Also Playing
Friday: El Vez, Naughty Ones, Continental Club Saturday: Sebadoh, Cub, Elliot Smith,Liberty Lunch; Gary P. Nunn, Broken Spoke Sunday: Flaco Jimenez, Auditorium Shores Monday: Wheatsville Night, Hole in the Wall Tuesday: Snatch Lizard, Masculine Bottom, Pottyavollama, Electric Lounge Wednesday: La Musga�a, Cactus Cafe Thursday: Mensclub, Flamingo Cantina; Papa Mali & the Instigators, Antone’s
Best Hotel/Motel
Last year’s winner as well, The Driskill, Sixth Street’s pearl of Texas elegance, has been duking it out with past winner and close second The Four Seasons for the last four years. Omni, Stouffer at the Arboretum, and the Hyatt on Town Lake tie at third.
Best Library
Gee, talk about rocking that vote – it was awfully close with the Christian Science Reading Room. But seriously, the public library isn’t just for books. It’s also magazines, videos, recordings, and much more.
Best Drag Show
Cootchie, that’s who! Charlie’s fine ladies pumped in at second.
Best Place To Eavesdrop
With over 70 contestants in this category, when do y’all have time for your own damn conversations? When you’re not minding your own business, you’re usually at Kerbey Lane, Magnolia, ForRay’s, Mezzaluna, or Ruta Maya, according to this poll.
Best Chocolates
Dr. Chocolate (winner 1994) and Lammes Candies (1995, 1993) continue to duke it out. This year it’s Doctor Chocolate’s turn to chalk one up, with Lammes a close second.
Best Swimming Hole
A Hole lot more than swimming, with your pick of sun or shade, and plenty of interesting folks to look at.
Best Alterations
Ace aces this category. Four years to be exact. Who else helps when you’re in a stitch? Check out these runner-ups: Alterations, Etc., Just Tailoring, Capitol Tailors and Cleaners, and Alterations To Go.
Best Quick Lunch
The ‘cloud has placed in first for three years running for Quick Lunch; in a town full of good, quick lunch options, top runners-up include Taco Cabana, Tamale House, Taco Bell, and Texas French Bread. To get their fourth win in the Sandwich Shop category, they edged second-placer Schlotzsky’s by a teeny spread, with Delaware…
Best Playscape (indoor)
D.Z.? Maybe you should zeet down?? Ha! Not in this mad, mad place! It’s raging Pandamonium in second, and Kidsport in third in this new category for 1996.
Best Locally Produced Radio Show
KOOP’s Saturday afternoon camp-and-drag show is a hit say the majority who voted here in this brand new category. KUT’s Eklektikos took second, and Twine Time and Lone Star State of Mind tied for third.
Best Bicycle Repair
Four years as your favorite repair shop, two as your favorite all-around store, it’s Bicycle Sport Shop in the lead. Ozone and Freewheeling were runners-up in both categories.
Best Antiques
It’s no wonder Whit Hanks, the granddaddy of Austin antiques, sweeps this category yet again. With 70 different dealers, you can outfit your boudoir from French Provencial to Kilim and even combine them if you choose… but you may not want to tell that to the sales staff since they really know how horrible that…
Best Liquor Store
You can’t beat Wiggy’s. And no one has in four years. Reuben’s and Centennial take two and three respectively.
Best Used Book Store
This is as close as a ballot came to a unanimous vote. We concur; Texas-owned Half Price rules!
Best Theatrical Theatre
Gothic. Victorian. Egyptian. Other. Man, when longtime Dobie manager/wunderkind Scott Dinger announced his intention to remodel/divide “Austin’s Most Innovative Theatre,” did anyone have any idea? Months in the makeover, the revamped Dobie is a cinematic palace fit for a king (recent visiting auteur Q.T. is rumored to have been “silly from joy” and bummed ’cause…
Best Affordable Wine List
What puts the fine before dining? A nice bottle of wine does it for us, but the typically high restaurant mark-ups often keep us nursing a glass of house red all the way through to dessert. Not at Castle Hill, though, where the whites start at $10/bottle, the reds at $13, and the number of…
Best Place For Freaks To Two-step
Ever since Willie Nelson, Austin’s country scene has been, well, a little different. There’s always been that group of us who, despite our shaved heads or long hair or nose rings, also need to pull on our boots and swing to a little fiddle music. The Split Rail is the answer. With both a spacious,…
Best Weekly No-Cover Blowout
We at the Chronicle confess to having a special affection for 30-year-old Austin native Paul Minor. At the age of 16, Minor presented himself to us as a music intern and — since we probably earned the equivalent of his weekly allowance back then — we worked his willing little butt to the bone. What…
Best Genuine French Atmosphere
Maybe it’s the authentic decor, the cheerful cafe curtains and the flower-filled Pastis bottles on the tables that get to us. Then again, it could be the French country aromas and Francois’ dreamy accent as he shows us to a table and makes an informed wine suggestion. Whatever it is, we are transported to France…
Best Resurrection
Lubbock native John Scott and his partners honored their friend, legendary BBQ king C.B. Stubblefield, by opening a restaurant and music venue that bears his name. In the process, they resurrected the sight of a landmark nightclub (the One Knite) and cleaned up one of downtown’s most notorious crack dens to boot. The food is…
Best History To Repeat
Austin’s very own time machine (one direction: back), the Pioneer Farm stood on some shaky funding topsoil this year. With city budget proposals indicating a 50% cut, rumors of the Farm’s demise cast a pall and sent the Friends of Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farm plowing into overdrive. The city reconsidered and delivered a more manageable cut.…
Best Cheap Quick Apple Fix
Like you, your Macintosh is not getting younger. Chances are you cherish it as a bulkhead against the Windows program of world domination, yet worrythat breakdowns and constantly mutating system architecture will make it obsolete and force your defection to the evil empire. Worry no more. The Mac gurus at this shop know everything, can…
Best Place To Hang Ten
Location, location, location. If that’s the key to launching a successful business, then where exactly do you locate a “cyberspace” cafe? Perhaps the demise of the Eastside’s Discovery Incubator could have been foretold, so this year’s opening of the WWW Cafe across from the downtown Omni hotel gives new hope to cybercafe fans. Head towards…
Best Short-circuit Of An Eud Sale By A Councilmember
Last August, Ronney Reynolds unplugged Bruce Todd’s privatization dreams for the Electric Utility Department while plugging his own 1997 mayoral bid. In a press conference, Reynolds told lobbyists to stop banking on the deal — a direct shot at Todd’s father-in-law, his former co-worker, and his campaign consultant, all three of whom work for a…
Best Place To Get Jacked Up
Our alternate award was titled “Proof That the Bourgeoisie Have Gone Completely Over the Top,” but actually, we really like this place. Gone are the days of sitting in the lobby reading old copies of People — now you can kick back in style, enjoying a double latte and finishing your Kerouac while the guys…
Best New Bookstore
BookMaster Lynn Bender may look like Charlie Brown’s Evil Twin, but you’re not very likely to find any Peanuts books here. De Sade, Joel-Peter Witkin, and the officiously transgressive Richard Kern are far more likely fare in Bender’s new venture, deep within the recesses of basement of the Bank One building on the Drag. Bender…
Best Fake Spring
As inviting as this bubbling pool in the middle of the courtyard is, we’re surprised the Center hasn’t had to fish more overheated visitors out of its cool waters.
Best East Austin Revitalization Project
Too bad the most exciting renewal project on East 11th Street is being done for the benefit of dead people. But not entirely; this is more than just a fix-up gig. The State Cemetery is being redesigned and rebuilt into a landmark of Lone Star dignity, a fitting resting place for Bob Bullock, whose cause…
Lone Justice
Water and endangered species are among the most controversial issues in Texas. But where have our state’s leaders been when it comes to these issues? Ever since May of 1991, when the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit to impose pumping limits on the Edwards Aquifer, politicians have run for cover. Mayors, governors, U.S. Senators, and…
Best Indoor Mall
The perception is that Austin is not a Mall Town. You’d never know it from the response to this category. Past ecological controversies notwithstanding, the Square wins hands down. Last year’s winner, Highland, took a solid second. Newcomer Lakeline showed a strong presence for the northwest crowd. And “Hate Them All” or “Ugh” took three…
Best Photographer (Art)
Check out his b&w splendor in any of the gorgeous By George’s ads.
Best Free Entertainment
This is one place where you don’t hear people complaining about the silliness of Austin being called “The Live Music Capital of the World;” it’s living proof of that. Town Lake… the downtown skyline… the bats at dusk… plus that fabled Austin music.
Best Place To Meet People
The fall semester brings a breath of fresh air to town — not to mention enough apple-cheeked freshmen to put a smile on anyone’s face. Ponder the academic community as a whole, however, and your heart will leap at the scope of intellectual delight our happy li’l college-town provides! If fresh-cut, thesis-driven apron strings aren’t…
Best Coffee (local)
¡Viva la Chiapatistas! Gulp down your fair share of the revolution, with Austin’s famous (take) home brew.
Best Tennis Courts
This was a close one, love, with a number of courts near the top: South Austin, Austin High, Intramural Fields, and Northwest.
Best Appliance/Tv Repair
For two years, the tubular Mr. Wizard has kept your TV and other home equipment a-glow. Bonds, AAA, and Ray’s Electronics account for most of the other votes.
Best Restaurant With A View
Sure, Oasis is the landsliding (probably a term we shouldn’t use to describe this hill-perched wonder) favorite, but for a different view, how about also-rans Shoreline Grill, County Line, Foot Hills, and Hula Hut? Or for you more urban types, the Hyatt La Vista? And to impress out-of-towners, in addition to Oasis, you voted for…
Best Swimming Spot
What’s blue and green and loved all over, and wins this category every year? Barton Springs o’course. The shallows, the lounging mommy and daddy rocks, the springboard… what better way to live the Austin Life? Try out some of the other contenders, that’s how! Deep Eddy took a solid second, Hamilton Pool placed third, and…
Best Locally Produced TV Show
Twenty-two years and counting, the crown jewel of KLRU is still producing the program that first sent Austin music out nationally. Here’s to 22 more years!
Best Bicycle Shop
Four years as your favorite repair shop, two as your favorite all-around store, it’s Bicycle Sport Shop in the lead. Ozone and Freewheeling were runners-up in both categories.
Best Art Supplies
A three-way race between Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, and Asel was decided by a few votes. It’s been this way for two years. Miller Blueprint and Co-op East made notable showings.
Best Lumber
Last year’s winner Stripling Blake ties for second along with Furrow’s, as the readers go against the grain and put Home Depot in first.
Best Vintage Clothing
This is a first appearance for Blue Velvet in this category, previously held by now second-place Flipnotics and Amelia’s.
Best Use Of An Old Taco Bell
This South Austin landmark might also get an award for Best Unofficial Museum of Austin History and Culture. An extension of owner Danny Young’s personality, it is everything that makes Austin unique from the rest of Texas — in lieu of wallpaper, every nook and cranny is covered with an assortment of flyers announcing old…
Best Alternative To Proteus
Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. “Hey, what time is it? 6am? No way!” Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. “Dawn… already?!” Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. “Yaaawnnn…” Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance. Dance… etc.
Best Place To Critique The Show
All of the caffeine without the attitude. Right next to the Capitol City Playhouse and with a view of the Cedar Street trendoids, SOMA is the perfect place to kick back and dish over a pesto pizza and a killer cheesecake brownie. Add to that a You Go Girl, a mocha latte with mint syrup,…
Best 3-cups
Just thinking about Pao’s 3-Cup Chicken makes us salivate! Everything about this dish is addictive: the smell, the taste, the way its presented, the way it sizzles when its served… Just like the home restaurants in Beijing, Pao’s has perfected this Chinese dish of chicken, mushrooms, cilantro, and ginger in a flavorful sauce. It’s truly…
Best Gnocchi
Our lives are too fast-paced and complicated to make pasta, so we let Rino Lanzalotti do it for us. We’re addicted to the hand-rolled Northern Italian potato dumplings that are one of his specialties. We love to eat them with bolognese sauce and parmesan right there in the shop, and sometimes we even discipline ourselves…
Best Salad Dressing
Fresh, green-leaf lettuce, feta cheese, red onions and real Greek olives — all good ingredients, but it’s the dressing that makes the Greek salad at Milto’s. With a creamy texture, but a terrific, tart kick, it is accented by true Grecian oregano and fragrant olive oil. Great with greens, but we end up putting it…
Best Kid’s Musical Programs
We’re not the only ones who appreciate the high priority ASO places on educational outreach — the National Endowment of the Arts recently recognized the efforts of seven symphony organizations nationally, and the Austin Symphony was one of them! We salute them for the Children’s Halloween Concert, Backstage at the Arts, the Master Classes with…
Best Columnist, Missing In Action
We recall many a morning that seemed unrelievedly dreary ’til we read the words of Mike Kelley. This Statesman columnist, who had a marksman’s bead on Austin foibles, could loose a leisurely stream of satiric barbs at the Lege or South Austin, rattletrap autos (which he owned proudly) or condiments (to us, cilantro will forever…
Best Re-focus On The Family
For a while, it seemed The Texas Triangle just couldn’t decide what to wear. There were vague stabs at being cute, hip, gossipy, trendy — but those motifs left some of us yearning for the journalistic days of old. In the last year or so, though, editor/publisher Kay Longcope managed to pull the paper back…
Best Aerobic Instructor
Daniel’s 6am step aerobics class (he conducts others at more reasonable hours, too) will put hair on your chest, or his, which most likely is more preferrable. We’ve never seen anyone get so much enjoyment from our suffering (bad jokes and unsolicited political commentary aside) so early in the morning. Remember: The early bird gets……
Best Ride That Could Save Your Life
It may be the most expensive ride you’ll ever encounter, but if you’re in need of the services of Brackenridge Hospital’s Starflight helicopter, it could be worth your life savings! A big thanks goes out to the Starflight team, who daily risk their lives to save your’s and your neighbors’. Efficient, dedicated, and worked to…
Best New Development In Austin Gardening
Until last spring, East-Central Austin was pretty much a wasteland as far as gardening supplies go. Without a car, we were stuck with hauling 40-pound bags of mulch across town on the bus, a few at a time. Eastside Cafe’s new garden supply store, Pitchforks & Tablespoons, has made life so much easier.
Best Place To People-Watch
Tourists snapping photos with SRV, die-hard athletes crosstraining for the next Iron Man, lawyers jogging off a day of stress, happy puppies rambling along with their body-conscious masters, beginners, race walkers, cyclists… There are people of all shapes, sizes, colors, and creeds at any given time on the Town Lake trail. Peoplewatching can take place…
Best Effort At Planning Peace
Ordinary citizens can change the world, particularly if they’re the visionary kind. By gathering together 22 volunteers from Austin’s mainstream to form the Citizens Planning Committee, chair Ben Heimsath, also a local architect, helped change Austin’s vision of itself. The CPC engineered a model for neighborhood and developer involvement in the city’s growth process, the…
Public Downsizing
The fact that Council- member Ronney Reynolds may have his eye on the mayoral throne should come as no surprise — he’s been jockeying for position for months now. Yet one wonders why a man with such seemingly small regard for the public would care to put himself in the hottest seat on the council.…
Best Landscaping
The North-enders again make a strong showing here, just barely edging out town fave and past winner Zilker Botanical Gardens. Natural havens Umlauf Sculpture Gardens and the Wildflower Research Center took equal amounts of the majority of the rest of the ballot.
Best Place To Hear Poetry
Poetry — or its Nineties incarnation, “spoken word” — has never been stronger in Austin, and the word really resonates in Ruta Maya’s comfy concrete confines. Oh yeah — smoking is allowed.
Best Gay/Lesbian Club
Year after year, Oilcan keeps getting the votes. Why? Um, you’ll just have to take a look for yourself — and no one will care who you’re with!
Best Place To Smoke A Cigar
Okay, this whole cigars-and-lounge-music routine is getting just a little too precious for some of our tastes, but readers think that when the smoke clears, Cedar Street will still be pumping the hottest jazz in town. After all, it’s home to Jon Blondell, who’s as ready to drop in a riff from “Pipeline” as play…
Best Day Hike
Breaking the Bike Ride category in two didn’t do much to diversify the balloting, now did it? You picked Town Lake as your second-most scenic and second-best hiking trail and City Park and Loop 360 as your next most challenging bike ride.
Best Volleyball Court
In an upset, Barton Springs took the mighty Aussie’s, winner for the previous three years. Aussie’s, Carlos & Charlies, and Pease Park all made solid volleys.
Best Auto Body/Paint Shop
This new category yielded a slew of individual votes for many, many firms. What does this say about your driving skills, friends? Don’s took first, B&B took second and Ellis & Salazar were a close third.
Best Salsa (locally Made)
Another bouquet of Rose’s graces this year’s ballot — fourth year in a row. Restaurant faves Serrano’s and Chuy’s tie for second, but again, here’s a category with a ton of nominees.
Best Toy Store For Kids
Something very David and Goliath about this. South Austin’s beloved Terra Toys takes on the mammoth giraffe and makes a good show! Toy Joy, Over the Rainbow, and Anna’s Toy Depot fill out the runners-up positions.
Best Morning Deejay (or Team)
The KLBJ-FM morning crew takes it again, for the fourth year, as the antics of Dale Dudley, Bob Fonseca, Debra Cole, and their cast of regulars reign the AM airwaves with ease. John Aielli at KUT-FM came in second, with Sammy & Bob on KVET-FM third. Howard who?
Best Bike Ride (challenging)
Breaking the Bike Ride category in two didn’t do much to diversify the balloting, now did it? You picked Town Lake as your second-most scenic and second-best hiking trail and City Park and Loop 360 as your next most challenging bike ride.
Best Audio Equipment
The chains made out with the top honors as Best Buy just tweaked Circuit City out of range. But business is booming for High Fidelity and Custom Sounds, which both made sound showings.
Best Music Business
Straight to first again for the recently relocated Strait Music superstore. MusicMakers took second and Black Market, Rietz, and One World tie for third.
Best Bed & Breakfast
A winner from previous years, Woodburn House returns as a favorite among Chronicle staffers for its central location and relaxed atmosphere. Located in the heart of Hyde Park, Woodburn House caters to honeymooners and guests of neighboring residents, but owners Sandra Villalaz-Dickson and Herbert R. Dickson also have played host to film industry types visiting…
Best View Of The City
We’re fascinated with this Fifties vintage Frank Lloyd Wright-style home built high on a South Austin hillside. The wraparound picture windows offer a breathtaking view of downtown and the beautifully landscaped grounds are fast becoming a popular wedding and event setting. We just can’t get enough of the art deco decor and the animal menagerie.
Best Annual Party To Dance To “We Are Family”
So you think you know Austin’s gay community just ’cause you club hop once a week or call certain extensions in the back pages of the Fag Rag? Well, sailor, get a grip — there’s more to this town than just cruising. All the colors of the rainbow show their glory at the annual Pride…
Best Place To Lyle Lovett Watch
We’ve seen his crazily-coiffed head bobbing from behind a booth a number of times over the last few years, and we even know someone who had to ask Julia to remove herself from the hood of his car where she was leaning during a tiff with Lyle in the parking lot last summer. So the…
Best Airline Snacks
As the prices of airline tickets escalate skyward, companies have grounded meal service, replacing lunch and dinner with a more economical “snack.” American Airlines has the best, in the form of Austin’s Michael Angelo’s Smoked Turkey & Cheese Calzone. Michael Angelo’s, an Austin-based frozen-food company, makes tasty, microwaveable products which can be found in the…
Best Homegrown Away From Home
Larry Butler and Carol Ann Sayle tend to their TDA-certified organic garden at Boggy Creek with care, and allow Austinites to reap the benefits. Wednesday and Saturday markets (9am-2pm) at the historical farmstead are always a cornucopia. We love the sweet green eggplant and tender mesclun. At Eastside Cafe, the harvest is smaller, but the…
Best Sandwich Like Mom Used To Make
Actually, even mom didn’t make ’em this good. Hyde Park’s favorite neighborhood haunt blends two cheeses with aromatic herbs and generously piles the compact spread high atop dark sandwich bread. Add an order of the restaurant’s famous fries, and you’ve ordered a lunch sure to stick to your ribs.
Best Kid’s Tennis Teacher
With the attitude of fashioning lifelong tennis players rather than ephemeral phenoms, O’Shea teaches kids to play to the best of their ability, to play fair and have fun. And, if they win along the way, so much the better. Pharr Tennis Center offers lots of affordable tennis opportunities for kids and Kevin heads it…
Best Comeback
Three years ago, KGSR dismissed its popular morning show host, Kevin Connor. The Texas transplant eventually found other work in Austin, then bolted to Sacramento for another radio job. He returned to Austin last spring and, ever since, has gradually worked his way back onto the KGSR airwaves. The return came full circle September 9,…
Best Reason To Ignore Your Screaming Hangover
Wake up early on Saturday — if that’s possible — and tune into the only place on commercial radio you can still hear Kitty Wells, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Charlie Rich, Hank, Sr., and all the stars of country’s golden age. They used to play Tanya Tucker’s “Texas When I Die” every Saturday at 10am;…
Best Barber
When we feel like a neighborly chat, the latest in center-city gossip, and a gentle touch, we go see Mimi at Gaitan’s Barber Shop in Hyde Park. When we’re more in the mood for an action movie on TV, hot towels, and a strop with a straight razor, we head our heads over to the…
Best Tag-Team Physical Therapy
In this day of corporate takeovers and mega-medicine, it’s a little frightening to turn one’s self over to these giant conglomerates and trust that the individual care you need is part of the program. Anna Gonzalez was at this facility back when it was Baxter Rehab, and then Care Mark, and she will probably survive…
Best New Fringe Bookstore/Zinestore/Place-Type-Thingee
The bastard offspring of mutant cybergeniuses Paco Xander Nathan and Patrick Deese, the Fringeware store has (finally!) moved from its previous microscopic location to more suitable environs. Namely, right across the street from Blockbuster Video at the top of the Drag, and what a fitting place to combat the forces of mediocrity. Why rent the…
Best Professional Sport Franchise
We had the Firebirds baseball fiasco last year; on-again, off-again Texas League plans are again being loudly bruited about; a shifting line-up of soccer teams — indoor/outdoor, amateur/semipro/in-between — has fought for a market toehold over the years; even semi-pro football came and left without a trace. But now, Austin is quietly about to get…
Best Endorsement For Culture
Let’s not mince words: The proposed Austin Museum of Art is long overdue. The project, which will give downtown many things — a badly needed cultural focus; a new facility designed to serve diverse cultures; its first world-class architectural work in years, to name a few — was unfairly derailed by The Bust. When AMOA…
The Permanent Warning
Right when it looks like mischief is dead and nobody really ever thinks about anything except money, hope arrives. Early this summer, an envelope arrived containing an odd-sized magazine cobbled together on a photocopier. This is Austin Class War! the cover announces, but what really grabs the eye is the doctored cover photo featuring the…
Best Motel
Past shoo-in Motel 6 is smoked with a 10% margin by the independent Austin Motel. Dotty Deane’s vision of refurbishing the South Austin mom & pop motel has delivered a new Austin landmark. The La Quinta chain and the noble Stars Inn, near campus on I-35 which is actually now a Days Inn, received enough…
Best Stage Director
Cullum is not only the heart and soul of Planet Theatre (and its predecessor, the VORTEX Performance Cafe), she’s one of our most fearless theatre artists. She boldly and unapologetically stages some of the most unconventional and experimental new drama in town, and as a result we’re already getting a good look at the theatre…
Best Happy Hour Drinks
That place with the smart-aleck marquee, El Arroyo inexplicably became rather fratty a while back but that hasn’t diminished its oh-so-Austin appeal to our readers. Indoor/outdoor dining and an obvious sense of humor add to the buzz brought on by those happy hour ‘ritas and brews.
Best Place To Stay Cool
This place is so famous, people that have no idea who Stevie Ray Vaughan is know about it. And is there any phrase more wonderful to hear in the middle of July than “68-degree water”?
Best Day Trip
Your favorite places to go when you need to get outta town? Enchanted Rock, Fredericksburg, Pedernales Falls, San Antonio, and Wimberley, in that order.
Best City Department
One department whose services we hope you use a lot and one department whose services we hope you never need, tied for first place honors.Environmental Conservation and Recycling/Waste Disposal were solid runners-up. Even the Department of Silly Walks got a vote!
Best Auto Mechanic
This resurrected category is one for which we receive calls all year long. Who was voted best mechanic? Well, in the past, Mark Larkin the Honest Mechanic won hands down. This year, the exotic birds at Flamingo pulled ahead and took first.
Best Sandwich Shop/Chain
The ‘cloud has placed in first for three years running for Quick Lunch; in a town full of good, quick lunch options, top runners-up include Taco Cabana, Tamale House, Taco Bell, and Texas French Bread. To get their fourth win in the Sandwich Shop category, they edged second-placer Schlotzsky’s by a teeny spread, with Delaware…
Best Way To Spend A Lazy Afternoon
Our benevolent Springs Eternal beat out its own home, perennial fave Zilker Park, for the first time in four years. Deep Eddy and Lake Travis gathered enough votes to splash into second, while “Sleeping” (!) stole third.
Best Photojournalist
Controversial, colorful, and totally committed, Alan Pogue has been covering the many facets of Austin’s culture — counter and otherwise — for so long we’ve lost count. Ursula Coyote’s equally thoughtful work brought her up second.
Best Bike Ride (scenic)
Breaking the Bike Ride category in two didn’t do much to diversify the balloting, now did it? You picked Town Lake as your second-most scenic and second-best hiking trail and City Park and Loop 360 as your next most challenging bike ride.
Best Bookstore
The super indie on Sixth and Lamar received twice as many (and we mean many) votes as second-place mega-chain Barnes & Noble. Bookstop and Half-Price tied at third.
Best Pawn Shop
Doc’s clocks in another winner for the third year in a row. 1993 winner EZ Pawn comes in a distant second.
Best Capital Inprovement To The Third Coast
Guiltless Gourmet entrepreneur Doug Forman opened the doors to his 12,000-square-foot soundstage and production facility in what was once the Post Oak Ranch — an old movie theater in Capital Plaza — this past May. Promising state-of-the-art equipment, the space is ready for infinite projects of the commercial, feature film, and television variety. And with…
Best Art Museum Fundraiser
For their first fundraising event, Mexic-Arte threw a bash for “Frida-maniacs” at Jalisco Restaurant and packed the house, netting $3,000 (thanks to event underwriter Whole Foods Market). The featured speaker was Guadalupe Rivera Marin, daughter of famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and author of a cookbook featuring the treasured recipes of her stepmother, the artist…
Best Arcade
There’s the name, first of all, which couldn’t be more perfect, and then there’s the location, in the Scientology building on the Drag, which is also thematically right-on. But it’s the strangely homey smell of bagels cooking next door, the dance music, and the space to stretch out that makes this feel more like a…
Best Place To Rent Laserdiscs
We’re able to watch many a repeat performance after we rent laserdiscs (and videos) from the friendly folks at Encore. Their gigantic selection of laserdiscs — nearly 2,000 titles fill one whole wall and then some — rent for $2.99 per day for new releases; older titles cost just $2 for five entire days. We’d…
Best Breakfast Taco
The potato and egg breakfast tacos at Mi Madres are something to look forward to — fresh scrambled eggs and perfectly grilled, bite-sized potato chunks on a steamy flour tortilla. The odd shape of the small enclosed dining area (there’s a larger, restaurant-style patio out back at the Manor Road location) are reminiscent of the…
Best Ice Cream Soda
A few squirts of flavored syrup, three scoops of Blue Bell mixed in, and a just enough fizzy water to fill the glass. This soda-fountain sculpture stands just under a foot high, complete with whipped cream and crowned with a gloriously unnatural Maraschino cherry. Nau’s serves the best of the old-school fountain favorites and the…
Best Save Of An Austin Tradition
For over 27 years, the Dart Bowl Steakhouse near the corner of Burnet and Anderson welcomed hungry bowlers and non-bowlers alike. Tops on the menu were the famous enchiladas covered with chili con carne and two eggs sunny side up. Rising real estate values and operating costs shut the old bowling alley down last year,…
Best Kid’s Writing Program
In addition to weekend kids workshops, the Texas Young Writer’s Competition, and the highly successful Writers in Schools programs, AWL sponsors four weeks of summer camp. Each week, up to 20 middle school students spend the morning getting personalized instruction from writers in several different writing genres. A week of camp only costs $20 and…
Best Cry For Help
More mysterious than that little slip of paper that says “Help! I’m being held prisoner in a Chinese fortune cookie factory,” there’s the cryptic “Please wait foq! A! Aaaaqq! Qqaaqa!” that has been appearing across the top of our TV screens from a fleet of access stations after they go off the air for the…
Best Reporter
Fortuitous, maybe, that arts stories — the embryonic downtown museum, the Black Arts Alliance fiasco — made Page One in recent months, allowing the daily to show off its estimable arts-beat point man to best advantage. But these might not have been important stories were it not for Barnes, who’s brought energy and critical insight…
Best Booksearch
Looking for the unique, the obscure, the long-out-of-print? May we suggest you call book search expert Sam Waring at this longtime downtown literary oasis? Sam will locate the necessary book in the appropriate price range and give you a ring.
Best Thing On Wheels
The affable Fritz Blau is the man behind the moniker, speedily hanging culture in the form of gig flyers, public service posters, and theatre handbills along a legal route all across town. Quite the boon to bands and bards, Motorblade Postering Service does the work so you don’t have to. Though he’s not always on…
Best Pawn Shop, Place To Buy Plants
It’s a pawn shop! It’s a hardware store! It’s a garden center! It’s a dessert topping! No, not really. But it does have an adequate range of lapsed personal-loan collateral, especially tools, if not in the faux-mall-retail surroundings of an EZ-Pawn, as well as one of the best selections of nursery stock in Austin, at…
Best Public Tennis Courts
With the addition of courtside shade umbrellas, and cheerful, enthusiastic counter help, South Austin Tennis Center just keeps getting better. The courts are in decent shape, there are abundant playing and learning opportunities, and SATC boasts a solid, professional staff. Along with these basics, SATC offers plenty of amenities like an interesting pro shop, clean,…
Best New Community Group
When councilmember Eric Mitchell attempted to keep East Austin representation off the non-profit board that would redevelop East Austin, the stage was set for the foxes to guard the hen house. Thank goodness, after a loud outcry from some tough chickens, the council overruled him last winter, and four area reps were added to the…
Off the Desk:
With apologies to George Bernard Shaw`s Major Barbara — “What price safety now, Chief Watson? What price?” Mike Sheffield, vice president of the Austin Police Association, wants to know. He’s still scratching his head over what went down Monday with a 6-1 city council vote (Eric Mitchell dissenting) to raid the police department’s community programs…
Best Mural/Graffiti
It says something about a city when over 50 different works (mostly murals) are given votes in this category. Not long after the unveiling of the masterpiece, a local graffiti-removal firm solicited Sound Exchange to help with their “problem” on the south wall. In a stunning upset, the alien frog which has become synonymous with…
Best Theatre Actor
A 10-year veteran of Austin’s theatre scene, Miller has embodied dozens of characters, from the luckless Lucky in Waiting for Godot to the imperious Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. No doubt our readers enjoy the sense of play and decency that Miller brings to his roles, spillovers from the personality of the…
Best Happy Hour Entertainment
Nothing screams “best of the best” like the CC’s happy hours. No-cover sets by the likes of 81/2 Souvenirs, Pete Gordon, Rocket 69, Glover Gill, and the utterly charming, inimitable Toni Price, all in the comfort of that famed Continental ambiance. 5pm never sounded so good.
Best Pool Hall
Rack ’em up, gang — the Ritz is as hardy as an armadillo. This year it emerged as the best place to chalk up and shoot a few rounds.
Best Golf Course
Four years it’s the same thing: Barton Creek, Barton Creek, Barton Creek, Barton Creek. Hancock and Lions come in closer than you’d think to tie second, and bonus points for all you who voted for Peter Pan!
Best Community Program
Our Readers say Re-Use It or Lose It and vote this service the Best Community Program for the third straight year. Meals on Wheels holds second place in this varied ballot which reflects the diversity of this town. Notable nominees include: Out Youth, Green Builder, Austin Interfaith, and Neighborhood Watch.
Best Dry Cleaner
Here’s one of those odd categories. Jack Brown usually leads the way, so it’s assumed year after year, that this would be a lock. Not so. Over 40 (!) dry cleaners got multiple votes and this winner was determined by a narrow margin, putting Rick’s chain of nine cleaners past the over 50 locations of…
Best Take-out Food
Adding Best Take-Out to last year’s Grocery and two previous Wine Selection awards, Central Market has certainly enhanced our shopping (and sampling) pleasure. Still, grocery-goers frequently steer their carts through Wheatsville, other HEB stores, and Whole Foods Markets as well. Wiggy’s gets a strong second for its wine selection, while Tamale House, Whole Foods, and…
Best Billboard
Ever since the powers that be took down the giant taco, KGSR has bannered this category with their Do Not listen to… series last year and amusingly juxtaposed band names such as DUMMIES LOVETT MOORE and LOWE PRICE HOOKER this year. Damn, not one ballot for Reece Whitley!
Best Pm Drive/Rush Hour Radio Program
Four years running and it’s still your favorite. Evidently, readers would rather listen to NPR’s thought-provoking essayists than traffic. KLBJ was the only close contender.
Best Camping & Outdoor Gear
This little co-op that could smacks in the face of the big boys with its member-owned, dividend-sharing system finding new, expansive digs on Austin’s north end. What better way to accomodate all those happy customers? Academy, Wilderness, and Whole Earth Provisions received exactly the same number of votes and tied.
Best Card/Poster Shop
For the last two years, Sparks has ignited this poll. Celebration, the small women’s specialty shop, can have one in honor of its second place, while Ecoworks, formerly Vertu (and before Vertu, Nuvo) comes in third.
Best Periodicals Rack
From Z Magazine to Newsweek,Book People’s monolithic periodicals rack is outsized in range and volume only by the store’s mind-boggling book selection. Barnes & Noble and Bookstop tie for a close second.
Best Deck
Better than a deck, it’s actually a third-floor roof, the kind from which Spiderman jumps and such. It has a helluva view of the now-bustling surrounding area, and you can people-watch or stargaze with equal impunity.
Best Bookstore To Be Someone Else
Besides their dark-horse win this year in the readers poll for comics, Dragon’s Lair is also Gaming Central, with stacks of books and supplements on the most popular role-playing games, such as Magic: The Gathering, Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Forgotten Realms, and even the granddemon of fantasy role-play, Dungeons & Dragons. The Lair…
Best Band Name
We have a good time with this one every year. “The Unhung Heroes — ha ha ha!” “Lotus Lane — hee hee hee!” That one about “The Trail of the Dead –chuckle chuckle.” But the one that made us smile the most — especially in the face of Ed Hall’s break-up — was ex-kid in…
Best Places To Say “I Was Retro Before Retro Was Cool”
Back in the early Eighties, the Carousel was still an old-folks bar and Ego’s… well, we don’t remember much about Ego’s — we were way too drunk, but something kept us coming back. Since then, each place has exploited its seedy ambiance and produced a hyper-hip hangout extraordinaire. Oh, the Ego’s Christmas light-shrine thingy and…
Best Brooklyn Family Style
Perhaps it’s no John’s on Washington Avenue, but this little out-of-the-way eatery would make our Godfather proud (at least if he were visiting Texas). We’ve searched high and low for anything even close to a decent meatball or a real antipasto, and this quirky place has it. Located downtown on Eighth Street between Lavaca and…
Best Inland Shrimp
Fresh seafood takes on a whole new connotation at this commercial indoor shrimp farm just south of the city in Buda. The farming practices eliminate the possibility of contaminants or pollutants affecting the 10,000 pounds of Pacific white shrimp they can produce weekly. Penbur farm-raised shrimp have a sweet, mild flavor, no vein to clean,…
Best Seafood Cocktails
Austin is a little land-locked for our seafood lovin’ tastes, but each of these joints serves up a long, cool Mexican-style coctel that truly satisfies our coastal cravings. Marisco Grill has a larger selection of seafood on the menu, featuring vuelve a la vida (return to life), a blend of sea-fare that usually includes oysters,…
Best Kids Acting Program
We know one budding 10-year-old thespian who has taken classes in beginning and intermediate acting, comedy, Shakespeare, stage movement, and creating a play all in the same year. The audition-only Rising Stars performance troupe program gave him great performing opportunities, too. We just hope he remembers us when he accepts his Tony Award.
Best De-progamming For Gender Roles
Sure, a gal can play MYST and Doom like the best of them, but before the existence of this multimedia maverick we didn’t have much of a choice beyond blowing things up. Girl Games, a local company intent on producing interactive edutainment for the young female market (ages 7-17), has been busy designing products that…
Best Save
With $325K in federal funding cut from his budget and no local underwriters stepping up to the plate, longtime ACL executive producer Bill Arhos thought his program was a goner. Well-connected music maven Robin Shivers was hired to convince local businesses that underwriting ACL is a smart media buy. Before Shivers even got to work,…
Best Community Food Service
La Cocina Allegre (the happy kitchen) is an ongoing educational program at the Sustainable Food Center in East Austin that provides healthy, economical grocery shopping and cooking instruction to women and families in the neighborhood. Since the program’s inception, Kerbey Lane Cafes have supported it with money, food and bilingual members of their cooking staff…
Best Way To Keep On Ticking
Anybody will fix a Rolex. But who’d take on our beloved Smiley Cat watch, a $29 special with fish bones for numbers, its hands now lying limp and screwless at the bottom of the dial? In a word, Terr’s — for 10 bucks, while we waited. Not only did Mr. Terr (whose spartan shop belies…
Best Piece Of Glass
Somehow, we knew this one would pique your interest. In their East Austin studio, artists Matthew La Barbera and Teresa Ueltschey blow 2,125-degree liquid glass into vases, bowls, sculptures, paperweights, glasses, and more. The husband-and-wife team have cultivated a national following for their glassware, which is distinguished by astonishing clarity, flawless faceting, and transparent, jewel-toned…
Best Reason To Run 26.2 Miles
We know it sounds tough, but the enthusiasm with which volunteers and onlookers greet the hordes of runners — all ages and abilities — who participate in this scenic race is reason enough to put on your sneakers and run for the fun of it. Thorough training is a good idea first, but we swear…
Best of Austin 1996
Introduction This is The Austin Chronicle’s lucky number seven “Best of Austin” issue. For the past seven years, you have shared your choices for the best this town has to offer. For the past seven years, we have embellished on this theme with our own list of critics’ picks, as well. This year’s ballot, dear…
Austin and the Whole Life Expo
Now that the Austin economy is softening, we can all take a little time out to reflect on the spiritual side of things. At least that’s what the organizers of the First Annual Austin Whole Life Expo are hoping. The Expo is to new-age spirituality what South By Southwest is to music — a multi-day,…
Best Neon
The perennial fave for four years now is a Mooo-ving tribute to Austin neon. It’s interesting to note that the cows are tipped into first by only a few handfuls of votes. Again, here’s a category where over 50 signs received marks. Special mention and enough numbers to tie second go to Ion Art and…
Best Happy Hour Food
Check out one of Serrano’s many locations for your happiest “hours” d’oeurves!
Best Rock Dancing
We confess to never having seen any bona fide “dancing” here, at least not in any traditional sense, and since Don Walser’s shows fall a wee bit outside the realm of rock, they don’t exactly count. Readers’ opinions rule, though, and if they say it’s the best here, it must be.
Best Native Plant Nursery
Three years, Gardenville. Barton Springs Nursery takes second.
Best Councilmember
The three runners-up include an in-coming (Daryl Slusher), an out-going (Brigid Shea), and a reelected and staying (Jackie Goodman). Max has swept this category for the last four years. Is he ready to try another four as mayor?
Best Fitness Club
In the universe of fitness, this place still steels your buns and rocks your world for the second year in a row. The Q, Hills, Clean & Lean, and YMCA showed well, close to the top.
Best Baby Presents
It’s the Lil’ Things in life that count, and this popular pre-shower destination sees its second year as winner. And it’s not beyond reason that very close second placer, Beyond Conception, could do even better next year!
Best Computer Book Selection
While the campus community laments the imminent demise of the University Co-Op’s Technical Books section, Jollyville-area newcomer ProTech Books has quietly risen to take the top spot. However, in a city where talk of “java” is more often about programming than a hot caffeinated drink, our readers pointed out that Austin’s “B” stores — Barnes…
Best Public Access TV Show
Previous winners in this category were the beloved CapZeyeZ and Raw Time. Last year 59 minutes took the airwaves. This year it’s a tie with Night Talk and the Andy Show.
Best Community Garden
Our intentions backfired on this one. We intended to recognize your favorite public place to plant things. Zilker won almost the entire ballot, but Austin Community Garden made a good show in spite of the misunderstanding.
Best Coffee Store
Austin’s coffee market extends beyond the goatee and bookworm fray. Some folks just want to sit home alone with their addiction glued to Regis & Kathy Lee. Anderson and Trianon are the perfect outfitters for the home perker.
Best Pet Store (chain)
This megastore of the puppy/kitty set takes the first place again. Petco makes its mark in second.
Best Fresco
Harold “Bubi” Jessen’s artistry in the portal of the history center — peach-colored horses dancing across the ceiling — is still stylish after 63 years.
Best Bookstore To Get A Clue In
This nifty little bookstore seems to be thriving; its shelves of mysteries, science fiction, thrillers, comics, and more are attracting healthy crowds of the city’s book-devouring public. Even more impressive than the stock of new and used books is the amazing array of authors who’ve appeared at the store, from Michael Moorcock to Mary Willis…
Best Bar Lighting
Everyone looks beautiful here. If it’s not the light, then it must be the beer that works this magic.
Best Point-of Purchase Marketing
Selection, schmelection! While these guys have tons which outdo most competitors, remotes down, that’s not what keeps us coming back. It’s those little notes — sometimes blissful rants, sometimes disparaging rages — stuck all over the VHS cases, indicating that not only have the whacked-out staff seen every one of these titles but that they…
Best Buns
We’ve ogled the noodles of just about every Vietnamese restaurant in town, but when it comes to that traditional dish of rice vermicelli topped with charcoal-grilled meat, shrimp, or golden tofu and shredded vegetables — theirs is the bun we keep reaching for. And we certainly don’t mean to call them cheap, but along with…
Best Joint Venture
We have to commend Schlotzsky’s mogul John Wooley for the vision which melded his sandwich empire with one of the nation’s premiere artisan bakeries and produced such a winner. The franchise training facility/deli/bakery with the wood-burning European brick oven was one of this year’s biggest local hits. It quickly became one of our favorite places…
Best Staff Of Life
Sink your teeth into this dense, earthy loaf just once, and you’ll swear man can live by bread alone. The folks at Whole Foods have suspended production of the heavy round for several months now, but promise it will be back in the bakery come Fall. We hope so!
Best Model For Light Rail
Everything you really need to know about light rail, you can learn at this friendly toy store. Left of the dollhouses, about knee-level for most grown-ups, Terra Toys provides two mini-railroads — one Brio, one Thomas the Tank Engine — with plenty of cars always available for engineers of all ages to fashion their very…
Best Deejay
Refusing to conform his non-linear mind to the boring pre-packaged, pre-formatted world of modern rock radio, Haynes rocked late night Austin radio. His brief stint was the most entertaining development on the commercial airwaves in many years.
Best Sunday Morning Wake-up
Twice the power of opera without the translation problems. KAZI’s rotating lineup of gospel deejays — including the relentlessly enthusiastic Atwell Tenon and Sister Hallelujah — play a mix of gospel that leans heavily on the mighty voices of the black choir tradition. Religious or not, this show will get you powered up for your…
Best Cute Mechanics
Sure, it’s refreshing to discover a post-Cambian mechanic who actually employs analytical thinking to fix your car right the first time — hassle-free. But there’s more to this place than meets the brain. Maybe it’s the suave, black polo shirts and matching snug shorts that snag us. Or perhaps the colorful atmosphere just lures us…
Best Allergy-free Shopping
New to town? Ha! Welcome to Allergy Central! It was only a matter of time until a smart home store with an environmental and allergy-free consciousness arrived. Wildflower has natural cotton clothing, futons with natural wood frames, recycled soda-pop foam mattresses and natural cotton covers, and other home accoutrements, all made from recycled materials.
Best Place To Buy The Perfect Gift
Co-owners Marc Elson and Brad Hatfield have the most amazing selection of gifts, antiques, customized architectural hardware and unique imported items. They just have a knack for anticipating hot shopping trends. We’ve often found ourselves leaving their shop with the perfect item we never even knew we were looking for.
Best Slacker Sport
It only costs $7 or so for a disc (but not a plain old frisbee, they don’t fly as well — check your local sporting-goods store) and transportation to Pease, Zilker, or other parks around town, and you’re set to go. Don’t bother with the ugly plaid pants — cut-offs and an old T-shirt fit…
Coach’s Corner
Not what you’d call an energetic scholar, I majored in history and for a short time instructed our nation’s youth. This was not due to a love of Lincoln or an infatuation with the Socratic Method, but because I was successful at the history test-taking process. There are only two kinds of history tests: multiple…
Best Public Artwork
A fave photo-op for young and old alike, SRV is becoming as much a part of this city’s character as the bats and Barton Springs. Stevie wins easily as Umlauf Sculpture Gardens and the Mustangs at UT tussle for second.
Best Theatre Company
The Divine Miss S. and the grande dame of Austin comedy troupes are so inseparable, we opted to write about them together. Sedwick and the Follies typify Austin theatre — and Austin in general — at its best: smart, sly, not afraid to take a potshot at some sacred cow, and certainly not afraid to…
Best Inexpensive Date
Watching the bats at dusk and going to Zilker Park tied this category for our readers, but honestly, the two activities are located so closely together, you can combine both for the best bargain and heart-winning effect.
Best Teen Scene/Hangout
Hey, they’re clean, well-lit, and there’s probably one near you. Just don’t let those young’uns head to one with the credit card! The most telling cultural tale here, however, is that the runners-up this year were all coffeehouses, the new star on the teen scene horizon.
Best Neighborhood Park
This vote confirms that Austin sees itself as one big, happy neighborhood. Just about every chunk of land in the PARD system was represented in this ballot.
Best Effort To Control Pollution/Improve The Environment
A mantra, a battlecry, an integral chunk of Austin’s soul, Save Our Springs, the citizen’s initiative to save Barton Creek, has taken its share of knocks this last year but stays refreshingly afloat. Austin Recycles came in second with half of the votes S.O.S. received, and other mentionables include: the Bike Program, Ozone Action, Light…
Best Coffee House
The groovy little java joint on restaurant row upended a three-year tradition and knocked Ruta Maya, the name synonymous with coffeehouse, to second place. Little City steeps in at third.
Best Branch Library
The votes for this northwest branch were stacked! Last year’s winner, Carver, came in third behind the second-place gridlock of Manchaca, Hausen, and Windsor Village.
Best Computer Repair
Avatar Computers is the latest incarnation in the best repair shop category. Computer NERDZ!, AES Computer, and Computer Doctor also got mentions as good places to fix a byte or two.
Best Radio Format Change
101X hit the Austin airwaves a little over a year ago, and indeed modified their format away from edgier alternative to a broader spectrum of sound. That seemed to sit fine with readers, who made them a clear winner.
Best Florist
1994’s winner, Cowgirls & Flowers is back in first place by a few votes over second-place Flower Bucket. Azul is surely not blue about taking third place.
Best Comic Book Store
This dynamic duo took on the able Booksource, last year’s winner and this year’s runner-up, and prevailed.
Best Pet Store (Local)
The first appearance of this category shows customer loyalty to be quite dog-like for Bark & Purr, one of our personal faves. Local chain Tomlinson’s placed second.
Best Grounds At A Suburban Church
The “Man for All Seasons,” Sir Thomas More, served God and King Henry VIII, but lost his head for putting God first. The campus of this church features more of the “stuff” people associate with Roman Catholicism, but it’s offered in a refreshingly tasteful way. There are two shrines and an outdoor Stations of the…
Best Dimmer Dude
Consistent, eager, and reliable, Segna is a master at a sometimes thankless task. Someone has to be the man in the booth with his finger poised over the go button while dealing with the last-minute nit-picks from the lighting designer. Maybe he is so good because he is also one of the ever-so-cool lighting guys…
Best Behind The Scenes Combat Duty
As incestuous as the Chronicle appears to be with South By Southwest on paper, a completely separate crew staffs the annual conference, and what a job they do! From the small group that works year `round in the office to the hundreds of volunteers who fill every imaginable position necessary in March, there’s no way…
Best Resurfacing Of Mia Barkeep
The famous Biss Mitch seemed Mitching in Action after the shrouded demise of the troubled DJ’s on Red River. The sassy tender of the tropical bar in the back was sorely missed, especially when it came time to choose a liqueur to accompany our Irish Whiskey! Well, we recently ventured into Momma’s, a new restaurant…
Best Capisicum Kick
At Evita’s, devouring chips and salsa is a religious experience. With every basket of crisp chips, the restaurant serves six heavenly bowls of homemade liquid fire. The smooth chipotle is a revelation; the mild, black bean-based sauce divine. But the weak of palate ought be forewarned: Evita’s potent melange of chile piquin and chile arbol…
Best Mass-produced Brownie
While most mass-market attempts at approximating the Holy Grail of Chocolate Baked Goods taste like the plastic they come in, these little tempting treats in tin have all the earmarks of homemade: gooey center, firm, hardened edges, and flakey top. And at less than two measly bucks, this plate full of chocolate chew can please…
Best Sushi
There’s nothing fishy going on; we picked this place last year and after diving into the burgeoning sushi sea-n, Musashino still sails to the top of our list. Just what is it that floats our boat? Most likely it’s their fresh selection of high-quality meats, the friendly, informative staff, and the traditional floor show of…
Best Sanity Saver
Cheaper than a sitter, faster than therapy: 10 bucks a head buys parents a full night of downtime every Saturday from 6-11pm. And the offspring think it’s their party; with popcorn and a movie plus a gaggle of rampaging peers, they don’t even know they’re being dumped. Two catches: kids must be at least three…
Best Dell-like Rise To Fame
In a town with one of the highest installed bases of Apple Macintosh computers (witness UT’s annual position at the top of the MacWeek 200 survey, with some 12,000 installed), it’s no surprise that the nerve center of this two-year-old company is in Austin (okay, it recently moved to Round Rock). Following Dell’s footsteps to…
Best Talk Radio Show
Hosts Jeff Ward and Bill Schoening are informed, articulate, and most importantly, hilarious, meaning you can still get a lot out of the show even if you don’t spend your Augusts at St. Ed’s angling for a view of Troy and Emmitt. They transcend typical sports talk, plunging head-on into the pop-cultural, irreverent, and the…
Best Daughter Of Texas
God bless Cecile Richards for standing up to the religious right. Richards, daughter of the former guv, is founder of the Texas Freedom Network, a “mainstream alternative” bunch of Texans that ain’t scared of the rich and powerful Texas Christian Coalition, or the American Family Association, or the Eagle Forum, or even the Concerned Women…
Best Bargain Wine Bin
One necessary ingredient, no matter what’s for dinner, is a bottle of wine. And when consumption of the stuff reaches a-bottle-a-day proportions, a break on the bank account is welcome. We won’t stoop to Boone’s Farm, but we will spend time hunched over the bargain bins at Fiesta, where the two for $7 or two…
Best Place To Outfit Your Cheap Date
When you just have to have the gold peace-sign earrings (dangle, clip-on) and the red fishnet pantyhose and, oh yeah, a wig!, where do you go for one-stop shopping? When we need these things, we hie ourselves to an odd little boutique deep in South Austin: Quarter to Ten. We’re not sure who their intended…
Best Urban Hike
Imagine a Hill Country hike in town, just out of earshot of the rush-hour noise pollution. While the rest of the city zooms by frantically, we relish a few moments of repose wandering the winding paths at Wild Basin Preserve. Sure, the occasional vista is scarred by the passing cars on Loop 360, but for…
Day Trips
Best Christmas shopping — Marshall Pottery Factory Outlet in Marshall has a wide variety of gift-giving stuff and the ceramics are made on-site. Look for the pottery bowls, flower pots, and dishes that are factory seconds and half-price or better. 903/938-6859 Best place for lunch with your sweetie — The Guenther House at Pioneer Flour…
Best Romantic Spot
We can’t think of a more endorphin-rushing spot ourselves. Well, actually there’s the second-place ties: Zilker Botanical Gardens and 360 Bridge and third place Town Lake. And with 30 more love spots listed, we know this is a town full of Romeos of all genders.
Best Theatre Space
With the combo of a surprisingly spacious 200-seat thrust stage auditorium (the Kleberg) and a cozily compact 120-seat arena theatre (the Whisenhunt), Zach gives us a one-two punch of theatrical intimacy and flexibility. For audiences who love being in the action — our readers, obviously — ZSTC is the space (er, spaces) to beat.
Best Jukebox
From lounge to “grounge,” this juke rules! If you run out of change, try Casino’s free weekend movies.
Best Tejano/Conjunto Club
Now, something is really happening here at this premier Tejano showcase club disguised as a margarita-swilling disco. Some of the hottest names in Tejano music have been seen here over the last year and the readers are paying attention.
Best Overall Nursery
Three-year winner Wolfe’s ties with Gardenville, and second place Cornerstone.
Best Lobbyist/Consultant
We resurrected this category from two years ago and the very same winner for 1994 and 1993 popped up again. Diane Hardy-Garcia, the diligent and articulate rep from the Texas Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby came in a very, very close second.
Best Custom Cakes
We’re with you, Austin! Lucy’s takes the cake, and has done so since 1993.
Best Children’s Bookstore (new)
It’s a water-to-landslide as the Toad does it again, taking over 50% of the vote! The Baobab Tree made a respectable showing in second, just edging out the BookPeople/Book Stop megastores.
Best Computer Store
Superstore CompUSA took advantage of its location in the “golden triangle” growth area near the Arboretum to take the title of best computer store for the second year in a row. ’93 winner Computer City made a close bid for second, with ’94 winner Dell Factory Outlet not far behind.
Best Radio Station And Best Radio Station To Listen To At Work
Four years as your favorite at-work and two in the all-around category. The real shake-ups occured in the second and third places with left-of-the-dial KUT-FM and KOOP-FM radio coming in strong in overall and KLBJ-FM and KOOP-FM taking second and third at work.
Best Hair Salon
Previous winner Maximum FX slipped to third this year, behind Avant and Bella. Here’s another category with as many entries as hairs on your head (unless, of course, you are bald). Big votes went to Anne Kelso, Carpe Diem, Aziz, Horse Feathers, Astarte, and Russ & Co.
Best Consignment Store
The first time in this category is the charm, though and Second Time had some hefty competition in Baubles & Beads (second) and Baraka (third) in a category which sees a different winner each year.
Best Pharmacy/Drugstore
The noble Nau’s gives the big chain stores bitter medicine. Austin is loyal to the classic drugstore with the soda fountain in the back.
Best Hinges
Cast from the behemoth hinges adorning the State Capitol since 1888, these hinges might not fit the scale of today’s homes, but that’s okay; they’re so substantial, they make great bookends. The Capitol Gift shop only sells non-operable sets — along with doorknobs and Seal of Texas paperweights — but if you’ve got the caliber…
Best Fun, Folk Art Division
Between the spirited exhibition titles — “Sweet Mud,” “Two People Who Drag Stuff Home and Make Art Out of It” — and playful receptions — the one for “Elvis Is (Mostly) 61!” featured jelly doughnuts — this South Congress gallery seems more intent on having a good time than promoting good culture. But hey, who…
Best Charles Whitman Impression
The 1996 SXSW Film Festival presented plenty of possible hits, but not any as weird or as painful as this one. Before one of the late-night screenings at the Dobie, some disgruntled citizen with an identity crisis took to the 21st St./Guadalupe area with a BB gun. Who ended up one of the victims? Screenwriter…
Best Resurrection Of Tradition
When this venerable Eastside legend re-opened over a year ago, we were thrilled. We’re even more thrilled to see the venue thriving with its emphasis above and beyond music. In the past year, the Victory Grill has hosted poetry readings. book receptions, dance performances, and art exhibitions, plus the kind of blues and jazz that…
Best Cheap Dinner & Movie Combo
Headed to the $1 theatres? Plan your movie around a trip to the Holiday House on Airport Blvd. Though they switched to a heavy barbecue menu this year, you can still snag their chicken-fried steak dinner for $2.95. That’s dinner for two and the movies for under $10 with tax. Top that!
Best Movie Star Food
Film director Nora Ephron held area-wide pie auditions for a coveted role in her feature film, Michael. The unanimous winner: Threadgill’s kitchen jefe Sam Castro’s lattice crust Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, a sweet-tangy filling encased in a tender, flaky crust. The pie evidently plays a pivotal role in the film which also starred John Travolta, Andie…
Best Tortilla Substitute
Even in the middle of the Tejas Tortilla Belt, there’s always room for another fresh-baked flatbread. Phoenicia sells six-packs of perfect pita made from your choice of white or wheat flour. Peruse the aisles and deli cases for appropriate imported stuffin’s — and buy an extra bag for the drive home.
Best Selection Of (non-corporate) Toys
Anna started out years ago in a crowded, tiny space. Now, her brightly lit location on South Lamar is bursting with too many toys to take in in one visit. Lots of daycare-style stuff, too — like those cool wooden puzzles. In fact, you can get bulk supplies if you run a daycare, or if…
Best Editorial Series
Among the many changes wrought by new Statesman editor Rich Oppel is his self-penned column appearing in every Sunday’s “Insight” section. The column has shown flashes of brilliance — particularly during the five-week period from November 19 through December 17, when Oppel condemned Jim Bob Moffett and Freeport-McMoRan on three separate occasions. His sharply worded…
Best Tv Commercial
Go ahead – make fun of the science guys in glasses and plastic pocket protectors: The look is a total aphrodisiac for at least one of our editors who’s gone Net crazy. That appeal didn’t escape the folks at Computer Nerds, whose endearingly goofy ad on TV stole our hearts. The thing is, they WILL…
Best Drum Teacher
Even though we were rank beginners when we entered Ms. Baby’s class, she tutored us with compassion, humor and skill. Taught by Master drummers in Ghana to play kpanlogo, Sherri Baby has carried their tradition to Austin, offering it to all who are interested — no previous experience necessary, which is exactly what we had.…
Best Boutique For Star Gazing
Great service and unique clothing aside, By George also has star power. Meg Ryan stopped in for a bundle of outfits when she was in town filming Courage Under Fire. Andie McDowell is a regular customer when she’s in the area and when she’s not, she has the sales staff ship her clothing they think…
Best Place To Paint Your Lips
A welcome addition to town for actors, makeup artists, visiting film crews, drag queens and regular folk looking for high-quality makeup that you cannot find anywhere else in the quality and quantity that owner Shashana Kaplan keeps stocked in her spacious warehouse location, just east of I-35 on Fifth Street. Kaplan, who moved here from…
Best About-Face
“Daryl Slusher is right.” There couldn’t be sweeter words to new city councilmember Daryl Slusher’s ears — but especially so if they come from his old nemesis, the Austin American-Statesman. The daily, long a pincushion for Slusher’s journalistic jabs, seems now to have quite a fondness for Slusher in his new position, and is saying…
Page Two
This Sunday, September 15, 1996: The Austin Chronicle’s 15th anniversary party will take place on the grounds of the Austin Art Museum at Laguna Gloria. This event is a benefit for the museum, $5 for adults, children under 12 free with an adult. It is also the Chronicle staff’s annual birthday party to which the…
Best Annual Party
A few years back, this annual fundraiser for the YMCA was being sneered at as “Too Old-Austin Hippie.” Of course, that was before bellbottoms became hip again, as did this celebration named for A. A. Milne’s doleful donkey. Tiggers also welcome.
Best Bar To Drink Alone
If you walk into this place, you probably won’t know anyone, which is reason enough for readers to give the nod to this unpretentious working class bar. We wish we could say the same for our beloved Lala’s on the northside, but ever since Quentin Tarantino hung out there, those jingly elves at the bathroom…
Best Margaritas
Make ours Swirls, please! For the first time in four years, Trudy’s beats out Baby Acapulco’s (second place and previous winner). Chuy’s comes in third by a very short hair.
Best Video Store (chain)
We gripe about the corporate censorship involved with Blockbuster’s selection (remember when they wouldn’t carry the benign The Last Temptation of Christ ?) and so do some readers. That’s not stopping the votes, though — they’re the clear favorite of chain video stores.
Best Participatory Sport
Volleyball is still the favorite after four years. You also feel strongly about Disc Golf, Softball, Baseball, and Soccer.
Best Local Eccentric
The People Have Spoken: Crazy Carl is still eccentric for the fourth year in a row. His run for council didn’t hurt his reputation none, neither. Your range, dear Readers, is impressive, however, with votes coming in for: Leslie the Homeless Cross-dressser, Neal Spelce, Daniel Johnston, and Genevieve Vaughan.
Best Greasy Spoon
Don’t let the name make you think otherwise; this burger joint has taken first place in this category just about forever… fair and square.
Best Children’s Bookstore (used)
The happy home of the half-off overruns sells some used, but also an amazing (and cheap!) selection of new volumes. The Assistance League’s Thrift House came in second.
Best Evening Radio
Larry Monroe’s eclectic mix is anything but filler. KGSR and KNNC’s “Love Phones” tied for second.
Best Radio Talk Show Host
We’d like to think perhaps the readers were swayed when Aielli waxed rhapsodic about film writer Marjorie Baumgarten’s loving tribute to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It’s more likely that his mellifluous voice and the sheer esoterica of his “Eklektikos” show is all it took. Rachel at 101X and KLBJ’s morning team tied at second.
Best Home Repair
We consolidated a few sub-categories and placed them under one banner. Know what? Fox still outfoxed us. While their lead is narrow, it’s still a winning number. Good Neighbor Remodeling and Fair & Square tied for second.
Best Costume Shop
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes meets the little wing and together, they take the top in a classic rock frenzy, a tradition now, four years running.
Best Record Store (Chain)
The location and the in-stores speak volumes as Tower wipes out the competition in this survey.
Best Neighborhood Castle
It’s a beautiful day in the Ney-borhood. And who wouldn’t love this personal-scale castle/studio, built by the late German sculptress after emigrating to Texas in the mid-1800s? View her works amid the cool hush of the main rooms, then climb the turret or wander the grounds where, in Ney’s day, a small lagoon afforded boating.…
Best Gallery For The Money
Forget about spacious presentation when you walk into this cozy South Austin gallery. Here, art gets jammed together like so many bats under the Congress Avenue bridge. Pieces cover almost every inch of wall space, from ceiling to floor (and sometimes a good deal of that, too). It’s just one way AC owners Susan Maynard…
Best Damn Danceclub Dj
Oh yeah, like that’s ever gonna change. Sure, brother, sure. We may not make it to the revamped Proteus as much as we’d like, but it’s still head and strut-your-stuff shoulders above the rest, right Sliver Cyberslut? Correct us if we’re wrong, klubkid, but this is what we like to call “the shit,” balls-out, tribal/futurehouse/triphop,…
Best Seat In The Shadows
We spent two months – the first in the spring and the second (back by popular demand) in the heat of the summer — sipping soda on the edge of our seats as the Austin Film Society (along with co-sponsors Dobie Theater and the Austin-American Statesman) brought to screen the devilishly dark stories of drifters…
Best Dependable Comfort Food
By day, we talk a good game, all in the know about the latest in haute cuisine. But when the lights go down and the jet-set are out for an evening of fine china and whine lists, some of us slink off in search for something a little more, er… reasonable. Sometimes we just want…
Best Neighborhood Biergarten
All who live in the French Place/Cherrywood/Maplewood area east of the highway know that the spokes on which they reside ultimately converge on the hub that is Pato’s Tacos. Sunday morning hangover relief is just a short walk away with good, greasy migas, and cool evening breezes make their biergarten a relaxing place for a…
Best Urban Farmer’s Market
In a big effort to support area organic growers, Austin’s homegrown health food grocery store chain presents a Farmers’ Market in front of the downtown store on Wednesday afternoons and at Gateway on Saturday mornings. Farmers pay a fee of 6% of their sales to rent a space, and the produce is freshly picked and…
Best Snow In Summer
The audacity of some vendors to call their chunky, teeth-shattering concoctions snow cones! But at the Sno-Beach snow cone wagon in front of Fiesta, they serve up the real stuff — soft flakes of flavored snow that melt sweetly on your tongue without assaulting your molars. Lots of great flavors — we love Fuzzy Navel…
Best Effort To Get Austin Wired
Another nonprofit focusing on online access, Austin Free-Net’s mission is to provide the hardware, internet connection, and training necessary for the general public to find all kinds of web-based information that lack of expensive equipment and technical know-how may have previously kept obscure. Starting out by placing computer stations in libraries and low-income housing projects…
Best TV News Format Change
As a rule, local television news focuses on murder, mayhem, and all other manner of disasters, both natural and man-made. Austin ABC affiliate KVUE has consistently bucked this trend, usually giving these stories less airplay than other stations. Last spring, Channel 24 formalized this policy by adopting a new format that shuns gratuitous violence. While…
Best Eco-Friendly Pest Control
Kitty’s a one-woman SWAT team who will get rid of whatever creature happens to be making a meal of your premises — without also poisoning your family or the groundwater in the process. Like a little Holmes, she’ll come over and scope out the problem, track it down to its source and then come up…
Best Channel Surfing Stop & Shop
Every June, KLRU invents the best reason to put down the clicker and start shopping for a good cause. The annual TV auction lasts for two weeks and consists of goods and services generously donated by area merchants. Items include fine art, tuxedo rentals, couch pillows, bed & breakfast getaways, and new cars, to name…
Best Place To Shop For Cheap Household Fixtures
When running short of cash on that little household remodeling project, rush right over to the Re-Store for economical prices on sinks, toilets, cabinets, counters, windows and doors. Good prices to support a great cause: Habitat for Humanity builds low-income housing in our community.
Best Answer To The Statesman’s “did You Inhale?” Question
Just before the city council races in May, the daily ran a front page story called “Did they inhale, and does it matter?” Reporter Diana Dworin asked each of the sitting councilmembers and council candidates whether they have ever smoked marijuana, under the pretext of election coverage. The only councilmember who didn’t submit, or lie,…
Now Showing:
* James Redfield, Saturday, September 14, 7pm at the Austin Coliseum * Whitley Strieber, Sunday, September 15, 3pm at Palmer Auditorium * Judith Orloff, Sunday, September 15, 3pm at Palmer Auditorium * Terence McKenna, Saturday, September 14, 5pm at Palmer Auditorium Several of the authors will also be making appearances and having book-signings at Book…
Public Notice
Every Week Is the “Best” We sincerely hope, dear readers, that we are not doing you a great wrongness by failing to follow the theme of this issue, not listing for you here our Best of Austin “Public Notice” picks. We’ve two minds about this (perhaps you’d like to creep inside for a peek!): 1)…
Best Art Gallery
Last year, Spike Gillespie wrote, “Gorgeous landscaping for art’s sake on the outside. Art for your sake on the inside.” We think that comment about AMOA@LG is just as appropriate this year.
Best Beer Selection
It’s a tough court for darts, with its hanging drape of dark atmosphere, but all the more a challenge, we say! By the time you get half-way through all their on-tap offerings, your game’s sunk anyway.
Best Movie Theatre Concession Stand
Forget the mad dash to the convenience store and stuffing Big Reds and Milky Ways in the purse. We’re writing this with a bag of Gummi Bears leftover from our last visit to the Dobie, where you can also pick up such goodies as chocolate-covered espresso beans and Snapple, plus the best buttered movie show…
Best Video Store (specialty)
An old personal favorite of ours, too, this year saw Vulcan Video double its space and still not have enough room for all the cool — and we mean kewl — videos.
Best Place To Get Married
If you must, Zilker’s as good a place as any. No, don’t you let our institutional cynicism influence you; go ahead, take the deep plunge! Other popular hitching posts include: Barr Mansion, Green Pastures, Umlauf Sculpture Gardens, and Laguna Gloria.
Best Local Scandal
In a town full of ’em (from the looks of this ballot, at least), the chilling grand-daddy of them all is Jim Bob Moffett’s megalithic Freeport. The second most-mentioned controversy was the series of “Gay Raids” at Pease Park, Bull Creek and Hippie Hollow. Some of the others mentioned are intriguing: “The Communist Bicycle Helmet…
Best Grocery Store
Don’t let the name make you think otherwise; this burger joint has taken first place in this category just about forever… fair and square.
Best Children’s Clothing
Yes, this first-place winner and previous poll winner pulled ahead enough to create a visible gap, but runner’s-up Dragonsnaps and Wild Child are closing that chasm.
Best Internet Provider
Dyed-in-the-wool Net junkies know that academia still has the best deals in Internet service, so it’s not surprising that nearly-free dialup at the University of Texas again rates highest. If you’d rather not have to write papers and take exams just to support your late-night MUD habit, local ISP’s Illuminati Online and OnRamp Access get…
Best Sportscaster
Cody wins again. Steve Atkinson and Andy Liscano tie for second. Obviously the readers like this category: local band the Gay Sportscasters even got a vote.
Best Kennel/Vet
This dog-eat-dog competition names Northwest Hills king of the pack for the second year straight. Past winner Hyde Park Animal Clinic and the ever-popular University Animal Clinic tied for second.
Best Cowboy Boots
Saddle on up to this category, pardners, new for 1996. Allens takes the lone star, while Cavendar’s and Shepler’s meet at high noon for second place and Tiny’s Boots rustles up third.
Best Record Store (Local)
While the margin between contenders in the vinyl division was not so great — Sound Exchange and Antone’s both made great showings — the Local Record Store prize battle was a veritable, er… Waterloo.
Best Once And Future Landmark
Usually news that real estate developers have bought a beloved Austin landmark spells doom, but not when you’re talking about the restaurant formerly known as Mad Dog and Beans. “I put on my freshman 15 right here,” admits new owner Matthew Wheeler. Established in 1968, the beloved greasy spoon has a new coat of paint…
Best Razzle Dazzle
Generally, Austin theatre is more about smoke than sizzle, i.e., more pungent scripts than flashy presentations. Maybe that’s why we get such a kick from Zachary Scott Theatre Center productions: They aren’t shy about showmanship. Whether it’s the the lustrous sets of Michael Raiford and Christopher McCollum, the dizzying choreography of Dave Steakley, or the…
Best Labor Of Love
As understated as Austin’s jazz scene seems next to its alternative and country siblings, it is in every way equally vibrant. Nowhere is that better illustrated than the annual Clarksville Jazz Festival, lovingly overseen every year by Harold McMillan and his hardworking staff. The down-scaling of the annual event seemed to work well, indicating that…
Best Sign Of Civilized Living
We don’t even want to guess how we survived so long in Austin without cabaret, but it’s moot now, n’est-ce pas? Now, we can saunter over to Bremond House thrice weekly, cozy up to a two-top, and sail away on a tide of romantic song by Cole, Coward, Kern, and company. It’s cosmopolitan bliss, made…
Best Eastside Food Delivery
As those of us who reside east of I-35 can attest, options are pretty slim where dinner delivery is concerned. The shining light in the neighborhood is La Pizza Loca. The pies, especially the Carnitas pizza, are delicious and reasonably priced. The service is relatively speedy.
Best No-Attitude Turtle Soup
When you eat lunch at Quality Seafood, always ask about the soups first. They’re not posted in plain view, but they feature some of the finest food ever served in a bowl. About every other Friday, the crew at Quality makes up a batch of spiritual turtle soup, with tasty chunks of (yes) farm-raised turtle…
Best Vegetarian Dish
It’s filling, it’s flavorful, and it’s far from the uninspired mess we’re tired of picking away at half-heartedly. In this dish, tempeh takes to the tastes of Thailand like a fish does to water. We pair it with a smoothie and walk away from this Austin Institution — Martin Bros. was the original deli inside…
Best Story Times
From the regular Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday story hours with activity tie-ins to the last Friday of the month “Late Night at Toad Hall” with crafts, guest stars, and refreshments, we can think of no better programs for our favorite young readers. There’s always something cool going on at Book People’s Second Floor Children’s Amphitheater:…
Best Food Story In The Local Daily
With apologies to Kitty Crider, Statesman reporter Mike Ward kept the Vita Pro scandal simmering until prison officials were whelping for mercy. Ward gave a fine dinner party, offering up helping after delicious helping of the Vita Pro scandal, complete with Yank Barry trimmings. Yum!
Best Used Mac Gear
With just a few quick calls to inquire about the availability of a mouse to match a Neanderthal Mac Plus, we learned that there is one place that keeps them, up-keeps them, and sells them at a price way below the competition: Mac Alliance. With their prices, we might not have to wait until next…
Best Guy To Drool On As Your Mouth Goes Slack
Terrified of tooth-tinkering dentists? Prefer dealing with decay over dang drilling? Fear no more, the ever kind and gentle Dr. Van Wicklen caters to the biggest fraidy-cats out there and he NEVER sends out covert, telepathic messages that he thinks you’re a wimp. A human version of those Eight-Ball toys you quiz about your every…
Best Comic Bookstore For The Rest Of Us
In the moments left to them between jobs, volunteer commitments, social engagements and the past six months’ housework, some folks make a regular habit of following the adventures of traditional, mass-market comic book heroes. You remember, the ones you read as a child… Marvel’s X-Men or Fantastic Four, DC’s Superman or Wonder Woman. In the…
Best Run For Your Money
With an incredibly knowledgeable staff, some of which most likely ran a sixteen-miler before they arrived at work for the day, Run-Tex is so much more than a sneaker store. The help they provide in choosing the right shoe, and the encouragement and advice they give out to all levels of runners makes Run-Tex feel…
Best Booster
When the First Lady of Austin was asked to wield her PR powers to help pass $369 million in Austin Independent School District bonds, Christian gladly lent her expertise. She allayed the fears of the environmental and minority community, and tax-weary voters responded with a vehement “yes.”
“Something for Everyone…” HIV/AIDS Update
As part of an on-going commitment to self-empowerment, Positive Threads, a Central Texas newsletter serving persons living with HIV and those affected, will present a mini-conference on Saturday, Sept. 28 focused on treatment issues and healthy living. Featured speakers will include Jennifer Jensen, RD, an HIV/AIDS nutrition specialist and author of the Nutrition Power series…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The automated operator for the Austin American-Statesman’s city desk offers nine voice-mail options. Dogs are descended from either the wolf or the jackal. Jackal descendants, or “turf dogs,” have a domed head and shortened muzzle, while Golden Jackals are probably the starter stock for most dogs. Eskimo dogs, samoyeds, chow chows, and Russian lajkas are…
Best Artist
Peña’s spare yet voluptuous images grace the walls of so many businesses around town (and the state, for that matter) that even if you don’t know his work, you’ve likely seen it. His canvasses symbolize the rich cultural background of Austin in pastel and earth tones and mark the artist as one of our treasures.
Best Brew Pub
Whatever’s ale-ing you won’t be after you and your brew-ed hit a happy hour at this much-loved watering hole. With four beers brewed on premise year round and two seasonal (Wildflower Honey Ale, and Hefeweizen — a wheat beer), all going for $1 a pint daily between 5-6pm (not to mention plenty of other happy…
Best Movie Theatre Facilities
Living proof that our readers don’t all live in Hyde Park and South Austin, Arbor 7 has handily snagged this category for the last three years. Pass the popcorn, please.
Best Wine Selection (Retail)
Adding Best Take-Out to last year’s Grocery and two previous Wine Selection awards, Central Market has certainly enhanced our shopping (and sampling) pleasure. Still, grocery-goers frequently steer their carts through Wheatsville, other HEB stores, and Whole Foods Markets as well. Wiggy’s gets a strong second for its wine selection, while Tamale House, Whole Foods, and…
Best Place To Skate
Seems rollerblading just edged out ice capades this year as the Veloway displaced past winner Northcross Mall Ice Rink.
Best Local Visionary
The Slush man cometh to a council near you. Max Nofziger, Eddie Wilson, Mary Arnold, Paco Xander Nathan, and Barbara Jordan received votes, among a field of over 50. Some of you even voted for yourselves.
Best Lunch Under $5
Heck, you can eat like a reyna for $3.50 here. The Airport Boulevard landmark has never messed with their formula for success: offering some of the best fast Mexican food in town for even better prices. Thundercloud and Kim Phung take second and third.
Best Children’s Entertainer
It takes more than just a few grains of faith to be able to pull off quality kids’ entertainment, and the ex-Grains of Faith leader has what it takes: a guitar, a fresh attitude, and a goofy sense of humor. Last year’s winner Andy Ehrenfield, along with partner Amy, took second.
Best Late Night Deejay
Did the name come from his work as Gibby Haynes’ stooge during the Butthole’s brief stint on 101X? We don’t know, but the Whipping Boy was savvy enough to parody the Surfers’ “Pepper” as “Paprika,” then pull the song as it was becoming nearly as popular as the original.
Best Sportswriter
Coach Cotton takes the crown for the third time, proving that the readers really are as charmed by tales of his pet boxers as they are enamored of his sports picks. The Statesman’s Kirk Bohls slid into second.
Best Laundromat
Clean & Lean is an Austin tradition and so is its annual sweep of this prize. Is this a surprise? It’s a genius concepts of wash, dry, and grunt and just screams “Where else but Austin?” Kwik Wash with its many locations holds on to second place.
Best Factory Outlet
Hey! This is supposed to be Best of Austin. Locally, Harold’s, Neiman Marcus Last Call, and Dell Outlet showed well.
Best Record Store (Vinyl)
While the margin between contenders in the vinyl division was not so great — Sound Exchange and Antone’s both made great showings — the Local Record Store prize battle was a veritable, er… Waterloo.
Best Outdoor A/C
In addition to its beautiful edifices, the springs, the flowers, the plants, and the aqueduct, the Wildflower Center also has the most amazing breezeway in town. Located at the Center’s offices, the breezeway whooshes, but is not gusty; it’s cool in both senses, with the gardens on one side and the nature trail on the…
Best Reason To Avoid Iambic Pentameter
Wammo, Phil West, Hilary Thomas, Danny Solis, and team coach Mike Henry took their war of the words all the way to the 1996 National Poetry Slam in Portland, Oregon in August where they finished fourth in the team finals. Wammo went into the individual finals (top six out of an eligible field of 120),…
Best Live Music In A Pinch
On weeknights, when we get the urge for a last-minute live music fix we check out the deck at this no-hassle Barton Springs hangout. Could be an evening of laid-back folk music or a rollicking swing band complete with dancing on the adjacent grassy knoll. Whatever it is, it’s usually all yours for the price…
Best Skate Shop Music Venue
Okay, so it’s probably the only skate shop/music venue. But there’s a big stage, excellent PA (better than a lot of clubs), and lots of room to see bands, including Sixteen Deluxe, the Motards, and Buzzcrusher. Plus posters, skatewear, shoes, and boards. Music usually starts Saturdays at 7pm. Good deal — you’re depriving yourself if…
Best Enchiladas Rojas
This ordinary Mexican plate is far from common at El Sol y La Luna, the chile ancho sauce is just about the best we’ve tasted over enchiladas. The pleasant little Mexican cafe serves all our other Tex-Mex favorites (especially breakfasts) with an authentic flair, under the sun… and well into the moonlight.
Best Pizza & Strudel
A regular contender in the Austin Pizza Wars, Nick’s name comes up when weary new-to-towners ask “Who’s got the best thin crust?” This flaky crunch is capped with a tangy sauce and chewy, gooey Mozzarella to complement your choice of topping. But don’t leave the place until you top it all off with one of…
Best Way To Fake A Home-Cooked Meal
Any fool can hit the salad bar and come away with a serviceable feed. But when you crave something substantial, something homey, something downright Mom-like, here’s the drill. Grab some baking spuds from the produce section, then snag a warm roast chicken and a container of pre-fab green beans provençal over at the deli case.…
Best Thing The Government’s Done For Your Kids
This town has, like, 30,000 kids in day care, but until Connections opened a few years back, the folks providing that care had nowhere to turn for help, guidance or skills-building. Connections — a joint project of the city and ACC, with foundation support as well — offers materials, referrals, workshops, meeting space, and beaucoup…
Best Hypnotic Radio Station
We can listen to this station for hours on end… and never hear a thing. The chants of falling lake levels and generation schedules, the reports from the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the NOAA weather simulcasts, and especially the interviews with city managers of towns like Brenham and Gonzales can lull us into…
Best Virtual Barn Raising
Community groups lacking in software, tech-knowledge and funding can command a World Wide Web presence virtually overnight with the help of the Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network (MAIN), the nonprofit organization known to conduct “web raisings” that can have a site up and running in as little as an afternoon’s time. Although not as direct a…
Best Intellectual Auto Assessment
David Gordon could probably write a book on Zen and the art of import repair. With a fine arts degree, a dry sense of humor and a knack for assessing a used car’s potential, Gordon is not your ordinary mechanic. Nor is he the cheapest. But he’s (sometimes brutally) honest, fair, funny, and a master…
Best Excuse To Start A Hobby
Owner Suzanne Middlebrook, herself an expert weaver, claims that crafts like knitting and weaving are “great therapy,” and we know it’s certainly cheaper than the traditional variety! While Hill Country’s all-natural fibers make us drool, the free classes in weaving and knitting keep us and our projects on track. Whether we’re interested in the Saturday…
Best Selection Of Tacky Western Shirts
If you’re passionate about your western wear, the plain old stuff won’t do: You want the stuff with the pipe trim, the little arrows on the pockets, and preferably something on the shoulders, perhaps stitched roses or painted-on cactus or wagon wheels, etc. There are places with better selection, but they tend to be pricey;…
Best Campaign Finance Coverage
Intelligent. Informative. Necessary. That’s In Fact, the weekly handbill of local political coverage circulated by veteran reporter Ken Martin. He’s scooped the daily with frequency and style, and his campaign finance coverage for the recent council election was nothing short of fabulous, slicing and dicing campaign finance reports like a Ginsu master.
Duct Muck
Dear Suzy, My mom recently had her air conditioning duct work cleaned professionally at a cost of about 33 million dollars. The 25 years of accumulated household gunk they swept out was amazing. Once I got home to my little rental pad, it got me thinking — and sneezing. I can’t afford the professionals and…
Peter Keane
Walkin’ Around (Flying Fish) A curious redaction, albeit a necessary one, considering Keane’s fluid repertoire of a couple hundred songs. Still, those who’ve caught any of Keane’s numerous Austin shows over the last couple years are sure to find a favorite or two missing, and replaced by what? “Tylerville Road,” wherein a fine performance is…
Best Book By A Local Author
There is little of essayist Marion Winik’s life that isn’t public record, and the living drama that is her life is beautifully documented in First Comes Love, the story of her marriage to a gay man who died of AIDS. Words like “touching” and “emotional” seem too trite for this book, which melds love with…
Best Coldest Beer
It ain’t called Icehouse for nuttin’, baby. Austin has called this the coldest Brrrrr-ew for two years now. The Draught Horse and Deep Eddy chill in second place.
Best Movie Theatre Programming
We’re fortunate to have two theatres in town (three when you count the UT film program) that cater to the indie film audiences. The Village again gets the nod from the people for its steady diet of impressive foreign fare and many of the tastiest nuggets from U.S. indie filmmakers.
Best All You Can Eat
Austin voted for over 60 different All-You-Can-Eats, and Fresh Choice prevailed. Past perennial winner Mr. Gatti’s tied for second along with the two Palaces, Taj and Buffet.
Best Rock Climbing
Charmed to report that Enchanted Rock is still high and hands-down for climbing. If you don’t wanna drag your carabiners out so far, try PsuedoRock, Reimer’s Ranch, or the Greenbelt, according to our readers.
Best News Story
And along with controversy (see above) comes the public’s appetite for facts. Freeport sweeps this as well. The runners-up include the boycott of First Texas Honda and advertisers of The Texas Triangle, and the baseball vote.
Best Open-Air Market
We figured that in previous years, when we asked you to rate the Best Farmer’s Market, that this Farmer’s Market won by the power of suggestion. The category “Open-Air” didn’t change a thing except to solidify Travis County Farmer’s Market’s hold on first place. Whole Foods’ local outdoor produce fests sprouted into second.
Best Children’s Resale Clothing
Between you and us, this friendly consignment had a run for their money, but squeaked passed formidable contender Once Upon a Child.
Best Local Columnist
A veteran of the local daily, Kelso enjoys his third year at the top. Molly Ivins again takes second and our own Hearth & Soul-er Suzy Banks cozies up to third.
Best TV Anchor Person
Austin’s top news personality according to you, our readers, for four years. Sally Holiday and Stephanie Rochon both showed very well, in second and third.
Best Lawyer
For the last two years, we ran only a category for Criminal Lawyers. That seemed an odd statement. The competition was opened up and attorney Janet Stockard led the field of briefcased barristers.
Best Gift Shop
The urbane outfitter of many a fresh(wo)man’s domicile, this drag cornerstone beat out Cornerstone hardware and Possessions for first place. Originals came in third.
Best Shopping Center
The big, green gateway to the northwest takes first again. 1994’s winner, Central Park, holds on in second.
Best Place To Attend A Church Wedding
No matter how long the ceremony drones on, you’ll have plenty of architectural details at which to gaze in an attempt to look spiritual. Erected in 1929, this church sports Nordic-esque beam work and delightful copper light fixtures.
Best Local TV Music Special
Local singer Pam Hart put this group of lovely jazz divas together to perform last October, Mike Emery directed, and AMN’s producer Ingrid Weigand got the show on the air. Frequent airings generated lots of positive response for AMN and helped create a higher profile for the artists. Hart is hard at work on the…
Best Summer Beer
This summer the wheat beers hit the Austin market with a vengeance and a twist of lemon, providing yet another excuse to sit around and bitch about the heat. Waterloo’s unfiltered wheat beer regularly topped our beer tastings for consistent quality, complex taste, and numerous pint specials.
Best Falafel
We’re wild about these tasty, hand-held middle Eastern morsels that are sold in all our favorite grocery stores and deli cases. Creators Sarge and Victor are at work ’til the wee hours every day, filling and wrapping both the mild original and chile pepper-enhanced turbo varieties. Look for them at Wheatsville, Whole Foods, Central Market,…
Best Place To Eat To Live Music
Maybe it’s just the unpretentious border-style Mexican food plates, their hot liquid salsa and fresh chips, or the sounds of Don Walser on Tuesday nights, but we think Jovita’s totally rules. Another Dos Equis, please.
Sweetest Tea
The local custom of pouring unsweetened iced tea confuses transplants from the Deep South, where tea recipes call for as much sugar as water. “Sweet tea” just isn’t an option here. Sallies’ Eastside kitchen makes up for this neglect by mixing up tea sweet enough to trigger a full insulin coma. Have a tall cup…
Best Alternative Marketing Campaign
A right-wing radio commentator demanded a boycott of First Texas Honda after the company placed advertisements in The Texas Triangle, a weekly newspaper geared towards the state’s gay community. Enraged by this homophobic intolerance, Austinites rallied behind the publication and its advertisers. Sales at the dealership actually increased.
Best Local Food Show
Diana Welsch, aka the Green Gourmet, inspires us to take to the stove every time we tune into her cooking program whose moniker comes from Welsch’s devotion to gardening and cooking with fresh produce. Welsch is not one of those pained, joyless health food fanatics though; she’s a regular gal who loves good food and…
Best Web Browser In Black & White
The best in CD-ROM, surfing the wildest websites, helpful guidance on local providers — The Austin American-Statesman’s Harley Jebens is our favorite Information Superhighway Patrolman. Every week in XL Ent., he sends us someplace new, fun, weird, informative, or just different. Thanks, Harley!
Best Medical Application Of Fast-food Technology
Why go to a full-service mechanic if all’s you need is a lube? Same goes for hospitals. Why involve the entire city or the Roman Catholic Church if all’s you need is some out-patient care? Smart doctors reside at Bailey, within screaming distance of Seton and the rest of the 38th Street medical community. We…
Best Final Resting Place Of Doomed Consumer Products
There are gems to be found here, for sure — cheap shampoo, conditioner, and Latoya Jackson videos, but there are also baffling toys, and houseware products (some As Seen On TV) that never quite got off the ground. MacFrugals serves as a museum for late 20th-century consumer products and a halfway house for the end…
Best Selection Of Upscale Cooking
Though we may not be able to afford the complete line of German Rosle kitchen hardware, we do aspire to own the ultra-utilitarian, elegantly styled, very pricey cooks’ tools. Cornerstone is the only place in town where we can admire them.
Best Chance For A Sustainable Community
If Austin is ever to be “the most livable city in the nation,” as the city management motto goes, the soon-to-be old airport is probably one of the best places to start. With over 700 acres to work with, the suggestions that have come in to the Redevelopment Task Force have verged on the bizarre…
Sat 14
Doc Optik presents a Multi-media event with Dubtribe Sound to benefit Christopher House, a residential AIDS hospice, at Ranch Studios, 1101 Reinli, 9pm. Cost is $12 advance; $15 at the door. 323-0701. SUN 15 September Serenade — An Evening with Christine Albert & Friends to benefit Austin Rape Crisis Center, at Paramount Theatre, 703 Congress,…
Live Shots
EVAN JOHNS Hole in the Wall, September 3 It was like something out of a Krzystof Kieslowski film: Evan Johns doing a warm-up show for his Danny Gatton tribute. Gatton was a guitarist out of D.C. who achieved near-legendary status in small circles of guitar players and industry hipsters. He was also Johns’ mentor. Not…
Best Choreographer
The guiding hand of Ballet Austin has consistently expanded the city’s notion of what ballet is, breathing fire into the form with a leather-jacketed Firebird, balletic riffs to jazz with artists like Acia Gray and Boyd Vance, and a ballet about a creator of ballets. Our readers know him as one choreographer who keeps them…
Best Country/Western Club
This longtime Southside venue has played host to Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, Willie Nelson, and many other C&W legends, and it has cheap chicken-fried steaks. What more could you possibly ask for, except a little Dale Watson, Cornell Hurd, Alvin Crow, and possibly the best dance floor anywhere? They’ve got that? Subject closed.
Best Neighborhood Bar
A clear favorite of our readers, this university-area pub is a popular spot to “sit outside and hang,” according to a SXSW staffer who’s a regular there and who also gives it high marks for good beer on tap and cheap, tasty burgers. We’re headed there now.
Best Bakery
Out of 40 entries, four rose to the occasion. Past winners Upper Crust, Sweetish Hill (second place), and Texas French Bread (third) are expected, but a fine showing by new arrival Schlotzsky’s Bread Alone is food for thought.
Best Scenic Drive (in-town)
This has been your favorite drive around town for four years. Mount Bonnell and 2222 tie for second.
Best Nonprofit Group
This new category filled a full page with nominees from you. And is that any wonder? Austin has as fine a reputation for volunteer service and care as it does for culture, music, and livability. S.O.S was the clear leader, but AIDS Services of Austin came in strong at second, with Center for Battered Women…
Best Oriental Bowl Of Noodles
Noodle-wise, they’ve got what you’re looking Pho in aBundance. Also in abundance is their number of first places in this category; this makes their third. The new Thai Noodle House in the old Acorn Cafe location came in second.
Best Children’s Shoe Store
Previous winner Sandy’s stayed one step ahead of last year’s winner, Payless. It’s a battle for the soles of our kids!
Best Local Features Writer
Of course we love it when one of our own takes a BOA category. Winik’s slice-of-offbeat-life features and essays are tasty and thought-provoking. Only Molly Ivins and Ann Hornaday came close in this title, which we think is a stellar line up.
Best TV Newscast
So how did all of Austin’s news outlets rank? In order: KVUE-24, KXAN-36, KTBC-7, K-EYE-42.
Best Photo Lab
This full service lab with reasonable prices dashed the HEB chain and tossed them into second. The Heeb has taken it for the last two years. Back in a Flash shares second place with them.
Best Hardware Store
The margin in this talley is a testimony to four-year winner Breed & Co.’s staying power. Even the big chains like second place Home Depot don’t come close. For its relatively new place on the scene, Cornerstone made a solid showing at third.
Best Specialty Bookstore
The sisters are not only doin’ it for themselves but for everybody else as well from the looks of this landslide. Europa (R.I.P.) and Book People, while not actually specialty stores, garnered votes, perhaps for their attention to detail and selection.
Best Place To Propose
The food is incredible, with a wine list to match, which is a huge bonus, since the atmosphere alone makes the cellar at Bertram’s the most romantic dinner spot in town. The very limited seating capacity and quiet ambiance is spiced with the intoxication of the food and beverage. A splash of candlelight will have…
Best Reason To Forget Arthur Murray
Matt the Cat has been squiring women of all ages (and abilities) in front of bandstands across the city and every single one leaves his arms breathless. Bluntly, the man can dance like nobody’s business. Small wonder he teaches the popular dance lessons at the Split Rail on Mondays and Thursdays.
Best Movie Theatre Buttered Popcorn
For those of us who still indulge in this artery-clogging movie snack, a large bag of popcorn with real butter topping at the Dobie Theater makes even the worst movie tolerable. Dobie is the only theater in town to indulge its customers in a topping made from actual butter fat instead of synthetic flavorings. Although…
Best Tease
Miss Xanna Don’t (from Xanadu, maybe?) sports the best head of hair in town, hands down. Raven dark tresses that tumble to her waist set off her China-white complexion — but come showtime, the hair goes nowhere but up. Up, up, up, in fact, piled into luxurious curls that nestle gloriously atop her head, whether…
Best Flying Nuts
Okay, we’ll try to avoid the obvious puns here: Southwest Airlines chose AustiNuts as their official supplier of airborne legumes. We think that’s just ducky, especially since Southwest’s fares are peanuts. D’oh!
Best Place To Tea-se Your Brain And Appease Your Whistle
After temporarily relocating from their downtown location to Planet Theatre, partners Phil and Cindy have found a new home for the beloved High Time Tea Bar and Brain Gym in South Austin (78704, it’s not just a zip code, it’s a double latte). They took the tiniest of buildings and somehow managed to make it…
Best Adventure You Don’t Have To Plan
When the day yawns before you like a chasm of despair, pack up your local wild things and head for Oak Hill. In the time it takes to say, “Stop whining or I’ll feed you to the dog,” you can be on your way to an afternoon of pony rides and train whistles, exotic beasts…
Best Alternative To Espn, Part 1
We finally have a pro sports franchise (the Ice Bats) and we finally have all-sports radio. Sure KFON-AM has it’s peaks and valleys, the latter needing to be corrected before the station will start amassing better numbers. But if you’re driving down the road and you’re hungry for a sports fix, the right end of…
Best Local Television News Expose
In November, KVUE reported that Riverbend Baptist Church pastor Gerald Mann had paid no property taxes since 1990 on the $500,000 Rob Roy estate at which he resides. According to Channel 24’s Greg Groogan and Scott Guest, the pastor (who has also authored several books and hosts a nationally-broadcast cable program) avoided these taxes by…
Best Basketball Court
A view of Airport Boulevard gives it that requisite urban grit, and the court itself is an immaculate, fast, red-and-green surface with a clearly-marked three-point line — so we know where to take our chances against the fearsome low-post players who dominate play here.
Best Name For An Orthopedic Clinic
It’s gut-busting enough that the name of this heal hall is The Austin Bone & Joint Institute. If that doesn’t bring out the Beavis & Butt-head in you, then get a load of the names of the docs who run the joint. Only true healers can get away with names like these: Dr. Schock and…
Best Institutional Rummage Sale
If you get nostalgic for your grade-school science lab or vintage medical supply shops, Radio Ranch has the requisite ambiance. The Ranchers frequent every weird auction in the state so you can find all manner of obscure furniture, beyond-vintage electronic equipment, and — most importantly — all the stuff you couldn’t really play with in…
Best Sign The Seventies Are Back
In the Seventies, Oat Willie’s was already a counterculture institution, just like the Armadillo. Few things were more taken for granted than the grab-bag bins of the store’s boxed matches, featuring artwork from the then-reigning kings of high hippie art such as Jim Franklin, Jaxon, and Micael Priest. Long gone for some years now, the…
Best City Bureaucrats
We admire those who remain enthused about their work as it grows ever more thankless. The merry wonks at OCRA have, in the last year, negotiated a fractious franchise renewal with Austin CableVision; midwifed the city-wide broadband network project from a pie-eyed grandstand play to a fairly sensible franchise with CSW; dived headfirst into Doing…
The Peril of Memory
My memories are dangerous. Dangerous to myself, dangerous to others. If you have a look that jibes with one of my memories, I may like or dislike you without reason, and our lives may change because of that. One memory can stop me from an act that seems beneficial, while another goads me into trouble.…
Best Downtown Building (new)
Could it be the serene blue neon which makes this the winner four years running? And this skyline definer doesn’t just win, it landslides. Notable also-rans include One American, the new Post Office and the Capitol Extension, all fine mergers of design and function, indeed.
Best Comic
If there were an Austin dictionary, Kerry Awn’s face would be under the phrase “perennial favorite.” Voted Best Comic for the umpteenth time by the readers, the man who gives us Buck Husky and Ronnie Velveeta, not to mention a mean Elvis, is more than deserving of the honor.
Best Cover Band Club
Austin’s alterna-crowd is passing up a great beer selection as they frequent other clubs, but readers think Maggie Mae’s bands have something that keeps their crowds happy. Clearly, familiarity breeds regulars.
Best Non-downtown Club
You can talk about your Junior Browns, your Toni Prices, your 81/2 Souvenirses. You can wax philosophic about the atmosphere, the murals, and the pool table. But nothing, nothing takes the place of the Continental’s annual Graceland Revues headed up by Ted Roddy. Here’s the Rule and the Drill: Rule — You must have a…
Best Barbecue
The finger-licking great grub of the mighty Lick beat out many-time winner County Line. Sam’s, Iron Works, and Pok-E-Jo’s got votes as well.
Best Scenic Drive (out-of-town)
It was close between TX71 and US290 W.
Best Public Servant
Davis took the title as Homeless Services Coordinator for Health and Human Services, but he left that agency recently. Thank goodness he still advocates for homeless individuals through his work as a case manager for Youth Options, and in his work with the Passages program.
Best Outdoor Patio
“When the sun is dry and the throat is parched, there’s more than just spring water…” The Everly Brothers’ song by the same name says it all. Depending on the size of the crowd, you can listen to the whisper of the branches above or the gossip the next table over. This is Shady’s fourth…
Best Children’s Video Selection
Could it be their massive selection, or their kid-friendly buying policy, or just that there’s one on almost every derned corner? Who knows? Blockbuster keeps busting up this category year after year. Other notables include Toad Hall, I Luv Video, and Borders.
Best Local Journalist (News)
Louisa, it was a landslide. Rest easy, Austin. Brinsmade has no plans to run for office.
Best TV Reporter
Cantu, who worked his way through Austin media from radio to television, tied with four other reporters back in 1993. This year, he enjoys the limelight all to himself. Greg Groogan came in second.
Best Public Health Clinic
New for 1996, this category goes to the venerable People’s Community Clinic, the sliding-scale nightengale in a sky full of health “care” hawks. Planned Parenthood probably didn’t plan to do as well as they did, but we’re sure they’re happy with their brand new bouncing second place.
Best Jewelry (costume)
Possessions narrowly beat out last year’s winner Originals for first. Ec*lec*tic and Lucy in Disguise followed.
Best Subculture Store
The other-orbital subculture kings ask the P.K. Dickian question, “Do Rubber Toys Dream of Plastic Sheep?” 1994 winner, Oat Willie’s came in a distant second. Also-rans include: Atomic City, Lobo, and Fringeware.
Best Signage
This new French Place restaurant gives a convenient landmark for those direction-givers trying to convey the confusing Manor/26th Street merge — just look for the metal sign with the flaming letters and the steaming coffee cup which started life as a 50-gallon oil drum. It’s industrial and nuclear yet coyly charming.
Best Support For Cinema
We wanted to be academic about this and talk about how the AFS is one of the best film organizations in the country, bringing classic movies to Austin audiences for a pittance. But what we keep coming back to is how Richard Linklater doggedly kept it going as he went from Slacker to Dazed to…
Best Movie Theatre Seats
When we sit our butts down in these babies, we don’t care how long the movie is. Cushy, placed at an angle, and wide enough to curl up in, these vinyl seats keep numbness away, even on those rainy, marathon movie days. Barcaloungers and really loud speakers make Starport a great place to go, especially…
Best Transformation From Sauna To Sonic
A few months ago, we could have retitled the category “Next Best Thing to Barton Springs Without Getting Wet.” The AMH would have deserved this hands down. Along with the recent addition of the Chicago House, the AMH also just installed a killer A/C system, the likes of which make even the prospect of a…
Best Fresh Juice
If you let it, Central Market’s Apple Lemon Ginger Juice will trifle with your taste buds. Oh, it starts innocently enough. A tart flirtation of lemon and zest, and after the tiniest of pauses, a sweet, easy, honeyed kiss… But, uh-oh, what’s this? The inevitable burn. The slow, searing, gingery end. You want to forget,…
Best Pocket Propogation
These delicious meat and fruit-filled hors d’oeuvres have infiltrated just about every deli counter and coffee shop we’ve visited recently. And while empanada varieties appear to be increasing in number, so are they in scope — we even found empanada emissaries all the way in San Antonio at the Mad Hatters Tea café.
Best Environmental Programs For Kids
Green Classroom creator Carla Marshall matched 30 Becker Elementary students with 30 senior-citizen volunteers from the surrounding South Austin neighborhood for an entire semester, creating the “Junior/Senior Alliance for the Environment.” The mentors, including jazzman Martin Banks, spent six hours a week with the kids, working on environmental projects such as studying water quality, building…
Best Alternative To ESPN, Part 2
Can’t afford cable and can’t stand missing the weekend sports highlights? Turn on Channel 36 at 10:30 pm for the Sunday Sports Section. The 30-minute program isn’t quite as crisp as SportsCenter, but its not too far behind.
Best New Local Daily
Just kidding. (See our issue of 3/31/96.)
Best Climbing Tree
This mammoth arbor on St. Edward’s campus is the fattest, most inviting live oak in all of Austin. With a trunk too big for two folks to get their arms around and a space where all the boughs meet that’s as big as some living rooms, this is just the place to laze away a…
Best No-nonsense Way To Cut A CD
You’d think it would be easy, here in “music city,” for a modern CEO to create an audio CD of the company’s annual stockholders’ addresses. Guess again. Oh, there are plenty of so-called “full-service” recording studios which will press your CD but can’t make DAT masters, or will make your CD interactive but won’t do…
Best Urban Steel Yard
It’s the steel yard that time forgot. In business since 1899 and at this location since 1910, Tips is considered one of the oldest industries in Austin. Although they recently upped their minimum purchase to $25 — the parade of hobbyists dropping by for a couple of bucks of scrap iron was eating into their…
Best Council Activist
The mayor can’t stand him, so he must be doing something right. He’s Richard Troxell, who, as president of House the Homeless and a former Vietnam veteran, speaks for Austin’s homeless population. Week after week at council chambers, he has waged a one-man war against Todd’s anti-homeless ordinance passed last January. The camping ban is…
We Refuse To Grow Up
Well, last week may have been our 15th Anniversary issue, but don’t worry, you still haven’t missed the party. That’s this Sunday at Laguna Gloria, with Kelly Willis, Roy Heinrich, Wayne Hancock, 81/2 Souvenirs, The Jubilettes, and Guy Forsyth. Now, with any luck, we can continue this 15th Anniversary stuff out for the rest of…
Best Downtown Building (old)
Is it a wonder that our proud State Capitol Building sweeps this category every year? Too bad it can’t grab a broom and sweep out certain attitudes held by visiting legislators, hostile to its friendly host city. The Driskill takes second with about half the number of votes as the winner. The Seaholm, the Paramount,…
Best Dance Company
The city’s big ballet company keeps getting better and better, reworking old reliables such as The Nutcracker, constantly testing itself with new material, blending ballet with other forms of dance, such as tap and tangos, and adding dynamic performers such as Nadya Zybine to the troupe. Our readers know that a trip to BA these…
Best Dance Music Club
If you close the door, the night could last forever at this wild club known for its afterhours scene. Last year’s winner, Paradox, is second.
Best Place To Dress Up
This town offers more than enough excuses to get dolled-up, but our readers designate “Bass Concert Hall” as their favorite for breaking out the sequins and dress jackets. The crown jewel of UT’s Performing Arts Center routinely hosts world-class artists and such high-tone local faves as the Symphony, Lyric Opera, and Ballet Austin that just…
Best Caterer
This little house of set-up goodness takes it for a second year in a row! Deborah DeWitt’s Prairie Rock is the caterer of choice for Live Oak Theatre, and with her cunning combination of French, Southwestern, and Meditteranean cuisines, this honor comes as no surprise.
Best Softball Field
We can’t get that Monkees song out of our heads either. Pleasant Valley took first and the UT intramural fields and Kreig Complex split the rest.
Best Rumor
Oh, c’mon people! Didn’t the “Dreamworks is buying the rights to the music of every Austin band” cover story tip you off???? It’s amazing the amount of calls, letters, and frantic e-mail we get around April 1 every year. And your second-place choice, “Glen Maxey is Straight!” is actually a joke that Chron writer Spike…
Best Pie
An old friend takes the cake in this new category. Pam Made Pies and Kerbey Lane tie for second and The Frisco Shop, Wimberley Pie Co., and ForRay’s make solid strides.
Best Drop-off Childcare
The Home of Bevo just beats out over 20 competitors in this new category. Who knew Austin had so many options? Notable also-rans: Extend-a-Care, Child’s Day, and Parent’s Night Out at United Methodist.
Best Local Visionary
A man with a big vision, and a big new house: Entrepreneur Michael Dell takes the inaugural win in this category. Origin Systems founder Richard Garriott, The Hacker Crackdown author Bruce Sterling and FringeWare friend Paco Xander Nathan were also oft-named.
Best Weather Person
Kahanek’s style speaks to Austin, it’s obvious. She took this category by storm. Last year’s winner, Troy Kimmel, tied for second with Jim Spencer.
Best Shoe Repair
This has been the respite spot for the weary soles of the Readers Poll for the last two years. Sammies, Rowell’s and Golden Slipper shuffled into second.
Best Jewelry (Fine)
Russell Korman took most of the votes in this category, with Americus and Benolds close in line.
Best Thrift Store
Public servant resaler-rehabilitator Goodwill led the second-place Thriftown by a 2:1 margin. Project Transition’s Top Drawer, quickly becoming one of Austin’s fave li’l thrifties, placed a hearty third.
Best Statue Of Jesus
There’s something aesthetically pleasing and strangely reassuring about a Versace Christ. Umlauf’s style is sleek, elegant, and energetic, and this statue is a surprising counter to its parent building, the monolithic, “I Like Ike-era” Seton Medical Center.
Best Theatre Of The Soul
It’s common for theatre to engage the intellect or emotions; what’s uncommon is for it to engage the spirit. That’s what makes root wy’mn an uncommon theatre company. It speaks to our soul, the spark at the core of us all. Make no mistake; poet/playwright Sharon Bridgforth doesn’t pen spacy, ethereal verse. Her words are…
Best Movie Theatre Up For Anything
There’s only one movie theatre in town that plays regular host to risky-at-the-box-office independents and still has the energy and enthusiasm to stand in as a SXSW Film Festival venue, entertain the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, and make space and time available for screenings of local and student works. They even let…
Best Unidentified Film Encounter
This hard-to-pronounce collective of filmmakers and videographers have made it their mission to bring experimental film works out of obscurity and into a light of their own creation, often inviting musical ensembles to compose and perform original scores as accompaniment. Aside from recent programs of rarely screened films by Bruce Connor, Chris Marker, the Lumiére…
Best Game
South Austin’s Skyline Grill brings game dining to the common man by stuffing venison into tender raviolis, serving it as a chicken fried steak, and blending it with raisins and avocado in a unique, chile-relleno inspired dish. We never knew venison could be so addictive. Enter game farmers John and Sidney Jones of J*One*S Ranch…
Best Reason To Order Kerbey’s Quesadillas
The chipotle sauce at Kerbey Lane Cafe sends us into seventh heaven, and we couldn’t be more thrilled that Eat Out In has added it as a condiment on their delivery menu. It’s creamy, hot, garlicky, smoky, and absolutely mouth-watering. Order a side at the restaurant and slather it on the quesadillas. Or the smoked…
Best Example Of The Peaceable Kingdom
Given the way Austin prides itself on divisions — North/South, East/West, environmentalist/developer — you wouldn’t figure it to have a place where the lion lies down with the lamb. But it does — a South Austin hardware store where for years a snake and a mouse shared a terrarium in peace. The rodent was supposed…
Best Bang For Your Buck, One Radio Freq.
With 91.7FM, you not only get a diversity of programming, you get a diversity of stations. Since a nasty court battle ordered the two stations to share the same frequency, the two new kids on the radio have been getting along wonderfully and complementing (and complimenting) each other well — the cooperatively run community station…
Best Newsletter
Husband-and-wife team Ken Martin and Rebecca Melancon, who formerly served as editor and publisher (respectively) of the Austin Business Journal, have switched their talents to newsletter publishing. The fruits of their labor is titled In Fact — a zippy political four-pager that is concise, well-written, and extremely informative.
Best Oops!
This OOPS! appeared in the January 19 Chronicle [Vol. 15, No. 20], and subsequently became humor fodder on Jay Leno’s recurring press bit on The Tonight Show: “Last week’s Chronicle erroneously reported that Eric Mitchell had shouted `Up Yours’ to residents of the Swede Hill neighborhood at a Housing Subcommittee meeting last year. In fact,…
Best Non-profit Effort To Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
With 23 or so drop off-spots in and around town (including Granger, Dripping Springs, and Camp Chautauqua) and a long list of acceptables including junk mail, Ecology Action provides the most extensive and friendly recycling service around. Ecology Action uses the money it makes from the recycling to cover its costs, and tries to break…
Best Neighborhood Grocery
Operated by the Prellop family since the late Fifties, shopping in this neighborhood mainstay always makes us feel right at home. Crestview is a family-owned, independent grocery store with a true devotion to service: the kind of place where they know your name, carry out your groceries and cash your paycheck. This award should rotate…
Best Warehouse To Explore
A true warehouse of recycled, pre-owned, gently used, or new office equipment, supplies, and furniture just east of I-35. Not only are there office chairs, desks, file cabinets, printer stands, dry-erase boards, and postage meters, but also copiers, fax machines, phones, workstations, computers & software, ladders, and store fixtures. A must-see for students, home officers,…
Best Council Aide
To steal an analogy from Daryl Slusher’s old newsletter, The Daryl Herald, councilmembers are like two-year olds — if you don’t keep an eye on them, they’ll wander off where they should not, hide things from you, and be generally uncooperative. They also need to be babysat, and Slusher’s new aide, Robin Cravey, appears to…
American Folklorist
First a refutation. Although undeniably thin, bespectacled, and balding, Peter Keane is not now nor has he ever been a so-called “singer-songwriter.” He’s never sung of the hot, dusty road on a cold, rainy night nor the rapture in the eye of his winsome Texas girl as seen through the beer-stained haze of smoke and…
Best Historic Structure
Well, what a surprise. The rosy dome is a tough contender and wipes out this category year after year. Other votes of note: Driskill, SRV(!?), Caswell House, French Legation, and languishing in the background, our old noble and tragic Treaty Oak.
Best Dance Space
South Austin holds many a hidden treasure and our readers believe one is this studio hidden in an unassuming building on South First. As host to classes in Power Yoga, bellydancing, drumming, art, acting , personal growth, and Nia Technique (hence the name), we figure there’s a spiritual atmosphere in NiaSpace that adds excitement to…
Best Downtown Club
Okay, this whole cigars-and-lounge-music routine is getting just a little too precious for some of our tastes, but readers think that when the smoke clears, Cedar Street will still be pumping the hottest jazz in town. After all, it’s home to Jon Blondell, who’s as ready to drop in a riff from “Pipeline” as play…
Best Place To Drink Outdoors
We love those little vibrating pagers you get when there’s a waiting list here, and the yuppie trailer-trash ambiance of this Barton Springs Road eatery is undeniable. Undeniably Austin, anyway.
Best Chips (locally Made)
The chips fell where they have for the past four years, right here at our favorite Eastside chip factory. Runners-up include El Lago, Guiltless Gourmet, and newcomer Kala’s.
Best Sporting Goods Store
Although Oshman’s wins this year after year, the results require an ump’s call. Academy came really close.
Best Texas Legislator
Reclaiming his 1994 crown from 1995 winner Senator Gonzalo Barrientos, Maxey reigns again. Just don’t tell him about that certain rumor you’ve been spreading (see above)! Congratulate Sherri Greenberg for her fine showing in second place.
Best Place To Impress Out-of-Towners
Sure, Oasis is the landsliding (probably a term we shouldn’t use to describe this hill-perched wonder) favorite, but for a different view, how about also-rans Shoreline Grill, County Line, Foot Hills, and Hula Hut? Or for you more urban types, the Hyatt La Vista? And to impress out-of-towners, in addition to Oasis, you voted for…
Best Playground/Park
The runaway (train), land(slide), hands down (in the sandbox), no-contest swinger of over 80% of the vote — Ladies and Gentlemen, and children of all ages: We present… Zilker Playscape.
Best Local Web Site
Honest, we didn’t stuff the ballot. We’re honored that readers named our own Chronicle Online the best website this year. ’95 winner Quadralay Corp. — whose employee-fans helped get us started on the Web waaaay back in, er, 1994 — lands in the runners-up field alongside notables such as KevinTX’s freedom-fighting paranoia.com and Austin links…
Best Basketball Court/Game
Enfield took a huge lead over other choices which account for almost every court in town.
Best Adult Bookstore
Since 1994, Dreamers has taken the honors as your favorite place for viewing and reading pleasure “intended for mature audiences.” While old fave AAA News made a good show, the upset was second-place winner and veritable newcomer Lobo Books, a gay & lesbian book and trinket store with an extensive video rental collection.
Best Lingerie Shop
Upon close investigation (yes, please!), it is revealed that while the gender breakdown for first place winner Victoria’s Secret and second place winner Tabu ran about equal, mostly men voted for third placer Forbidden Fruit!
Best Toy Store For Grown-ups
Sure, take the kid. See how much stuff you get for yourself. Forbidden Fruit tempts with a different kind of toy and joy in second place. And Sharper Image takes third.
Best Sub-erotica
This unmistakably phallic work of neon has risen majestically from its location on the western side of South Congress for what seems like decades. If the motel’s walls had ears, our ears would probably burn off, but there is the sign — glowing, beckoning travelers and musicians alike into its peculiar warmth and the promise…
Best Theatrical Daredevils
Nowadays, many stage groups shy away from creative risks for fear of running off what few folks still go to theatre. Not Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre. Its adventurous artists take us on unexpected journeys — to a Big Apple in meltdown, a government hearing for a Greek tragedy, a boyhood memory of funk and Julia Child…
Best Music Fundraiser
With funding for public television programs imperiled all over the country, good fundraising ideas are at a premium. When PBS stations in Austin and Dallas aired this special, making the CD and video available, donations poured in. In one evening, KLRU raised over $31,000 and Dallas’ KERA raised over $78,000. Additional kudos to Sony for…
Best Way To Drown One’s Sorrows
When we’ve tired of those wacky flavored margaritas but desire something in the same genre of alcohol, Trudy’s satisfies our needs with its Top Shelf Mexican Martini. Although there are over 26 tequilas to choose from, we recommend ordering a martini with Cuervo 1800 and Grand Marnier for a velvety sweet taste so potent that…
Best Gender-bending Caffiene Kick
Forget joe, and head to this cool new coffeehouse for a mean cup a jane. We love the name, the vintage strip-mall location, and the Euro-chic decor at this purple and celadon cafe. Wide bistro armchairs, copper-topped tables, neo-retro light fixtures, and breezy drapery produce the perfect haven for java sipping. Live music is part…
Best Rebound From The Cyclospora Scare
We didn’t realize that there was an up side to contaminated produce until we tasted the chocolated-covered grapes at Lammes. Introduced for Father’s Day as a last minute substitute for their traditional chocolate covered strawberries (the summer fruit was thought to be the carrier of the bacteria) the unusual candies were an instant hit, tasting…
Best Grocery Store Imitation Of A Theme Park
Central Market has gone out of their way to court the kiddos; the patio was a big hit with ours from the start (the adjoining gongs outside of Clarksville Pottery are a big plus), and the grab-a-fruit-to-munch-for-a-quarter pig in the produce section is a nice touch. The newest addition is a very cool playscape in…
Best Biz-newz Scooper
Hardly a week goes by when The Austin Business Journal isn’t burying its business-writing competitors over at the daily. Witness: ABJ broke a story on Schlotzsky’s successful public offering under the heading, “The Earl of Sandwich.” The Statesman chased the same story four days later with a clone headline: “Austin’s earl of sandwich.” Whoops! On…
Best Non-Deity In The Ether
What a friend we have in SubGenius. This is not an Austin-based website, but there are enough freakin’ SubGeniuses in Austin to warrant notice for the page of this 15-year-plus nonreligious cult that worships a pipe-smoking salesman named J.R. “Bob” Dobbs. Okay, we confess that at least one staffer is a long-time, high-ranking church member,…
Best Rousing Political Speech
Issacharoff’s defense of UT’s affirmative action admissions program, after losing the Hopwood case at the 5th Circuit Appellate court last spring, was the most passionate, well-versed argument for the program made in the flurry following the ruling. Unfortunately, Issacharoff’s speech was closed to all but those affiliated with the UT law school, and his comments…
Best Old-Fashioned Service Station
The friendly customer service in this near South Austin station is a refreshing blast from the past. Harold himself will pump the gas at the full-serve pump, check the oil and wash the windshield. They cheerfully fix flats and for “Car Talk” aficionados, the mechanic on duty has a genuine Boston accent.
Best Neighborhood Koindu
This year’s move to this Airport Boulevard location has been good for Mitchie and great for the neighborhood. A possible barometer for a future shopping mecca, Mitchie’s has led the way in small businesses in the area and is named for owner Joyce Hunt’s young son, who, during rehabilitation from a horrible car accident, was…
Best Caterer
Partners Rebecca Wallace and Leslie Moore are still at the top of their game after many years as Austin’s busiest caterers. Regular customers commend the excellent food, the skillful service, and artful presentations. Other contenders here would include Megan Bowman of the Articulate Hand, Prairie Rock Catering, and wedding reliables Assorted Affairs.
Best Disappearing Act
For a woman who loved the limelight, it didn’t make much sense for America’s most famous atheist to pull a Houdini. But disappear she did, along with her son Jon and adopted daughter, Robin. The trio left their belongings, and their beloved dogs (although two of the three dogs also later disappeared). At the end…
