefront is new to the scene, Fat Cat Creamery is no stranger to serving its crave-inducing homemade ice cream all over town. Using fine-quality local ingredients, these cats dream up and scoop out flavors like Maple and Candied Bacon, the eggnog-flavored Railean Rum and Brandy, and the not-so-old-fashioned…
Best Artistic Collaboration
Once upon a time a salacious, R-rated performance artist named Y.E. Torres who calls herself a “bad unicorn” hijacked a PG-rated visual artist named Lisa Chow who’s notorious for her sweet-as-pie creations. The result of this artistic commandeering was a visual and performance-based collaboration to end all collaborations. The concept…
Best Delivery
A pizza place that delivers hand-selected, reasonably priced bottles of wine and craft beer. Need we say more? Not only does Pizza L’Vino deliver booze, but they also crank out some fantastic hot and fresh pizza pies. Select whole-wheat, white or gluten-free dough and pick from three kinds of crust…
Best Burger Joint
There’s no dearth of good burger joints in Houston. Christian’s Tailgate just happens to be one of the best. Whether it’s their “small” one-third-pound burger, “large” half-pounder or their “giant” one-pound burger, the classic burgers with lettuce and tomato are the very word on what an American burger should taste…
Best Deli
Kenny & Ziggy’s has won for Best Deli before. But it speaks to quality and consistency when a restaurant keeps on winning, and that’s what Kenny & Ziggy’s always offers: quality. Just spend an hour with Ziggy Gruber and you’ll lose count of the number of times people come up…
Best Vegetarian-Friendly Restaurant
Radical Eats is not your typical Mexican restaurant. In fact, up until this year, the restaurant, complete with a backyard garden and a killer Sunday brunch, served only vegan and vegetarian food. But with a move to Montrose and a bigger kitchen, Radical Eats did something, well, radical, and decided…
Best New Restaurant
MF Sushi arrived quietly on the Houston food scene. Located in a nondescript strip mall, with nothing more than a modest black awning to signal its presence, it’s a place that’s easily overlooked. Step inside on a busy Friday or Saturday night, however, and you’ll find aficionados taking up every…
Best Vietnamese Restaurant
It’s called Jasmine Asian Cuisine, and indeed the menu offers a mix of Chinese and Vietnamese options. Get Peking spareribs or toasted salted calamari for your Chinese fix, but save room for Vietnamese food, which is the real star at this restaurant. Maybe you’ll want to order the bo nuong…
Best Stadium Announcer
Before the All-Star Game back in February here in Houston, John Paul Stevenson said that his career as an NBA public-address announcer almost ended on the way to his tryout for the Grizzlies P.A. post in Memphis in 2001: “I stopped twice on the way to the Pyramid and almost…
Best Bowling Alley
It’s not difficult to imagine the bowling scenes in movies like The Big Lebowski being filmed in a place like Palace Bowling Lanes. In business nearly 50 years, it has the feel of a bowling alley that has seen things and knows things. With digital scoring, bumper bowling for the…
Best Band to Leave Houston in the Last Year
It’s hard to imagine that we’re less than three years removed from Robert Ellis’s stint playing Whiskey Wednesdays at Mango’s and then Fitzgerald’s. From that small but loyal fan base — and even earlier in previous band Eyes Like Lions — Ellis has seen his star deservedly rise on the…
Best Art Show
If light artist James Turrell weren’t a Houston favorite before his latest exhibition, “The Light Inside,” he certainly is now. Turrell, a pioneer in the Light and Space movement, contributed an installation of the same name to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 2000. That Light Inside was the…
Best Place for Cocktails
Anvil doesn’t have bartenders; it has bar superheroes. From the Anvil-exclusive cocktail list to their ability to read minds and build a custom cocktail based on your taste preferences, these guys (and gals) are the real deal. Think barkeep of old; they’re trained in their craft, and they’re trained well…
Best Microcinema
Now in its fifth year, the KUHF Silent Film Series is one of the best free events in town. The series pairs a silent movie from the early 1900s with a Texas-based musical act that creates a score for the film and then performs it live during the screening. The…
Best Skatepark
Tucked inside an unassuming white and blue warehouse just a block from Old Galveston Road, the Southside Skate Park and Skate Shop is the place for all real and wannabe skaters to buy gear, meet friends, practice and showcase their skills. Opened in 1994, this skate haven is the oldest…
Best Doggie Daycare
Renee Guerdrum operates You Had Me at Woof out of her Montrose home, and getting a dog-sitting session with her isn’t easy. For one thing, most of her clients come through recommendations. And she auditions each and every dog she watches (one wonders if it’s really the dogs or the…
Best Auto Parts
The storefront of this auto parts merchant at the very north border of Houston’s Northline Park neighborhood is deceptively small. The counter is staffed by knowledgeable, strictly-business attendants ready to assist you promptly and provide you the best price. Behind the office is a large room with multiple shelves containing…
Best Sporting Goods
Swim, bike and run. Those are the elements of a triathlon. But in order to accomplish this strenuous feat of physical ability, you will require three things: a strong will, a meticulous training regiment and the specialized gear needed to complete the journey. That’s where Tri on the Run fits…
Best Late-Night Restaurant
Good news! You don’t have to make it to your car for outstanding late-night grub; Pi Pizza Truck has got you covered. The truck, available for delivery till 3:30 a.m., is slinging some serious pies, from the wild-game-topped Outdoorsman — with venison sausage and port-wine-syrup-coated cherries — to the massive…
Best Bar Atmosphere/Decor
Right in the heart of downtown’s historic district lies the (thankfully) unhidden gem that is OKRA Charity Saloon. The striking space, featuring a barrel vault ceiling with a stunning wooden arch, is housed in one of downtown’s oldest buildings. Freckled brick walls and sleek gaslight fixtures surround the always-bustling oval-shaped…
Best Milkshake
We’re not entirely sure about that URL, but we certainly know a preposterously fine milkshake when we taste one. While the options aren’t as plentiful as Amy’s or as boozy as Little Big’s, Lola sticks with an unfailingly simple recipe. Served up in a chic diner atmosphere — think greasy…
Best Club Sandwich
Though perhaps more famous for its zesty egg salad (Best of Houston® 2012), DaCapo’s also garners much repeat business because of its tantalizing, towering club sandwich. With alternating stories of slightly sweet baked ham, juicy marinated turkey breast, cheddar and provolone cheeses, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and herb bread, the “Big…
Best Empanadas
Empanadas. The South American equivalent of American pot pies, the hand-size, crescent-shaped meat-filled pies are considered common street food throughout South America. The secret to a good empanada, whether it’s fried or baked, lies not only in the dough used to make the crust but in the filling. At Artista…
Best Neighborhood Spot in Chinatown
Chinatown is awash in restaurants, but there are those you go to sometimes and those you can go to just about anytime, any day. House of Bowls fits into the second category. The unassuming restaurant, located in a strip mall off the main Bellaire drag in Chinatown, serves delicious, no-nonsense…
Best Neighborhood Spot in Tanglewood
Like the little engine that could, the Castre family started from modest means, struggling to open a catering company that would go on to become a small 30-seat restaurant. They later upgraded to a newer, swankier location in Tanglewood, which is now one of the best dining spots in that…
Best Salad
There are places where the bowls are huge, where the number of ingredients in the salad makes it seem more like an entrée than a mix of vegetables, but when you order the MKT salad at MKT Bar at Phoenicia Specialty Foods downtown, you get a real salad. Crisp, hyper-fresh…
Best Place to Hike
Not many people realize that Houston has a national forest about an hour’s drive from downtown. In fact, there’s more than 161,000 acres of it within the Sam Houston National Forest, spread across three counties north of town. With such a huge area and dozens of trails winding through the…
Best Coach
The roster of failed coaches in NBA history is littered with men who were great players but couldn’t coach a lick. (Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas immediately come to mind.) Such is not the case with Rockets head coach Kevin McHale. The man whom many call the greatest low post…
Best Artistic Renovation
This past summer, the Blaffer Art Museum, nestled on the University of Houston campus, paid the hefty sum of $2.3 million for total reconstruction surgery, and the money was incredibly well spent. The facade evolved into a stunning windowed parallelogram, which both sticks out and enhances the lackluster brick buildings…
Best Piano Bar
The talent and range of the musicians at Midtown’s Howl at the Moon are vast, impressive and downright fun. Whether singing covers of Top 40 radio hits, rapping the best of hip-hop or belting out the standards, the party is always moving in this interactive atmosphere of music and libations…
Best Curator
Peter Lucas repeats as Best Curator. Last year’s win was based on his work with Contemporary Arts Museum Houston’s “Perspectives 178: CINEPLEX,” while this year it was his work with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Jazz on Film series, a monthlong showcase of classic and rarely seen films that…
Best New Effort to Inject Culture into Houston
In order to inject culture, one must first observe, collect and acknowledge the culture that is already in place. “What does it mean to have a home?” is the question posed to us by this Voices Breaking Boundaries production that digs deep into the history of Freedman’s Town and its…
Best Icehouse
Now that Shiner has landed nationwide, the icehouse may be the last grand secret the rest of the country hasn’t wrested from Texas. And no establishment better encapsulates the icehouse ideal than West Alabama. A staple of the Alabama stretch, West Alabama Ice House provides all you might need: a…
Best Musical Instrument/Equipment Store
When Billy Gibbons’s pre-ZZ Top garage band the Moving Sidewalks reunited earlier this year, guess where they came to get their gear? Every city has a music store staffed by musicians who can teach you not only how to play an instrument but how to fix it, too, and luckily…
Best Costume Shop
Whether it’s for Halloween, a theme party or just because you feel like dressing up on a random Tuesday, Party Boy is your destination for great deals on a wide variety of costumes. They’ve got your superheroes, your pirates, your cops, your flappers. They also have everything you need for…
Best Asian Grocery
Walking into Super H Mart for the first time can be somewhat overwhelming if you didn’t grow up going to an Asian grocer. The mall-turned-grocery store is a bit to take in at first, but once you’ve gained your bearings, you’ll find an incredible variety of foods and an array…
Best Carrot Cake
You can debate ad infinitum as to the “proper” composition of carrot cake (is coconut really always necessary?), but it’s hard to argue that Dessert Gallery’s version is anything but absolutely spectacular. Alternating layers of moist spiced cake (chock-full of raisins and pecans) and dense cream cheese frosting make for…
Best VIP Room
There are many upscale and private establishments to be found in this great city, but there’s only one Foundation Room. Entering through the front door is for amateurs. This members-only lounge has its own elevator, which transports guests into an Indian palace of luxury. There is no paying-off-the-doorman routine here…
Best Cheap Sandwich
The sandwiches at Bocca Deli aren’t fancy — but they’re just fancy enough to make you wonder how the family-run shop in Lindale Park manages to sell them so cheap. Grilled chicken is diced and tossed with roasted red peppers, then topped with melting Provolone cheese. Ham sandwiches are kicked…
Best Coffee
Fancy a hot cup of joe? How about an espresso, cortado, iced coffee, mocha, hot tea or hot cocoa? Whatever you need to get your fix, Blacksmith on Westheimer is ready to serve you. Why settle for coffee from a drive-through when you can sit inside the newly renovated building…
Best Foie Gras Dish
Most fine-dining restaurants around town serve some sort of foie gras on their menu, but in size, style and execution, Charivari’s is totally awesome. At some places, the foie gras portion is so small that you’re finished eating it almost as soon as you start. Not so at Charivari, where…
Best Tex-Mex Restaurant
A little bit of Mexico and a lotta bit of Texas, the national food of the state is represented at its best inside the restored Tower Theater in the heart of Houston’s Montrose neighborhood. El Real offers all the hits: cheesy enchiladas, fat puffy tacos, sizzling fajitas and thirst-quenching margaritas,…
Best Pastry Chef
“Chris Leung is a freak genius,” says L.J. Wiley, one of Leung’s executive chefs from back in the day, before Leung went to Tomball to work with Randy Rucker at Bootsie’s, before he took on a position as pastry chef to Azuma and Kata Robata, and before he decided to…
Best Wine List
The wine list at Philippe Restaurant + Lounge is not the most expensive, nor does it try to impress you with big-name labels (though it offers those if you want them). What it does possess is character and a breadth of choices that marry seamlessly with Philippe Schmit’s Texan-French cuisine,…
Best Rocket
For three seasons now, since Yao Ming’s feet and Tracy McGrady’s knees ceased cooperating, the Houston Rockets have been searching for what General Manager Daryl Morey likes to call a “foundation player.” After many swings and many misses, Morey finally landed his man in late October 2012, pilfering Harden from…
Best Dog Park
Big dogs get their choice of two large ponds filled with turquoise water and acres and acres of green grass at Millie Bush Bark Park. Small dogs get their own more compact pond and a fenced lawn. There’s a long granite walking path, bench seating, trees and cover from the…
Best Reading Series
Poets, novelists and essayists get rock-star receptions at Inprint’s two popular reading series, the Margarett Root Brown Reading Series for adults and Cool Brains! for young readers. Authors scheduled for 2013-2014 season readings/onstage interviews and signing sessions include James McBride, George Saunders, Anne Carson and Khaled Hosseini. Past authors have…
Best Landmark
The theater district is full of some of Houston’s most recognizable landmarks, from Jones Hall and the Alley Theatre to the downtown skyline’s tallest building, the JPMorgan Chase Tower. But while it may be dwarfed by the 75-story skyscraper, the sculpture in the plaza by Catalonia-born artist Joan Miró (1893-1983)…
Best Art Gallery
The William Reaves Fine Art gallery specializes in Texas art, from early (Jose Arpa) to modern (John Biggers) to contemporary (Laura Lewis). Home to the ongoing “Texas Aesthetic” exhibition series, the gallery hosted “Broadening the Texas Perspective: Rediscovered Paintings by Emma Richardson Cherry,” “The Paths to Abstraction: Paintings by Otis…
Best Place for a Kid’s Birthday Party
Whether your child wants to be a princess, a superhero, a pirate or simply a Nerf-sharpshooter, Wonderwild can assist with making that happen. They’re the go-to guys for birthday magic, and they’ve got a menu a mile long of add-ons to customize little Mikey’s pirate extravaganza. Want a sweet treats…
Best Downtown Bar
Justin Burrow’s no-frills cocktail bar isn’t even a year old, but it’s already our favorite downtown hangout. You don’t have to call Bad News Bar by its full name (Captain Foxheart’s Bad News Bar & Spirit Lodge) to enjoy it; in fact, it’s better if you just relax and let…
Best Antiques Store
As a licensed interior designer, Gibbins has an especially discerning eye, and it shows in her shop’s remarkable selection. This includes Welsh dressers, cricket tables, trunks and more period oaks than you can shake a stick at. According to her Web site, “Carol makes three to five buying trips every…
Best Camera Store
When you’re ready to move up from your cell-phone camera to something a little more professional, Camera Co/op should be your first stop. They cater to all types of photographers, from digital warriors who always have a spare memory card on hand to those who still like to do their…
Best Mall
There are malls, and then there are supermalls. The Galleria is such a monstrosity. If downtown is the heart of the city, this mall is the central nervous system. Bustling with activity from morning till way past dark, it has expanded in recent years with a new wing and enormous…
Best Wine Store
When Trader Joe’s opened up in the old Alabama Theater in September 2012, foodies, hipster parents and bargain shoppers squealed with delight. Not only is the store known for its good deals and unique eats, it has an amazing wine selection — and it’s cheap as all get-out. Its famous…
Best Spanish Radio Station
Many Spanish radio stations are known for their loud and flamboyant disc jockeys, fast and energetic music programming, and over-the-top contests and giveaways. Recuerdo is none of that. Its on-air personalities speak softly and smoothly, and the music consists of boleros and música romántica that will at the same time…
Best Atmosphere
“It feels like Joel Robuchon’s restaurant in Vegas,” one might say when dining at Artisans. With its open kitchen and curved 28-seat bar, diners who want to can watch all the kitchen action right as it’s happening. From the big whoosh of flames that go up while they’re making the…
Best Ceviche
When it comes to ceviche, there is no match for Latin Bites. Chef Roberto Castre delivers authentic gourmet Peruvian-style ceviche (known in Peru as “cebiche”) that can easily go head-to-head with the best in Lima. His cebiche de mercado is absolutely inspired. A mixture of seasonal fish and octopus, the…
Best Pizza
There are few things in life as enjoyable as that perfect slice of right-out-of-the-oven, bubbling-hot pizza. At Dolce Vita, it’s happening every day. Their Neapolitan-style crust — light as air, super-thin yet almost fluffy — is a thing of beauty, something you’ll be loath to leave on your plate once…
Best Expense-Account Restaurant
Here’s the thing about expense accounts: They are meant to allow you to entertain, and at Eddie V’s in West Ave, from the moment you step in the doors, it’s like entering a world where money is no object, where the whole point of being there is to wine and…
Best Pre-Theater Restaurant
Perbacco is a magnet for the downtown lunch set. The place gets filled to the brim with Italian-seeking diners during the midday rush, but come dinnertime, it’s the place to be for pre-theater-goers. Located conveniently across the street from Jones Hall, Perbacco is two blocks away from the Alley, two…
Best Tamales
You don’t have to wait until Christmas to experience the best tamales in Houston; just take a short trip up to the north side and visit Alamo Tamale’s recently renovated lunch counter and taqueria. There you will find an assortment of authentic tamales to choose from. They’re available in pork,…
Best Place to Walk a Dog
Unlike some of those other parks, there won’t be flocks of runners at T.C. Jester Park scampering by for you and your dog to avoid. If your dog is the type that sees another one and immediately starts barking at the enemy canine and trying to pick a fight, you’ve…
Best State Park
Few places this close to Houston are this decidedly wild. With more than 13 miles of trails, park-goers can participate in activities such as horseback riding, fishing, camping, birdwatching, cycling and, of course, alligator-watching. With six lakes, the park is home to plenty of alligators. It’s also home to the…
Best Bike Shop
A rider recently posted to the Critical Mass Houston Facebook page to complain about a half-assed bike tuneup he’d received at one of those chain bicycle shops. “They took it in and two minutes later it rode out — they just shifted thru the gears and said it was fine.”…
Best Lighting Design
With any dance performance, it must be noted that the dance is only half of what makes a show either remarkable or unmemorable. The other half is the lighting. In this year’s “Dance Salad Festival,” Robert Eubanks and Nathan Haworth’s creative lighting design was as impressive as the work itself…
Best Dance Club
Dance music — EDM if you want to give it a modern name — is bigger than ever, and its home in Houston is Stereo Live. The crew at Stereo Live have put the money and effort toward turning the space into the premier spot for dance music in the city…
Best Small Museum
The Station Museum of Contemporary Art made its reputation with exhibitions of international artists such as Mel Chin’s “Do Not Ask Me” in 2006, the group show “Iraqi Artists in Exile” in 2008 and Andrei Molodkin’s “Crude” in 2011. More recently the museum has focused on local artists, as with…
Best Installation
The James Turrell Skyspace, situated just east of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, stands as a surprising break within Rice’s traditional Mediterranean architecture. Based on a quartet of gentle grassy slopes and topped with a square aperture focused on the heavens above, Turrell’s creation is a Mesoamerican paean to…
Best Bartender
A good bartender acknowledges you right away, serves you promptly and keeps the drinks flowing steadily. A great bartender also remembers your name and your drink preference and will become one of your most important confidants aside from your partner and your priest. Andres Chapa, the dark, handsome and eternally…
Best Head Shop
Just thinking about this shop’s remarkable selection of pipes gives us the munchies. These are pure works of art, some of the finest glassware we’ve ever seen, and we’re not just saying that because we’re in an especially mellow place right now. Generic “smoke shops” are a dimebag a dozen…
Best Engagement Ring Store
For 35 years, Houstonians have turned to this family-owned jewelry store for gifts to commemorate life’s milestones. The professional staff can help you find just the right diamond and setting to express, be it classic solitaire, three-stone, pavé or even a custom design. With an unbelievable selection and remarkable prices,…
Best Sushi
You’re always in for a treat when you dine at Kata Robata. There’s a reason this restaurant is a two-time winner for Best Sushi in Houston. Chef Hori doles out spectacular and stunning sushi masterpieces each day (he’s a 2011 James Beard Award semi-finalist for Best Chef: Southwest, after all)…
Best Performing & Visual Arts Venue
The Menil Collection main building is lauded almost as much as the artwork it contains. Plans for a museum complex that would house the John and Dominique de Menil family art collection started in the late 1960s. Italian architect Renzo Piano worked with Dominique de Menil to create a museum…
Best Enchiladas
Of all the menu items offered at this wonderful Tex-Mex restaurant, the enchiladas are far and away superior to any others anywhere in Houston. There is something special about the combination of tortilla, meat and cheese that El Real bakes to delicious perfection, with each bite seemingly better than your…
Best Caesar Salad
At Barnaby’s, the Caesar salad is not just something you order to warm up your appetite for a larger, more tantalizing entrée. The Caesar is the main course and not just because it’s served in a bowl that would easily feed a family of four. This half-bushel (seemingly) of crisp…
Best Martini
This isn’t the first year The Davenport has won “Best Martini,” and it probably won’t be the last, either, so long as they continue to serve incredibly well-balanced cocktails in frosty, finger-numbing glasses. Classic gin and vodka martinis are straight-up successes, as are the more creative variations such as the…
Best Bread
The bread service at Provisions is must-try, each freshly baked loaf mindfully paired with a mouthwatering spread and fine-quality cheese. Our suggestion? Dine with friends so you can try each and every one. After all, you wouldn’t want to miss the pretzel bread with black garlic mostarda and nutty cow’s-milk…
Best Pork Chop
There are great pork chops in Houston, and then there’s Perry’s Famous Pork Chop. There’s nothing else around that can top this seven-finger pork chop, so called because its height is the width of seven fingers put together. The hunk of beautiful meat comes to the table sizzling on a…
Best Croissants
The perfectly buttery and flaky croissant is hard to find, unless you’re in Paris, of course. However, Croissant Brioche in West University makes you feel as if you just stepped inside a little Parisian cafe. While you can’t go wrong with a plain croissant, the almond is where it’s at;…
Readers’ Choice Contest
From across the Houston area, thousands of you weighed in on what you are certain are the city’s best people, restaurants, services, sights and sites. Read on to see what most of you love best, and check out our picks to see how we compared. Readers’ Poll Winners: SHOPPING &…
Best Cheerleading Squad
A big part of the football experience in the state of Texas at every level (high school, college and professional) is the cheerleading squad. A spot on the Houston Texans cheerleading squad (which has been a part of the franchise since its inception in 2002) is one of the most…
Best New Bar
Touting a prime location and pouring strong drinks, Proof welcomes one and all to its rooftop getaway along the border of downtown and midtown. Dressed up or dressed down, the patrons who visit the bar above Reef Restaurant are free to mix and mingle in the shadow of the Houston…
Best Neighborhood Bar — Montrose
Cheap drinks; friendly bartenders; pool tables; an expansive patio; an old-school juke with Muddy Waters, Elvis Costello and Outkast; a laid-back crowd; the occasional laid-back dog: We’re generally pleased if a bar has one or two of these things, but it’s downright kick-ass when they’re all rolled into one. There…
Best Patio
Sometimes we like to go here and pretend we’re dining in some sultry tropical paradise where everyone lives outdoors year-round, because it’s that beautiful. When you’re on the patio here, it’s really not that far of a stretch. Whether you’re sitting tree-side at one of the tables or ensconced in…
Best Radio Personality
It hasn’t taken long for this intelligent, provocative, smart-ass — and sometimes infuriating — local talk-show host to spread to markets as diverse as Nashville and Portland. So the dude must be doing something right. Even though we generally know where he’s going to stand on the day’s or week’s…
Best Neighborhood Bar — the Village
If there’s a more satisfying spot to have a beer in Houston than The Ginger Man’s open-air backyard, I’ve yet to find it. Never overly packed, never too isolated — those thick-beam tables have a way of bringing even the most disparate groups together — The Ginger Man’s pairing of…
Grocery Store
Houston is blessed with many good supermarkets, both chain and independent, which is a great thing for the consumer. We’ve got hoity-toity places, no-frills bargain bins and plenty of exotic markets. But among the four prominent local chains, we usually find ourselves at Kroger — and one Kroger in particular:…
Best Meat Market
Hidden in an unassuming shopping center between Fondren and Gessner, this combination carnicería, taquería, frutería and grocery is the best place to buy all the fresh ingredients you need for a magnificent dinner. The fajitas are of excellent quality and can be purchased marinated in a powerful and tasty blend…
Best Architect
When a planned expansion to the Houston Library System’s historic Julia Ideson Building was announced, architectural purists held their collective breath — would the building’s original Spanish Renaissance design be enhanced or butchered by the addition? Luckily, Barry Moore, an architect with an investment in Houston’s historic preservation, was at…
Best Breakfast
The pancakes at Fountain View Cafe are the stuff of legend: as thin as crepes, with a wispy lace of a crust on the outer ring and a soft, dense, vanilla-scented middle that requires neither butter nor syrup (which doesn’t stop us from slathering them on anyway). This is one…
Best Neighborhood Bar — the Heights
Whether you’re looking for a cheap beer or a good stiff drink, Big Star Bar is the place to go. You can grab your drink — they’ve got a fine selection to choose from, particularly in whiskey — and head on out to the patio; settle in on an ancient-looking,…
Best Clams
Okay, the phrase “best clams” in conjunction with “oyster bar” inspires a certain amount of cognitive dissonance. Get over it. Oysters may be center stage at Liberty Kitchen, but littleneck clams are getting increasing attention for their supporting role at dinnertime. Shipped farm-fresh from Mattawoman Creek, Virginia, the steamed clams…
Best Neighborhood Spot in the Heights
This comfy upscale Heights haunt, housed in a refurbished bank, has one of the coziest atmospheres in the city. Linger over a cappuccino and chicken and waffles on the patio at brunch or grab a couple of pints and a juicy kimchi- and fried egg-topped burger after a bike ride…
Best Restaurant Comeback
“Damn good food. Cold ass beer.” That’s Moon Tower Inn’s motto. And it’s spot-on. Loyal fans of the East End dive were heartbroken when it shut its doors for renovations in late 2011. But no worries: Houston’s favorite beer-and-hot-dog yard is now back…and with a vengeance. Gone are the old…
Best Brisket
While CorkScrew BBQ has been making waves with locals up north and among barbecue enthusiasts for some time now, we like to consider this year’s inaugural Houston BBQ Fest to be CorkScrew’s coming-out party. The relatively new outfit from husband-and-wife team Will and Nichole Buckman is in the process of…
Best Seafood
Danton’s Gulf Coast Seafood Kitchen is like one of those seafood places you’ll find up in New England. Fresh oysters are served at the oyster bar. Fried clams, boiled shrimp, steamed crab and fried fish are offered aplenty. But what separates it from those New England establishments are the Southern…
Best Texan
Truth be told, there are probably about a dozen categories across multiple sections of the “Best of” issue for which Texans defensive end J.J. Watt would qualify. To call him merely “Texans defensive end” feels like you’re short-selling Watt. Oh, sure, he is the very best at what he does…
My Sleep-Talking Uncle Hit On My Daughter. Help!
Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off’s advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, “funny, serious or unpredictable.” Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! SLEEP-TALKING UNCLE ASKED MY DAUGHTER FOR SEX Dear Willie D: My mother’s brother has been living…
Best Cheap Seats
Since Minor League Baseball franchise the Sugar Land Skeeters threw out their first pitch a few years ago, their custom-built ballpark has received nothing but rave reviews. It’s got a kids-only swimming pool and a carousel behind the wall in left-center field, but the Grass Land general admission hill in…
Best Mural
Dedicated in 2006, this ceramic tile mosaic celebrates the rich history of Houston’s Fifth Ward by featuring the faces of some truly amazing people who came from the neighborhood — Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland and George Foreman. In a city known for bulldozing the past to make room for strip…
Best Festival
This year’s winner for Best Festival, the Houston Art Car Parade, is actually a weekend-long party that includes the parade; a ball; an awards ceremony and brunch; and other, slightly less official events. True to the parade’s Orange Show beginnings, the celebrations are all weird, eccentric and decidedly offbeat. The…
Best Strip Club
As noted on its Web site, this upscale gentlemen’s club caters to “some of Houston’s top businessmen, lawyers, doctors, and professional athletes,” meaning you’ll get to enjoy beautiful dancers and delicious meals in some very refined company. The club boasts 12,800 square feet of fun, with two full-service bars, bottle…
Best Place to Play Shuffleboard
Shuffleboard is as serious as you make it. You can idly scoot the metal puck back and forth across the table or calibrate just the proper amount of force that will result in a “hanger.” It’s fun either way and an excellent way to pass the time. Mid-Main comfort-food oasis…
Best Bingo Night
Line up your troll dolls and lucky rabbit’s feet; we’re goin’ to bingo! Bingo Paradise in the city of South Houston, Texas, is the spot to be with your nine bingo cards and markers any night of the week. They’ve got a huge menu of unhealthy-but-delish foods available along with…
Best Florist
This family-owned business has a wonderful selection at reasonable prices. Whatever the occasion — birthday, anniversary, sympathy, wedding, thank-you or “just because” — the friendly, experienced staff can help you find the best way to express your thoughts. Ace says on its Web site, “Because all of our customers are…
Best Liquor Store
In the world of liquor stores, Spec’s is the undisputed king in Houston. And the featured jewel in the crown is the company’s Midtown location, which can be described as a wonderland full of beer, spirits, cigars and specialty foods. Every aspect of this store is top-shelf, with low-priced selections…
Best Record Store
Vinal Edge, which relocated to the Heights last year, is no different from the other quaint shops lining 19th Street just west of Yale, except this is probably the only one where you can pick up a rare Alien Sex Fiend singles compilation or the Rev. Pat Robertson’s It’s Time…
Best Chicken Salad
Despite the fact that chicken salad isn’t a staple food of the Shire, the Hobbit Cafe’s version is one of the best things on their menu. Thanks to a hearty infusion of curry powder, their salad sports a sunny hue and a slightly spicy flavor that’s further complemented by big…
Best After-Hours Hangout
On a recent Saturday night (technically Sunday morning), the sun greeted the few club patrons who rode their EDM high well into the dawn hours. “We don’t close until the last person is done dancing!” was the response we received when we asked if this was a normal occurrence. In…
Best Pakistani Restaurant
Hot french fries and a burger, chicken wings, pizza — there’s just something everyone loves about good old-fashioned comfort food. Now take those favorites and imagine them with a distinctly Pakistani twist. That’s exactly what second-generation restaurateur Inam Moghul is doing at Bismillah Cafe. Located just doors down from the…
Best Dim Sum
Arco Seafood is smaller than your traditional dim sum restaurant. In fact, it’s so small that there is room only for tables and not for pushcarts. No matter. When you order from their dim sum menu (offered daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), you’ll receive piping-hot, fresh-off-the-steamer har gow…
Best Fajitas
We’ve all eaten fajitas. They are available at every Mexican restaurant and taco truck in Houston, of which there are thousands. But what if I told you that not all fajitas were actual, real fajitas. Sometimes you get ungraded sirloin or some other type of beef, disguised as fajitas. For…
Best Margarita
The margarita seems like such a simple drink, it’s a wonder so many places get it wrong. Whether it’s too sweet or too sour or too light on the tequila, we have all experienced a margarita gone south. But at Bodegas, you’ll find an almost perfect concoction of the Tex-Mex…
Best Service
Del Frisco’s is not a small, intimate restaurant. And yet it’s the type of place where everyone knows your name, where you’re made to feel like a VIP from the minute you step through its doors. It starts with a genuinely warm greeting by the hostess, who might accompany you…
Best Play-by-Play Announcer
In every city that has won a championship, there’s an announcer whose voice is synonymous with that climb to the mountaintop (or in the case of the Houston Rockets, multiple climbs to the mountaintop). On television, that voice belongs to legendary play-by-play man Bill Worrell. Since finishing his days as…
Oh, Romeo: Julian Fellowes’s Hilarious Improvements to Shakespeare
I’m pretty sure the dumbest way to die is killing yourself upon discovering that faking your own death has tricked your forbidden lover into his or her own suicide. The second might be to get gutted in one of the jumbled, perfunctory sword fights that clang up the streets of…
Best Driving Range
We all love a nice, relaxing trip to the driving range to hit a bucket of balls and let off some steam, right? But haven’t we always thought about how great it would be if someone were to combine the therapeutic pummeling of hundreds of golf balls with the casual…
Best Ensemble Production
Any dancer will tell you that there’s a special connection that forms during the run of a performance; the intimacy and trust are necessary for a dance ensemble to be successful. Now put a group of dancers in the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park and make them perform in the…
Best Artist
Painter Justin Garcia calls himself an abstract expressionist. It’s a more accurate label than simple artist, he says. Garcia is currently enjoying success with both collectors and critics. In today’s fickle art world, that’s rare. Rarer still is Garcia’s drive to blend his artistic endeavors with good business sense. Putting…
Best Tiny Art Gallery
Houston has quite a few tiny art galleries, from the minuscule Kenmore (a small refrigerator) to Redbud Gallery (a Heights-area shop the size of most gallery entrance halls). But it isn’t just size that determined this year’s winner, The Closet Box: Micro Gallery / Wonder Emporium inside East End’s Box…
Best Happy Hour
The Grove, a chic little eatery in the heart of Discovery Green, boasts one of the best happy hours in the city, and the scenery ain’t bad, either. The patio is perfect as a chilled-out space to hang, but even if you’re more of an a/c-and-dining-room person, the floor-to-ceiling windows…
Best Place to Cool Off
Everyone knows that it gets hot in the city, which is why we’re fortunate to have so many places with air-conditioning to cool down our bodies. Cooling down our minds is another matter, and when it comes to finding a quiet spot to stop and calm thyself, Rothko Chapel is…
Best Rail Station
Mass transit demands a certain amount of uniformity, which means a rail station is really defined by its surroundings. Looking out the windows as you pull up to the Ensemble/HCC South Bound station, you’re greeted by something lacking at most other rail stations: character. It’s a location that feels like…
Best Hobby Shop
It’s one thing to carry board games, card games and miniature war games, but what’s really impressive about Asgard Games is the amount of space they devote to giving the gamers of Houston a place to play. From flattops for Magic: The Gathering to elaborate battlegrounds for miniature armies, there’s…
Best Banh Mi
No neighborhood Vietnamese spot is complete without some amazing banh mi…and Cafe TH has just that. The cozy cafe’s trademark sandwiches are just as vibrant as Houston’s favorite front-house man, chef and owner Minh Nguyen. While the crusty, freshly baked baguettes that Nguyen sources are almost reason enough to try…
Best Burger
Brooklyn Athletic Club doesn’t mess around when it comes to burgers, though your juice-soaked chin and hands may disagree. The restaurant’s moderately seasoned, loosely packed patty, best enjoyed in pure, medium-rare form, is entirely juicy without being greasy. Along with the simple trio of lettuce, tomato and red onion, a…
Best Concert Poster Artist
It’s nearly impossible to mistake a Carlos Hernandez concert poster for anyone else’s. The Lubbock native and master of serigraphy (or screen printing) draws heavily on his Mexican-American heritage in his bold three-color designs, which are flush with skulls, devils, wolves, guns and luchadores, with the stray pistol-packing cowgirl thrown…
Best Turkish
Nestled in one of the hundreds of shockingly similar patchwork strip centers on Westheimer, Nazif’s stands out by offering exceptional authentic Turkish fare that goes beyond the simple Americanized kebabs and hummus you may be used to. With a focus on baked goods, Nazif’s serves up Turkish-style pizza called pide…
Best Brunch
If you want to impress your dining companion, suggest Pondicheri for brunch. The Upper Kirby hotspot offers a modern take on classic Indian fare and a whole lot of baked treats for good measure. For a little taste of everything, try the Morning Thali, a traditional Indian variety plate filled…
Best Italian Restaurant
It was bound to happen. Ciao Bello, the younger sibling of River Oaks staple Tony’s, just needed some time to rise to its full potential. This year, it’s turning out the kind of food that people talk about, return for, tweet about and remember. Under Executive Chef Bobby Matos, a…
Best Comfort Food
If some of the best jalapeño- and buttermilk-soaked fried chicken in town isn’t the ultimate comfort food, we don’t know what is. Perhaps it’s Gulf Coast oyster-topped wontons, dancing playfully with habanero salsa and garlic aioli, or a roasted red-pepper-laced grilled cheese dipped into a cup of tomato soup. Or…
Best Korean Restaurant
Entering Bon Ga from the steamy beige concrete of its strip-mall home is like the Korean version of stepping through C.S. Lewis’s wardrobe; you emerge in another world, one that seems increasingly preferable to your own. Consistently attentive service; an inviting assortment of banchan; and fresh, straightforward takes on classics…
Best Public Swimming Pool
Properties inside the Loop are so small — and made smaller when enormous houses are built right up to the lot line — and so expensive, few city dwellers are able to have the luxury of a backyard pool. That’s where places like Love Park come in. Nestled between 12th…
Texas Renaissance Festival
The Texas Renaissance Festival is the largest, most successful celebration of its kind in the nation, and with good reason according to longtime cast member Niki Marshal. ”TRF has endured because it provides the public with a feasible escape,” she says. ”When you walk through the gates, you’re instantly transported…
Best Franchise Owner
When you’re looking to figure out whether or not a city has an owner who qualifies as “good” (let alone “best”), there are a few checkpoints, and McNair seems to hit positively on all of them. Willingness to spend on payroll? Check. The Texans are among the highest-spending teams in…
Best Honky-Tonk
A roadhouse in River Oaks has been one of the local music scene’s most confounding riddles. It’s true; some critics have called Blanco’s a clubhouse for Coca-Cola cowboys who only book their country-lite friends. And while actual bottle-throwing brawls may be rare — it’s definitely an older, moneyed crowd, no…
Best Place to Relive the ’80s
If you’re looking to pump up the volume…and the hairspray, Etro Lounge is the place to be. The Montrose hot spot blasts ’80s pop and underground to the always-ready-to-party crowd. Some come dressed in their regular attire while others deck themselves out in the decade’s finest. Spandex and neon and…
Best Bar
The perfect bar in Houston can be hard to find. As much as you may love that dive or sports bar, sometimes you want a joint that’s a bit classier but still friendly and welcoming. Oh, and a large selection of draft beer and cocktails is so, so necessary. Enter…
Best Pool Hall
Montrose has always been a place of wonder and merriment, and overall a cool place to hang. In the middle of the Westheimer/Montrose strip is Slick Willie’s, which has always been open to all kinds of characters, from novices to experts, teens to retirees, all looking for a place to…
Best Democrat
Okay, so the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association is endorsing her opponent, but the Houston Police Department still loves her — just a sign of what happens when candidates become officeholders and there’s not enough money to go around. Mayor Annise Parker, now running for a third term, stays on…
Best Art Supply Store
A Houston institution, Texas Art Supply has been meeting the needs of armchair doodlers and professional artistes for as long as we can remember. No matter your medium, Texas Art Supply will be able to meet your needs. Whether you’re shopping for yourself or for a friend or family member…
Best Jewelry Store
Some of the quirkiest, most beautiful and eclectic jewelry we’ve seen in Houston has been inside the glass cases of Sloan/Hall. Though it’s not solely a jewelry store per se, the store’s owners, Marcus Sloan and Shannon Hall, seek out artisan jewelry from artists like The Woods and Ileana Makri,…
Best Neighborhood Spot in Midtown
Piola is one of those spots that are fun and hip yet comfortable. You can come here with your family or friends or by yourself when you’re in a hurry. Primarily a pizza joint, this is not your run-of-the-mill fast-food pizza but true Neopolitan-style thin-crust pizza made from recipes handed…
Best Chinese Restaurant
Shanghai Restaurant is possibly one of Houston’s best-kept secrets. Owned and operated by the Ng family, this is your classic mom-and-pop Chinese restaurant. Mom and Dad met while she was a waitress and he was a cook. Mom is usually at the cash register or waiting tables. Son and daughter…
Best Pickup Spot
Forget the dimly lit awkwardness of some trendy club; dogs, basketball and beer are where it’s at. West Alabama Ice House is pickup-spot perfection; there’s a super-relaxed, anything-goes kind of vibe with a wide selection of beers and a crowd that seems to know what an icehouse should be. Everyone’s…
Best Barbecue
People rave about the brisket at Gatlin’s, but then again, they rave about just about everything offered by this humble mom-and-pop shop in the Heights, run by owner Greg Gatlin and his parents. The tiny storefront with just enough room inside for three small tables sells consistently delicious barbecue that’s…
Best Cheap Seafood Restaurant
Mambo’s Seafood is the classic “You buy, we fry” restaurant, a place where you can pick out your seafood before you order, selecting whole fresh fish, lobster, scallops, shrimp and other seafood by the pound to be prepared to your personal preferences. Seafood purchased to order is usually market price,…
Best Pop-Up Dining Series
Pop-up dinners tend to be exclusionary: Not only can they be cost-prohibitive, but by their very nature — limited seating and temporary lifespans — they can be hard for the casual diner to experience. Austin King’s series of pop-up dinners eschewed tradition by offering his dinner service in popular Midtown…
Best Food Truck
Wouldn’t it be great if your favorite food truck was always there when you needed it to be? At Koagie Hots, you can trust that they’ll be parked outside of Boondocks late at night when you’re totally drunk off your you-know-what and need grub quickly. Like Old Faithful, they’ll be…
Best Sommelier
13 Celsius is a favorite among restaurant industry employees, and especially among sommeliers, not just because it’s a cool place to hang out but because of sommelier Adele Corrigan, who serves as the bar manager and co-curator of the wines served there. With a penchant for selecting wines that are…
Best Sports Role Model
There are plenty of college football coaches who talk about molding their student-athletes into great men but few who put into practice an example to strive for quite like Rice head football coach David Bailiff. Each fall since coming to Rice, Bailiff has had his players donate their time, as…
BEST OF HOUSTON®
Maybe you’ve seen the dozens of national surveys celebrating Houston for its remarkable job growth and its reputation as a hotspot for young professionals, the most diverse city in the United States with the best art and food scene and a skyrocketing quality of life. Heck, maybe you’re one of…
Best Place to Canoe
More and more locals are catching on to the splendor of Buffalo Bayou, one of the few central Houston waterways that remain unpaved and in a near-natural state. Put your boat in near Voss and Woodway and paddle past the regal backyards of Memorial Bend and River Oaks, where the…
Best Tattoo Artist
Scorpion Studios is the go-to place for serious tattoo artwork, and the man in charge, Dan Martin, is responsible for having built that reputation. As intimidating as the metal music blaring through the sound system may seem, the shop is full of a core group of welcoming tattooers with mad…
Best Hotel Bar
The Lobby Lounge is exactly what it sounds like: a tastefully appointed lounge just off the lobby inside the Four Seasons hotel downtown. You can valet your car for only $6 and head inside for one of the best whiskey selections in town, along with a nice array of craft…
Best Concert Venue
Houston certainly has newer and arguably nicer music venues than Jones Hall, but the building at 615 Louisiana has been offering one of the most satisfying concert experiences in town for nearly 50 years, for far more than just classical crowds. Of course, Jones is best known and most often…
Best Coffeehouse
An extensive coffee menu is just the icing on the cake at Black Hole, which also has delicious, locally made cakes and desserts. While they specialize in caffeinated concoctions, you can also find plenty of non-caffeine drinks such as the absolutely amazing Matte-Latte. Black Hole-ites go there for the good…
Best Republican
There are few politicians, regardless of level, who can provide the emotive range of state Sen. Dan Patrick, who represents northwest Houston. Whether he’s ripping into pro-choice advocates in a public hearing or choking up when discussing students eligible for his neo-vouchers, Patrick serves his deep-red district with enough artistic…
Best Mexican Bakery
Could there possibly be any question? El Bolillo stands as close to a model of fresh-baked Mexican pan as anything America knows, and rightfully so. Don’t be fooled by its imposing, stately facade: Once you’re inside, all the warmth of a neighborhood panadería is yours. There are the piles of…
Best Gift Shop
You’re going to want to devote some time to Kuhl-Linscomb’s sprawling campus, just east of the Whole Foods on Alabama and Kirby. The store is actually five separate showrooms, some in old houses, featuring everything from antiques to candles to jewelry to furniture and linens to an apothecary section with…
Best Doughnuts
If you’re going to start your Saturday with a doughnut, Revival Market’s fried delights are the way to go. The grocer’s upscale creations include flavors like Meyer Lemon & Sour Cream-Filled, Valhrona Chocolate & Malted Milk, and Apple Pecan. The doughnuts are a perfect marriage of delicateness and decadence. The…
Best Vegan Restaurant
Vegan restaurants aren’t the easiest places to find in Houston, but there is a bevy of excellent eateries spread across the city — often in undertraveled and underserved neighborhoods. Doshi House, owned by Deepak Doshi and settled in the southwest corner of the Third Ward, is the best among them…
Best Socio-Anthropological Study
Houston has recently come up a lot in the national news for the incredible diversity our city, and rightfully so. However, it’s just an abstract number until you venture out someplace universal like the Houston Zoo. There you will hear languages from countries you’ve never even heard of, see all…
Best Bang for the Buck
Located on the corner of Westheimer and Montrose, Aladdin Mediterranean Cuisine is one of those places to go when you feel hungry and don’t have a lot of cash. For less than $12 (most entrées are $10.99-$11.99), you get a choice of entrée, choice of three side dishes and fresh-out-of-the-oven…
Best Pasta
If pasta is your thing, Coppa is the way to go. The kitchen turns out incredible upscale takes on Italian classics with flair — like their porcini-flavored pappardelle with slightly sweet braised brisket sugo or the supremely delicate house-made gnocchi, swimming in a rich broth with notes of fresh sage…
Best Cajun
You can tell a lot about a Cajun joint by the service, and both the service and the atmosphere at Beaucoup are about as laid-back and casual as it gets, which by our estimation is a good sign. Wedged just south of the Texas Medical Center and 288 off Old…
Best Mexican Restaurant
When we talk about Mexican food in Houston, Hugo Ortega is not just one of the most highly regarded pioneers in town, but also the most recognized. For two consecutive years, he has been a semifinalist for the prestigious James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef Southwest. At his eponymous…
Best South American Restaurant
Their signature Churrasco steak will always be a home run, but dine at Churrascos in Sugar Land and you get so much more. You get the gorgeous ambience created by design guru Jordan Mozer, who juxtaposed looming wooden trees against softly glowing chandeliers to make diners feel as if they’re…
Best Jogging Trail
If you’re a runner, a jogger or even an avid fan of sauntering, you realize the value of a good place to engage in a little forward locomotion. With plenty of shade and enough greenery to admire, Eleanor Tinsley Park is a great place to get your jog on. The…
Best of Houston®
Maybe you’ve seen the dozens of national surveys celebrating Houston for its remarkable job growth and its reputation as a hotspot for young professionals, the most diverse city in the United States with the best art and food scene and a skyrocketing quality of life. Heck, maybe you’re one of…
Best Astro
How do we know Jose Altuve is the Best Astro? Because money talks, and on a team with a total payroll that amounts to about three months’ worth of salary for Alex Rodriguez, the Astros’ decision to extend Altuve for the next four years (with a guarantee of $12.5 million)…
Best Ballet
Dance fans had a real treat at the Houston Ballet’s The Rite of Spring concert in March. The performance included the world premieres of HB Artistic Director Stanton Welch’s Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) and Edwaard Liang’s Murmuration, this year’s winner for Best Ballet. The work, commissioned…
Best Film Festival
Now in its eighth year, Latin Wave: New Films from Latin America is bigger and better than ever. Standout hits from the 2013 festival included emerging Argentine writer/director/producer Carlos Sorin’s Días de Pesca (Gone Fishing). The family drama about a man searching for his estranged daughter received a Special Jury…
Best Sports Bar
Multiple screens tuned to all the games you don’t want to miss? Check. Pool tables for if you want to “exercise” while watching said games? Check. Killer beer selection at great prices? Affirmative. Friendly staff? That’d be a yes. Wings, fried pickles, burgers and quesadillas? You bet your bippy. Really,…
Best Stage Show
The Suffers have Houston’s best stage show because there’s so much to look at: cucumber-cool keyboardist and bandleader Pat Kelly; steady-rollin’ drummer Nick Zamora; guitarists Kevin Bernier and Alex Zamora; bassist Adam Castaneda; a three-man horn section doing that old JBs side-to-side; “Chapy” Luna going to town on all manner…
Best Flea Market
Since 1989, this behemoth of a flea village — we’re talking more than 100 acres — has been a Valhalla for those who not only love a good deal, but love the hunt. You don’t go to Traders Village on a quick errand — you go there for the day,…
Best Weathercaster
Surely it’s every TV meteorologist’s worst nightmare: an on-air attack of the hiccups that can’t be contained and won’t be denied. But that’s exactly what happened to Channel 11’s David Paul the evening of May 1 — and not during a routine weather update, but instead amid some heavy rush-hour…
Best Gun Store
Gun lovers in Houston are particularly blessed — unlike some cities, Houston has its fair share of gun stores. But for selection, service and price, it’s hard to beat Collectors Firearms. In business for more than 30 years, Collectors boasts an “ever changing inventory of 7,000 guns” as well as…
Best Drive-Through
El Rey is not your typical fast-food joint. Sure, the food comes out fast, but what we have here is a full-fledged Mexican-Cuban restaurant. Where else can you pick up a succulent, golden-skinned rotisserie chicken and a three-taco meal, complete with Mexican rice and pork-laced charro beans, at a drive-through…
Best French Fries
Come to Fat Bao for the bao, but stay for the fries. The signature steamed Chinese dumplings are good, but the french fries are out of this world: hand-cut, perfectly fried and excellent all on their own. We recommend dipping them in Fat Bao’s homemade kimchi mayonnaise if you’re feeling…
Best Sculpture Garden
By now, everyone realizes that Houston’s Museum District houses some of the most unheralded offerings in the nation. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Cullen Sculpture Garden plays no small role in that reality. Forgoing sprawl for the placid intimacy of an actual exhibit, the garden spins themes as mixed…
Best Chef
Though Best Chef is technically awarded to one person, in the case of Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan of The Pass & Provisions, it would be impossible to choose between them because these two chefs do just about everything as a team. Together, they’ve created one of the most inspired…
Best Neighborhood Spot in Montrose
With about 80 beers on tap and five cask selections each day, this hip Montrose joint is a craft beer lover’s dream. But it’s oh so much more than that. Grab a cold pint with friends and munch on bar snacks like the sweet and spicy fried pig ears and…
Best Long Lunch
Picture this: It’s mid-afternoon. You’re lounging in the shade of a luxurious, lush patio, a glass of chilled rosé in hand, overlooking the picturesque Museum District as a fountain gently dances in the background. It feels like vacation, so you relax and take your time. You laugh with friends and…
Best Oysters
Liberty Kitchen Oyster Bar may offer a full menu of comfort food that includes burgers and hot dogs and mac and cheese, but the star is definitely the oysters. On the chalkboard menu, you’ll find fresh daily selections ranging from Gulf oysters to those flown in from New England. The…
Best Mac and Cheese
BRC Gastropub’s classic mac and cheese has garnered many accolades and die-hard fans over the years, but the traditional golden noodles recently got a revamp that makes them the undeniable best in town. The foie gras macaroni and cheese is made with Swiss raclette, which melts into a thick, creamy…
Best Commentator
Technically, does former Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy work for a national outlet? Yes, his work on ESPN and ABC does extend beyond the boundaries of the 713 (and 281 and 832 and whatever that new area code is). But since coming to Houston in 2003, Van Gundy and…
Best Basketball Court
Houston is hot, this we all know. There are also a large number of talented basketball players in and around this city, both pros and street-ball kings, who on any given night rattle rims and drain three-pointers deep into the humid night. The big university in the heart of Third…
Best Weekend Getaway
Just an hour away from Houston, Galveston is the sentimental favorite for a weekend getaway by H-Town residents. There are some 32 miles of beaches (enough to guarantee you’ll find a spot to yourself) and more than 5,000 affordable hotel rooms (almost all of which face the Gulf of Mexico);…
Best Band Name
A good band name should be both provocative and evocative, a word or phrase that rattles your nerves a little and sticks in your brain: Rolling Stones, Arcade Fire, the Dicks, Linus Pauling Quartet. Although sometimes the sounds they create hardly qualify them as a “band” — the Wiretaps frequently…
Best Alternative Venue
The Silo is such an alternative venue it’s barely even open. In fact, the converted rice mill deep in Fifth Ward is open to the public only on rare occasions, such as when the Art Car Ball (almost) got rained out earlier this year. Billing itself on Facebook as “the…
Best Meeting of Art and Music
A few times a year — not often enough, in our opinion — the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, becomes one of the city’s top music venues, pairing gorgeous architecture and one of the nation’s finest permanent collections of art with cutting-edge music. Officially named MFAH Mixed Media Designed by…
Best Downtown Skyscraper
Architect Mohammed Nasr vacationed in the Yucatán just before he was set to design downtown’s Heritage Plaza in the 1980s. His time in Mexico is directly reflected in the building’s postmodern design; the building’s cap is a granite stepped pyramid inspired by the Mayan constructions he saw there, and the…
Best Comics Store
In just three short years, Jeremy and Annie Bulloch have established one of the most perfect geek havens in the city of Houston. 8th Dimension is packed to Namor’s gills with everything a comics fan could desire. Their back-issue stock is impressive, as are their collections of toys and T-shirts…
Best Watch Repair
You know what sucks about Mr. K’s? His shop can be a little tricky to find. You know what else sucks? Absolutely nothing. For years, Houstonians have trusted this extremely skilled, knowledgeable and personable watch-wiz with their timepieces. It doesn’t matter if you have a cheapo, entirely utilitarian watch or…
Best Shoe Store
For 59 years, Village Shoe Shop has been on a mission to help people find shoes that fit perfectly. How, you ask. Well, for one, they customize shoes that support and hug every contour of your feet — they’ll make a cast of your feet and then hand-craft your shoes…
Best Greek Restaurant
Every time you visit Niko Niko’s, you quickly realize you’re not the only one who had the same idea. This Greek restaurant is always packed with loyal customers trying to satisfy their gyro and falafel cravings. There’s nothing fancy about this family-owned place, and there doesn’t need to be. Whatever…
Best Restaurant
No two dining experiences at Uchi are exactly the same, because every meal reveals a previously unknown ingredient or a newly conceptualized dish straight out of the imaginations of talented and creative chefs Tyson Cole, Philip Speer and Kaz Edwards. Speer’s delicate desserts bursting with combinations of familiar and exotic…
Best Place for a First Date
Over the past five years, Discovery Green has played host to everything from political rallies to national sporting events to farmers’ markets and dozens of free classes. And it’s still the best place to go for a first date. The extensive calendar of free and cheap activities — kayaking on…
Best Pho
Pho, or Vietnamese noodle soup, is available at just about every Vietnamese restaurant around town. What separates the good from the bad are the broth and the meats, and at Pho Dien, a tiny strip-mall hole in the wall on Bellaire Boulevard outside of Beltway 8, they are the reasons…
Best Taqueria
“Tacos” is the answer to many of life’s important questions. And if one of those questions is “Where am I going to eat my next plate of delicious tacos?” then La Macro is the ideal spot for you. This small taco shop just north of downtown offers real trompo tacos,…
Best Kebabs
When you’re looking for kebabs, Bijan offers a menu full of them. There are chicken kebabs and lamb kebabs, beef kebabs and salmon kebabs. There are kebab combinations and ground meat (koobideh) kebabs, Cornish game hen kebabs and vegetarian kebabs. At this staple Persian restaurant that’s been on Hillcroft for…
Best Neighborhood Spot in the Village
The clientele of Local Foods testifies to its broad appeal: Multigenerational families nosh on house-made chips and sandwiches, graduate students laze over organic soups, and young couples chatter in between sips of lemonade and bits of “Mom’s” chocolate cupcakes. Eating local is easy, inexpensive, relaxing and, most important, delicious, thanks…
Best Tasting Menu
There are few places in Houston that can consistently deliver a mind-blowing experience. Uchi Houston is one of them. The avant-garde style of elevated Japanese is artistic, composed, and complex and is designed to hit your senses from every direction, from sight to taste, smell to touch. Consider something as…
Best Place to Ride Go-Karts
You can fancy them up with electric motors and throw on a helmet to up the safety factor, but having a true zen go-kart experience involves gas engines and the wind in your face. Combining a fun course that includes plenty of turns and room to maneuver with ride prices…
Best Sports Talk Radio Host
Midday sports radio hosting is a thankless gig. Anyone can take calls and do interviews in drive time when practically the entire city is stuck in traffic and the best athletes and coaches are available. But lunchtimers are usually subjected to annoying blowhards who sound like Rush Limbaugh in a…
Best Bike Path
This large park begins at Beltway 8 on the east and rolls along the bayou all the way to Barker Dam on the west. Terese “Terry” Hershey, a former member of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, is the namesake of this expansive park on the west side of the…
Best Blues Club
The blues is alive and well some distance from the Katy Freeway’s Kirkwood exit, behind Olde Towne Kolaches and next door to a florist. Otherwise a grubby if literary-minded neighborhood bar, the Shakespeare has for many years now reflected not some long-outdated idea of the blues but what the music…
Best Bar Games
On the first and fourth Fridays of the month, this is totally the place to get your geek on. Joystix, which adjoins the neighboring 1820 Bar, is a veritable nerd-fest in its own right, and when they open those doors and allow for open play while you sip on stout…
Best Place to People-Watch
One of the best parts of living in the fourth-largest city in the country is that it’s a people-watching paradise, and no spot better represents that than Discovery Green. No two trips to Discovery Green are ever exactly the same, and that’s a good thing. It’s a location that brings…
Best Public Art Project
The Market Square Park area downtown already had its share of public art (there are mosaic fountains and benches, modernist sculpture by James Surls and photography by Paul Hester, to name a few of the installations). Now a new mural by street artist Gonzo247 adorns the south wall of the…
Best Vintage Clothing
What to say about Replay, the 19th Street Heights vintage boutique run by Laura Levine and “Crazy Mike” Hildebrand? It’s simply the best vintage store in town and has been for years. It would be better to clue you in on how to shop at Replay in order to find…
Best Cemetery
The list of “residents” at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery is impressive. Civic and government leaders like Jesse Jones, Oscar Holcombe, Hugh Roy Cullen, “Red” Adair and Lloyd Bentsen are all buried here. Some not so illustrious characters also call Forest Park Lawndale their home, including Karla Faye Tucker (the last…
Best Department Store
It’s almost automatic — anytime we need stuff, whether it be a shirt, a shower curtain or a vacuum cleaner, our first thought is “Target!” Like Walmart, it has everything, but unlike with Walmart, you won’t feel guilty for shopping there. We’re fortunate to have several locations in Houston, but…
Best Veggie Burger
One of Houston’s newest places, Crisp is nestled in the Shady Acres neighborhood, hidden away enough that you feel as if you’ve stumbled upon a secret gem. In addition to their extensive beer and wine selection and stone-deck fired pizzas, the menu features the best chickpea burger you’ve ever tasted…
Best Ethiopian Restaurant
Ethiopian restaurants are not often described as places “to see and be seen,” but at Lucy it’s hard not to scan the energetic dining room decorated in deep shadowy reds and soft lighting in hopes of spotting a celebrity (or being mistaken for one). You don’t have to go hungry…
Best Movie Theater
Edwards Houston Marq*E Stadium 23 & IMAX has an unfair advantage over other multiplex movie theaters in that there are lots of before/after screening options for moviegoers. A variety of restaurants and shops crowd the plaza just outside its doors. But the real draw here is film choice. With 23…
Best Bistro
There’s something about Roost that resonates with Houston’s dining public. Maybe it’s the unpretentiousness of the setting, with its low ceilings and unassuming, simple furnishings. Or perhaps it’s the fact that the restaurant is located smack-dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood, within walking distance of people’s homes in…
Best Crawfish
There’s perhaps nothing that says Houston more than a Vietnamese crawfish restaurant. And while there are plenty of places that serve them, Crawfish & Noodles’ Cajun-spiced, garlic-butter-soaked critters take the cake. The mudbugs don’t soak in their own juices for too long, allowing you to experience the true crawfish flavor…
Best Bloody Mary
Bloody Marys are serious business. And trust us, during Sunday brunch, Hearsay Gastro Lounge means business. The restaurant infuses its vodka with jalapeños in-house, resulting in a cocktail that has the perfect amount of heat to balance out the acidity of the drink. It provides just enough spice to simultaneously…
Best Cabrito
Sooner or later on the journey of Mexican food you’re required to travel as a Houstonian, you will want to indulge in cabrito. Beef and pork are king, but eating the meat off a well-prepared and grilled goat will make you dream of being a vaquero in the Mexican countryside,…
Best Salsa
A good salsa adds life and flavor to a taco, but a great salsa makes that combination spectacular. This is true of the spicy smooth tomatillo and avocado salsa that accompanies your order of tacos or quesadillas at the Taconazo truck located in the heart of the north side. The…
Best Bike Trail
With more than 12 miles of trails within Houston’s version of New York City’s Central Park, Memorial Park is the closest thing inside the city limits available to a mountain biker looking to ride that fancy bike to its intended use. Ranging from beginner to intermediate to advanced, the trails…
Best Swimming Hole
Sometimes, all you need is a good mud hole to cool yourself off. In the case of Huntsville State Park, the water may look murky thanks to the clay bottom, but the lake is far from a hole. The atmosphere is more that of a summer camp than a public…
Best Fans
Head out to any Houston Dynamo game at the still fairly new BBVA Compass Stadium and you’ll have various specific pockets of Dynamo fans all tailgating in a festive atmosphere like it’s an October Texans game. The difference with the Dynamo faithful is that factions of the squad’s fans carry…
Best Dive
D&W Lounge, off Milby at McKinney in the shadow of the Maximus Coffee Factory and surrounded by railroad tracks, has a kind of Jekyll-and-Hyde vibe. By day (D&W opens at 7 a.m.), the unassuming shack’s patio and dark interior are home to third-shifters just getting off work from the nearby…
Best Jazz Club
Red Cat Jazz Cafe is the kind of place you’d imagine a jazz club would look and sound like, and it now looks even more chic since recently moving into its new quarters a block or two from Buffalo Bayou. With crimson walls and tablecloths, ebony accents and Neimanesque pastel…
Best Local Label
Swishahouse was a local institution even long before many of its priceless mementos were cataloged into the Special Collections at Rice University’s Fondren Library in October 2012. By helping commercialize the late DJ Screw’s slow and low rap style, the label helped the careers of artists like Chamillionaire, Paul Wall,…
Best Cigar Bar
With the tragic passing of manager Joseph Dufault in May, it would have been easy to select Downing Street as the sympathetic choice for Best of. But between its whiskey wall, the world-class cigar room and a ventilation system that remains an architectural godsend, Downing Street doesn’t need anything more…
Best Yoga Studio
Houston’s seen a ton of yoga studios open or expand in the past couple of years, but for yogis of all stripes, Joy Yoga is still the best all-round studio. A recently revamped schedule means Joy can offer the best variety of classes in town, from classes for beginners and…
Best Car Wash
Here’s a little ditty to help you remember where you should go for a car wash: When your Caddy’s really dirty, and you want it lookin’ purty — Bubbles, Bubbles. When your ride reeks like hell, and you want that new-car smell — Bubbles, Bubbles. When grit and grime attacks,…
Best Adult Video Store
Why go out to an adult video store when free smut is just a Google search away? Adult video stores have to work harder than ever to get business, but Discount 24 Hr Video has figured out the secret to getting people to keep coming back. Not only have they…
Best Neighborhood Spot in the Galleria
It’s so easy to stop by McDonald’s on the way home and pick up fast food. But with a place like Adair Kitchen in the neighborhood, it’s just as easy to stop there and get a healthy, fresh meal to go. Brother-and-sister team Nick and Katie Adair, whose family owns…
Best Latin Club
This small but lively Tejano club on the north side was named Oscar’s Place for a very long time, but a young man named Rick has converted it into a very nice Tejano dancing venue. A strict dress code is enforced, so take your time getting ready. Inside, the dark…
Best Midtown Club
The 5th Amendment is a part of the Constitution of the United States that protects you from abuse by a government agency in a legal procedure, specifically when you’re being asked or forced to incriminate yourself. In the case of this midtown establishment, after a night of drinking and dancing…
Best Bone Marrow
Bone marrow used to be a delicacy. It was something you’d have to fly to France or French Canada to get a taste of, but not so anymore. Bone marrow dishes abound in all flavors around Houston, many in the shape of a long bone cut in half and sprinkled…
Best Soda Selection
Addicted to carbonated drinks? Your next fix (and the next one and the next one and the next one) can be found at the newly opened Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop, where almost every variety of sweet sparkling beverage imaginable is available in singles and six-packs. There’s Cheerwine…
Best Chicken-Fried Steak
As Texan as The Alamo or Friday night football, finding and devouring a great chicken-fried steak is a tradition. A big, fat, artery-clogging tradition. And once you find your favorite, forget about ordering it anyplace else. Such is the case with the chicken-fried steak at Hickory Hollow. This hand-battered monstrosity…
Best Steakhouse
Did you ever hear of the little engine that could? Killen’s Steakhouse in Pearland is like that little engine. A total underdog located in a suburb outside Houston, the low-key, humble restaurant has emerged as the de facto best steakhouse in Houston, and it deserves every single accolade it gets…
Best Thai Restaurant
Tony Thai, located on Bellaire Boulevard in the Saigon Houston Plaza, is definitely one of the most well-appointed Thai restaurants in town. But the ambience is just one part of the equation at this place, where both the front and the back of the house are Thai in origin. What…
Best Sports Columnist
With the advent of the Internet, the sample space of writers who qualify under the definition of “sports columnist” — a writer who offers up opinion to go with razor-sharp analysis — has most certainly expanded. No longer is this category a two- or three-person race among those who offer…
Best View
There are many great vantage points from which the beauty of Houston can be seen, such as the Sabine Street bridge or the I-10 HOV lane that leads into downtown near Taylor Street. But after you experience the rooftop view from the Magnolia Hotel just before sunset, you will agree…
Best Place to Fly a Kite
It may not be as vast as Hermann Park or Eleanor Tinsley Park, but Discovery Green in the heart of downtown offers a perfect green space and backdrop for those days when flying a kite just might make all your troubles fade away. The Jones Lawn offers 1.7 acres in…
Best Drink Special
Dirt-cheap yet delicious cosmos are a real live thing that exists outside of daydreams, thanks to Mo Mong’s “Martini Wednesdays,” a weekly tradition that involves not only some rockin’ $3 cosmopolitans but also some of the best people-watching and pan-Asian food around. The scenery ain’t so bad, either; Mo Mong…
Best Dancer
Following her spectacular performance in Stanton Welch’s La Bayadère earlier this year, Caracas native Karina Gonzalez was promoted to principal dancer of the Houston Ballet. It was just one of a long string of successful performances Gonzalez has enjoyed over the three years she’s been with the company. Along with…
Best Bathroom Graffiti
How could a bar with a Flickr Hive Mind page devoted to photos of the awesome potty-wall scribbles not be the recipient of a “Best of” award? No matter what kind of bathroom graffiti you’re into, Rudyard’s bathroom walls have it covered. Be it your old-school “For a good time,…
Best Place to See Vintage Flicks
When it comes to vintage flicks at Alamo Drafthouse, it’s all about creating experiences. Vintage screenings have become a thing a lot of places do now, but no one makes them as fun as the folks at the Drafthouse. Whether it’s showing vintage previews before the film, building special menus…
Best Bookstore
It isn’t just readers who love Murder by the Book bookstore; writers love it, too. Charlaine Harris, the author of The Southern Vampire Mysteries featuring Sookie Stackhouse, counts the store as one of her top two in the country. It’s easy to see why. MBTB hosts several author appearances a…
Best Computer Store
Apples. PCs. Tablets. Desktops. Laptops. Printers. Scanners. More accessories than you can shake a stick at. Need we go on? Fry’s is just overflowing with computers and equipment, and your needs will be met, whether you’re just an average dude or dudette looking for something basic or a full-fledged tech…
Best Community Paper
The Police News’s subject matter may be relatively limited, but it’s the best place around to keep track of the activities of both criminals and law-enforcement officials in the Houston area, particularly the south-southeast quadrant. Founded in 2004, the Galveston-based TPN publishes its print edition monthly, but the jail-bookings ticker…
Best Breakfast Tacos
This cute, modern taqueria just north of downtown takes call-in and to-go orders for its breakfast tacos, but that’s not the only reason we love La Macro. Owner Saul Obregon is always present with a warm smile, his staff ready to dish out heaps of chorizo (or potato if you’re…
Best Modern Dance Company
There’s more that’s unique about choreographer/dancer jhon r. stronks than just his name; he’s one of the most daring and innovative dancemakers in town, and his company, There…in the Sunlight, is among the city’s most ambitious. Recent productions include B.L.K. Gurls ~n~ W.H.T. Boiz: Singin’ ’bout Gawd!, an evening-length program…
Best Museum
If you’re looking for Ankh Hap, the resident mummy at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, you’ll find him in his palatial new digs in the Hall of Ancient Egypt. And he’s got company. The 10,000-square-foot addition to the museum complex houses two more mummies and hundreds of artifacts. Opened…
Best Fried Chicken
The Japanese term agemono refers to the selection of deep-fried dishes that are often available alongside traditional raw seafood dishes at sushi restaurants. Add tempura, or light batter, to chicken, and you’re presented with karaage, the Japanese version of the wonderful soul food we know as fried chicken. Uchi is…
Best Lobster
Is anything as good as lobster steamed with a spritz of lemon and a splash of butter? The answer is “yes” and “yes” at Jonathan’s The Rub, where executive chef Jonathan Levine defies tradition and impresses even the most ardent lobster purists with his innovative crustacean creations. Lovers of lobster…
Best Downtown Neighborhood Bar
MKT Bar may be a wormhole into an alternate reality — a reality where downtown Houston actually achieved and maintained its full potential as an entertainment and shopping district. A long marble bar fronts an Italian espresso machine, well-stocked wine refrigerators and a long bank of draft beer taps that…
Best Onion Rings
When your server at Christian’s Tailgate asks if you want fries or onion rings, there’s only one defensible reply. The rings, giant circles of sweet white onion coated with a batter so dense you might think it was savory cookie dough, are deep-fried but never greasy, crisp but not crumbly…
Best Whiskey Selection
Despite the fact that Texas retains some of the most antiquated liquor laws in the country, Houston is not hurting for good whiskey bars. The Four Seasons offers curated whiskey flights starting at just $10 while places like Poison Girl and Downing Street have some of the widest selections in…
Best Scenic Park
Organizers like to boast that it was mostly private funding that built Discovery Green, Houston’s multipurpose downtown park. Visitors don’t much care how it got built, only that it did. Set in the shadow of area skyscrapers and hotels, it seems deceptively small — until you try to walk around…
Best Amusement Center
Most amusement centers are outdoors, and while this is great for the brief time of the year where being outdoors sounds awesome, it’s pretty annoying when the heat hits. Track 21 would be great outdoors, but throw on a roof and some air-conditioning and you’ve got a location suitable for…
Best Golf Course
When it comes to daily-fee public golf courses, the gold standard in the city of Houston is Wildcat Golf Club. Originally opened in 2001, the course boasts rolling hills and swells that provide incredible views of the downtown skyline, the Galleria and Reliant Stadium from virtually anywhere on the 36-hole…
Best 15 Minutes of Fame
Sure, this colorful Montrose character has been making passers-by say, “What the fuck?” for a few years now, but it wasn’t until recently that the dude actually started making headlines. With the help of some exposure provided by a local documentarian, Carlos’s exciting, upbeat dance moves have wowed even more…
Best Open-Mike Comedy Night
With a decent amount of local talent, Houston deserves more stages to feature homegrown comics. Thankfully, Rudz has stepped forward to devote one night a week to nurturing newcomers and showcasing seasoned vets with its “A Couple of Stand Up Guys” shows. Every Monday at 8 p.m. (as of this…
Best Place to Bring Out-of-Towners
Directing out-of-towners to the area’s two major airports might be seen as a hostile gesture, but we’re not hating at all. For months, Houston has been all over this national magazine or that Web site as one of the country’s best places to visit, eat, do business, buy a house…
Best Biker Bar
Outlaw Dave’s proves that not all biker bars are created equal. They don’t have to be scary places where you might get into a brawl or have to compete with vermin for a barstool. This outpost on the far west arm of Washington Avenue is clean, cool and considerably well-staffed…
Best Farmers’ Market
Earlier this year, Houston’s best and biggest farmers’ market began running all weekend long. Now if you simply cannot make it to the Saturday morning market (hangover, cough, cough), open from 8 a.m. to noon, you can join the fun on Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. There you’ll find…
Best Pawn Shop
Think of this: It’s Christmas or Mother’s Day, and you forgot to buy that special someone a gift. Sure, you could go to the big-box electronics store for a big-screen or the jewelry shop in the mall for a nice watch or the hardware store for a lawn mower, and…
Best Spectacles/Glasses/Optometry
Smith’s Opticians has long been Houston’s best source for new old stock frames (that means unworn or unopened vintage), but the store also has a carefully curated selection of modern frames (or pretty much any look). Your glasses won’t be ready in an hour, and they might cost more than…
Best Family Restaurant
This family-run neighborhood restaurant located near the University of Houston has been serving classic Italian fare since 1975. The space itself may be little, but the family? Not so much. You may have heard of the Mandolas — that is, unless you’ve been living under a rock. Stop by for…
Best Wine Bar
Nothing about the Heights’ resident wine bar, The Corkscrew, follows those stuffy conventional wine-bar rules, and that’s a good thing. This wine bar has built a good reputation among the wine-loving crowd by offering a solid selection of vino in a laid-back, come-as-you-are atmosphere. Resident musician Nick Greer can be…
Best Gay Bar
F Bar is the epitome of bar perfection, gay or straight, and the fact that it is indeed a gay bar with some of the most fabulous drag shows around makes it all the better. There’s a mature vibe to the club that adds to the welcoming atmosphere, making it…
Best Dumplings
You’d think that the best dumplings in Houston would come from somewhere in Chinatown, but you’d be mistaken. Go to The Galleria, park near Nordstrom and go to the small food court just outside of that store on the second floor. There, through a small front-facing window, watch in amazement…
Best Greasy Spoon
When a restaurant serves all-day breakfast, you know it’s legit. Walk up to the counter at this old-timey cafe and order up a heaping breakfast plate with all the fixin’s or, better yet, a build-your-own omelette with fillings like jalapeño, cream cheese and house-made chili. Also a must? A short…
Best Nachos
Nachos can be so complicated these days. By the time the toppings are piled onto the tortilla chips, they look less like nachos and more like a crazy salad with an explosion of Tex-Mex on top. Take a trip down memory lane with the simple yet delicious nachos at Tampico…
Best Belgian Cafe
If the entire restaurant smells like frites, you know you’re in for an outstanding Belgian meal. Café Brussels offers all the authentic and classic Belgian dishes, including the best selection of Belgian beers. Whether you’re in the mood for mussels and frites paired with flights of wine or beer, or…
Best Place to Skip Dinner and Get to Dessert
This counter-service restaurant in Rice Village may offer a solid menu of fast-casual items. It may be BYOB, and it may also have a great little patio, but the real killer here, the reason you just have to swing by whenever you’re in the neighborhood, is the dessert case. For…
Best Beach
Quintana, Texas, Gateway to the Gulf, is a tiny town between Galveston and Freeport with a population of just 56 people. It’s also got one of the best beaches in the Houston area. The Brazoria County park has 51 acres of beachfront (one for almost every citizen in town) as…
Big Music Festivals Sure Can Be Creepy Sometimes
This weekend Rocks Off will send another team to the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Zilker Park, three days sure to be full of music, drinking, and the sort of behavior that tends to happen when tens of thousands of scantily clad young people gather to get their buzz…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Calaveras Mexicanas: The Art and Influence of Jose Guadalupe Posada”
“Calaveras Mexicanas: The Art and Influence of Jose Guadalupe Posada” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, commemorates the 100th anniversary of Posada’s death with an exhibition titled “Calavaveras Mexicanas: The Art and Influence of Jose Guadalupe Posada.” The exhibit decorates the white walls between the lower-level staircase of MFAH’s Caroline…
It’s a Living
Pop Life Recently someone I kinda-sorta know asked about my son. He’s doing great, I said. He and his band are on a 30-city tour. No sooner than I’d answered this fellow, I regretted it, as simple math scribbled itself onto his brain’s chalkboard. Thirty shows minus my son being…
Capsule Stage Reviews: The Beaux’ Stratagem, La Traviata, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Beaux’ Stratagem This 1807 Restoration comedy by George Farquhar charts the chicanery of two young gentlemen, having spent their fortunes on carousing and high living, who travel outside London to seek wealthy women. One pretends to be the servant of the other in order to create the impression of…
Top 8 Seasonal Texas Brews
Brew Blog Many small brewing companies love any excuse to come out with a special beer to stir up excitement among fans. The idea is that if it’s available for only a short period of time each year, people will want it that much more. In my case, it totally…
It’s a Good Time for Bruce Willis, Action Star, to Die Hard
Something’s seemed different about No. 1 American-born action hero Bruce Willis lately. His action movie output in recent years has mostly been stunt casting in mediocre sequels (The Expendables 2, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), or supporting roles in little-seen B-movies (Setup, Catch .44, Fire with Fire), as if he’s in a…
An Oldie-But-Goodie Column
Dear Readers, The Mexican is taking the week off because his home paper is preparing our fantabulous Best Of issue (download the Best of App, por favor, which also gets you access to my sister papers!). Behold, then, an oldie-but-goodie column that Art Laboe would approve of — enjoy! Dear…
Houston Haunts: The 2013 Houston Halloween Guide
This year, Halloween falls into the awkward category of the almost-weekend, but you can make it work with help from some of your local museums, restaurants, parks and bars. Whether you’re going for the tried-and-true classics like zombies, vampires and superheroes; doing your best Miley at the VMAs; or bringing…
Dance-Maker Stanton Welch Celebrates Ten Years at Houston Ballet
Ballet can evoke many things — beauty, grace, the elegance of the human body in its finest form. Just ask the most casual dance-goer, say, a Houstonian who has seen The Nutcracker only once or twice as a kid, and he or she will tell you that the world of…
Cottonwood Masters the Squirrel (and a few other items, too)
I looked at the cardboard caddy on the table in front of me as if it were an alien spacecraft containing creatures that I’d never before seen or heard of. Ketchup? From what distant land do you come? Tabasco? Why are you here, invading my quiet corner of the earth?…
The Pine: Playwright Mickle Maher’s Latest Is an Uneven Blend of Sitcom and Tragedy
‘Astound me!” dared Ballets Russes impresario Serge Diaghilev to young pup Jean Cocteau, who had just been inducted into the great man’s inner circle of choreographers, artists, musicians and writers in 1912 Paris. If only Diaghilev had met Mickle Maher. He never ceases to amaze. One of America’s most idiosyncratic…
Ever-Smiling Pop/R&B/Country Singer Lionel Richie Still Can’t Slow Down
Lionel Richie is doing a lot of phoners. “I’m like, ‘What year is it again?'” the 64-year-old singer says one September morning. “They’ve got me Line 1, Line 3, Line 7. I’m like, ‘Hold it, guys, slow down.'” But slowing down has never been Richie’s speed. Not when Can’t Slow…
Captain Phillips: Tom Hanks Goes Where Few Actors Have Dared
Tom Hanks has built a career out of playing aggressively noble roles, so it’s only natural to want to see him taken down a peg. But it’s no fun to watch him suffer at the hands of Somali pirates in Paul Greengrass’s true-life adventure Captain Phillips. Hanks plays the commander…
Machete Kills Is a B-Movie Worth Buying
During his 2012 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Herman Cain rhapsodized about the fence he’d build on the U.S.-Mexico border: 20 feet tall with barbed wire, electricity and a moat. “And I would put those alligators in that moat!” he cheered. For Machete Kills, Robert Rodriguez built that fence but left…
Loving Obamacare
Highlights from Hair Balls Political Animals Even as the United States government shut down over a deadlock in Congress regarding the continued funding of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, the insurance exchanges created by the law that allow private citizens to shop for plans that will cover…
