Shhmaltz’s New Home, Vegan Yacht’s Windfall
Today’s Austin food news
Fantastic Fest Cancels Aerial Hog Hunt
Co-founder Tim League pulls the plug
10 Minutes With Ry Cooder
Journeyman guitarist yes, ethnomusicologist maybe
Council Preview: Short Termers
City Council resumes regular business today, on a short-term fuse
Yeah, This Friday Night Is Pretty Much Lousy With Art
And here’s a what-to-see tip from your mixer-happy media mavens:
Hopkins Loses Appeal
Former APD officer’s termination was lawful, appeal examiner finds
Changes at Swift’s, Growth at Confituras
Today’s Austin food news
Cracking the Nightmare Code
Director Mark Netter on his new techno-horror
Setting an Example
City increases its own base pay; will other employers follow suit?
Gardner Debuts Brunch
Sunday Funday just got classier
Brennen Leigh & Sunny Sweeney Like Country
Tonight’s Saxon Pub song exchange unites liberals/conservatives
Conservatives vs. 9/11 Responders
Fringe right draws firefighter, cop wrath after Straus attack
Tallest Man on Earth and In the Room
Swedish folksinger enlists a band but still shushes solo
The Nimbus Contracts A “Fever”
Electronic rainmakers tease local vinyl debut
News Roundup: On the Other Hand …
Judges, sheriffs, and council members try to overturn old decisions
Goodbye, Rick: Perry Out of Presidential Race
Former Texas governor first declared candidate to drop out
Lit-urday: The Day the Crayons Came Home
Childrens’ author Drew Daywalt colors up BookPeople Sunday
Food-o-File: Friday Lagniappe
A little extra Austin food news
Hole in the Wall in Danger of Closing
Tenant and landlord offer different accounts on negotiations
Council Budget Is Finally Here
Includes a landmark living wage increase
First Look: Bullfight
Shawn Cirkiel’s latest travels to Spain
National Poster Retrospecticus Invades Mondo
A print show so big, they had to do it twice
Fall’s Hottest Food Tickets
Our picks for the season’s can’t-miss events
Hero Naam Yaad Rakhi
Hindi romantic thriller.
Best Date Spot for You and Your Pup
No more feeling guilty when going out for drinks leaving Pickles alone at home. You can both meet your friends or make new ones at this wonderful new spot, featuring playgrounds with agility equipment and clean water bowls where dogs of all sizes can play to their hearts’ content. Trained “Bark Rangers” take care of…
Most Dapper Do-Gooder Architect
Jack Sanders was mentored by Samuel Mockbee at Auburn University’s Rural Studio, which Sanders eventually ran. Sanders later co-produced Citizen Architect, a film about his mentor. Here are a few other accomplishments: He started Design Build Adventure in 2005, has taught architecture at UT, is representing District 9 in the city of Austin’s Drawing Lines…
Best Cocktail Bar
The Driskill Hotel is notorious to locals and visitors alike. The history and haunted nature of the hotel make it a unique establishment in its own right. The hotel’s tasteful elegance extends to their bar. Located upstairs past the portrait of Mr. Driskill himself is the best cocktail bar in Austin. Sprawled across the carpet…
Best Austin-Area Kolache
You don’t have to drive to La Grange or West for an authentic kolache. Instead, take a short jaunt to the Kolache Shoppe in Taylor. The purple house in a residential neighborhood has been open for more than 90 years. Irene Bucanek bought the joint 20-plus years ago after working there for two more decades.…
Best Wings, Frings, and Things
The musical chairs shuffle of this cherished Austin chain – the home of Hilbert Maldonado’s famous burgers since 1973 – has left some of us hangry. How could they get us so hooked on their fries, onion rings, and tangy, perfectly dressed Dallas Wings (their name for what yankees call Buffalo wings), then up and…
Best “i love you so much” Sequel
We imagine punkily-shaved haircuts, cocky attitudes, and a penchant for making out in the middle of crowds. We imagine these teen fags, because, well, we once were those teen fags – male, female, trans, it matters not. Even as some may round into middle-age, there will always be teen fags: That elusive energy, devil-may-care attitude,…
Best Squeeze
Lone Star living teaches us that accordions rock as hard as guitars. Texas Folklife’s ninth annual Big Squeeze Accordion Contest Finals at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in June summoned the next generation of native firestarters. Finalists plucked from around the state by Austin’s nonprofit roots preservationists, button pushers 21 and younger pumped their…
Best New Historical Marker
Back in the days of the great railroad barons, the International & Great Northern Railroad had its handsome yellow-brick depot at the southwest corner of Third and Congress, and they owned the lines heading out of town to the west. The Houston & Texas Central’s newer, more ornate red-brick depot sat on the northeast corner,…
Best Medical Expansion
Not to get political – people’s lives are at stake after all – but independent health care is about as rare as a certain political party supporting the affordable variety. Dr. Cheryl Clark-Brown is the rare independent, and her practice is expanding. Her clinic includes and collaborates with acupuncturist Anne Cusick; patients here get the…
Best Insider Hooch
This gem of a liquor store has been an insider secret for decades, nestled in Clarksville on West Sixth Street inside a building over 100 years old. Wiggy’s has an entire room devoted to wine, and not one, but two walk-in humidors. Big deal? Well, considering that Wiggy’s is an independent business (owned by a…
Best Patio Deck
They’ve seen fire, and they’ve seen rain. They’ve seen the kind of drought we thought would never end. But Austinites know we’ll always see Oasis sunsets again. Since 1979, folks have headed to the cliffside spot to glimpse the beautiful orb as it tucks behind the lake for the night. It’s the biggest outdoor restaurant…
Best Live Comedy Show/Series
Named after actress and swimmer Esther Williams, Esther’s Follies revels in the range of high satire and low-brow cheeky humor. Things have gone swimmingly for yuksters Shannon Sedwick, Ray Anderson, Michael Shelton, and the crew. The colorful cast of this modern-day vaudeville venue has incorporated improv, political satire, magic, alcohol, and juggling for more than…
Best Karaoke
What’s karaoke without a themed room? The HighBall feels ya; they have seven karaoke rooms conceived by Zack Carlson and Laura Fleischauer that vary in funkiness and feature voice synthesizers, so we can all sound like our favorite pop-princess divas. And let’s face it, who doesn’t wanna have a karaoke party in the Black Lodge…
Best Burger
We recognized homegrown Hopdoddy as the prototype for an upscale chain right off the bat in 2010, and that was fine with us. We’re perfectly happy to share the fine Premium Gold Angus burgers (fresh-ground in-house hormone- and antibiotic-free), luxurious shop-churned shakes, and innovative specials with folks in Round Rock, Dallas, Colorado, and Arizona. There…
Best Vegan/Vegetarian Cafe
In an ever-upscaling and -homogenizing Eastside, Counter Culture maintains a certain Austin charm. Did you know that CC founder/owner/chef Sue Davis is also a noted local vinyl DJ? DJ Sue Purr’s curatorial expertise in sound – selecting, sorting, juxtaposing, blending, and contextualizing – is similar to what she brings to her restaurant menu’s flavor palette.…
Best Journalist
There’s prolific and then there’s prolific. And then there’s this Brittaker, so-called, this tall gingery journo from across the Pond who reports relentlessly and intelligently on local politics and AISD shenanigans, but especially trips the media light fantastic when it comes to all things gory and/or geeky – pro wrestling, indie horror films, cryptozoology, comics,…
Best Bowling Alley
Can one possibly have more fun putting fingers in holes than playing a few strings at this Austin institution? Possibly by mashing one’s face into a plate of their decadent truck-stop enchiladas and inhaling those suckers like they are the last food on Earth. Possibly by people-watching life’s rich middle-class pageant as they twinkle-toes it…
Best Yoga/Pilates
Looking to work up a sweat, but can’t handle another gym session? Black Swan Yoga is the answer to your calorie-burning prayers. With four levels of perspiration persuasion (class options), everyone from the newbs to the yogis can find a practice that fits the flow. After a couple of classes you’ll be tree-posing with the…
Best Political Scandal
Former governor and future two-time failed presidential nomination seeker Rick Perry had two pieces of good news this year: One, that he only faces one felony charge for trying to force Travis County D.A. Rosemary Lehmberg to quit, after the Court of Appeals threw one lesser charge out. Two, that Attorney General Ken Paxton distracted…
Best Shoe Repair
Austin is great for walking, but the sidewalks ain’t so grand. So, when our sandal straps rip, or our soles wear thin, there is only one solution to solve the problem. ASH has 11 locations scattered around the city, and no matter which one we go to, we are guaranteed great service, work, and prices.
Best Hats/Boots
The folks at Allen’s became purveyors of boots, hats, and other fine Western haberdashery on South Congress long before anyone ever thought to call it SoCo. Now, the store is one of the definite retail attractions in a nationally known shopping destination. Visitors from all over stop in to shop at the South Austin flagship…
Yatchan
Tamil action comedy.
Best Hidden Hike (in the Middle of the City)
Most of Austin knows our green space is pretty great, which is why it can be a difficult place to hike in solitude. The Blunn Creek Nature Preserve is the perfect alternative for adventurers who want to be one – and not one of many – with the outdoors. Tucked between Travis Heights and St.…
Best Artistic Effort to Keep African-Americans Austinites
There’s little we Austinites like more than congratulating ourselves on our tolerant and liberal city, but a discomforting contradiction to this free-wheeling reputation is the marginalized and proportionately small African-American population that is dwindling just as the city’s overall population expands at a brisk rate. The stellar artists at the helm of the newly formed…
Best Dance, Dance, Karaoke
The HighBall boasts seven very eclectic and whimsically themed karaoke rooms, but we are here to talk about another, different kind of party. Ever so often, the good folks at the HighBall will clear the tables and chairs to create one mega dance floor. Why do they do this, you ask? Because there ain’t no…
Best Big Pancake Dare
Perla’s Big Blue Banana & Bacon (served for Saturday and Sunday brunch) is a pancake so big that Perla supposedly will give you an award if you actually finish it. Waiters say they’ve never seen anyone do it. While it digs into your wallet at 20 bucks a pop, it is, hands down, the best…
Most Missed and Best Find
There are those who say, “The Armadillo is the most missed business in Austin!” and they were right on the money … two decades ago, as Austin changed from sleepy town to city. However, as each year passes, another landmark closes, marking our reluctant shift from city to metropolis. One heartbreaking loss this year was…
Best Adults in the Room
The first day back from winter break, the students at Austin High were given a motivational speech by former tech-worker and founder of #besomebody, The World’s Platform for Passion®, Kash Shaikh. His message? To encourage the students to “call themselves out” and become “passionaries,” or “Don’t make a Plan B when Plan A is your…
Best Trap and Skeet Range
Located minutes east off of 290, Capitol City Trap & Skeet Club is the most convenient place to take out your everyday frustrations on some bright orange clay birds. Trap and Skeet are an American and Texas tradition, and Capitol City offers a friendly, fun, and welcoming place to participate in a sport centuries old.…
Best Political Sideshow
The District 4 City Council election contest – defeated candidate Laura Pressley vs. Council Member Greg Casar (as proxy for electronic voting) – was dismissed at state district court, earning hefty “frivolous lawsuit” sanctions for Pressley and her lawyer. Yet bolstered by anti-computer-voting truthers less interested in their plaintiff’s loss by 30 points than in…
Best No. 1 Most Knowledgeable
Like little rays of sunshine, the front desk folks (don’t call ’em “greeters”) at Wheatsville Co-op are bright, warm, and ready to help you find your way. All day they answer questions that range from deep (“Where do you keep the Ox Bile?”) to desperate (“What’s on today’s hot bar???”), always on point and always…
Best Little (Huge) Gun Store in Texas
The problem with trying to buy a gun in a big box is that you feel like you’re in a big box, a vast space, surrounded by products without any guidance, often in faraway places like Buda. Look no further than McBride’s Guns just off Lamar & 29th Street, a local landmark in business for…
Best Restroom
The bathrooms at the W and the Driskill Hotel couldn’t be more different, but they share the fact that they are the best, according to the crossed legs of our readers. The W bathrooms are modern, chic, and geometric, and, unlike the johns in their hotel rooms, do have doors. The bathrooms at the Driskill…
Best Local Author/Poet
From the small stage to the big screen to the fine print, Owen Egerton has razed a long-running trail of hilarity through Austin. While best known for co-founding Master Pancake, his comedic skill shines through in his writing, How Best to Avoid Dying and Everyone Says That at the End of the World. Warner Brothers…
Best LGBTQ Hangout
Cheer Ups continues to top “Best of Austin” each year. Maybe it’s something to do with no cover for live music. Or the resident vegan food trailer and its cult following. Or the myriad film screenings, dance parties, and wet beard contests. Under attack again by Big Development, the partial demolition of their definitive limestone…
Best Coffee
Human cannot live on bread (muffin, scone) alone, so Houndstooth carries Tacodeli breakfast tacos. (Or, in the case of the North Lamar location, is situated right next to them.) But, truly, it’s all about the coffee. And “Best of Austin”-winning good coffee at that. They’ve got all the regular artisan pours and then some: French…
Best Afterschool Activity
Krav Maga may have been developed for the Israeli military, but Lions Krav Maga’s afterschool program offers comprehensive self-defense and anti-bullying techniques to four age groups (kids, youth, juniors, and teens – ages 4-18). The program imparts everyday life skills such as self-confidence, socialization, teamwork, and respect. Not to mention the classes are an excellent…
Best Local Blog
When it comes to lampooning hipster excesses, leave it to blogger Lauren Modery to hit the tiny nail on the tiny head. Modery, aka Hipstercrite, specializes in documenting a certain kind of Austin lifestyle (y’all know what we mean), and her observational humor is somehow both self-conscious and ultimately nonjudgmental. Her “Dear People Who Live…
Best Cheap Thrill
When you first move to Austin it seems like all people talk about is Barton Springs. It’s like, “Okay, okay, we get it: Austin is home to a three-acre spring-fed pool that maintains an average temperature of 68-70 degrees, ideal for year-round swimming. Cool.” And then you go there (for only $3, mind you) and…
Best Civil Rights Activist
Maxey has been both a Democratic official and a progressive instigator for so long his two roles have largely merged – apparently the reason that readers anointed him with both of these awards. The former state rep has fought for working people and basic human rights for decades, but most recently he entered the battles…
Best Use of Tax Dollars
Remember that last scene in Slacker, where everyone hops in the hooptie to the tune of South African drinking song “Skokiaan,” and they drive out of town, camera in hand, land at Mount Bonnell, climb up to the top, and toss the camera over the edge? That pretty much sums up the wild abandon and…
Best Spa
Escape the hustle and bustle of our fast-growing city and treat yourself to a spa day. With seasonal treatments and products like Mosquito Spray, Milk + Honey gets rid of whatever is bugging you. Stick it to your stress with acupuncture. Add a scrub to your treatment (we love the mint …), and end your…
Best Music Gear
Whether you’re looking for new guitar strings or want to try your hand at banjo, Strait Music has all the gear to launch your rockstar rocket. Friendly staff immediately greets customers as they walk into this toy store for musicians (or those of us who think we are musicians). The employees are helpful but don’t…
Best Karaoke at a Bike Shop
Brother-and-sister team Aaron and Sarah Goeth are not only co-owners of this friendly full-service retail bicycle shop, but are also bandmates, movie-night curators, and karaoke hosts with the mosts. BYOB and BYO rendition of Queen’s “Bicycle Race” – or just go with perpetual crowd-pleaser “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Check their Facebook page to see when these open-to-the-public…
Best Author Reading
Perhaps you’ve seen him but never knew his name? Andrew Hilbert has been touring the Austin circuit since moving from California to Texas in 2011. Whether it is emceeing events shirtless for Foxing Quarterly, doing reoccurring stints at Owen Egerton’s One Page Salon, or clearing rooms at the Whip In with the extremely detailed scab-sorting…
Best Dive Bar
Dark, decrepit, and oozing character, Barfly’s epitomizes the ideal dive bar. Located on top of a Burger Tex on Airport Boulevard, this neighborhood bar draws all types of residents from Hyde Park, North Loop, and surrounding areas. Up the stairs and behind the steel door, you step into almost complete darkness. Dim lights illuminate worn…
Best Breakfast Dish for the Vegetarian Outlier
Veg-centric folks can be foodies, too, and even though Dai Due is a butcher shop as well as a restaurant, it doesn’t turn a cold shoulder to meat abstainers – especially from 10am to 3pm. The hearty Dai Due Breakfast layers brown rice, kimchi, a fried egg, and greens to form a satisfying meal that…
Best Back to Cool
Back to school: a time of excitement … or dread?! Everybody wants to make a cute first impression, but not all kids have the time or means to invest when they can barely afford school supplies. This year, OutYouth’s Sunday Funday brought together salon stylists, skin care experts, and fashionistas to offer mini makeovers to…
Best Answer for Drought-Parched Austinites
Picking up steam during the great pre-summer deluge in May, many Austinites whiled away the rainy days refreshing this site. Simple, succinct, and paired with the tiniest bit of homegrown snark from the ATX Built Slack community, the site has seen the lake move a deficit of approximately 22 feet until full, to most recently,…
Best Vacation Flood Relief
Need a break? Why not funnel vacation dollars into our own backyard to aid neighbors affected by the Memorial Weekend floods? A list of recommendations could easily take pages; for this award, we’ll name-check a few resources to get you started: • Martindale: When the wild hustle and bustle of San Marcos and Gruene are…
Best Radical Personality
Amidst the surge of an activist renaissance in Austin, scott crow (intentionally uncapitalized) takes the cake. But not literally, because he’s a good anarchist and wants bread, not cake, for the people. Equally amicable as his political counterpoint Alex Jones is loud, he’s been characterized by NPR as a “living legend among anarchists” for helping…
Best Pharmacy Expansion News
The rumors are true. A real-life, fully functioning pharmacy is finally moving back into the space left vacant by Hospital Pharmacy on MLK in East Austin. A huge vacancy was left in the hearts of neighbors at the passing of longtime owner and pharmacist O.C. Houston. After the shop closed, a certain chain drugstore finagled…
Best Nest Egg
Named after a fowl that creates its nest to attract a mate, Bower Bird transforms trash into treasure. Owner Katinka Pinka can be found most days on her workbench inside the store, stringing a chain through a hole in an animal’s tooth or wrapping wire around a quartz crystal. Bower Bird is a living I…
Best Sign
“Cat Puns Freak Meowt,” “World Cup Austin, Free Enchiladas for FIFA Executives,” and “Frankly, Autocorrect, I’m Getting Tired of Your Shirt,” are just a few of the dispatches issued from El Arroyo (Spanish for The Arroyo) out toward passing traffic on West Fifth. Think Mark Twain with a margarita, and you, like so many bumper-to-bumper…
Best Museum
The best part of being a student at UT is the free entry into one of the largest university art museums in the country. Before you even get to the featured artwork, a beautiful staircase surrounded by walls of gradient, sparkling blue tile greets you – itself a work of art, Stacked Waters by Teresita…
Best Live DJ
Spinning records for the Democratic National Convention and President Obama’s re-election party may be the milestones in the career of this Austin Music Hall of Famer. But here at home, he is well-known for genre-defining DJ sets spanning a massive music catalog. From his Eighties-centered series Rock the Casbah to sweaty dance parties at Nasty’s,…
Best Cure for the Munchies
The overwhelming consensus for the winner of the “Best Cure for the Munchies” award was actually some variation of “my fridge,” but since we can’t give out awards to all of your refrigerators, we went with the next popular vote, P. Terry’s. If only your fridge was stocked full of P. Terry’s, though. It’s is…
Best Birthday Cakes
You get a cake, and you get a cake, and you! Birthday cakes for all, no matter what the dietary restriction! All of Capital City Bakery’s sweet stuffs are vegan with some gluten-free treats as well. But if you are looking for the traditional end of things, look no further than Sugar Mama’s; their sheet…
Best Local Non-Chronicle Publication
The recipe for THC-infused homemade lube, which appeared in Peach Fuzz’s January 2015 issue, succinctly sums up the ethos of (and thus what we and our readers love about) the darling, spritely mag. More than mere spankbank, and more approachable than high-concept hipsterporn, Peach Fuzz walks the narrow line betwixt the two and succeeds wildly.…
Best Day Trip
Fallen into a weltschmerz because you and your schnucki just cannot take one more person telling you that “you just have to try this new place on East Cesar Chavez”? Wir verstehen. Abscond to Fredericksburg, where even the oddest couple can find things to do: World War II buff? Visit the Admiral Nimitz State Historic…
Best Disaster Response
This brand new category encouraged readers to recognize the many folks who came to aid after the Memorial Weekend floods. Ballots were cast for the Red Cross, Austin Disaster Relief Network, and even the brave Austin emergency workers who rescued the guy stuck on a pole at House Park. The group that earned the most…
Best Appliance/TV Repair
ABC had us at their adorably weird aardvark logo, but turns out they have the goods to boot. They’ve served Central Texas for more than six decades and are deeply involved in our community. Pest services are just the beginning: Services from lawn maintenance to air-conditioning installation and appliance repair are all part of their…
Best Tailor/Alterations
Whether hemlines need lifting or lowering, dresses need taking in or letting out, or alterations just need alteratin’, Ace Custom Tailors can do sew much. For stitching, fixing, fastening, and binding, Austinites have long relied upon these master textile talents – for 48 years and counting.
Best Naughty Business
The grande dame – or better, grande dom – of adult boutiques has been keeping our city kinky since 1981, and continues to be a favorite thanks to its safe environment and friendly staff. People of all sexual orientations and gender identities rely on this Austin institution for the best in adult toys and intimacy…
Best Pool With a View
The High Road on Dawson resides in the old Elks Lodge. One of the main attractions is the pool that overlooks Downtown. If the pool could talk, it could tell the history of Austin’s skyline. The club has hosted a Fourth of July pool party since the pool was built in the late Fifties. This…
Best Bossy Babes
After discovering that women often avoid collaborating with each other, Jane Claire, Ashlee Jordan, and Leslie Lozano founded #BossBabesATX to give local creative women a space to learn, connect, and empower each other. Despite only having a handful of meets and workshops so far, the events are selling out fast, proving that the need for…
Best International Music Ambassadors
A conversation with Music Canada’s VP of Public Affairs at South by Southwest last year sparked the Austin music and film promotional project ATX6. Three months later, songwriter Chris Brecht and six hard-working, prodigious songwriters were on a plane for Toronto to represent Austin music at NXNW. Brecht, who runs Austin Independent Radio online, and…
Best Cheap (and Fresh) Eats
Nestled in Chinatown Center in North Austin, Baguette House is the holy amalgamation of cheap, fresh, and delicious. What really shines here is their bánh mì, made with bread that’s baked fresh daily. With many sandwiches priced at under five bucks, Baguette House is the perfect place for the thrifty and hungry. And lest you…
Best Bevo Benevolence
This University of Texas partnership with AISD and UT Athletics reaches out to community kids in grades 2 through 8 that have the hardest time with academics, attendance, and performance. These Neighborhood Longhorns keep at-risk kids in school through tutoring, mentoring, and incentives, ensuring that the kiddos in their own backyard will one day join…
Best Answer to What We Wonder When We Hear it
Is it a bird? A plane? A really loud drone? What the hell is going on outside? Austin’s blue line has you covered. Hashtag #whatthehelicopter is the key to finding out exactly why that chopper is circling your neighborhood. Rescue? A situation? Rest easy knowing the answer is 140 characters away.
Best Venture Point in Point Venture
Floating right atop Lake Travis is a waystation for wayward Austinites. Steer your ship into one of many boatslips between mile markers 16 and 17 (across from the Lakeway Resort and Spa), or drive ’n’ walk, it don’t matter! What awaits is a dockful of food, music, and a roiling, tumbling, mess o’ catfish. Speaking…
Best Standing Activist
Standing outside the Governor’s Mansion day after day for over a month, Sadie Hernandez braved the sweltering Texas summer heat to protest the Legislature’s politically motivated move to kick Planned Parenthood out of the state’s life-saving Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program. What started as a one-woman rally ballooned into a movement garnering national media…
Best Place to Keep an Eye Out
Blue Moon Optical provides a clear path to style and, well, whatever’s in front of you with eye exams and a mixture of refurbished and never-before-worn eyeglasses; most frames in the small shop are unworn deadstock from the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties that was never sold by retailers. The shop’s owner, Patrick, also repairs, restores,…
Best Overlooked Whole Foods Parking Space
You’ve circled and circled the steamy, barbecue-scented netherworld under the Downtown Whole Foods. You finally find a parking spot in the hinterlands of Level 2. You grab your reusable bags and follow a winding route through the hulking SUV hybrids. You’re almost to the sliding glass door and that first frigid blast of grocery store…
Best Skyscraper
It’s the bauble of Austin’s skyline that puts Gotham’s Wayne Tower to shame. At 33 floors and 245,000 square feet of glass, Frost Bank looms as beautiful as it is brutal. The crown’s folded panes recall a blooming lotus flower, and the exterior lighting has won industry awards. It’s also home for businesses, a coffee…
Best None of the Above Show
This year’s been a year of heady experimentation for the BedPost Confessions crew. The groundbreaking show is now held quarterly, making room for new ventures such as (un)Spoken, a venue for the topics rarely touched upon in polite conversation (mental illness, pregnancy, the loss of love). We sense a pupal metamorphosis … a new becoming,…
Best Live Music Venue
This pillar of the cultural district knows how to keep it cool in the Texas heat. They’re always tuned in to the best new alt rawk from around the country and around the street corner. Three stories of patios for the outdoor stage mean that everyone has a view, and for those wanting, the pit…
Best Date Restaurant
Austin offers so many ways to dine and date. For those looking to romance, Justine’s delights all senses – from their steak tartare, Sazerac, and Side Car, to their enchanted garden patio, to their notoriously debaucherous galas and super-secret secret house. Offering more cheek than a French maid, this brasserie is sure to heat up…
Best Bookstore for Kids
BookPeople has long been Austin’s premier bookstore, with a homegrown atmosphere to match the selection. Their kids’ section is just as welcoming and eclectic. But it doesn’t end there. BookPeople also goes deep into the YA genre and has an entire Teen Press Corps at the ready with great recommendations on the website. With engaging…
Best Local TV News
KXAN’s local perspective on national issues, like Texas’ abortion debate, and their commitment to long-term local stories, like the Memorial Day weekend floods to which they dedicated a one-hour news special, have gained the station loyal viewers who aren’t bashful about expressing their love. So, it’s no surprise that KXAN returns victorious – for the…
Best Gear/Sporting Goods
A definitive choice for Austin’s outdoor needs, Academy has everything from tubes for river floating, boots for hiking, kid’s bathing suits, and sleeping bags, to basketball hoops and baseball bats. If they don’t have it, you might be leaving the planet. When you head out to enjoy the amazing parks and camping spots in Texas…
Best Elected City Official
The former community organizer promised to represent all of his constituents, not just those who could or did vote for him, and thus far, District 4 Council Member Greg Casar has kept that promise, including making sure that the undocumented immigrants in his district are treated with the same respect by his office as U.S.…
Best Auto Service/Repair
Among the sea of Austin auto repair shops, Yost Automotive truly stands out. As a “Best of Austin” regular, Yost Automotive is no stranger to the kind words of Austinites. Yost offers all of the basics for your vehicle, such as state inspections and maintenance checks, as well as more intricate service for any other…
Best Tattoo Shop
The body is a temple, right? So paint them walls! True Blue, around since ’92, has a knack for creating Austin’s favorite “temple” decorations. Their team of 15 artists are well-versed and well-inked themselves. And with two locations to serve every inky inclination, you can book well in advance (advisable), or simply walk in. Just…
Best Neighborhood Grocery/Convenience
Though it boasts upwards of 17,000 members, Wheatsville still retains its “quaint local co-op” feel. And with a selection of local produce and goods for every diet type, it’s the perfect place to shop whether you’re on a juice cleanse or looking for some vegan dessert. Fresh Plus has roots in Austin dating back to…
Best Eco Bar
Owned by Rainey Street bar maven Bridget Dunlap and designed by North Arrow Studio and Hendley Knowles Studio, Container Bar is one of the best examples of an eco bar in Austin. Driven by the movement of affordable and scalable reuse of shipping containers started by New York architect Adam Kalkin, they took seven shipping…
Best Composer off the Beaten Track
Music in a traditional auditorium is well and good, but if we’ve learned one thing from Steve Parker, it’s that all the world’s a concert hall. This local composer, trombonist, and all-around music-making maverick has placed a dozen trombone players on the Lake Austin shoreline, invited the public to play recycled instruments in the City…
Best Intimate Music Moments
While the Continental Club is world-famous, the Gallery is the coolest intimate venue in Austin and still a bit of a secret. Located over Southside Tattoo on South Congress, the Gallery goes from charming to eclectic with a 40-person limit. You never know what rock or movie star might show up and sit behind the…
Best Dessert for People Who Don’t Like Dessert
Some folks have a salt tooth instead of a sweet tooth – they don’t really do dessert. To end a meal, instead of a slice of pie, they might choose a wedge of aged cheddar. But every now and then, the last course arrives at the table for sharing family-style, and the server has brought…
Best Children’s Free Storytime
We admit: It’s pretty bold to say one children’s storytime is better than another, as all are wonderful, but there is something magical about a functioning bookmobile these days. Even more so, a bookmobile that specializes in science fiction and fantasy. Storytime is hosted by the wonderful Sukyi McMahon, a mother to a young child…
Best Book Discussion
Since way back in another century, KOOP radio show Writing on the Air has let writers talk craft while readers listen in. Originally a Writers’ League of Texas joint, in recent years the show’s success can be attributed to François Pointeau, a wine seller by day and daydreaming poet at heart. He keeps the literary…
Best Way to Grow a Garden in a Drought
Ancient indigenous agriculture cultures used to make a practice of burying unglazed, porous clay pots called ollas (pronounced “oyas”) to water their vegetable gardens. Fast forward several centuries: Two military wives have brought back the idea to drought-stricken Texas. Instead of watering by sprinkler or hose, gardeners plant the ollas, fill them with water once…
Best Way Home
Had Mobile Loaves & Fishes only delivered meals of nourishment for area homeless out of the back of their trucks, that would have been enough. Had they only developed Genesis Gardens, supplying both food and jobs, that would have been enough. Now, they near completion for Community First! Village (truly deserving of that exclamation point),…
Best Pooch Professors
After the untimely passing of renowned dog behaviorist Lee Mannix in 2010, his former staff picked up the torch to continue helping dogs and people find inner peace. From basic obedience to behavior consultations, canine sports, and even camping trips, these experts will help you build a stronger bond with your canine buddy. A recent…
Best Pluming Thrift
We stumbled on Thrifty Chicks Vintage last year and were smitten by the curatorial sensibilities of the two women who opened the place. When we saw the prices, we were all wallets-open and stone-cold in love. Midcentury end tables bumped up against preppy armchairs and original paintings of sad clowns and The Angel of Leslie…
Best Small Lodging (Under 11 Rooms)
Who is Zelda? She’s the neighborhood hen that sometimes pops by the Heywood Hotel, but don’t let that eggcentricity lead you to think that this bundle of boudoirs (seven total) is one of those anything-goes/roast-a-goat-in-your-room pleasure palaces. Sure, there’s pleasure to be had, but it comes from the concerted efforts of the folks at the…
Best Performance Space
You got your majestic 2,442-seat Michael & Susan Dell Hall, your black boxy Debra & Kevin Rollins Studio Theatre that can seat 229, your City Terrace (our town’s front porch), courtyard, and West Lawn: The Long isn’t just Austin’s best performance space, but it’s our city’s hallowed hall of performance spaces, just ask residents Austin…
Best Local Filmmaker
There are no explosions, no chase scenes, or gun shoot-outs in a Richard Linklater film. Instead of all that Michael Bay nonsense, we get human connections and experiences. Boyhood was one of the most lauded films of 2014, and Linklater was finally given the recognition he so deserved by the rest of the world, including…
Best Food Delivery
The world is your oyster! Or burger! Or tamale! Or … you get the point. Unlike other food delivery services, you can order anything via Favor, from any restaurant or store in the delivery area. The app is super user-friendly and updates you as your runner places the order, reaches the store, and finally arrives…
Best Club for Teen Performers
Perfectly suited for, how you say, leveraging the spontaneity of youth and led by the indefatigible Jessica Arjet, the Hideout Theatre’s program of improv classes for teens provides a sort of high-octane bonding time during which the performers hone improv skills that will not only suit them well onstage but in all aspects of their…
Best Local Tweeter
One’s a feminist, the other’s a slitherist. One describes the scene, one fits the description. One writes headlines, the other makes ’em. Both Andrea Grimes – “ranch dip apologist” for the Texas Observer and senior political reporter for RH Reality Check, tittering and tweeting in astute, Austincentric political quips – and the Austin Cobra –…
Best Golf/Driving Range
Taking a page from the Alamo Drafthouse business model, Topgolf turns practicing your long game into a party for neophytes and fairway regulars alike. The not-so-secret ingredients? Food and booze! Please and thank you.
Best Elected State Official
Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, fought for basics like equitable education and health care in the face of an increasingly hostile, conservative Lege that from the outset nixed their two-thirds rule, lending the GOP even more unchecked power. Delivering passionate rallies on the floor, Watson stood up for the fates of disabled state-supported living center residents…
Best Bicycle Repair
It seems like a niche bike shop opens up every week in Austin, Texas, but when it comes to one-stop shopping for your two-wheeled friend, you can count on Bicycle Sport Shop’s three decades of Austin experience and three convenient locations to have what you need.
Best Antiques/Collectibles
Our first impulse was to liken Uncommon Objects to our grandma’s attic, but on further reflection no single grandma would have a collection of trinkets, costume jewelry, cabinet cards, mid-century furniture, glassware, Victorian hair art, etc., etc., this varied. Our readers know Uncommon Objects offers the perfect range for sprucing up your Austin abode, or…
Best New Local Business
The term may be used to belittle folks who eat healthy, but there’s no shame in Rabbit Food’s cruelty-free product game, and this little new grocery nook on South First specializes in food that won’t make you barf once you find out where it came from. Nobody got skinned, murdered, or had poison poured into…
Best Green Building Standards
Sett Studio’s modern residences at 900 and 902 West Live Oak, off of South Congress, were constructed to prove that green design should be the standard. The eco homes were built to be LEED certified, with airtight structural insulated panels and Sett’s own charred wood, Shou-Sugi-Ban, from sustainably sourced pinewood timbers that are weather-, rot-,…
Best Guardians & Nurturers of Pride
Let’s lay this out plain and simple: These are thankless jobs. Nobody will ever admit to being happy about Pride. The current crew in charge (2011-present) of Austin’s annual fest and parade sure take a lot of guff. One school of thought complains that Prides by their nature are not proud, instead kowtowing to corporate…
Best Little Audacious Film That Could … and Did!
When Richard Linklater began the marathon of Boyhood in 2002, there was scant consideration of greatness but plenty of concern that the experiment could even be completed. Making a movie over 12 years with the same cast on a pittance budget? What could possibly go wrong? And yet … hardly anything did go wrong, and…
Best Fancy Friday Feast
Weekends tend to start on Thursday nights around this town, and come Friday, we need fuel to keep us going. Soak up the fun from the night before with the mouthwatering pork chop lunch special at Perry’s Steakhouse. The huge hand-selected, roasted, slow-smoked, caramelized prime cut is a recipe three decades old. Your slab features…
Best Creative Outlet Access
Founded by Carl Settles Jr., this visionary nonprofit works hand-in-hand with creative industries to introduce commercial art career paths to young people who otherwise might not have access to such options. E4Youth offers programs such as College Mentors in the Classroom to keep students on course, the Youth Media Bootcamp (in collaboration with the Black…
Best Celebrity Pet
If there’s a dog that truly captures Austin’s pet-friendly vibe, it’s Sid. This “Regal Beagle,” who is actually a basset/beagle/corgi/lab mix, has garnered over 53,000 followers on Instagram, 30 million loops on Vine, has his own book, Sidventures, and has even landed a guest slot on Domino’s Pizza’s emoji commercial with Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland.…
Best Weekday Secret
These 11 miles of limestone waters mark the best-kept secret weekday getaway. There are dozens of trails, boulders, cliffs, seeps, springs, and waterways to satisfy your inner Yogi Bear, and little to no crowds if you go on a Monday or Tuesday. Have the kids (or very skinny adults) slide down the small channeled waterfalls,…
Best Working Class Hero
It might seem like Workers Defense Project (founded in 2002) has been around forever. That’s because executive director Cristina Tzintzún and deputy director Emily Timm began at full speed in their mission to defend the lives and living standards of low-wage workers in Austin. They began by fighting for unpaid wages, and have since built…
Best Public Servants Who Made Sure Love Won
When the SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage came down on Friday, June 26, euphoric couples with stars and tears in their eyes were eager to exercise their new legal right and tie the knot. But love couldn’t win without the Herculean efforts of the Travis County clerks who participated in the jubilation by extending hours…
Best Shop for Your Film Fix
Enjoy listening to a record instead of a CD? Sometimes it’s just more fun to put down the DSLR (or iPhone) and shoot with film. Holland Photo is the one-stop shop for all your analog needs. Forget the photo gadgets and frills; here, it’s all about efficient simplicity. Get creative with Holland’s wide range of…
Best Statue
Arguably one of the city’s most revered figures, SRV has reclaimed his reigning title set in stone (bronze, actually) for two years in a row. Sorry, Willie, there’s always next year. And we have this statue to thank for one of the rare moments of levity during this year’s floods – seeing el Vaughan with…
Best Street Artist
Mike “Truth” Johnston’s work is gleefully dweeby: a “Last Supper” featuring the characters of Nintendo’s Mario franchise, the Notorious B.I.G. wearing a cartoon crown, and bulky creatures with massive overbites. On the other end of the street art spectrum is the graphic/expressionist paintwork of Chris Rogers. Mashing up a multitude of musical heroes (James Brown,…
Best Movie Theatre
Long gone are the days when only Austinites had some of that sweet Alamo Drafthouse religion. Last year, the gospel spread globally when the Drafthouse stood up to North Korea to be one of the first movie theatres to book The Interview. That kind of feistiness is par for the course at the Alamo, which…
Best Food Trailer
Those wacky kids have done it again! Although they continue to grow into brick-and-mortar locations, the popularity of their late-night trailers has not waned a bit. At Liberty Bar you can still enjoy all the classics – brussels sprouts, beet fries, chicken karaage – while sister Thai-Kun at Whisler’s dishes out some mighty fine Thai…
Best Fandom/Nerd Supply Store
Pop into Dragon’s Lair on any given night and you’ll see dozens of tables populated by men and women engaged in fantasy role-playing games, Magic the Gathering tournaments, and other esoteric card and board games. Look again and you’ll see kids in their midst, too, playing along while also receiving gentle gaming mentorship from their…
Best Locally Produced TV Show
Whoever said you can’t be a prophet in your own town clearly wasn’t thinking about the longest-running music series in American television history! An evangelical force bringing local and regional musicians to the attention of a larger national audience, as well as a generator of city pride, Austin City Limits can do no wrong in,…
Best Not-So-Cheap Thrill
Wouldn’t it be nice, if before every cockamamie idea – say changing careers after the age of 40 – you could try it out in a safe and supportive environment? Are you thrilled at the prospect of skydiving but terrified of heights? This worldwide indoor skydiving facility lets you poke that internal adrenaline junkie at…
Best Environmental Activist
This staunch environmental activist and Occupy Austin regular is currently the heart and soul of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Central Texas. After successfully coordinating the Texas BlueGreen Alliance, he is now focused on shutting down the coal-fired Fayette Power Project and pushing for the adoption of strong renewable energy policies in Austin, while…
Best Computer Repair
They boast 24-hour or less diagnostic turnaround, repair all brands – Apple and PC – and even offer flat-rate iPad and iPhone fixes. The staff members are friendly and diligent problem solvers. If the issue with your baby is small, you can shop for all sorts of gadgets, like gaming components, cords, headphones, and drones,…
Best Bookstore
Two score and five years ago our Grokkers brought forth on this continent a new BookPeople Nation, conceived in Literacy, and dedicated to the proposition that all readers are created equal…ly jazzed about the latest hardback in print. There’s no greater testament to the enduring allure of books than the vibrant culture around the written…
Best Pet Store
Not only does Tomlinson’s have an array of food, toys, and other pet accoutrements, but they host events every weekend, including adoptions, low-cost vaccination clinics, painless anesthesia-free teeth cleanings, and trainings. Their customer rewards program featuring their Pet Picks special offers and a 10% discount with no tricks or strings attached is pretty nice, too.
Best Homey Porch
There are plenty of reasons to go to Donn’s: The generous plates of smoky Texas ’cue with many sides to choose from and the most extensive breakfast menu you’ll find at a barbecue joint. And we love the location on FM 969 for its friendly staff and long planks of communal seating. Our favorite feature,…
Best Musica in Motion
East Austin is home to so many homegrown musical legends; there’s definitely something in the water in the ’02. Dressed in his classic caballero boots and hat, Luis travels the streets en route to the neighborhood restaurants and bars, with his squeezebox busting out traditional canciones. His music carries through the pecan trees, and for…
Best Local Entertainment App
Ever wish you could use a flux capacitor to tip that hunky server? Ever dream about ditching out early to make that movie, but can’t find your server? Want an easy way to avoid those embarrassing walks of shame to get your debit card from a bar where you left it the night before? Love…
Best Hangover Cure
It’s the day after that crazy party and you need … help. Where can you run that’s fast, fresh, delicious, and open early for business? How about starting off with that Cherrywood Plate ready to order at your neighborhood El Chilito, where you are greeted wholeheartedly by a friendly face at the window, in which…
Best Custom Kids’ Rooms Murals
The inexhaustible creativity of local artist Andrea McArdle makes rooms come to life via large-scale murals. Though she has bedecked walls of all kinds – garage doors, studio spaces – this mother of two young’uns has a natural knack for working with children and their parents to create a one-of-a-kind bedroom that inspires the imaginations…
Best Classiest, Sassiest Entertainment Website
Uber-full of super-style and cheeky sass, the Salonniere is the brainchild of chic hostess Carla McDonald who imparts her Golden Age of Hollywood sensibility to the hostess/entertainment website via seldom-seen vintage photos of classic doyennes. A tipsy, cocktail lifestyle vibe infuses the fabulousness with tips and tidbits about the swells combined with a welcoming attitude…
Most Formidable Footpath
She may not be as vaunted or glamorous as her younger sibling to the east (the James D. Pfluger), but the Crenshaw’s got it going on! This veritable runners runway – a trail suitable for casual stroller, dog trotter, power walker, and marathon maniac alike – that runs under MoPac near Zilker Park, is named…
Most Gracious
The visual artist who played an essential role in the mid-Nineties restoration of the Texas State Capitol building – no one else possessed the skills set to perform the particular antiquated process to replicate all of the mammoth structure’s glass – was unceremoniously forced out of her working studio that she’d built up, from nothing…
Best SouthPop Preservationists
Preservationists of Austin’s ruggedly eclectic heritage, “SouthPop” serves as the preeminent museum of our city’s music culture. Chief among collections of exalted ephemera are works of poster artists, from Jim Franklin’s Vulcan-ic psychedelia and Armadillo Art Squad sketches to colorful prints by Kozik and Kuhn. Concert photography and musical artifacts are also safeguarded at the…
Best Sugar Nostalgia
There’s not much you can do with that fiver your grandma gives you on your 30th birthday. Sweet as her note is (“Don’t spend it all in one place!”), these days, that Abe Lincoln don’t buy much. But at Central Market South, some smart buyer has nudged nostalgic nuggets of old-school candy next to the…
Best Window Display
For the goth kid who grew into a stylish, black-on-black wearing adult, Blackmail’s window displays can make the heart stop. Once bitten, twice in love, the boutique’s noir style evokes something both brooding and beautiful. Like the Paris of Anne Rice, or the rumbling rhythm behind a Siouxsie & the Banshees song, Blackmail’s storefront simultaneously…
Best Theatre Director
What it is about Zach Theatre that grabs the attention of dramaphiles not just locally but across the country? Well, the sizzle’s in the Steakley. For almost a quarter of a century, Dave Steakley has been staging plays that dazzle eyes and ears while engaging hearts and minds. Whether he’s reimagining a classic, as with…
Best New Club
New clubs are popping up in Austin like so many poppers. Two new venues remind us that saturation doesn’t have to mean lack of innovation. With delicious drinks, an ample patio, and nightly music, Stay Gold is a haven for those looking for some substance on a night out. The vinyl-covered booths and red-velvet stage…
Best Ice Cream/Gelato
You might think vanilla is a boring flavor, but when done right, it hits all the pleasure receptors without being too sweet. Amy’s takes this baseline flavor one step further, offering Mexican vanilla. Precious and few ice cream shops venture so deeply into the territory of el bean. It’s the vanilla you’ve never thought possible.…
Best Gaming Hangout
Welp, you’ve gone and raised yourself an indoor child with a proclivity toward avatars and power-ups and pixel-based entertainment. What’s a parent of a video-game-loving yet still socially competent child to do come dog days/snow days/general “I’m bored” days that you just can’t even right now? Hail, Pinballz! Give that kid $25-30 (factoring in snacks)…
Best Photographer
The advent of the smartphone has unleashed a wave of amateur photographers upon the world. But no amount of pretty filters can measure up to the work that Annie Ray does. From silly photo booths to classic editorials, Ray is a rare talent who knows how to make the most of her medium. Her vivid,…
Best Outdoor Festival
Every year, that impeccable vista of our city skyline competes with the spectacle of sight and sound on each of the eight stages at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, as crowds pack Zilker Park for the annual trip to music mecca. The ever-popular fest grew out of its traditional one weekend two years ago.…
Best Event on the Capitol Steps
Folks have been holding symbolic gay weddings all around the capital city for years, but this was a big mass wedding, a big gay mass wedding, held eight days after the U.S. Supreme Court “so ordered” the recognition of same-sex marriages. Austin’s Big Gay Wedding event was held on the south steps of the Texas…
Best Dry Cleaners
When you take your clothes off, think of EcoClean. This laundromat uses a gentle wet cleaning process and biodegradable detergents that’ll help rub-a-dub-dub away that strange stain on your dress (and conscience).
Best Clothing/Accessories
Now in its lucky 13th year, SoLa is an Austin fashionista’s go-to dream. And if you can’t dream it, they offer free personal stylist service and their “frequent flyer” SoLanista Club to help you manifest it. Owner Coral Smith houses a variety of styles for every girl from classic to boho to sleek. SoLa is…
Best Record/CD Store
Our world is full of change: Albums no longer drop on Tuesday, vinyl has made more than a hipster-ite comeback, and musicians are reinvesting in their cover art. And while we feel all our feels about such inevitable entropic flow, we can’t help but be calmed walking into Waterloo. Here’s a place that gets it,…
Best House Rules
Painting, coloring, or creating murals on any wall; house battles with Nerf guns and samurai swords after Wednesday community dinners; and all of this can be done with or without clothes (except in the kitchen): These are the house rules at Rosewood Co-op. Founded in East Austin in 2011, Rosewood allows members to be their…
Best New Public Sculpture
At the corner of 24th & Speedway, steel cables hoist a messy (but deliberate) arrangement of 70 aluminum canoes and small boats above the heads of UT campus visitors. This new addition to the university’s Landmarks installation series was designed by sculptor Nancy Rubins – internationally renowned for utilizing awe-inspiring excess and improbable delicacy to…
Best Mezcal Selection
One may not think of a divey lounge on East 12th as a haven for this en vogue Mexican spirit. But co-owner Billy Hankey is a fan of the smokey elixir, and he has made it his personal goal to have the most complete collection of mezcal available in any Austin bar. With 35 labels…
Best Husband & Wife Business Owner Duo
Gail and Fred Warren of Southern Hospitality, a restaurant that serves up the most straight-forwardly delicious and affordable home cooking made from scratch, is the pair that does not stop. Gail greets you at the door, gets you a drink, seats you, and tells you what’s on the menu. She checks up on you consistently,…
Best Evolution of Teen Empowerment
The internationally acclaimed hometown heroes, the Rude Mechs, were early in their evolution when they walked the community outreach walk and founded the summer camp Grrl Action in 1999. The bold and beloved writing and performance program for teen girls to creatively express themselves and develop that expression into artistic presentation has evolved into Off…
Best Disaster Recovery Info Source
There are so many people to acknowledge after times of great tragedy. Among the Central Texans we’d love to thank, who came together during the Memorial Weekend floods to assist and disseminate vital info, the San Marcos Communications crew ranks high. From our perch, furiously trying to make sense of it all from Austin, anytime…
Best Burr Under the Saddle
Remember that old saying that politics in Texas is a full-contact sport? Seems sometimes that progressives have been beaten so long that they’ve forgotten they can punch back. Let’s just say that JD Gins knows not to bring a knife to a gun fight. The Travis County Democratic Party executive director and beer connoisseur is…
Most Moving Silences and Powerful Protests
The Austin Vigil for Charleston and the Texas Vigil for Sandra Bland were moving, vital community events that spoke volumes with the silence of grief. They also lifted the voices of resistance and refusal to accept our nation’s constant killing of black people. Both vigils were organized by a small group of friends working from…
Best Threading
The idea of having hot wax around one’s eyes can send even the toughest fashionista into convulsions. But, after an unfortunate over-plucking episode that left a set of brows looking like a penciled-on, hot mess, we knew we had to find an alternative. A friend suggested threading. (Insert confused look here.) After some research, we…
Best Tower of Hydration
Despite the clear downside of landfill overload, bottled water has become seemingly synonymous with certain events, where hydrating is a must: sports events, road trips, outdoor festivals, and long, protracted meetings. Why not mitigate the impact? Texas Rain’s triple-filtered, fresh, real Texas rainwater – some of the best-tasting bottled water available, we think – comes…
Best Actor
Did you have to see Mothers and Sons at Zach to realize what a consummate and serious actor Burke is? Because you were so used to his acerbically hilarious tour-de-force as Crumpet the Elf in the annual production of David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries? Well, now you know – it’s not all in the timing, it’s…
Best Visual Artist
The two local artists who share the award for Best Visual Artist this year each have their own thing going in terms of media and subject matter: Jenn Hassin uses handmade paper that she meticulously rolls and piles onto surfaces until they roil with movement, reflecting on war and loss. Jennifer Balkan’s painted portraits of…
Best Non-Theatre Film Venue
What is better than a warm summer night spent outside with some of the best independent films of the year? Add a delicious picnic and your furriest canine companions. You really can’t beat it. Get there early to talk and drink with friends on the beautiful grounds of the French Legation Museum. The screen is…
Best Late Night Dining
Open 24/7, Kerbey Lane is there when you need it. With options ranging from vegan to gluten-free, Kerbey ensures that everyone will find something to satisfy that dire 3am need for solid food. They’ve specialized in seasonal ingredients for ages: There’s a time for tomatoes and a time for pumpkin spice pancakes. When craving something…
Best Party Place
We know the battle to get the family away from the mind-numbing allure of the (TV, cell phone, tablet, video game) screen. We recommend a skate party. Playland’s got all sorts of affordable packages and the biggest, baddest, recently installed wooden floor in Central Texas. And if the party crew needs a little practice before…
Best Podcast
Ah, the arch and pop culture-saturated commentary of Korey Coleman and Martin Thomas! Rising phoenix-like from the ashes of cable TV’s The Reel Deal and then from the even ashier ashes of Spill.com, these two guys have got things covered now, podcastwise, when it comes to reviewing everything Hollywood and other moviemakers can throw onto…
Best Place to Camp
No Austin summer would be complete without a get-to-know-your-Hill-Country trip to Krause Springs. With ample space to swim and play, it lacks the typical claustrophobia of most area campgrounds. Whether you’re soaring through the air on a rope swing, climbing over the roots of magnificent Cypress trees, or just sipping a cold one in the…
Best Grassroots Group
Everyone knows Austin’s aura is huge. Now its AURA – formerly Austinites for Urban Rail Action, now just an evocative acronym – wants to make sure our civic vision, creativity, and public spirit stay focused on the core of that violet crown. AURA originally took up the cause of urban rail planning; it has since…
Best Florist
Want to up your Austin native street cred? Order your dear heart some flowers from seven-time “Best of Austin” winner Freytag’s. A tradition on Mesa Drive since 1974, they done busted loose in 2002 into a 13,000-square-foot flower megastore (previously the site of a Steak & Ale restaurant). Freytag’s remains a family affair, with founder…
Best Comic Book Store
When you need a massive scale model of the Hulk watching you shop for your favorite comic, graphic novel, or other nerd-tastic memorabilia, Austin Books & Comics is a good place to go. Not only do they have aisle after shining aisle of DC and Marvel classics, but local authors and publishers are also given…
Best Shoe Selection
Shoobies worth their salt know that Nordstrom’s shoe selection is second to none: dependably on-trend, high-quality, featuring classics and unexpected twists on classics, as well as hot seasonal designs. Mentioned less often is that Nordy’s well-trained shoe pros know how to make a shopping experience fun, informative, and personal. Stunning product and stellar service make…
Best Modest Monument
The building and business at 1191 Navasota offers two legacies of Central East Austin in one. From 1952 through 1966, it was the headquarters of Teachers State Association of Texas, organized in 1884 to see to it that black students got quality educations and black educators good working conditions in segregated times. It’s entered into…
Best Off-the-Grid Artist
Chances are you’ve never heard the name, but this pioneer of the Austin punk rock scene has been making amazing art, completely off the grid, for at least 20 years. After a serious illness left him unable to work, his fascination with toys, alongside uncanny carpentry skills and boundless imagination, led him to a new…
Best Movie Theatre You Should Go to More Often
As the home of Austin Film Society’s impressive, ongoing lineup of archival screenings and special series (many are hand-picked by Richard Linklater himself) and also a satellite venue during festivals like SXSW and Austin Film Festival, the humble Marchesa is the place to see the best independent, classic, new, and rare films showing around town.…
Best Indian Fare From a Doughnut Shop
Behind the counter at Ken’s lies a sprawling array of sugary sweets, but our favorite treats at this family-owned doughnut shop are the spicy vegetarian samosas in the small display case next to the register. Flaky fried pastry envelops perfectly spiced curried potatoes and peas – don’t forget the mint chutney. Open 24 hours, seven…
Best Free Indoor Amusement Park
Some kids refer to Cabela’s as a “museum” full of guns and tons of stuffed critters. Deer? Check. Moose? Yep. Elephant? Most definitely. And did we mention guns? Drop your quarters in the slot and enjoy “target practice” (no real bullets involved) that beats anything at an actual amusement park. Then wander over to the…
Best Local Podcast
As wonderful as Austin is, there’s no escaping the fact that gentrification is rampant, the black community is disappearing, and Austin region is the No. 1 most economically segregated metro area in the country. Amidst the flood of whitewashed media that exists, Austin-based Solidarity Circuit, a series of podcast shows that prioritize marginalized voices, stands…
Best Display of Hope
When Austin Pets Alive! staff realized that all animals had to be evacuated from the Town Lake Animal Center due to imminent flooding, they sent out a plea to the community. Within a couple of hours, 200+ people had formed a line in the waterlogged parking lot offering to temporarily house a dog or cat…
Sexiest Culture Shift
The UT Gets Consent project uses glitter tattoos, groundbreaking ideas, bold theatre performances, and dazzling graphics to prevent sexual assault and relationship violence on the Forty Acres, making consent the hottest concept around. With so many college-aged people experiencing sexual violence, the skills to get and give consent are way more important than any required…
Best Training to Keep Fido Safe in the Woods
Whether your four-legged best friend is an occasional hiker or ready for field trials, no one wants their first encounter with a venomous snake to be their last. Dogs are naturally curious about snakes and not always naturally fearful. With a little training, a dog can learn real quick that snakes are bad. Different kinds…
Best Vape Shop Name Pun
Counter to what one might assume about crusty journalists, some of us in the office are completely naive about this vape thing. Some of us were never even smokers. But others puff around this place like the little engine that could, sneaking an inhale here, creating mountains of butts there. Now that there is a…
Best Actress
What’s that thing about big dynamite in small packages? Gricelda Silva, long a prime actor in this town’s theatre scene, pretty much exploded across stages everywhere this year. Whether working the papier-maché creatures of Trouble Puppet or Glass Half Full, playing the wicked child in Reina Hardy’s Changelings at the Vortex, dealing with her Cinderella…
Best Bar
Cheer Ups continues to top “Best of Austin” each year. Maybe it’s something to do with no cover for live music. Or the resident vegan food trailer and its cult following. Or the myriad film screenings, dance parties, and wet beard contests. Under attack again by Big Development, the partial demolition of their definitive limestone…
Best Outdoor Venue
Sometimes we take Stubb’s for granted; so many places and events compete for our music-loving attention. But it takes just one show, even just one sight – say, Carrie Brownstein shredding atop Janet Weiss’ bass drum – to remember the transcendent times Stubb’s delivers on the regular. Readers brought the love this year to crown…
Best New Restaurant
It used to be that deciding where to eat brunch was an arduous task requiring group texts, Facebook messages, and the occasional (gasp!) phone call. Now, thanks to Laura Sawicki and Rene Ortiz, that question only has one answer – Launderette. Go for the Duck Hash (which, because of the brussels sprouts, cons you into…
Best Restaurant
Examine the burger menu at Phil’s Icehouse, and you’ll start to wonder what the correlation is between the geographically specific nom-de-patty and the ingredients contained therein. Why, for example, is the “78704” Burger made with jalapeños, chipotle mayo, and a jalapeño/cheese bun while the Allandale Burger is the most basic burger on the menu? What…
Best Radio Personality/Radio Show
The word “personality” is key. Morning radio done wrong is a puddle of embarrassing flop sweat. When done right, it’s red-faced laughter. Brit Deb O’Keefe is a tattooed jock with a soft spot for unwanted dogs. Jason Dick is a big man with a big love of gambling and sports. Together they clash, click, and…
Best Place to Skate
If the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words scissoring, dipping, bouncing, toe dragging, trucking, or rexing has to do with Wiccans out in the woods, it’s been way too long since you’ve been to Playland. Their long-running adults-only sessions still light up Tuesday nights. And while they’ve invested a lot…
Best Lege Silver Lining
In January it seemed like the slew of anti-LGBTQ legislation would ruin any progress made in the name of equality, including bills to protect “religious freedom,” the dreaded Pastor Protection Act, Rep. Cecil Bell’s discriminatory HB 4105, and bathroom-panic bills. Amazingly, and for a variety of reasons, they all derailed. The voters (at least of…
Best Haircut/Style
Pompadour. Taper fade. Undercut. Asymmetrical. Pixie. Whatever style you’re looking for, the talented crews at Birds can do it for ya. So whether it’s a girl cut, a guy cut, or a girl-who-wants-a-guy-cut cut, you’re in good hands at Birds.
Best Computer Store
Much more than just a computer store, this emporium of affordable electronics is a one-stop shop for your techiest plug-and-play needs. From anti-virus software and smart watches to gaming accessories and even drones, you will find them here. If you need something repaired, look no further than our Services section to see the 2015 “Best…
Best Thrift Store
Goodwill is always a pretty accurate reflection of what people in the area are/were/will soon be wearing. That’s why you can go to almost any Goodwill in Austin and find vintage dresses, cowboy boots, band T-shirts, and quirky costume jewels galore. While you’re at it, you can grab a few books, some dishes, and a…
Best Bathroom Graffiti
Since the dawn of the printed scroll, reading in the loo has been a sacred tradition, and the bathroom stalls at the Liberty take this self-indulgence to a whole new level. No matter your sobriety or squatting preference, this latrine graffiti will hit you harder than a shot of well whiskey. From saucy and sassy…
Best Moveable Beasts
You’d probably be exiled from Austin if you didn’t adore – like so many of us do – retro RVs, buses, and trailers. Seriously. Just turn in your hipster card now, detractors, and walk away. Local party people Vintage Innovations have a unique biz model that makes getting closer to your midcentury mobile-home-away-from-home easy – at…
Best Reason to Raise Your Voice
Whatever LOLA wants, LOLA gets. So it seems for the scrappy little classical-music company known as Local Opera, Local Artists. Founded by mezzo-soprano Liz Cass and director Rebecca Herman to mount the world’s first version of La Bohème cast entirely with women, LOLA not only produced that show to sold-out houses and great praise (and…
Best New Draught Beer
It’s not surprising that Hops & Grain’s first year-round draught is a delight. The Pale Mosaic has an aroma, flavor profile, and body that is appropriate for any occasion. As nose inches closely to pint glass, nostrils tingle with the faint aroma of pine. The beer has a pale copper hue, a cloudy appearance, and…
Best New Digs
The Omelettry has long added to Austin’s celebrated diner-culture, with standards Kerbey Lane and Magnolia. Unlike the others’ expansion to locations all over the city, the Omelettry stayed put in its small shack off Burnet. But this year, the owners picked up and moved to a bright and shiny new spot off Airport. The Seussian…
Best Kid-Friendly Theatre
Let the little ones explore their creative side with interactive improv art at the Hideout on Sunday afternoons. The actors guide the imaginary bus, but the audience decides what color it is and where it goes. It’s an hour of creativity and participation just for the fun of it that gets everyone out of their…
Best Metal Air Raid
Blast beats, shearing distortion, and death growls – on your radio? If you’re listening to 101X Fridays, 10pm-1am, you’ve entered the domain of Chuck Loesch, a metal connoisseur whose sophisticated appreciation for brutal music rivals the Encyclopaedia Metallum. Weekly, the prodigiously bearded Loesch spins a spectrum-spanning metal mix with emphasis on new releases, while simultaneously…
Best Dressed Council Member
Grouse about his politics (we do!), fine, but any talk show host off the street can throw out bombastic analogies. Where District 6 Council Member Don Zimmerman really sets himself apart is in his slick fedora-suspender combos, forbidding aviator frames, and mildly distracting ties. And the engineer’s attention to detail extends beyond city contracts to…
Best Artsy Dentist’s Office
The waiting room of Alpine Dental near the University of Texas is full to the rafters with paintings and jewelry designed by Linda Russell. Peruse it while you wait for dental hygienist Linda to clean your teeth. Then her husband Dr. Merrill Russell will be ready to advise you on the future of your chompers.…
Best Way Home After a Natural Disaster
Paul Kleypas is the dapper manager of the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on South Congress, but when natural disaster strikes, Kleypas transforms into “Mr. House in a Box.” He coordinates delivery of complete, brand-new (not used) sets of furniture and household goods to disaster survivors in Central Texas – sofa, table, beds, dishes,…
Best Yoo-hoo Alternative
We’re happy to report that JuiceLand finally came up with a solution for all that hemp we had lying around. They’ve gone and concocted some of the best-tasting 14 grams of protein-blasting chocolate milk we’ve ever guzzled – and it’s made out of hemp! More importantly, it’s just the right combo of smooth and grit,…
Best Arts Festival
Meandering: The human activity of meandering binds the two winners of this category. You’ll need a map to navigate the entirety of East Austin Studio Tour (but if you hit the artist-dense Pump Project and Canopy, you’ll have plenty to see), while the Pecan Street Festival is easy (as long as you remember that Sixth…
Best Burlesque/Cabaret Show
In true Austin style, the Jigglewatts began on the set of a low-budget zombie movie – a zombie movie with singing and dancing, natch. The world may have forgotten 2007’s Z: A Zombie Musical, but we can forever thank it for bringing together the flashy and fun ladies of the Jigglewatts burlesque review. Their performances…
Best Party of the Year
Every year for nine days, Austin is taken over by a party as big as Texas. Every venue possible is filled with drinks and music, drinks and movies, or drinks and technology … sometimes all in the same place. There are designated “parties” at the festival, but there’s pretty much one wherever and whenever you…
Best Noodles/Ramen
It’s no slurprise that Ramen Tatsu-Ya made “Best of Austin” for the third time. This noodle joint, which recently opened a second location on South Lamar, is well worth the wait. Plus, you can enjoy an array of beers or sake while in line, so it ain’t so bad. The pork broth will have you…
Best Shoes
For kids, it’s about the festive sea of neon sneakers. For parents, it’s about exact foot measurements, shoes lined up by size and outside of the box so youngsters can quickly judge what they like. For everyone, it’s about kind employees who look you in the eye. Sandy’s Shoes, tucked away next to the Northcross…
Best Radio Station
Let’s face it: Sometimes living in Austin makes us a little tired of music. So when the KUT empire gained another frequency and moved the music over to its own, allowing the NPR and stellar local programming of our public radio station the elbow room to spread out and conquer the airwaves, some of us…
Best Place to Tube
The San Marcos River brings a steady stream of people to San Marcos to tube down its 72-degree waters year-round. Let your troubles float away past Rio Vista Park, where the Lions Club tube rental shuttle picks people up or a quick visit to the Korner Stop can set you afloat. This part of the…
Best Local Controversy
When District 6 elected the guy famous for blowing a rape whistle on local news to protest an affordable housing bond, well, amazing things had to be in the works. Since then, Don Zimmerman has sued a teeny online publication, suggested the city strike rules about wheelchair accessibility, compared gay marriage to pedophilia, and sued…
Best Landscape Services
Pretty much every religion and faith practice mentions tending the land, sowing seeds, and taking care of the Earth and her crops. We’ll spare the preaching, but will remind you that gardening and lawn maintenance are not just about keeping up with the Joneses or showing up neighbors – they’re about being good stewards. For…
Best Costume Shop
Come as you are, leave who you want to be. This staple in the heart of SoCo is where you turn for those most outlandish bets you lost, “ironic” themed parties, and stalking your ex. There’s racks-upon-racks-upon-racks of costumes you can rent or purchase from every genre/hallucination/vortex imaginable. Slutty shark, anyone?
Best Vape Shop
C’mon, make the switch. All About Vapor has starter kits for new converts, binders full of flavors, and a steeping room in the back with leather couches and enough upscale e-juice to fill a Jacuzzi. And their friendly neighborhood “nicologists” will brew a special e-juice with your name on it. Seriously, when was Marlboro ever…
The Transporter Refueled
The franchise soldiers on – sans Jason Statham
Best Boat House
Boat down the waters of Lake Austin to catch a view of this gorgeous residential boathouse and waterfall. Designed by Bercy Chen Studio, the two-story cylindrical boathouse has a waterfall that recycles lake water cascading from the balcony on the second floor. A spiral staircase wraps around the house, accessible from the shore via a…
Best New B&B
The Ballards bought the property on Newning, four blocks from Congress Avenue, in 2000. Jimi was an executive for Oracle, Vivian a lawyer. They raised their kids while their mothers lived respectively in the carriage houses behind the main house. Last fall they had the brilliant idea to convert their home into an elegant bed…
Best Return of a Literary Icon
Pat Littledog and now ex-husband Chuck Taylor grew Paperbacks Plus into literary central for Eighties Austin. Then known as Pat Ellis Taylor, Littledog made waves when Atlantic Monthly Press published her semi-autobiographical and slyly feminist novel-in-stories Afoot in a Field of Men. It follows a thirtysomething hippie named Pat in an era when hippies were…
Best Pseudo-Healthy Cocktail
With kombucha for your gut, whiskey for your soul, and ginger for an overall health and flavor kick, the Golden Ticket at Austin’s beloved “ambiguous everybody space” is refreshing, reasonably priced, and virtuous enough to drink on the regular (we think so, anyway). It pairs perfectly with a night of dance partying or parking garage…
Best Reunited and It Tastes So Good
Cynthia and Lidia (Libby) Pérez, sister-proprietresses of three-decade community hub and art gallery La Peña and the late, lamented Las Manitas Cafe, sell tacos. La Peña sells tacos. We did not know this. Las Manitas, a shotgun shack of a cafe, where you had to walk through the kitchen to get to the restrooms, where…
Best Kiducational Day Trip
What better way to excite junior paleontologists than to let them see real animal fossils where they have laid for 65,000 years? Discovered in the bank of Waco’s Bosque River in 1978 by two young men, the bones of 23 Columbian mammoths, a camel, and a saber-tooth tiger were uncovered and added to the National…
Best Non-Meme Meme
Exemplary of the deep connect between Austin’s mass-psychological fugue state and its material culture, the #peeonsomebody campaign (ironic/counter/totally-literal) was a rip on a certain-motivational-speaker’s #besomebody campaign. You know, the one that rung hollow with students and teachers at Austin High this year, proving that kids retain the ability to see through slick-gloss self-helpisms? The lewd…
Best First Termer
The freshman representative from Austin’s 50th district wasted no time digging in during her first legislative session. She took up issues as wide-ranging as the care of pregnant people in jails to congestion on I-35, and even managed to gather the support of none other than Jonathan Stickland for the bills (HB 1140 and 1141)…
Best Brows to Max Throwing Shade
Without the right browline, you’ve got nothing in the art of throwing shade. Our Lady of Brow Game, Jax, has been waxing, plucking, and tweezing the masters of Austin’s shade team for years. Bring to her your overplucked, your drawn-on, your filled-in, your mono, and your bushy, and walk out with a look that can…
Most Wonderful Wordsmith to Wow Your Vows
The woman is a wonder of wit and words, so let’s lift a few right off her website to share what makes her different from other wedding officiants out there: “The most important thing for you to know about me, and why couples like working with me, is that I never forget it’s not my…
Best Building Under 10 Stories
There’s no need to tell you how breathtakingly monumental the Texas State Capitol is because you already know that. What you might not know, is that on top of the dome stands a 15-foot, 7-1/2-inch tall woman called the Goddess of Liberty. Perhaps you know her by her street name, Old Lady? Besides the fact…
Best Classical Performer(s)
We raise a chorus of hallelujahs to the vault of heaven when considering the vocal wonders this world-premiering, Grammy-winning, Billboard-charting choral group led by the ever-ebullient Craig Hella Johnson has done in and for our music-loving town. Whether working with outside composers (Nico Muhly) or guest vocalists (Ruthie Foster) or just doing their own glorious…
Best Club Night/Theme Night
Honoring Tuezgayz’s Best Club Night five years and counting, we can’t stay away from this packed, sweaty Red River riot. Barbarella slings the liquid courage, and the Glitoris soundtracks our midweek make-out sesh. Heteros, homos, and everyone in between get their groove and grope on in the middle of our favorite drrrty dance floor.
Best Place to Dance
Shake your bits and get groovy at Thursday’s Grits N Gravy. Dance yourself into a haze at Tuezgayz. Rock your Amadeus at Footloose Fridays. Perfect for dancing with friends or strangers any night of the week. Oh, Barbs! Thank you for all of those memorable nights (and the ones we can’t quite recall).
Best Outdoor Dining
Contigo’s patio, which is to say the entire restaurant, is the Sam Elliott of Austin dining. It’s a little bit rustic, looks great in a cowboy getup, and gets better and better with age. There’s been some renovation, but not much has changed about the rancho deluxe setting, the easy-sipping cocktails, or the accessible menu.…
Best Sports/Rec Program
This program meets once a week at day care centers, schools, and parks throughout the greater Austin area to introduce kiddos ages 2-8 to the most popular sport in the world. They not only learn the skills to play, but also develop balance, coordination, and agility while learning concepts such as teamwork, sharing, and respect.…
Best Spanish-Language Radio
Austin has had a fair amount of Spanish-language radio stations over the years – unfortunately, with little variety. No disrespect to Norteño or musica regional, but it came time to give the Spanish-listening audience some pop music. Debuting in Austin in summer 2013, the format of Emmis’ Latino 102.7FM not only crosses over but bounces…
Best Pool/Billiards
What do you do when you’re craving some fun, but the hubbub of Dirty Sixth or Rainey has become too much of an exhausting and expensive endeavor? How about some billiards and beer? Our readers appreciate cheap beer deals, and the Grand’s got ’em, plus a floor of 20 pool tables to keep the hustlers…
Best Local Politics Blog
Calling themselves the Democrats’ biggest supporters and harshest critics, these political hounds know how to report hard facts and push hard opinions. Policymakers in the Capitol pay attention too. The site boasts 60,000-100,000 daily views and regularly receives contributing articles from institutional leaders, political consultants, elected officials, lobbyists, and concerned Texans. Orange for UT. Blue…
Best Laundromat
In the immediate aftermath of the Memorial Day Weekend floods, social media began to light up with calls for help. It also lit up with calls offering help. We watched in awe as neighbor after neighbor put their own needs aside to help someone in more dire straits. Tears definitely flowed as we read about…
Best DVD Rental/Purchase
Whether you’re feeling independent and looking for an Andrew Bujalski film, brushing up on your French with a reel of Rohmer, poking the funny bone with Jerry Lewis, or just wanting to rent The Wedding Singer for the 1,000th time, Vulcan Video has it all and then some. Everything from the rarest of the rare…
Best Video Game Store
In a world where products increasingly live in the cloud, there’s something to be said for a physical artifact, and Game Over Videogames knows it. It’s found success over the last decade and grown from one store and one employee to a dozen locations. The community built around Game Over is evident at the store’s…
Goodnight Mommy
Nine-year-old twins suspect that someone is impersonating their mother
Best Dalí- or Gaudí-Inspired Bus Stop
Let’s face it: Bus stops are generally hard, sleek, modern, and utilitarian. They may reflect a certain industrial aesthetic, but they are hardly media for artistic expression. A project of Green Doors, Stanley Studio architects, and JQ + Tsen structural engineers, the stop at the northeastern corner of Manor at Rogge bears a beautiful exception,…
Best Street Photographer on Sixth
For the uninitiated, street photography is, well, photos taken on the street – of life, of people, of raw emotion. Street photographers are artists capturing moments in time, but they’re often disguised as mild-mannered, middle-aged guys with cameras, like Jeff Vaillancourt. A California transplant, Vaillancourt doesn’t make his living as a photog, but he enriches…
Best Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Campaign
Now that Stevie Ray Vaughan’s officially plaqued in Cleveland, attention turns to getting Doug Sahm inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Joe Nick Patoski’s new feature documentary, Sir Doug & the Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove, serves as catalyst to the campaign, premiering at SXSW and raising more than $90K on Kickstarter. Meanwhile,…
Best Sampling Room
With over 30 different flavors of popcorn to taste for free, all we can say is that happy vibes permeate from this clean, spacious room. The friendly staff member here greets each patron with, “Feel free to sample as much as you like!” We sure will. No judging glares from the staff as they stay…
Best Multicultural Center
If music is food for the brain, Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos has been keeping San Marcans’ mental bellies full since September 2009. Housed in the former Bonham Elementary School, the center offers free art, cultural, and academic camp sessions with names like Camp Olé and Mis Pequeños Ingenieros (My Little Engineers). Their curriculum…
Best Online Estate Sale Window Shopping
Maybe you’ve got a rental property to furnish, or you’re a collector of vintage Pyrex, or just need some reasonably priced tools. Estate sales are a great resource for all of these, but how do you find them? Enter EstateSales.net. To find all the estate sales near you, just punch in your ZIP code and…
Best Grassroots Justice Seekers
With the goal of spotlighting injustice, PTF brings together the people of Austin. Coming out of the Black Lives Matter movement and the increased visibility of police shootings, this organization provides a space for people to improve the safety of Austin’s communities and work to maintain accountability of government agencies. Their four “Points of Unity”…
Best DIY Construction & Design
Krista Ernst is a petite person, a single mom who can wield a saw as easily as Julia Child with a spatula. Her DIY attitude developed into a business called One Handy Mutha. Her popularity started with projects in Travis Heights and is now spreading throughout the city. She’s an expert cabinet maker, landscaper, house…
Best Annual Sale
For generations, Oat Willie’s has been outfitting new apartments, guest rooms, and dorms with Eastern-influenced color. The small chain, mostly known for “smoking accessories,” is the likely answer to any word-association game when folks are asked what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the phrase “Indian bedspreads.” It’s the place in…
Best Downtown View
When you want to see, truly see, what makes our city so special, this is the definitive place to go. Our ever-changing Downtown skyline frames the Auditorium Shores landscape, and the brightest mirror of the city, Lady Bird Lake, shines gloriously in the middle of it all. Perch on the city terrace, soak it all…
Best Clothing Designer
Walk into Gail Chovan’s Blackmail Boutique on SoCo and you will immediately sense history on a hanger. There are the broad sweeping lines of Gothic architecture evinced in a lengthy dress – her inspiration, perhaps, coming from Notre Dame and the other buildings in Paris, where Chovan often summers. And then there’s this meticulous maven’s…
Best Cocktails
It’s no wonder readers selected this Eastside haunt. The dimly lit and artfully decorated bar offers up expertly crafted, pre-Prohibition inspired cocktails infused with fruit and floral flavors from a selection of almost 200 bottles of liquor. With a movie projector, quaint patio seating, and live music, it’s the perfect spot for a romantic date…
Best Scenester/Mover and Shaker
Summertime in Austin (or any season, really) wouldn’t be the same without Maggie Lea. From producing the Cinema East movie series to throwing the best parties (typically featuring the coolest bands) at Cheer Up Charlies, Lea is a massive force about town. Austin’s social scene may be rapidly expanding, but Lea stays ahead of it…
Best Pizza
Home Slice’s lock on Best Pizza lists has been hard-earned and well-deserved. There is no other place in Central Texas that’s mastered the marriage of sauce and cheese into such a luscious blanket of East Coast POW!, a direct nonstop flight for the taste buds to NYC. Across town, the trajectory diverges – straight up…
Best Teen Hangout
Welp, you’ve gone and raised yourself an indoor child with a proclivity toward avatars and power-ups and pixel-based entertainment. What’s a parent of a video-game-loving yet still socially competent child to do come dog days/snow days/general “I’m bored” days that you just can’t even right now? Hail, Pinballz! Give that kid $25-30 (factoring in snacks)…
Best Sportscaster
Mike Barnes interned at KVUE while attending the University of Texas in the Eighties. Save for a six-month stint on the air in Aggieland (blasphemy!), he’s been the Austin TV station’s sports guru. He’s a gentle, enthusiastic guy who’s willing to share the spotlight while serving as maestro for longtime features Friday Football Fever and…
Best Romantic Escape
Fallen into a weltschmerz because you and your schnucki just cannot take one more person telling you that “you just have to try this new place on East Cesar Chavez”? Wir verstehen. Abscond to Fredricksburg, where even the oddest couple can find things to do: World War II buff? Visit the Admiral Nimitz State Historic…
Best March or Rally
Each June, in memory of Stonewall, Queerbomb hosts a march and rally, inviting every member of the LGBTQIA community to come together and embrace diversity, sexuality, art, music, and individuality. If you’ve ever been to a Queerbomb march, it’s likely you woke up the next morning covered in glitter, dressed in only your rainbow underwear,…
Best Movers
Majestic: That’s how you should feel when crashing at the end of a long moving day. The fact that burly guys and gals in moving trucks bearing the most magical creatures of the sea (the blue whale, duh) and sylvan glen (Unicorns are real!) ferry your clutter to and ’fro is only confirmation that you…
Best Farmers’ Market
Sunday morning shopping under the historic Browning Hangar is the see-and-be-seen scene for the young families of the Mueller development and surrounding neighborhoods. The stroller brigade is out in force with kids and dogs, browsing the impressive array of fine quality products from local farmers, ranchers, and food artisans. It’s the most convenient place in…
Best Vintage
With the retro revival that’s been in full swing for the past few decades, you’d think that Austin’s supply of midcentury treasures would have already run dry. This is far from true at Room Service Vintage, where you can find everything from an ugly-cute Seventies couch and nudie girls glassware to the perfect Forties dress…
The Visit
M. Night Shyamalan blends comedy and horror in his latest offering
Sweetest R&B DJ
If you’re the music czar for your workplace (or if you can bribe the music czar with candy or half-used gift cards), there’s no reason you shouldn’t be tuning in to 96.3FM to bring your people what they need: R&B! Music, however, is not enough. The people need a voice to turn to for solace…
Best Place to Feel Like Mad Men Never Ended
Even though the series finale of our favorite period drama aired in May, it doesn’t mean we can’t reminisce about the swingin’ Sixties in our own backyard. Designer Mickie Spencer (East Side Show Room, Swan Dive, Hillside Farmacy) spared no details when creating the stunning midcentury mod Sawyer & Co. that resides in the renovated…
Best Throwback Photography
We stumbled upon Lumiere’s Tintype Photography’s mobile booth during EAST and instantly fell in love. The 150-year-old photo process is a perfect marriage of science and art (and makes for a super rad Instagram: @lumiere_tintype). Owner and operator Adrian Whipp makes beautiful and haunting images from a small mobile booth that normally sits at Justine’s…
Best Spaghetti Western Shot in Austin
Austin auteurs Duane Graves and Justin Meeks know that making a movie is to worship at the altar of celluloid past while desperately creating something fresh. Their Western Red on Yella, Kill a Fella is a case in point. The guys created the Texas Bigfoot tale The Wild Man of the Navidad and teamed with…
Best Texas-Sized Burger
Roaring Fork chef Adrian Giovanelli is upholding the world-famous Texas-sized tradition of the Big Ass Burger. Not only is it fun to say “Big Ass Burger,” it is served with delicious kettle french fries. The one-pound patty is stacked with poblano peppers, cheddar, smoked pepper bacon, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and pickles. The fact that you…
Best Place for Kids to Get Arty
This paint-your-own-pottery studio offers a wide variety of products to let the creative juices flow. As adults paint beer mugs or dinner plates, the kids can paint their own ice cream bowls, cereal bowls, coin banks, or ornaments with popular characters that include Tinkerbell and Roary the Lion. With an extensive range of paint colors,…
Best Sweat-Free Way to Catch the Bus
Over the past year, most local buzz about transportation apps has focused on Uber and Lyft. For our money, however, Austin’s most indispensable app for getting around is the surprisingly elegant CapMetro. Gone are the days of digging around your room frantically for spare change or waiting half an hour in direct August sunlight for…
Best Immigration Advocates
While every attempt at immigration reform is stymied by the anti-immigrant portion of the right, Grassroots Leadership has made sure that the people caught in the crossfire aren’t forgotten, organizing protests at detention centers, publishing research, and consistently refuting misinformation. Progress might be slow, but Grassroots and other immigration activists have managed to keep the…
Best Eye Gym
Looking at computer screens and reading tiny type strains our eyes and can lead to fatigue and headaches. In children especially, learning problems can be the result of undetected vision problems. That’s where the team at the Optometry Center for Vision Therapy offers a real eye opener. Go in for a complimentary consultation and see…
Best Beer Adviser
In this craft ale boom, it’s easy to have a good beer selection in stock. But knowing them all? Knowing what seasonals are coming, what rare brews are hidden gems? That’s hard. Tougher still is knowing not just your market, but each and every regular who comes through the door, what they like, what they…
Best Historic Site
There’s no need to tell you how breathtakingly monumental the Texas State Capitol is because you already know that. What you might not know, is that on top of the dome stands a 15-foot, 7-1/2-inch tall woman called the Goddess of Liberty. Perhaps you know her by her street name, Old Lady? Besides the fact…
Best Comic Artist or Graphic Novelist
With a lean toward sci-fi and the surreal, Tim Doyle’s work is delightfully out of this world. Star Wars and superhero fans alike will want a print (or five) of his fan art, and Doyle’s concert posters would make stylish additions to any music lover’s home. As a kid, Doyle only found joy “in comic…
Best Drag Show
Oilcan Harry’s proves the squeaky diva always gets the greasepaint. The weekday draw of this Austin mainstay? It’s the Wednesday night Drag Show Roulette, which takes a different spin on the act with a monthly pageant. On the weekend? Two snaps go to the Super Sunday Divas Show, OCH’s weekly “platform” for high-heeled hilarity featuring…
Best Underground Event
It’s often dark. Almost always dank. We are honor-bound to not say what it is, only to tell you that once you go, you’ll be forever changed – for better or worse. Hotly tuned olfactories know when it’s in the air, and with a discreet email query, learn where it will pop up. Intimating what…
Best Prepared Grab-and-Go
Gluten-free enchiladas, grass-fed lamb lasagna, chicken butternut squash macaroni? Do not fear the organic fusion foods of Snap Kitchen. If you need healthy food that respects an allergy or dietary lifestyle, Snap has it in a ready-to-go form of yum that won’t make your wallet cry. There’s a reason this isn’t their first “Best of”…
Best Texas Amusement Park
We’ve all been to the knockoffs. You might as well be one of the kids sitting in the kiddie pool from the old commercial, scraping for an inch in substandard wave pools. And why even bother when there’s a quartet of Schlitterbahn parks to explore right here in the great state of Texas? Padre holds…
Best TV Anchor
Seems like only yesterday we were watching Quita Culpepper, new kid on the block, making the leap from radio to KVUE-TV. Culpepper’s “Does It Work Wednesday,” a consumer product-testing segment, was her calling card, but it was soon clear that she had the goods to tell a variety of stories, from human interest to breaking…
Best Scenic Drive
Few other cities as big as Austin can boast our green-to-concrete ratio, but Loop 360 offers the best of both. It curves through rock cut-throughs, steep fills, and several parks and rivers, offering a wide survey of the Capitol, the UT Tower, and most of Downtown. And the early-rising bicycler can take advantage of the…
Best Neighborhood Activist
What kind of message does a school named after Robert E. Lee send to incoming residents? The wrong kind, says Teresa Griffin. She’s the leading voice in the charge by the Friends of Hyde Park, a free online neighborhood association, to change a local school’s name. A resident since 1969, Griffin has fought for benefits…
Best Music Services
A dream, circa 1981: The flood waters rage into Strait Music on North Lamar. Stevie Ray Vaughan is on guitar. Junior-high kids from O. Henry play along on flute, oboe, and bassoon. A skinny redneck from Anderson High pounds on the snare drum. A tall Latina from Crockett smashes cymbals together. Strait moved away from…
Best Furnishings/Home
With the retro revival that’s been in full swing for the past few decades, you’d think that Austin’s supply of mid-century treasures would have already run dry. This is far from true at Room Service Vintage, where you can find everything from an ugly-cute Seventies couch to nudie girls glassware to the perfect Forties dress…
Best of Austin 2015
Choo Choo Ch-Boogie Best of Austin 2015 KATE X MESSER, SEPTEMBER 11, 2015 The track unfurls with the promise of destinations ahead. The whistle and horn blow with the resonance of times passed. You can’t see this perspective from car or air. The history of railroads, freight and passenger, is the history of Texas. As…
90 Minutes in Heaven
Faith-based film taken from bestseller is directed by Michael Polish
Best Body Slam
The French philosopher Roland Barthes described professional wrestling – or, as he called it, true wrestling – as the battle of good against evil. Inspire Pro Wrestling is winning a different battle. They’re getting one of America’s greatest, purest forms of physical spectacle and drama taken seriously. Creative Director Max Meehan has gathered the best…
Best Serious Moonlight
The ladies are ubiquitous, almost to the point of being taken for granted – but this town would be doomed forever if their lights grew dim. Only 17 of the original 31 built in the 1890s remain. We hate to start heartfelt kudos on such a negative note, but let’s face it, Austin, we do…
Best Unsung Film Scene Force
Need a permit to shoot near the Capitol? Want stats on Austin film production? Don’t phone a hipster; call the tall guy. Since 1985, a soft-spoken, smart, and funny pro named Gary Bond has been Austin film’s savior. In July he quietly retired as the head of the Austin Film Commission and has left some…
Best Texas Wine Ambassador
Sommelier Rae Wilson started her company, Wine for the People, as a way to make wine approachable to all. As the concept grew and evolved, Wilson’s role changed from educator to consultant, which fueled her passionate advocacy for Texas wines. Wilson works to connect up-and-coming Hill Country wineries with her growing list of clients, therefore…
Best Vegan Dessert World Domination
Skull & Cakebones started out practically on a whim a few years back, when Sascha Biesi and her partner, Yauss Berenji, decided to go pro with Biesi’s vegan cupcake skills. First, they pitched Whole Foods. Then came Wheatsville, Royal Blue, Violet Crown Cinema, and most recently, Central Market. You can’t swing a blood glucose meter…
Best Place to Hear Austin Bands With Your Kids
The Yellow Jacket is known as a hipster-filled bar with great food and a dog-friendly patio. But if you’re a parent who loves music, it’s also a great place to bring your kids to begin their indoctrination into the Austin music scene. Their weekend afternoon shows on the patio don’t happen all the time, but…
Best Tech Writer With a Sense of Humor
Omar Gallaga is the rarest of tech nerds: He’s funny in a thinking-geek’s way. As in founder of the Latino Comedy Project funny. As in writer for the late, great Television Without Pity funny. Follow him on Twitter where he ponders questions like, “Worse fictional Southern gentleman reboot: Atticus Finch or Colonel Sanders?” Gallaga truly…
Best Justice for Mamas Behind Bars
For the first time ever, Texas county jails will be required to report on how they care for pregnant inmates – to ‘fess up about food, bedding, and medical care. That’s thanks to hard work by the Texas Jail Project, the ACLU of Texas, and Mama Sana/Vibrant Woman. The three groups joined forces to protect…
Best Guitar Teacher to the Stars
Robert Plant, Patty Griffin, Alejandro Escovedo: The common thread is David Pulkingham. He’s become Austin’s favorite guitar teacher – if you can get him. When he’s not on the road, he’s a warm, patient, and inspiring guitar teacher to students of all ages. Flamenco to rock & roll, from the Continental Club to Carnegie Hall,…
Best Chocolate Bar Made in Austin
For those who find pleasure in food that is not only delicious, but ethical, SRSLY Chocolate should top lists of local favorites. Married business partners Bob Williamson and Robin Simoneaux-Williamson make their chocolate with Fair Trade cocoa beans sourced from a cooperative of Dominican farmers. Plus, SRSLY Chocolate is vegan, and Bob and Robin are…
Best Hotel
Austin’s epoch of maximum minimalism, the Hotel San José continues to set the bar in local lodging. People forget how unaccommodating the landscape was before Liz Lambert put her pomo boho SoCo paws all up in it. The Lambie empire now stretches to Marfa, San Antonio, and back (fame and fortune is a magnet, after…
Best Composer
Austin’s Teutonic-looking maestro with the long hair and snazzy suits, ah, is there a busier composer in the Western world? Writing scores for feature films, conjuring soundtracks for theatre and dance companies, journeying to Japan to provide music for Allison Orr’s choreographing of a professional baseball team, partnering with Peter Stopschinski to raise the roof…
Best Happy Hour
It’s not just because the shared plates average about $5 a pop, or that there’s a full array of margaritas. It’s because every time we step into Salty Sow, we just have the best time. Oh, and those duck fat fries are now our new religion.
Best Video Game Studio/Developer
As the first to beat “BOA” front-runner BioWare in this category, Rooster Teeth deserves all the chatter. This tech-savvy company, started by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey (né Fink), Gustavo Sorola, and Joel Heyman, has blossomed from the egg that hatched videos and game-related conversations into the full-grown cock of the walk it is…
Best Restaurant Design/Interior
Let’s face it. Some of the hottest dining spots in town look like Design Within Reach showrooms. That’s fine, but even in a town as mid-century-modern obsessed as ours, the eye needs to come in from the cold. Michael Hsu’s design for Sway is the opposite of that. There’s a warmth and timelessness that matches…
Best Toys
Terra Toys offers up the best curated selection of playthings from all over the world. Gifts and gadgets geared for educational, imaginative play – puppets, Brio trains, games, kiddo-sized musical instruments, Haba toys, and an unbelievably large selection of Playmobil. Bonus: Their brand-new, in-house cafe offers up a caffeine fix, something all parents can attest…
Best TV Reporter
Seems like only yesterday we were watching Quita Culpepper, new kid on the block, making the leap from radio to KVUE-TV. Culpepper’s “Does It Work Wednesday,” a consumer product-testing segment, was her calling card, but it was soon clear that she had the goods to tell a variety of stories, from human interest to breaking…
Best Social Bike Ride
For as much of a bike town as Austin wishes itself to be, the amount of car traffic on city streets is harrowing. Social cycling (in general, and Social Cycling, the group) is a safety-in-numbers scheme designed to increase bike riders’ comfort-levels and chance of survival on the sometimes mean streets. Visibility is key. The…
Best News Story
What a year of grabby headlines: Central Texas floods, the 10-1 election, the “Austin Cobra,” Jumpolin, the list goes on. But overwhelmingly, our readers – like so many local revelers on that day – chose the news of Friday, June 26, 2015, the day that the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that LGBTQ people wishing to…
Best Pest Control
ABC had us at their adorably weird aardvark logo, but turns out they have the goods to boot. They’ve served Central Texas for more than six decades and are deeply involved in our community. Pest services are just the beginning, too; services from lawn maintenance to air conditioning installation and appliance repair are all part…
Best Garden Supply Store
Voted “Best of Austin” over 10 times and a three-time winner of Today’s Garden Center’s “Revolutionary 100 Garden Centers” in the nation, Natural Gardener is an eight-acre paradise tucked away on Old Bee Caves Road. From soil to plants, and everything organic, these folks know it all. Be sure to ask about John Dromgoole’s famous…
Grandma
Lily Tomlin leads a dynamic cast down roads less traveled
Best Choo Choo Ch’Boogie
America’s romance with rail can sometimes seem an odd and fickle fling, as old modes give way to new. Here in Central Texas, however, the Austin Steam Train Association keeps the trains running on time in a living history museum of real-life rail cars and engines restored to their former glory: a fully operational leisure…
Best Squirrel Spa Vacation
We promise no jokes about big nuts or beaver-bashing (sorry, Buc-ee!), especially since this gargantuan bushy-tailed rodent is, bless her heart, a dainty lady. But road warriors who regularly pass her landmark spot on Highway 71 may have been shocked this past spring to see the ol’ squirrel – originally made in 2011 by the…
Best Zen Inducing Art Installation
Artist James Turrell uses light and space as both his tools and materials, and the University of Texas is lucky to host one of his few public installations – an outdoor dream pod called the Skyspace. Reserve a spot at sunset to witness an hour of gradual sky changes, moody color transitions, and the chance…
Best Visions of the Future
Science fiction isn’t just about space ships and lasers. It’s about what it means to be a human in strange times. Austin’s first ever dedicated sci-fi film festival went to infinity and beyond in its inaugural year, with former Austin Film Festival booker Bears Fonté selecting the most bizarre, hilarious, and moving titles the genre…
Best Whimsical Japanese Coffee Shop
Unassumingly perched amongst the studios of Canopy, this peaceful little coffee shop offers a charming, unique menu of Japanese-fusion dishes. Light entrées and sides like the Nori Tama toast, kale salad, and the curry rice plates (you can choose chicken katsu or grilled vegetables) reveal deep flavors and tidy elegance. The ambience is playful but…
Best Place to Seek Out a Friend for the End of the World
Austin Bat Cave, a kids’ writing nonprofit, operates under the novel idea that young people learn best when they’re allowed to use their imaginations. For the past two years, perhaps ABC’s most popular program has been its post-apocalyptic fiction summer camp, where budding Katniss Everdeens (and Suzanne Collinses) are encouraged to create their own literary…
Best Texas Portal to the Past
Have you ever seen that retro commercial for San Antonio chain Church’s Chicken with the kids in the dune buggy? Or footage from the successful 1962 campaign of he-who-would-become Governor John Connally? How about those those late-Eighties PSAs for the El Paso Chicano AIDS Coalition? There is so much to glean when you let history…
Best Neighborhood Comfort
The nonprofit Florence’s Comfort House is just what it sounds like: a place where unmoored children (and occasionally adults) in Ponziano’s Montopolis neighborhood can find friends, assistance, learning, playmates and playscape, a kindly ear — comfort — when life turns tough. It is also a magical living repository of Ponziano’s extraordinary artwork, which she also…
Best Haircut & Barber
When Roxana Wise was growing up in Mexico, she would sneak into her dad’s car to go to the barbershop with her brothers. Now, many consider Wise Austin’s best-kept secret barber/stylist. R Salon offers fantastic hair services in a quiet, intimate, and chic atmosphere in a small historic house off of South Lamar and Mary.…
Best Gluten-Free Mixes
In this day and age of food sensitivities, the list of food choices and labeling can overwhelm: gluten-free, organic, non-GMO…. Thankfully, Bona Dea makes it simple. St. Edward’s University alumna Melissa Robinson, Ashley Blake, Joanie Cahill, and Jenni Ferguson make up this team of entrepreneurial women with not only health in mind, but social consciousness…
Best Hotel/Motel Room Decor
Austin’s epoch of maximum minimalism, the Hotel San José continues to set the bar in local lodging. People forget how unaccommodating the landscape was before Liz Lambert put her pomo boho SoCo paws all up in it. The Lambie empire now stretches to Marfa, San Antonio, and back (fame and fortune is a magnet, after…
Best Dancer or Dance Company
Artistic Director Stephen Mills exploded onto the Austin arts scene during the 1999-2000 season, eventually landing his current role, attracting attention across the country with his world-premiere production of Hamlet, featuring the music of Philip Glass. The show returned for the 2015 season. Mills’ sinewy, sexy, (and not infrequently, sassy) work can be seen in…
Best Hotel Bar/Lounge
If Wes Anderson shot a movie in Austin, it would look just like Hotel San José. The quaint decor and minimalist aesthetic of this 40-room South Congress location has been a favorite among locals and visitors since Liz Lambert renovated and transformed it from an old motor court. And the wine-and-beer bar, open to all,…
Best Bakery
It’s that little bakery around the corner you go to on your lunch break every Thursday with your best pal to chat about movies and your crush, and the weather, and plans for the weekend while you munch on scones, cookies, iced coffee, and cake. The place is cute and snuggly and brimming with nice,…
Best Seafood
A tie between these two highly regarded purveyors of expertly prepared seafood would seem to indicate that sometimes we’re in the mood for the casual atmosphere of dining with one of our favorite local fishmongers, while other times, we prefer the beach-like ambience and shady deck of a more upscale eatery. It just depends on…
Best Film Critic
A working film critic at The Austin Chronicle for 25 years, Marc Savlov’s longevity is equaled by his versatility. Whether it’s an action film or a horror hackathon, a gushy romance or a loopy kids’ picture, Savlov can be counted on to tell it like it is – and tell it with linguistic style and…
Best Weatherperson
“Maybe we got a cow flying in the air that a radar beam is bouncing off of. That’s what we’re hoping right now.” That was the Spencerism that pricked up our ears during the Memorial Day weekend flood, 2015 version. The KXAN weather anchor’s expertise, bedside manner, and descriptive talents make Spencer our go-to whenever…
Best Sports Venue
The house that Nolan Ryan and family built is home to Round Rock Express baseball. But people visit Dell Diamond for the experience: the kiss cam, kids doing stunts for free pizza, a rock wall, loud cheesy old rock & roll, and deliciously overpriced vittles like the James Dean hot dog with bleu cheese and…
Best Nonprofit
What’s better than doggies and kitties? Not much, except maybe people who save doggies and kitties. Austin Pets Alive! – a crucial link in Austin’s No-Kill City chain – is a nonprofit organization made up of these kind of wonderfully selfless humans that commit volunteer energy and time into making sure Austin’s animals stay alive,…
Best Pet Services
From professional grooming to DIY wash stations, boarding facilities, and training classes, these friendly folks offer the ultimate in doggy convenience. Drop off your pup for a fun day of playcare and grooming while you work, then fetch him and a bag of his favorite food on your way home. It’s a win-win (or woof-woof)…
Best Grocery Store
It’s like H-E-B can read our minds (and wallets) with its Meal Deals. Primo Picks turn us onto food and products we’ve never heard of, like Jalapino White Wine. Short on time? Grab a rotisserie chicken or some sushi made fresh daily. The bakery has individual to-die-for tres leches cakes with fruit on top and…
Queen of Earth
Elisabeth Moss stars in Alex Ross Perry’s elliptical psychodrama
Best Colony of Flying Creatures, Non-Bat
Behind a Jonestown realty office stands a structure altogether unremarkable in its utility. The 16-feet tall and 10-feet in diameter concrete cylinder looks like what it was built to be – a cistern. Arrive at dusk in the late summer months, however, and you’ll see it transform, as hundreds of chimney swifts nosedive into the…
Best What’s Next in Austin Architecture
A group of University of Texas architecture students together with Germany’s Technische Universitaet Muenchen came up with a plan to address the ever-growing Austin population and affordability issues with the development of the NexusHaus. Crowdfunded at $21,422, the NexusHaus is a one-story, 850-square-foot integration of solar and energy-efficient technology. Built with renewable and reusable materials,…
Most Anticipated Shipwreck
Earlier this year, about 11,000 square feet of the first floor of exhibition space at the Bullock Texas State History Museum was closed for renovations. Renovations is an understatement. The Bullock is preparing for the permanent resting place of La Belle, the ill-fated ship belonging to French colonialist Robert de La Salle. Artifacts of the…
Best Way to Lose Your Voice
Sing us a song, you’re the punk rock man/rebel girl! Kaleb Asplund and wife Hannah Ford have been building Karaoke Underground’s song list since 2004. Currently at roughly 1,000 songs, there are plenty of choices to belt your heart out to: Nick Cave, Bikini Kill, Fugazi, Minutemen, etc. Don’t be surprised if you get joined…
Best Who Can Turn the Wall On With a Smile?
Smiles come easy at Mary’s, opened this year by Philly transplant Ken Gambone. The unique menu – Liège waffles embedded with tiny caramelized chunks of sugar, fried-egg sandwiches, grilled paninis, and of course, the “pop” in the pop shop, handmade gelato ’sicles – can turn any frown upside down. Gambone’s dedication to sourcing local with Third…
Best Way to Turn Gamers Into Game Makers
Those recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics that kids only have 45 seconds of screen time per day, preferably viewed through a crack in one’s fingers, fall by the wayside when you pick up your video-game-loving kid from a long day of learning to code, designing a video game, and engaging in communal play…
Best Use of Local Dweebs Geeks
Sure, it could be startling to walk into the library and run into a near-life-sized poster of someone you know – maybe someone you have known forever, maybe even your ex-roommate or an old college friend – looking uncannily like themselves and in their element. But that’s what was cool about it. As part of…
Best Neighborhood Revival
No part of town gets a worse rap than Rundberg Lane. So when critics write it off as an insoluble problem, they’re writing off the 5% of Austin’s population that lives and works around that one street. The Restore Rundberg initiative brings together city, law enforcement, schools, colleges, and the neighborhood itself to redeem this…
Best HydroFrolic
The poet/philosopher Lao Tzu may have put it best: “Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.” If you’d like for your skin to be as soft, flexible, and irresistible, may we recommend putting your face in the good hands of the folks at Organic Spa for one of their…
Best Hey, Are We in Houston?
It’s not Bellaire Boulevard, it’s North Lamar. Perhaps quaint in comparison to the Chinatowns of other burgs, North Austin’s Chinatown Center ably reps Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and now (why, hello there, Fit, Japanese two-dollar store!) Japanese businesses. Anchored by the MT Supermarket – where herbs and seafood are cut-rate, and in our not-so-humble opinion, the…
Best Motel
Austin Motel’s delightfully suggestive sign may serve as the unofficial gateway to South Congress, but it has so much more to offer visitors. An institution since 1938, it showcases the perfect mix of historic charm and local quirk, making it the go-to place for visitors who want an authentic taste of the city. Glimpses of…
Best Independent Art Gallery
Establishing a space for the visual legacy of female artists isn’t just a mission, it’s a vision. For over 37 years (and still going strong), Women & Their Work has been an exhibition space for contemporary art that is innovative and original. Their yearly open calls ensure that their programming ranges in material and content,…
Best Jukebox
After a tie last year, Deep Eddy Cabaret has finally dethroned Casino el Camino with its jukebox jams (a first since 1995). Craft your perfect musical recipe at this dive bar with ingredients from locals Black Joe Lewis, Dale Watson, and Gary Clark Jr. Throw in some simmering vocals from Billie Holiday or Otis Redding.…
Best Barbecue
Austin proudly boasts the most famous barbecue joint in the country, hands down. It’s a small place with a line so long and well-established it has its own video feed, lawn chair vendor, and rules of engagement. Brisket whisperer Aaron Franklin has his own cookbook, an eponymous PBS cooking show, and James Beard Foundation Award…
Best Tacos
Everyone talks about the Dirty Sanchez taco (har har, boys), but we love the Jamaican jerk(iness) of the Brushfire taco. We’re just gonna put that out there. Still, the story of Torchy’s – up from humble beginnings (one of the early birds in the food cart phenomenon), this “damn good” taco chain now has franchises…
Best Food Writer
Austin American-Statesman columnist and blogger (and quilter, photographer, and mom …) Addie Broyles keeps the streak alive with her thoughtful writing, winningly striking a perfect balance between social observation, historical perspective, and astute trend-spotting. An endless fount of imaginative approaches and energy, Broyles frequently writes about women and food from a feminist perspective – the…
Best Web Series
Aiming to create a short film inspired by About a Boy, creators of #ATown, Elena Weinberg and Mallory Larson found something so much better: a series about living in one of the coolest cities around. The show’s leads Ivy Koehler and Ash Nunley were added to the writers’ room to add even more female empowerment…
Best Swimming
When you first move to Austin it seems like all people talk about is Barton Springs. It’s like, “Okay, okay, we get it: Austin is home to a three-acre spring-fed pool that maintains an average temperature of 68-70 degrees, ideal for year-round swimming. Cool.” And then you go there (for only $3, mind you) and…
Best Political Gadfly
Maxey has been both a Democratic official and a progressive instigator for so long his two roles have largely merged – apparently the reason that readers anointed him with both of these awards. The former state rep has fought for working people and basic human rights for decades, but most recently he entered the battles…
Best Psychic/Tarot Reader
Empathic, intuitive, and a mighty good guiding voice: It’s everything we could ask for in a therapist, psychologist, and healer – and way more than we could ask for in a tarot reader. There’s a reason why renaissance Austinite Angeliska is booked from here to Sunday; she homes in on what it is you truly…
Best Hardware Store
You may see the familiar denizens of Breed & Co. donning new red vests, marking the transition to a new “family of retailers,” but fret not! The relationship between our beloved local Breed and national chain Ace Hardware is cooperative, not top-down corporate. Ace is their new primary hardware supplier. The things we love about…
Veronica’s Room
Hang on for the second act of this Oh Dragon Theatre thriller – then hang on!
Gay Place: The Deep South
Take that as you will …
“Frank Reaugh: Landscapes of Texas and the American West”
The wide open spaces that define the Texas stereotype are explored in rich detail in this artist’s work
Luv Doc: Long-Distance Relationships
For those willing to believe in the impossible, anything is possible
Best of Daytrippin’ 2015
Rain, potty breaks, and sand dunes make traveling Texas better
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
It’s not a bunch of bananas. It’s a hand. By his own admission, retired professional football player Herschel Walker tried Russian roulette six times before he realized it was a crazy thing to do. He now owns a successful chicken business. A recent study by Gallup found that Texas is the only one of the…
Page Two: Love Loves to Love Love
On celebrating the Best of Austin, and learning to live with the worst
‘Best of Austin’ 2015
Choo Choo Ch-Boogie
Quote of the Week
“We celebrate Labor Day in Texas where employees have the right to work free from union coercion & free to reap rewards from hard work.” – Gov. Greg Abbott’s ironic Labor Day tweet
Headlines
City Council was still treading financial water at press time on Wednesday, in its second of three days of FY 2016 budget deliberations. Statutory deadline for a new budget is today, Thursday, Sept. 10, at midnight – so figure on postponements for the regular zoning agenda. City attorneys responded to Council Member Don Zimmerman’s campaign…
Friends Like These
Austin Neighborhoods Council prez says FAN and ANC values are in conflict
Public Notice: It Doesn’t Get Easier
Council gets no rest after marathon budget sessions
The HIV Gap
While state HIV rate declines, Travis County rate climbs – especially among African-Americans
Point Austin: Moths to a Flame
If it’s Friday, we have a budget
HB 2 Goes to Washington
Providers want ASC and admit privileges rules gone
McCaul Rejects Refugees
While assistance is needed, Rep. McCaul opposes harboring Syrian refugees
The Hightower Report
Trump is a buffoon, but what do we call his copycat rivals?
Austin Water Woes
Despite abnormal water usage readings, Austin Energy says billing system accuracy is “extremely good”
Soccer Watch
The UT Longhorn attack finally got untracked Sunday in Los Angeles, and the Horns turned some heads by knocking off national powerhouse UCLA, 2-1. Goals from senior Kelsey Shimmick and freshman Alexa Adams broke a 322-minute scoring drought for Texas, and Abby Smith’s career-high 11 saves gave them a split on their Southern California trip,…
