Cover Story
Best of Austin 1999
Readers’ and critics’ favorites
How Angels are Born
How Angels are Born 1996, NR, 96 min. Directed by Murilo Salles, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Priscila Assum, Jorge Duran, Aguinaldo Silva, Nelson Nadotti, Larry Pine, Silivio Guindane. This gritty story is a thriller that focuses on the fates of children born into Rio’s devastating poverty and crime. A young teenage girl…
Austin Heart of Film Festival
Austin Heart of Film Festival NR. Directed by , Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . AHFF is an eight-day film festivalbeginning on Thu (Oct. 7) and continuing through Thu (Oct. 14) that is partof the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference, which takes place Thu(10/7) – Sun (10/10). For the complete schedule of…
The Texas Documentary Tour: A Hymn for Alvin Ailey and Malcolm X: Make it Plain
The Texas Documentary Tour: A Hymn for Alvin Ailey and Malcolm X: Make it Plain NR. Directed by Orlando Bagwell, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . The two films by Orlando Bagwell featured in this series displayhis documentary focus on African-American history and culture. Previousefforts include his collaborative work on the groundbreaking Eyes…
Cyclical Thinking
The good thing about cancer is — Okay. I know. How can one even start a sentence that way, right? But there is something positive to be noted: as with all things. And I’m not talking about how cancer — in particular, since much of it’s still so mysterious, even to the experts; and since…
Readers: Politics
SOS Coalition (7) Best Effort to Improve the Environment, 1993-99Max Nofziger (6)Best City Council Member, 1990-91, 1993-96Crazy Carl Hickerson-Bull (6) Best Local Eccentric, 1990-91, 1993-94, 1995 (tie), 1996Glen Maxey (5)Best Texas Legislator, 1994, 1996-99Austin Fire Department (4) Best City Department, 1996-99Austin Recycles (4) Best Community Program, 1994-96, 1998Daryl Slusher (3)Best City Councilmember, 1997-99Robert Johnson (3)…
Critics: Media
Austin American-Statesman (27)Best Battle in the War on Drugs: AA-S Drug Map (1992) Best Front Page Headline: In A Dither, Dagwood Quits His Job (1992) Best Investigative Series: AA-S Basketball Series (1992) Best Reason to Read the AA-S: Don McLeese (1992) Best Statesman News Source: Lee Kelly (1992) Best Typo: “The Cowboys had more prime…
Kids
Zilker Park (13) Toad Hall (8) Austin Public Library (7) Terra Toys (7) Austin ISD (7) Toys ‘R’ Us (6) Blockbuster (6) Austin PARD (5) Austin Children’s Museum (5) Between Friends (5) Barton Springs (5) Honorable Mention: Gap Kids, Payless Shoe Source, Discovery Zone, Half Price Books (4)
The Boat
Susie Sandmeier and Christian Kazen Dozens have served behind the bar at Steamboat, but none offered more consistent service than Susie Sandmeier (10 years) and Christian Kazen (aka Zoid, 8 years). Both say they feel like they literally grew up in Steamboat. “I feel like you would reflecting on your high school years,” says Sandmeier.…
Video Reviews
The Outfit D: John Flynn (1974); with Robert Duvall, Robert Ryan, Karen Black, Joe Don Baker, Timothy Carey, Richard Jaeckel, Sheree North, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Bill McKinney, Jane Greer, Henry Jones. Small-time hood Earl Macklin gets out of prison and learns that his brother was killed by mob hitmen. He discovers his girlfriend…
Best Bed & Breakfast
And the winner is? Governor’s Inn for the third year running. Three times a charm? Well, this B&B sure is charming, in all its 19th-century architectural splendor. Pick a room, any room; there are 10 of them, after all, named for governors in Texas’ colorful past. Bring your out-of-towners here; it’s just a stone’s throw…
Best Dance Company
This company’s strengths grows with its ambitions. Their Asleep at the Wheel collaboration was a highlight of this past season along with their reliable but never stale Nutcracker. This is a traditional company that knows its city, and the residents return the favor with this repeat winner.
Best Movie Theatre
While the idea of dinner theatre (mediocre food and a play featuring fading TV stars) has gone the way of the dinosaur, this downtown cinema reinvents the concept with top-notch nibbles and a choice lineup of flicks. Readers all slapped their foreheads and said, “duh” when it opened, and now they queue up at every…
Best Coffeehouse
From its humble coffeehouse beginnings in the former home of the Terminex bug, Austin Java now seems poised to take over the world with locations both downtown and in the suburbs. We’re still partial to the original Java near the ACC Rio Grande campus, where a serious student or a slacker can sip an espresso…
Best Toy Store
Readers again choose the user-friendly local charmer as their favorite. This store delights in making its wares accesible and available to perusers and purchasers. You can race cars, pull wooden trains, and read a beautiful book as you ponder the perfect birthday present for yourself as well as the intended youngster. For those whose toy…
Best Public Access Tv Show
This show may be little more than a crass attempt on the part of the hosts to grab whatever free goods and services they can squeeze out of the Hollywood’s bloated PR departments. But it also happens to be the most hilarious show on access. Host Korey Coleman and friends mix promotional clips and no-nonsense…
Best Local Athlete
To keep Heisman hotshot Ricky Williams out of this category two years in a row, you’ve got to have a touch of superhuman hootchie-coo in you. Tour de France? Ha! A cakewalk. Coming back from a bout with cancer? Pshaw! No problem for this local superhero of the two-wheeled set. Not to diminish the amazing…
Best Nonprofit Group
Helping children is what these two not-for-profits are all about. Theadvocacy center brings together professionals, volunteers, and local government entities to advocate for children’s health and welfare; the children’s shelter provides emergency care to children who have been neglected or abused. Together, the two agencies provide much-needed services for Austin’s most vulnerable residents.
Best Printer/Copies
That 24-hour thing is hard to beat, and with the new downtown location offering easier parking, this is one tough category in which to compete. But they’re good too – high standards and top quality from a ubiquitous corporate chain that people don’t love to hate. Must be something about that name.
Best Record Store
These folks know and love music, and they support it through frequent in-store performances of musicians with new releases, while the free beer flows. They’re batting seven for seven with this win. Their selection is amazing enough to keep the likes of Hayes McCauley, KUT’s Friday night world music host, entertained; he works there along…
Best New Public Building (small)
When you think about it, libraries and movie theatres are terribly different places. But this renovation of the old Americana Theatre completely reprograms the building into a first-class neighborhood library without losing the advantages of the original design. The big open space, the screen (now a mural), and the outdoor marquee all make going to…
Best Deliverance From Summer Heat
The jingling bells and the cry of “Paletas! Paleeetas!” send kids of all ages running up the street, money in hand, to greet the paletero. He’ll deliver you from the heat by delivering cool, sweet paletas y helados (popsicles and ice cream treats) directamente a su barrio.
Best Place To Enjoy A Sunset Brew
The work day is over, the traffic is subsiding, the temperature is dropping, and it’s time for a beer! Tejas Ice House combines the action of a busy street corner with the comfort of a neighborhood bar. Its convenient location and open-air seating make it a place where families congregate, friends celebrate, and neighbors conversate…
Best Daytime Out Of Town Getaway
The great state of Texas is home to the most highly regarded water theme park in the nation. Suitable for any age from three to 83, it’s simply fantastic for kids. While moderate swimming ability is a plus, lifejackets are available at no charge. There are 65 acres of rides in all. We like the…
Best Traffic Calming Decor
Long after it was made, this roundabout had an ugly dirt pile on it. City landscaping crews seemed to have passed it by. Then eight milk jugs filled with brightly colored liquids appeared on the circle’s perimeter curb. Some thought they were weird-funny, some thought they were bizarre-tacky, no one knew where they came from.…
Best Thing On Paper
This exhibition at UT’s Blanton Museum of Art is a precious collection of drawings preserved for hundreds of years on paper so delicate it makes you want to weep. With works by Raphael, Farinati, Cambiaso, Guercino, and Boucher, the fine detail of these drawings invite the eye to gaze closely – and for a long…
Best Place To Go On A 1st Date
Intimate but casual, quiet but not a morgue, inexpensive but not cheap, convenient but not pedestrian, Cafe Mundi is the ideal spot to get acquainted. Cozy in winter, cool in summer, and offering an outdoor patio looking onto the railroad tracks, this little place has it all … if only we had dates to meet…
Best Campus-area Restaurant To Make Mom & Dad Happy After The Game
Not since the late, great Night Hawk on the lower end of the Drag has there been such a perfect place to make the parents feel at home when they come for the game. Owner Ray LeMay has created a comfortable and inviting Texas hunting lodge where the food is good, the portions are generous,…
Best Of The Net
As director of TRC, Gene is working to ensure that Net access reaches rural Texans in a meaningful way. TRC, the state’s Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund, and emerging community networks (such as Austin Free-Net) are putting Texas way ahead of the rest of the nation in supporting widespread local Net development and universal access to Internet…
Most Welcome Addition To Local Tv News
Time Warner’s new cable-only, 24-hour local news channel is still pretty unproven (it just went on the air September 13), but its mere presence is already a nice quick fix – anytime you want it – for Austin news junkies. Since News8 is funded mainly by Time Warner Cable itself and is intended as a…
Best Place To Look For Alligators
Even if you don’t spot a real alligator, you can enjoy this idyllic crossroads where Barton Springs joins Town Lake; you can watch kids at play, dogs that romp, joggers at work, turtles at rest, kayaks that better not flip, and the reverie of your own mind, imaginary alligators and all. There’s archaeological evidence that…
Best Avoidance Of An Insurrection
Last year, swimmers rebelled when the city announced it would close many of its pools the first week of August. This year, the city learned from its error and coughed up the dough necessary to lure enough lifeguards to stay on the job and keep 10 of its 47 pools open until the end of…
Best Tag Team
These two Houston Democrats carried the day in the Texas Legislature when they refused to bow to political pressure from the right. Thompson and Ellis declined to strike the homosexual reference from their hate crimes bills in order to win over conservative lawmakers. The two African-American lawmakers insisted on standing united with all groups subjected…
Best Opposite End Of The Spectrum Auto Repair
The haves and the have-nots are both given true separate but equal treatment at this South Austin auto repair shop par excellence. Terry and his wife Debbie cater exclusively to BMWs and Volvos. While we know several more Volvo owners than BMW owners, both are given truly personal service to keep them in tip-top shape.…
Most Enlightened Exterminator
With the exception of Kitty Kestenbaum, adjectives like “enlightened” or “proactive” aren’t often associated with exterminators. Kestenbaum is out to save the planet – and you from indulging your worst instincts, one knee-jerk reach for the toxins at a time. The concept: know your critters’ lifestyle preferences and render your house inhospitable. Strategic caulking and…
Best Place To Find The Mother-in-law A Gift
Every item in Eva Roots is a unique, quality piece, reflecting the exquisite taste of its well-traveled proprietress. When you really want to wow your significant other’s mother, take a spin around the jam-packed interior of this upscale-funky little shop in far North Austin. The owner periodically jaunts around the globe and hand-selects big and…
Arts & Entertainment
Annual EventEeyore’s Birthday Age wears well on the donkey. No matter his age, his celebration brings the legions forth. It’s clear our readers bray in unison about some things, and this year marks a decade of pinning the winning tail on Eeyore. Sponsored by the University YMCA each spring, nothing mirrors our far-flung diversity more…
Services
Appliance/TV RepairMr. Wizard’s Electronics So you say no one can fix that old typewriter in the garage? Afraid of being finagled by some high-tech mullet when all you needed was a new tube for your stereo? Leave your fears on the doormat and bring it all to the helpful staff at Mr. Wizard’s. They’ve been…
Outdoors & Recreation
Best Man-Made ShadeAlamo Park Covered Basketball Court Neither rain nor sleet nor black of night shall screw up your appointed round of one-on-one — if you set your date for Alamo Park, that is. This summer, Austin PARD installed a mod-looking open-air structure that effectively put a roof on the sucker without impeding incoming breezes…
Media
Austin American-Statesman (36) KUT 90.5-FM (34) KVUE-24 (25) KGSR 107.1-FM (23) ACTV (22) KLBJ (14) KXAN-36 (13) KTBC-7 (13) KOOP (11) The Austin Chronicle (10) Honorable Mention: Alan Pogue (9), Dave Cody (KTBC), KVRX (7)@cutline:
The Boat
Will Sexton, Barbara K, Stephen Doster “I just keep thinking, åMan, 20 years is a long time,'” says Stephen Doster of his association with Steamboat. “There’s a lot of history in that ol’ place.” For Doster, Steamboat is where he forged long-term friendships with Bill Hicks, Tommy Taylor, and Will Sexton, held his wedding reception,…
Video Reviews
Your Friends & NeighborsD: Neil LaBute (1998); with Jason Patric, Ben Stiller, Amy Brenneman, Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski. The title sounds harmless enough, but couples beware! Director LaBute presents a chilling yet humorous deconstruction of intimacy, compassion, and trust between spouses and friends. It also presents one of the most shocking rape scenes…
Best Billboard
Not best for any intense graphics or clever design elements, but for the sheer enticement of going to that URL to find out just why someone might give half a damn that “Calvin Coolidge was the 30th president.” It’s actually a demographic test by billboard biggies Reagan National Advertising, and all who checked it out…
Best Stage Director
Just when readers thought they had him pegged as a strictly pop-musical kinda guy, Steakley pulls a fast one and scores with the über-ambitious Angels in America. The upcoming season sees more of Steakley stretching his artistic muscles while keeping the faith with his musical foundations.
Best Non-downtown Club
From vintage car shows in front, hot damn music inside, and cozy intermissions out back, this quintessential South Congress hangout attracts all types. Local songstress Toni Price showcases Tuesdays, but our readers say it’s hard to go wrong any night of the week.
Best Diner
The stubborn funkiness of this roadside motel diner endears it to students, Gen X,Y,& Z night crawlers, and trend-spotters alike. With reliable, no-nonsense food and service that borders on the belligerent, Star Seeds exists in its own little world, and so many of our readers love to visit it.
Best Video Selection
If you’re looking for PG-13 and milder, you won’t find a bigger selection than what’s stocked on the shelves of this entertainment juggernaut. Hundreds of titles of old and new favorites, Disney, Spielberg, Mattel, enough videos to keep kids glued to the tube until they’re old enough to move out of the house. Or, just…
Best Radio Station
No Ricky Martin, no genies in bottles, and no retro new wave disco dance party Fridays. Just groovin’ music – even Austin music – that people love delivered by well-informed and mellow-modulated deejays. Adult contemporary? Adult alternative? The Gee-Zer was all over those before they even had names.
Best Local Team
This is one arena that makes you really dig being in a town that’s not the size of a megatropolis. You can buy tickets for the whole family without taking out a second mortgage, and there’s really not a bad seat in the house. You’re so close, you can actually see the players’ faces in…
Best Scandal
Can AISD ever dig itself out of this hole? Not only are accountability ratings down, but TAAS tests – used to determine a school’s statewide ranking – were deliberately manipulated by one of the school district’s own employees, pushing several Austin schools into better categories. When the deed was discovered, AISD had mud on its…
Best Shoe Repair
Best way to keep them dogs from barkin’ is to keep those shoes in topnotch condition. Maybe they need another notch in the top, maybe their tongues are tied, maybe they’re down at the heel and their soles have gone straight to hell. Well, brethren and sistren, the hour of salvation is at hand at…
Best Thrift/Vintage
Goodwill’s going online with their really fine stuff, but it’s still downright amazing what people donate, and what can be yours for dimes to the dollar. Enough good can’t be said about the worthwhile works of this nationwide nonprofit; your business truly does make a difference. Though Goodwill perennially leads the thrift pack, this year…
Best New Restaurant Sign – Downtown
Neon Jungle genius Evan Voyles took a pencil sketch by local artist Bob “Daddio” Wade and turned it into one of the biggest, most ferocious rattlesnakes we’ve ever seen. Not to worry, though. The neon rattle and pitchfork tongue on this giant reptile are just for show and seem to be attracting plenty of folks…
Best Down-home Vegetable Selection
We can’t vouch for the true “vegetarian nature” of Hoover’s vegetable side dishes, but boy can we vouch for their flavor! The jalapeño-spiked creamed spinach is downright decadent, and the green beans stewed in bacon fat remind us of trips to grandma’s house back when pork fat wasn’t frowned upon. If starch is more up…
Best Place To See & Be Seen
Well, if you really want to know what’s going on around A-town or just want to catch a glimpse of a certain big celeb, hang out in the funky back patio of this great food eatery and watch who comes in to have some of El Sol’s mouth-watering enchiladas. Joan Baez had breakfast here every…
Best Excuse To Get To The Library
She can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile, and take an ordinary library storage room and transform it into a magical place filled with songs and stories and clapping and capering and sometimes even arts and crafts. For the past 13 years, Ms. Kim, as she is known to children…
Best Wallpaper
Taking a walk through the Texicalli Grille is like taking a walk through proprietor Danny Young’s head: It’s crowded, comic, and filled with local history. Put’near every inch of the joint is plastered over with some lost bit of Austin’s past, from spare signage (Virginia’s Cafe) to old concert posters (Willie!) to a bumper sticker…
Best Trip To The Sixties
All ex-presidents do the library thing, but LBJ drew one of the wildest cards of this century, the tumultuous Sixties, and his library is like no other. Including a near-lifesized replica of the Oval Office, there are countless mementos from this extraordinary time. The profound depictions of the cultural revolution cut to the quick. Using…
Best Place To Humiliate Out-of-town Guests
The two players at Pete’s, each at their own piano on stage, are a hilarious pair. Not just because they poke endless fun at each other, but because they are just as relentless to customers. Don’t do anything to stand out, because they have the mikes and they aren’t afraid to use them. (One of…
Best Slide Back In Time
There it is like a relic from days gone by, shining in the sun just beckoning all passersby: the biggest, baddest, slide in town. It is fast and so, so high. To enhance its luster, its beauty, its speed, it is constructed completely of metal and nothing else. And to protect innocent tushes from the…
Best Place To Get A Custom Pc
When Mom needed a new PC for Christmas, the Computer Renaissance team was up to the task. They provided helpful advice, support, and delivery of a sturdy, inexpensive computer they put together themselves. They’ve been great post-sale, providing technical support for one of the sweetest of new computer users.
Prettiest Goldurn E-commerce Site
You gotta hand it to the guys at Garden Escape: They’ve managed to create a truly beautiful site while avoiding the bugaboo of fat images and resulting looooong download times. It’s not that hard to create a dazzling aesthetic when you’ve got so many flowers to work with, but to do that, and make it…
Best Place To Pick Sunflowers
For the first summer in forever, old Bob has been freed from the constant onslaught of Austin travelers and now has a chance to become himself again. The grounds of the Robert Mueller airport are currently being allowed to revegetate as part of the redevelopment project, so Bob is currently letting his hair down and…
Best Bond Election Follow-through
Word has it that the specific numbers (15,000 acres; $65 million) on the watershed acquisition bond issue came from City Manager Jesus Garza. Thanks to approval from Austinites, and support from the council and important interest groups like the SOS Alliance and Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, the city was able to all but complete…
Best Trend At The Ballot Box
Sure, blame it on campaign finance limits. But boxes like Casis Elementary (or, further north, Anderson High School) always vote heavy, and did so again in May, and have electorates that take time to be informed. And they voted for Slusher, Goodman, and Griffith – who in their combined nine previous campaigns have never won…
Best Organic Lawn Service
Admit it. We’re hooked on our lush green outdoor carpets. Can love alone make our grass grow better? Can full moon rituals? Voodoo ceremonies? Classical music? Earnest prayer? Unfortunately no research has been done in any of these areas, but it has been proven that nothing works better or cheaper to produce beautiful healthy grass…
Tenderest Tlc For Appliances
When our antique vacuum cleaner coughs, or when our avocado-colored clothes dryer starts moaning, we don’t pitch it on the curb for bulk pickup. We take it straight to Weldon at Long’s Vacuum and know he will give it the care and attention more typical of a cardiac patient in an ER. If his expert…
Best Place To Indulge Your Fabio Fantasies
Some of us are learning to accept old age gracefully and find we are no longer ashamed to indulge our formerly secret love of romance novels. Unfortunately, it’s expensive, as the price of paperbacks continues to spiral. All the better then that Book Exchange lets you trade in your romances, or mysteries, or westerns, or…
Readers: Arts & Entertainment
Eeyore’s Birthday Party (9) Best Annual Party, 1990-91, 1993-99Kerry Awn: (8)Best Comic, 1990-91, 1993, 1994 (tie), 1995-98The Broken Spoke: (8) Best Country/Western Club, 1991, 1993-99Vulcan Video (8) Best Video Store, 1991, 1993-99Austin Museum of Art at Laguna Gloria (7) Best Art Gallery,1990, 1993-98Continental Club (6) Best Happy Hour Entertainment,1993-98Continental Club (6) Best Non-Downtown Club, 1994…
Readers: Services
Clean & Lean (8)Best Laundromat, 1990-91, 1993-94, 1995 (tie), 1996-97, 1998 (tie)Ace Custom Tailors & Alterations (7)Best Tailor, 1993-99Austin Shoe Hospital (6)Best Shoe Repair, 1994-99Mr. Wizard (5)Best Appliance/TV Repair, 1995-99World Gym (5) Best Fitness Club, 1995-99Cowgirls & Flowers (5)Best Florist, 1990-91, 1994, 1996, 1998Avant (5)Best Hair Salon, 1991 (tie), 1996-99HEB (5)Best Photo Lab, 1994-95, 1997…
Critics: Outdoors & Recreation
Enchanted Rock (9)Best Day Trip, 1990-91, 1993-99Barton Springs (8)Best Swimming Hole, 1990-91, 1993-98Enfield Park (8)Best Basketball Game, 1990-91, 1993, 1994-99Bicycle Sport Shop (7)Best Bicycle Shop/Repair, 1991, 1993-97, 1999 (tie)Barton Creek Greenbelt (7)Best Bike Ride, 1993-99REI (7)Best Camping/Outdoor Equipment, 1993-99Barton Creek Greenbelt (7)Best Day Hike, 1993-99Garden-Ville (7)Best Nursery/Native Plant Nursery, 1991 (tie), 1994-99Loop 360 (7)Best In-Town…
Outdoors & Recreation
Barton Creek (20) Barton Springs (20) Zilker Park (18) Zilker Gardens (15) University of Texas (13) Bicycle Sport Shop (12) Enchanted Rock (12) Town Lake Hike & Bike Trail (11) West Enfield Park (9) Loop 360 (8) Garden-Ville (8) Pease Park (8)Honorable Mention: Austin Ice Bats, Oshman’s, Volleyball (6), Lake Travis, Lance Armstrong (5)
The Boat
David Holt, David Grissom, Van Wilks, Kyle Ellison Steamboat’s most successful acts have typically had one thing in common: hotshot guitar players. Perhaps it’s because Stevie Ray Vaughan’s played there, or that Van Wilks, Eric Johnson, Chris Duarte, Arc Angels, Ian Moore, and Storyville’s David & David combo became so closely associated with the club’s…
Video Reviews
Phantom LadyD: Robert Siodmak (1944); with Alan Curtis, Ella Raines, Thomas Gomez, Franchot Tone, Elisha Cook Jr., Fay Helm. Engineer Scott Henderson (Curtis) is stood up by his wife on the night they intended to go to a musical. While moping in a bar, he makes the acquaintance of another woman; rather than let the…
Best Contemporary Building (Nineties)
Yep, taste is subjective, but some places do bait your eyes, compel visitors to ask “what’s that?” and capture our readers’ attention often enough to win this quirky category. Housing the ad agency that creates for Hollywood’s Dreamworks, amongst others, it was designed and built by architects Susman Tisdale Gayle. Oh yeah, President Clinton checked…
Best Stand-up Comic
It’s the end of an era. At some point in every king’s reign, a bold youth must step forward, challenge the king, and usurp his power so that the kingdom remains vital and alive. Alas, young Brently Heilbron has wrested the scepter of Austin’s Best Comic from Kerry Awn. Heilbron is one of the most…
Best Other Club
Jay Clark, everyone’s favorite one-man band, retired from his regular Carousel gig last summer, and this Austin mainstay has fallen from the dizzying heights of hipness it represented in previous years. But it remains what it has always been – a secret little hideaway of hip, a clean and ill-lit place that attracts people of…
Best Grocery Store
We’re downright smug about the fact that there aren’t any grocery stores like our beloved Central Markets anywhere else in the world. Visiting chefs and out-of-town shoppers leave with wistful sighs and longings and we know why. It’s a grocery store, it’s a cafe with a live music venue, it’s a bona-fide tourist attraction, but…
Best Austin Produced TV Show
Year after year, this local mainstay rocks out on top. Must we reiterate why? Great local and national acts. Years and years on the air. Loyal supporters who tune in every week. Or maybe it’s just the stripped-to-the-bone-gut-rumbling-hip-rocking-good-time music that shakes the KLRU set every week and made all those ugly rusted metal plates fall…
Best Radio Station To Listen To At Work
The executive secretary likes to keep the company dial tuned to classical, just to keep his nose close to the boss’ – you know. The assistant manager changes the thing to “Way Over the Top Wednesday” every chance she gets, while she “gets down” with her bad self. The boss? When no one’s looking, the…
Best Nursery/Gardening
This perennial favorite has plenty of perennials of its own to choose from. It’s worth the trek to ramble through the paths, pulling a red Radio Flyer behind, as we peruse the incredible selection of native plants. Friendly green thumbers share tips and wisdom as they us help us decide between all-natural compost and chicken…
Best Texas Lege Showdown
High Noon: Texas State Capitol, Austin, Texas. Political pressure from the right; a Houston Democrat on the left. Rodney Ellis stood his ground, refusing to remove the reference to homosexuality from his hate crimes bill. Conservative lawmakers in the Senate shot that brave bill down.
Best Tailor
The times aren’t the only things a-changin’, you may have noticed. And when you need your clothing to reflect those, um, changes, you need to hie yourself to the good craftspeople at Ace Custom Tailors. They’ll make what no longer fits fit again. They’ll repair and reshape and resize to your permutable specifications, making sure…
Best Used Books
The perennial favorite place to leave with more books than you arrived with to sell. Old, new, obscure, antiquated, and more, it’s all here. Not to mention a terrific calendar selection and a kids section that can keep the tykes occupied for as long as you can browse. At these prices, we all come away…
Best Obscure Animal Statue
The Arboretum cows and the Congress Avenue bat aren’t Austin’s only animal sculptures. Our favorite obscure statue is the knee-high beige squirrel of UT’s Scottish Rite Dorm. Slightly larger than life, the nameless squirrel has been snugly situated since SRD’s 1922 opening. Why is it there? Well, perhaps “SRD” stands for “Squirrels’ Rampant Dormitory,” as…
Best Expansion Of A Grocery Store
With its clean, high-ceilinged new location on Burnet finally open, Phoenicia is the perfect place to stop for Mediterranean imports, no matter what part of town you are in. Forget the maniac pace of the nearest superstore and browse over the odd canned fish, jellies, and candies. There’re bags of hard-to-find spices, an olive bar,…
Best Place To Start Off The Weekend
Rare is the Friday afternoon we don’t battle the traffic south to settle in around the outdoor tables at this Mexican eatery. Polvo’s whips up a mean margarita and maintains a self-service salsa bar with several homemade selections, among them a smoky chile concoction we just can’t get enough of. Then there’s the cilantro laden…
Best Fun Dip Into Environmental Awareness
There’s not much that will coax us out of the clear, cool water of the springs on a hot afternoon. But the call of nature forced us out, and renovations of the facilities necessitated a trip out front, where we stumbled upon this interactive cave of aquifer information. There’s an intro movie which gives us…
Greatest Addition To The Westlake View
Westlake residents pay big bucks for their great views. And the newest addition to their panorama, Jake’s on Lake Austin, is quite a sight. The huge neon saxophone makes sure you know this restaurant is there, and its bright blue and red exterior makes its equally easy to find during the day. Jake’s owners, who…
Best Works Of Art On Food Wrappers
Wrap is a genuine art form, or at least a genuine art medium. There’s no denying it when viewing the Coffey creations done up in pen and ink on the pastry wrappers that hold Jo’s fabulous baked goods. From kitschy superheroes to Kit the Sexy Cowgal, Coffey’s artwork is eye-catching and, well, funky.
Best Place To Jive With A First Date
It takes courage to set up shop off the beaten track. Cafe Mundi is a little gem tucked away behind the old Mexico Tipico parking lot. The brew is good, the pastries tasty, and their java comes in exquisite coffee ware from around the world. Inside it’s a snug, little grotto for creative types, and…
Best Social Skills Clinic
We have yet to see a young child come to the Children’s Museum and fail to make a beeline for the little train set in the lobby. We cannot count how many times we’ve heard, or said, “Don’t you want to see anything else?” But really, we don’t mind, because we want our children to…
Best PSAs
The FCC mandates that every radio station, public or commercial, dedicate a certain amount of airtime to public service announcements (PSAs). Most college and nonprofit stations trot these out en masse, but few demonstrate the creativity and passion that drives Dave Davis, KOOP radio’s PSA stalwart. While most listeners may not recognize his name or…
Sportiest Use Of Public Airwaves
For some reason, for the longest time the two-time defending NL Central champs got no respect on the Austin radio dial – until this year. KFON SportsFan 1490 brings Austin Astroholics the entire Astros radio package all season long, from the AstroLaunch pregame show and Milo Hamilton’s play-by-play to the Alan Ashby Postgame Scoreboard. They…
Best Place To Shake Freeform Booty
This is one of those well-kept secrets that may make those in the know unhappy it’s being shared. It’s considered a “sacred space” for body movement: no talking, shoes, smoking, or alcohol. Eclectic music is played with five sequential rhythms: flowing, staccato, chaotic, melodic, and meditative. With no obligation to be social, participants dance alone…
Best City Bureaucrats
When a neighborhood demands a new or better park or library, these two (Strong at PARD, Gillum at Austin Public) are the guys who make it happen. With the massive building program demanded by last November’s billion-dollar bonds, Strong and Gillum have lots of such demands on their plate. They deserve more thanks than they…
Best Unsuccessful City Council Candidate
So who in their right mind (which already excludes some of last May’s candidates) would go up against a popular and well-oiled incumbent? Maybe someone who genuinely cares about his city and has something to say. Of the several solid challengers, Ortiz did the best job of putting new ideas on the public agenda. We…
Best People To Help Contact Your Ancestors
Nope, we don’t organize a seance. When we’re looking for information about great-great-great granddaddy’s Confederate Army pension, trying to find which ship brought our ancestors to American shores, or just need help loading a roll of microfilm into the viewer so we can spend hours looking at old census records, the friendly and helpful staff…
Best of Austin 1999
10 Years Long, 10 Years Strong What a year it’s been. As we wrap up the last “Best of Austin” of the Nineties, of the 1900s, of the last year that this species will see beginning with the numeral “1,” we are struck less by the significance of our 10 years at this bizarre ritual…
Best Place To Mug At Surveillance Cameras
They’re everywhere, you know, and lots of them. You can’t even see most of them because they’re tucked into ferns or family portraits or your girlfriend’s bra. Get up to speed with the latest in Big Brother technology at this store that specializes in James Bond, oops, we mean Austin Powers paraphernalia. Really scary stuff.…
Architecture & Lodging
Bed & BreakfastGovernor’s Inn And the winner is? Governor’s Inn for the third year running. Three times a charm? Well, this B&B sure is charming, in all its 19th-century architectural splendor. Pick a room, any room; there are 10 of them, after all, named for governors in Texas’ colorful past. Bring your out-of-towners here; it’s…
Shopping
AntiquesWhit Hanks Antiques The winner, year after year, hands-down … So let’s just check our definitions. When something is no longer brand-new and somebody, somewhere might think it isn’t entirely lame — that’s thrift. When something is extremely old and general consensus says, “This totally rocks!” that is an antique. And whether it’s jeweled straight…
Politics
Best Bond Election Follow-Through15,000 Acres; $65 Million Word has it that the specific numbers (15,000 acres; $65 million) on the watershed acquisition bond issue came from City Manager Jesus Garza. Thanks to approval from Austinites, and support from the council and important interest groups like the SOS Alliance and Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, the…
Politics
Save Our Springs Alliance (15) Max Nofziger (14) Ann Richards (9) Daryl Slusher (9) Glen Maxey (8) Kirk Watson (8) Curbside Recycling (7) Crazy Carl Hickerson-Bull (6) Austin Police Dept. (5) Lena Guerrero (5) Austin Fire Dept. (5)
The Boat
Patrice Pike, Kevin McKinney, Bob Schneider If three bands could define the Crooks era Steamboat aesthetic, it would have to be Little Sister (now Sister 7), Soulhat, and Joe Rockhead, the first of four Bob Schneider-led offshoots. Graduating from the smaller but no less influential Black Cat Lounge just up the street, all three bands…
Best Downtown Building
What other state can boast a pink capitol? Um, Texas-quarried, pink granite, that is. It’s no accident that this landmark stands just a little bit taller than our nation’s Capitol Building in D.C. Check her out from afar, and then move in for closer inspection: Everything from the inlaid floors to the grand wooden doors…
Best Theatre Actor/Actress
After 20 years, Joe York continues to surprise and delight our readers with his singular blend of showmanship and crossdressing depth. Ron Berry, in just a few seasons, has made his mark on the readers’ memories with his energetic and expressive turns on a variety of local stages.
Best Place To Meet A Blind Date
Well, of course it is. The darkly-wooded, rambling interior where you purchase coffee drinks and various comestibles, the vast under-the-trees-and-stars open patio, the central campus location: perfect for providing comfort in what might be a somewhat awkward situation: “Hi, are you Sylvia? I thought that might be you. What? Mark? No, my name is Charles!” The…
Best Lunch Deal
Hate that mad dash to get a good midday meal and get back to the office? Our readers know that picking up the phone and having Pizza Nizza deliver specialty pizzas (heavenly white sauce with artichoke hearts rules!), salads, and pastas, with plenty of ice-cold beer equals: no driving, no crowds, no problem! A deal…
Best Austin Talk Radio Host
Two different takes on the political spectrum, but both from the same station: Go figure. Our readers like KJFK. Some favor Shannon “Shando” Burke’s liberal (and sometimes scatological) midday shift, while others go for the extreme libertarianism of Alex Jones’ The Final Edition, which keeps listeners up to date on the sinister lurkings of The…
Best Sportscaster
No wonder our readers love Liscano. He projects an affable loutishness with just enough dedicated professionalism to keep him credible. Fans think of him as “one of us,” not some Ken-doll talking head spouting the latest scores or Sports Illustrated retread. Recent broadcasts hint at a bit of a change of image, however, for the…
Best Outdoor Gear/Sporting Goods
Outdoorsy Austinites have been voting REI Number One since back in the day when this national co-op was located on Lamar. And that’s saying something in a town as full of nature nuts as ours. REI’s dedication to quality and variety are evident in their huge selection, including their competitively priced store brand. Aside from…
Best Texas Legislator
Thank God for Glen Maxey. This dogged crusader rallied tirelessly for full funding for the children’s health insurance program – a generous appropriation which Governor George W. Bush opposed – and passed legislation that increased funding for summer children’s nutrition programs, among a long list of other accomplishments. He’s been your favorite for four years…
Best Antiques
The winner, year after year, hands-down – So let’s just check our definitions. When something is no longer brand-new and somebody, somewhere might think it isn’t entirely lame – that’s thrift. When something is extremely old and general consensus says, “This totally rocks!” that is an antique. And whether it’s jeweled straight razors or smartly…
Best Western/Tack
The name may conjure up images of a cozy little backwoods trading post, but don’t let it fool you. Callahan’s is a hypermodern superstore, a Western Wal-Mart for all of your feed, seed, tack, farmware, houseware, and hardware needs. It also has a great clothing and boot department, one that’ll please urban cowboys as well…
Best Outhouse
You can take the girl out of the trailer park, but you can’t take the trailer park out of the girl. And whenever we are feeling especially root-bound we head over to the Grove’s outdoor seating area, throw back a few longnecks, and wait for the Molson to work its magic. Once we gotta “go,”…
Best Faux-itas
You need fajitas, but for some reason you can’t have fajitas. Or you’re just tired of the chicken-steak dichotomy. There’s a third choice, and it ain’t just extra avocado. The Rastafarian Ital Loaf, a tasty chunk of grilled wheat roast from White Mountain Foods. Served up with beans, rice, and all the traditional sides for…
Best Quintessential Bistro
We delight in the continuing expansion of our town’s restaurant scene and the seemingly endless array of places to see and be seen. But when we’re in the mood for something with less fanfare, we head back to Chez Nous, where we are never disappointed in our search for superior bistro fare. There’s no fear…
Best Introduction To Culture With A Capital K
Attending a Ballet Austin production is a complete Special Event, the kind that remains seared in a child’s mind for months or years thereafter. You go to the cavernous and grand Bass Concert Hall, you get to hear the symphony and see a genuine conductor take the podium, and then you are treated to a…
Juiciest Neon
Multitalented husband and wife team Greg and Sharon Keshishian of Ion Art – designers of so many glowing Austin landmarks – created this three dimensional figurative sign, a radiant, voluptuous bunch of grapes, for the new specialty wine superstore. The detailed work and craftsmanship on these these beauties is so realistic, it should entice potential…
Best Bagpiper
Liechti, who plays the Great Highland Pipes expertly and joyously enough to make a brace of haggis frolic drunkenly on th’moors, looks exactly the way we imagine a bagpiper should: flowing white hair and beard, aristocratic nose centering a handsome, ruddy-cheeked face, just so tall, just so wide, just enough paleness to the sturdy legs…
Best Place To Network With The Hole In The Wall “elite” And Still Be Home By Noon
The Guadalupe Quack’s may be dead, but the Hyde Park location is thriving – mostly off of caffeine-addled musicians, it seems. With Sixteen Deluxe’s Carrie Clark behind the counter and a Who’s Who of Free-for-All illuminati inside, outside, and on the tree-covered park bench, Quack’s has become the Hyde Park equivalent to Flipnotics – a…
Best Summer Day Camp
Pudgy bunny, pudding drop, Sea World, Fiesta Texas. The summer counselors work hard and play hard to show kids a good time at this day camp in Hyde Park. But even through the school year, each day is chock-full of crafts, games, or just run-around craziness, and the best part is that the staffers are…
Best Radio Show While Sitting Alone In The Dark
We’ve gotten really hooked on Jay Trachtenberg’s jazz explorations every Wednesday night, 8pm-midnight, while working late to put out the Chronicle. But we really learned to love him while bicycling home. Coasting silently through the dark, and then later sitting alone in an equally dark house, Trachtenberg’s selections suit the darkness and solitude like the…
Best Bike Commuter Route
The amount of green space running through the center of the city can, if connected properly through a little research and a little more sweat, get you most anywhere in central Austin without sucking fumes or absorbing road rage from impatient car commuters. The Barton Creek Greenbelt connects West Lake Hills to MoPac and 360…
Best Place To Smell The Roses
Lyndon called her Bird and deferred to her intelligence and grace in a manner that left no doubt as to the impressive stature of her being. When we walk, jog, and bike the paths along our beloved Town Lake, it is, in part, thanks to her vision and patronage. Devoted to nature, her formidable skills…
Best Council Member For The Money
Since he’s already a state employee as a professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Council Member Bill Spelman is prohibited by law from accepting his council salary. So the citizens of Austin are getting his thoughtful, logical services free of charge. With council salary hovering just above $30,000 a year, nobody’s in it…
Best Voluntary Compliance With SOS
When HEB started clearing the corner of Brodie & William Cannon, we wondered, “Will the trees still be standing?” HEB did one better. They complied with SOS instead of seeking variances. The 60-acre site, built with recycled materials, is landscaped with native plants and includes a rainwater collection system. This hasn’t encroached on their service…
Best Place To Air Your Dirty Laundry
Before hiring an attorney at $100 an hour to take that pesky ex-spouse or shady business to court, consider spending $35 for a mediator to try to find a solution. More than 5,000 cases have been mediated by the nonprofit group over the past six years, with 80-85% of them reaching an agreement without going…
Best Birkenstock Repair
Need a new soul? Try the Church of Christ. Need your ratty old sandals fixed? Try In Step, the only store in Austin that specializes in Birkenstock repair. And if your footwear is too far gone, they have a large selection of new merchandise to help ease the pain of the loss.
Best Place To Sup & Shop
The blossoming of South Congress Avenue continues unabated. It is now the premier strip to peruse and partake. Longtime retail residents such as Off the Wall, Uncommon Objects, The Armadillo Market, Rue’s, and others have been joined by relative newcomers Pieces of the Past and New Bohemia. And the variety of places to fortify oneself…
Readers: Architecture & Lodging
Mount Bonnell (8)Most Romantic Spot, 1991, 1993-99Texas State Capitol (8) Best Downtown Building, 1990-91, 1993-6, 1998-9 Tower Records / Varsity Mural (6) Best Mural/Graffiti, 1990-91, 1994-95, 1998-99 (tie)Texas State Capitol (6) 1993-98Best Historic Structure, 1993-98Amy’s Ice Cream (6) Best Neon, 1990-91, 1993-96 Zilker Park Botanical Gardens (6)Best Landscaping, 1993-95, 1997-99 Stevie Ray Vaughan Statue (5)Best…
Readers: Shopping
Waterloo Records (9) Best Local Record Store, 1990-91, 1993-99Strait Music (9) Best Music Store, 1990-91, 1993-99 Goodwill (9) Best Thrift Store, 1990-91, 1993-99 Half-Price Books (8) Best Used Book Store, 1990-91, 1993-96, 1998-99Nau Enfield Drugstore (8) Best Pharmacy/Drugstore, 1990-91, 1993-96, 1998-99Whit Hanks Antiques (8)Best Antiques, 1991, 1993-99Breed & Co. (8)Best Hardware Store, 1990-91, 1993-98Austin Books…
Critics: Politics
Brigid Shea (6)Best Outside Agitator (1992) Best Rumor: Brigid Shea Is a Witch (1993) Best Dressed Person on the Dais (1993) Best City Accomplishments (tie with Gus Garcia) (1994) Best Civic Shrine We’ll Never See: The Bruce Todd, Charles Urdy, Max Nofziger, Gus Garcia, Ronney Reynolds, Jackie Goodman, Brigid Shea Sculpture Garden (1994) Best Score…
Services
Clean & Lean (9) Ace Tailors (7) World Gym (7) Avant (7) Cowgirls & Flowers (6) Austin Shoe Hospital (6) HEB (6) Mr. Wizard (6) Flamingo Automotive (5) Avalon (4) Brackenridge Hospital (4) People’s Comm. Clinic (4) Austin Country Flea Market (4)
The Boat
MC Overlord and Yoggie Mussgrove When MC Overlord was 18 and wanted to rap with the Bizness, he was forced to beg David Cotten to overlook the club’s 21-and-up policy. “I used to stand out there working on him,” says Overlord. “Eventually I got him to escort me in, watch me rap, and bring me…
I Stand Alone
I Stand Alone 1998, NR, 93 min. Directed by Gaspar Noé, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Philippe Nahon, Blandine Lenoir, Frankye Pain, Martine Audrain. It’s a good thing that when they reopened the tower on the UT campus this month they added those protective suicide bars because when I Stand Alone opens for…
Best Hotel/Motel
The Texas ideal of oil-fueled chic now isn’t just nostalgically lovely, but au courrant, thanks to the careful restoration of the landmark hotel. The expertise in the kitchen as well as the gorgeous jazz in the bar courtesy of Leslie Bonnell completes the experience. Why, even Hillary Clinton lunches here!
Best Theatre Company
Zach scores again thanks to its mix of stylish, toe-tappin’ musicals and beautifully realized plays. Our readers know that whatever the fare, the show will be carefully conceived and professionally executed at every level. Readers, critics, and B. Iden Payne members can’t all be wrong.
Best Place To Meet Your Friends
“Party of one” is a tough concept to swallow, but at least it’s easy to seat. Now, party of 20, that’s a different story. While Trudy’s doesn’t take reservations, they are most accommodating to groups large or small. And, even if it’s busy and you’re required to wait in the bar for a seat, they…
Best Produce
Just when we’re convinced they’ve thought of everything, the folks in the Central Market produce department come up with something new to entice us. We’re fascinated with the custom-made mushroom shelves at the Westgate location, keeping the selection of exotic fungi fresh and delicious. We love the convenient packages of pre-cut stir-fry veggies and fresh…
Best Austin Web Site
We swear we didn’t rig it. We swear we didn’t rig it. We swear we didn’t rig it. We swear we didn’t rig it. We swear we didn’t rig it.Yes, we really won again. Karen Rheudasil, the Chronicle’s online/production manager, along with Webmaster Matt Williams, have set our lovely site on an ambitious path for…
Best Sportswriter
The Coach would not like for it to be widely known what a softie he is, but it’s the truth. That certainly does nothing to diminish the high regard with which our readers hold him, but it goes a long way toward explaining his passion for sports. And is he passionate! Dallas? Phooey! Chicago? Yay!…
Best Participatory Sport
Disc golf??? Hey, baby, Austin’s got yer Pole Hole hangin’. Nah, we’re not naughty, that’s just the name of those elevated metal chain baskets that act as “holes” in each round of disc golf. What? You thought those were trash receptacles? WhhhoooBoy, just wait’ll someone says “Nice up.”
Best Visionary
Since 1997, Austin’s popular mayor has negotiated a minefield of tricky issues with grace and self-effacing charm. From channeling growth and directing annexation to confronting Austin-bashing state legislation, Watson has shown that he can hold up under pressure and respond to challenges with innovation, energy, and expertise.
Best Art Supplies
Don’t come in here looking for faux flowers or little wooden geese to pretty up your dining nook. These are supplies, and lots of them, for the serious artist or student. All the major players in paints and inks and papers and boards are represented here, the basic and the sublime among pencils, pastels, and…
Best Architectural Transformation
You wouldn’t know it from the front door. Neither does the inside reveal the structure’s previous incarnation. Peering through the giant glass-faced wedge, the facade of the superb vegetarian restaurant looks more like the architectural love child of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Jetsons than a local filling station. Only from the building’s side and…
Best Public Art Trend 1999
Sure, Austin is loaded with clever Trevors in the business community who tart up their facades in an attempt to out-lure the competition. But, this year, especially, there has been an explosion of public art, and it has a common theme: people sticking out of buildings. We don’t pretend to know what this particular brand…
Best Indian Chef
This supremely talented gentleman cooked in India, Europe, the Far East, and the West Coast before coming to Austin as chef of the Clay Pit, where they describe his dynamic, sophisticated cooking as “contemporary Indian cuisine.” Ahmed’s pairing of traditional Indian techniques and flavors with items such as mussels and salmon, plus a diverse selection…
Best Reason Not To Eat At Eastside Cafe
We would never discourage anyone from eating inside the Eastside Cafe, but there are days when time is tight and their divine artichoke manicotti still calls. Never fear, their darling little garden store Pitchforks & Tablespoons carries a limited but delicious selection of their menu items just steps away from the restaurant – pasta dishes,…
Best Kids’ Music Camp
They all winced when we announced that our nine-year-old pianist was going to a summer chamber music camp. Okay, so we, too, had a few reservations: a fourth-grader swapping swimsuit for tails and baseball for Beethoven? Turned out to be a musical bird’s nest on the ground: two weeks of age-appropriate music-making heaven. Lots of…
Prettiest Recycling Project
Ah! The noble canoe: a sleek and simple mode of transportation. A connection to the past. A cool design element to have jutting out of your building? Waterloo Ice House owners Ted Karam and Scott Hentschel couldn’t resist the offer to scarf up Zilker’s retired fleet when those old canoes were put out to pasture.…
Best Beerhounds
Ever wonder how brew-boy wonders Chip McElroy and Brian Peters keep their Live Oak HefeWeizen from tasting arf? Curious how they impart just the right bite to their Pilz without making it ruff? Or why nothing serves as “hair of the dog” better than a cold Live Oak Pale Ale? We think it’s the daily…
Best Place To Rave
You can trip, roll, stumble, or run down to the Austin Music Hall on various weekends and witness some of the wildest concerts on the planet. The rave scene is flying high (no pun intended) and there is no end in sight. With its warehouse proportions, the Music Hall is spacious. An upper deck is…
Best Toy Store With The Most Hopeful/Boastful Name
Like our other favorite locally owned toy store, Over the Rainbow, this store sells good and wholesome toys, not just stuff that’s a marketing extension of kids’ TV shows. But every day Kid Genius also hosts a myriad of activities for children, too – from weekly infant play dates to preschool art sessions, story hours,…
Best Radio Station For Paranoid Insomniacs
The truth is out there, and it’s being broadcast to dozens of Austinites awake and listening to KJFK’s syndicated talk radio in the middle of the night. Host Art Bell spends hours disseminating information involving flying cars, government conspiracies, apocalyptic Y2K predictions, el chupacabra, and all things alien while never disclosing his physical location and…
Best Day Trip To Just Stand In A Field Full Of Flowers
When the peach crop in Fredericksburg failed this year, it seemed as if those summer afternoon drives into the country would be fruitless. What was the purpose of a road trip through the hills of Texas without a place to stop and pick peaches? Luckily, however, Wildseed Farms saved the summer. With more than 200…
Best Place To Take A Climb
Pseudo Rock is anything but fake. They offer rental equipment, ropes, and 10,000 square feet of wall-to-wall climbing space, varying in difficulty for the most experienced or inexperienced climber. A half-day trip to and from Enchanted Rock can be replaced with a short trek into town. Both sites are equally fun and challenging. Pseudo Rock’s…
Best Display Of Mayoral Athleticism
Austin may be home to some great sports celebs, but our mayor, well, let’s just say his talents lie elsewhere. But that didn’t stop him from taking on Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson in a 50-yard dash in June to celebrate the opening of the Yellow Jacket Track & Field facility. Still outfitted in his mayor’s uniform…
Best Way To Come A Crapper
Here’s a deal for city water customers in pre-1991 homes still using old water-wasting toilets: Fill out a simple form and get a voucher for up to two free 1.6 gpf beauties in any shade of plain white you want. Before you poo-poo this offer based on the performance of early models, know that these…
Best Place To Feel Insured
Mother Seton’s goal was to help the poor. The Daughters of Charity are continuing her mission by making quality health care for the working poor a reality. They provide primary health care for adults and children, immunizations, parenting classes, diabetes education, counseling, and more for those lacking the safety net of government-sponsored services. All services…
Best Bones About It
Did your dog have a breakthrough with her therapist this morning? Then why not take her to Austin’s finest pets-only eatery for some freshly baked longhorn-shaped or Texas-shaped biscuits (available in beef, chicken, peanut butter, and apple-cinnamon flavor)? Maybe she’d prefer a personalized bone dipped in carob and sprinkled with nuts, with your own special…
Best Place To Swing From The Chandeliers
Geronimoooo. Okay, okay, we admit it: The folks at Tipler’s won’t let you swing from their chandeliers. But if they did – whoo boy – you’d be swingin’ in style. Glass, brass, crystal, and more. With almost 400 chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, this West Fifth purveyor of lovely lamptitude has everything a latter-day Tarzan…
Food & Drink
All You Can EatBuffet Palace This sumptuous pan-Asian buffet just refuses to let diners go home hungry, earning the readers’ devotion year after year. Sample the stunning array of Asian salads, stuff yourself with fresh sushi, sate your appetite from the list of entree specials, and settle it all with several dessert selections.1012 W. Anderson,…
Arts & Entertainment
Best Roving Dance PartyAction Dance Party “Two turntables and a microphone” are all the Action team need to get the party started right (okay, a dance floor and a stack of vinyl never hurt). These freelance DJs have rocked the Carousel Lounge, the Ritz Upstairs, and private functions around town. We’ve grooved to new wave…
Services
Best Bail BondsAAA Bail Bonds, R Zamora Inc. For once, dialing the first number you see in the Yellow Pages is your best bet. Zamora’s Triple A has been singled out for praise by many in the local community. “They do it the right way,” says one. All praise their honest, trustworthy way of conducting…
Shopping
Waterloo Records (16) Book People (13) Breed & Co. (11) Half Price Books (11) Bookstop (10) Nau Enfield Drugstore (9) Goodwill (9) Austin Books (9) Strait Music (9)Honorable Mention: Toy Joy, Lucy in Disguise/Electric Ladyland, Whit Hanks Antiques, Wiggy’s (8), Victoria’s Secret, Nuvo, Petsmart (7), Anderson & Co., Doc Holliday’s (6), BookWoman, Oat Willie’s, Planet…
The Boat
Vallejo and Pushmonkey For the past four years or so, two of Steamboat’s best-drawing weekend anchors have been Pushmonkey and Vallejo. For the latter band, which moved from Birmingham in 1995, the ‘boat represented the promised land from the start. “Before we moved, we saw the Ugly Americans at Steamboat,” says Alex Vallejo. “We were…
Bedrooms and Hallways
Bedrooms and Hallways 1999, NR, 96 min. Directed by Rose Troche, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Harriet Walter, James Purefoy, Hugo Weaving, Kevin McKidd, Tom Hollander, Jennifer Ehle. If, with her second feature film, director Rose Troche was trying to prove her versatility, she has accomplished her mission. Bedrooms and Hallways and its…
Best Landscape
From dinosaur tracks 100 million years ago to butterfly trails today, Mama Nature picks certain places, plants, and species to confer her splendor. This is one of those blessed havens, and our readers know it. Oriental and xeriscape visions inspire profuse gardens of superb harmony. Butterflies flutter by seasonal roses, daylilies, azaleas, and fragrant herbs…
Best Theatre Space
Walking into this exquisite bastion of glamor transforms the occasion (touring show, locally produced musical, summer movie) into just that: an occasion. And as Harry Knowles knows, you just have to have your Hollywood premiere at the only theatre in town worthy of such an event. Elizabeth Hurley, Matthew McConaughey, and their cohorts were fêted…
Best Pub
Whether it’s trolling for celebrities like Quentin T., a stop for a pint of Guinness, or the occasional need for a little bagpipe music, the Dog & Duck Pub is a dark little haven worthy of praise. (Except for their TV commercials. Oh lordy, do those things grate! If you’re smart and you mute before…
Best Waitstaff
We Austinites thrive on diversity, which may be why we love the Trudy’s waitstaff so darn much. From the waiter in khakes and glasses schlepping ‘ritas and Coronas to the happy hour suits, to the waitress discussing her intimate piercings with two equally be-holed drinkers of Mexican martinis, this eclectic staff is quick with the…
Best Columnist
Well, this ain’t his first rodeo. For six years running, our readers have bootlicked Austin’s answer to Dave Barry for his inimitable skill in tweaking our spleens and chuckling our butts. Lordy, he’s got the gift of wit; he makes us laugh out loud, and that’s a powerful good thing. No doubt about it, this…
Best TV Anchor Person
She’s gone and won it again. We count this as the eighth BOA for the KVUE anchor, which is almost half of her station’s total wins. We won’t argue with your fine choice, either. With a delivery somewhere between mother, teacher, minister, and pal, she conveys the news with warmth, authority, intelligence, and sincerity every…
Best Public Golf Course
We were certainly not teed off to learn that the golf category went down almost exactly as it did last year. Lions gets first while Hancock pulls second. The narrow, tree-lined fairways at Lions Municipal are our readers’ bag. But, as we told you last year: Beware the badass dog leg left par 4 Hogan…
Best Appliance/Tv Repair
So you say no one can fix that old typewriter in the garage? Afraid of being finagled by some high-tech mullet when all you needed was a new tube for your stereo? Leave your fears on the doormat and bring it all to the helpful staff at Mr. Wizard’s. They’ve been doing it forever, they…
Best Bookstore
Readers know homegrown quality when they see it. And now those folks flying into Austin can see it too, thanks to the branch at the new airport. BookPeople combines the broad scope and munchies appeal of those national chains with the hometown funkiness and informed staff of smaller shops. When readers want to sit a…
Best Architectural/Gardenscape Metal Artist
Lars Stanley is to architectural and landscape metalwork what Bob Marley is to reggae. Lars is a trained architect (’75 Texas A&M, UT, and Pratt for graduate studies) as well as a master of the forge, creating artwork that stuns the senses in a beautiful and organic manner. The man has vision. Check out his…
Best Quick Historic Tryst
Wanna woo your honey with your vast and uncanny knack for modern Texas history? And rack up the points as a savvy feminist? How about a late-night romantic rendezvous at Barbara’s Studio in the Summit House? This huge, groovy room in the South Austin B&B is named for the late congresswoman Barbara Jordan. For the…
Best Little Deli
Crestview is an old-fashioned neighborhood – the kind where you know your neighbors and shop at the mom-and-pop corner stores. Among the many delights of Crestview Plaza is the lunchtime-only Little Deli. An exuberantly friendly bunch of servers takes care of carnivores and herbivores alike, with the best roast beef sandwich in town and a…
Best Reason To Remain A Carnivore
We anxiously awaited the long-delayed opening of a south Central Market location. While we wondered whether it could live up to the sensational central location, we never dreamed we’d be seduced by the aromas of various roasting meats as we perused the now-familiar astounding array of meats and seafood. We’ve tried the tri-tip, the rack…
Best Place For First Steps
Built around ponds to collect runoff for pollution and flood control from the 173-acre Central Market residential and retail complex, but the 39-acre park is a tranquil setting with a smooth 5/8-mile trail that provides no problem for beginning footsteps. There are lots of ducks and wildlife, a picnic area, the playscape behind the grocery…
Twinkliest Holiday Faerieland
The biggest, brightest, and most brilliant seasonal light displays are homespun, homemade, hometown labors of love. The best lights from the heart this side of the world-renowned 37th Street annual extravaganza belongs to a hair salon on Red River and the adjoining rent house which shares its parking lot. Every type of light teeny and…
Best Cable Access Show
“So, what’s this show about?” ask perplexed newbies on the other end of the live call-in line. Rather than explain, hosts Charlie and Cinco tell the caller to just keep watching. Because they know that’s the key. The show is about the sublime and the ridiculous, an hour-long package of nifty treats and oddball amazements.…
Best Place To Write Poetry
Some of us have the need to be creative, to pour out our hearts and souls on paper because at times, only words make sense. Second to stuffing yourself in a loft, unplugging the phone, and separating yourself from all that is human (or drinking yourself into a stupor), Mozart’s offers one of the area’s…
Most Adventurous Baby Stroller Ride
You may not know it, but your youngster is bored with the same old views from the stroller cockpit. Secretly your little one is pleading to go anywhere but another mall or plebian walk down the street. So treat your progeny, and yourself, to a unique Austin outdoor activity: disc golf. The city is blessed…
Best Reason To Rent A Computer (or Get Yours Serviced)
The trusty laptop died just before a dreaded family reunion – how could we plead having to check e-mail back at the hotel and dodge kissing Aunt Ethel without it? A few calls to rental places revealed high prices and discouragingly expensive deposits until we found Computer Associates of Austin. Not only did they have…
Best Dog Viewing
There have been many names assigned to this section of the creek: Doggy Springs, Free Zone, and Pauper’s Springs to name just a few. All sum up quite nicely the allure of this very chilly spot just below the big pool. On any given summer day one can sit creekside and watch the antics of…
Best Place To Take A Fall
ARG has nine inches of carpet foam, and enough Alice-in-Wonderland-sized mattresses to feel like a moonwalk at your 10th birthday party. Naturally, the idea is to climb up the 30-foot textured rock walls and the 15-foot “godzilla” boulder, but if you drop, you won’t pop.
Best Elected Official In The Suburbs
Farrell is the mayor of Rollingwood, which though basically a Central Austin neighborhood was long known for its suburban animosity to the big city. Farrell is known for the reverse – working with, and not against, Austin on solutions to problems that anyone can see cross city limits.
Biggest Step Backward In Legislative Session
Austin attorney Sarah Weddington fought hard for a woman’s constitutional right to choose, arguing her case before the Supreme Court at the tender age of 27. Too young for the court to take her seriously, some argued, but she won her case in Roe v. Wade. Now, Texas lawmakers are trying to keep other young…
Best Place To Fine-tune Your Hi-fi
Inherited an antique Macintosh, run into a battered Thorens, or searching for a pristine Marantz? Whether you’re looking to refurbish a piece you have or locate a hard-to-find item, Circle Stereo is the place. We love proprietor Bill Green’s patience and passion for turntables and vintage stereo equipment. His prices are reasonable, his knowledge immense,…
Best Chain Supermarket Store Location
Face it. With the news that Safeway has recently bought Randalls for over a billion dollars, big supermarkets are here to stay. But this shopping experience doesn’t always have to be cold and impersonal. In fact, some stores actually serve as a neighborhood’s central hub, a place where a true cross section of folks are…
Best Place To Think Globally & Act Locally
Mitchie’s is more than your average specialty art gallery and custom framing shop. While carrying a most impressive array of fine black art and literature from around the globe, Mitchie’s Fine Black Art is also a great place to learn about what’s going on right here in Austin’s African-American community. Yet, it’s even more than…
Readers: Food & Drink
Lucy’s (7) Best Custom Cakes/Cake Decorating, 1993-99Dirty Martin’s Kum-Back Place (6) Best Greasy Spoon, 1990-91, 1993-96Oasis Cantina Del Lago (6) Best Restaurant With a View, 1990-91, 1993-96Rose’s (6) Best Salsa, 1990-91, 1993, 1994-96Thundercloud Subs (6) Best Sandwich Shop, 1991, 1993-97El Galindo (6)Best Locally Made Chips, 1990-91, 1993-96Travis County Farmers’ Market (6)Best Open-Air Market, 1990-91, 1993-96Oasis…
Critics: Arts & Entertainment
Dobie Theatre (4)Best Cinevations (1994) Best Movie Theatre up for Anything (1996) Best Movie Theatre Buttered Popcorn (1996) Best Local Film Talent Incubator (1997)Electric Lounge (4)Best Rising from the Ashes (1994) Best Hand Stamp Rivalry (w/Emo’s) (1995) Best Hoot Night Series: Do Me Baby (1997) Best Odd New Happy Hour (1998)Austin Film Society (4)Best Support…
Critics: Services
City Curbside Recycling Program (3)Best Recycling Program: City Curbside Pickup (1992) Best Media Service to the Environment: Curbside Recycling Now Accepts Inserts (1993) Best Place to Recycle (tie): City Curbside Pickup (1994)13 tied with 2 each
Page Two
Welcome to the 1999 Best of Austin issue.
The Boat
Young Guns Danny Crooks isn’t blind to the fact that the last three years have been something of a slump for Steamboat. The weekend schedules rotate the same cast of headliners over and over and the last weekly residents to become big-draw weekend acts were Breedlove, Sunflowers, and Steamroller, all more than four years ago.…
Eternity and a Day
Eternity and a Day 1998, NR, 132 min. Directed by Theo Angelopoulos, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Iris Chatziantoniou, Isabelle Renauld, Achileas Skevis, Bruno Ganz. To enter the world of Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos is to gain a whole new set of reference points for the word “slow.” With an aesthetic seemingly ready-made…
Best Mural
Carl Lowry’s vibrant 1980 homage to Hollywood icons for the old Varsity Theatre – now Tower Records – faces, on the other side of 24th, the other, more recent mural winner: a depiction, in striking but sweet realism by Doug Jacques and his ACC art class, of Austin’s “good life.” Just stopping to look at…
Best Bar Snacks
Where else but Austin’s only London-style pub will you find burgers, quesadillas, and nachos on the same menu with Bubble & Squeak, Fish & Chips, Bangers & Mash, and a Ploughman’s Lunch? Nowhere else on planet Earth that we know of. Y’all grab a Shiner Bock and some Scotch eggs and stay awhile, mate!
Best Retail Beer & Wine
The enormous selection of singles (you might as well try the Fat Tire Ale when you’re not in for a six-pack) make this the candy store of beer retailers. Informal and witty notes on featured wines (“So dry and unfiltered it’ll make you cry”) lead neophytes and connoisseurs alike to the new and undiscovered in…
Best Bookstore kids
Richard Scarry, Dr. Seuss; Brothers Grimm and Mother Goose; Stella Luna, Madeleine – all these beneath the Toad Hall sign. And more, of course: all the literature of childhood, in a shop so amenable to both kinder and their kin that going to Toad Hall is like rediscovering a favorite book left in the attic…
Best Commerce Site
We went back and forth on our decision to run this category in our ballot. Our goal is to create categories that encourage votes cast for locals. But really, when you’re talking the World Wide Web, you’re talking about horizons expanding and the entire planet as your back yard. The San Jose-based eBay has all…
Best Tv Newscast
For six years running you have voted KVUE your most reliable, best all-around newscast. Perennial BOA favorite Judy Maggio is certainly a draw, but there’s got to be more to a good newscast than its anchor. Chalk it up to a great writing staff and good judgement on the part of the news editors, along…
Best Public Sports Venue
On fall afternoons from I-35, we see this giant creature rumbling and pulsating with thousands of waving hands and screaming mouths. It’s looking grander than ever these days – it’s big, it’s imposing, and it’s alive with local spirit.
Best Auto Mechanic
Finding a good mechanic is one of the top 10 secrets to living a happy and meaningful life. This might be a clue as to why Flamingo’s customers keep voting them Number One with such purpose. A garage this meticulously maintained gives you an idea of the kind of care both client and car will…
Best Comics Or Specialty Books
It’s like trying to figure out who’d win a fight: Superman or The Mighty Thor? Both these popular stores are stocked to the rafters with comics, comics, comics, and books about comics. Ranging from silly-animal fanzines and superhero compilations to adult-themed graphic novels and indie alterna-views, flanked by figurines of vampires and elves and robots,…
Best Architectural/Gardenscape Stonemason Artist
Dylan is a self-taught stone mason (and a university-trained philosopher), but to look at his work, you’d think he had apprenticed for decades in the rolling hills of Tuscany. He talks to the stone, but more importantly, he listens when the stone talks to him. This ain’t no dry-stacking stoner; the man is an artiste,…
Best Reason To Visit The Stevie Statue
Okay, so some of us are trying to do something good for ourselves. That means walking along Town Lake and, of course, paying homage to the statue of the hometown hero. But just west of Stevie Ray Vaughan, where the path takes a bend, sits the Walter Hyatt bench, with a small patch of flowers…
Best Little Snow House In Texas
For seven years Sno-Beach – located conveniently close to Barton Springs Pool – has been a happy summertime tradition (as the long lines suggest) at the little trailer with the purple snow cone on top. Independent owner Don Powell and his wife Connie, along with long-time employees Adrienne and Venessa, give Sno-Beach a distinctly friendly…
Best Restaurant Debut
Conventional wisdom dictates it takes most restaurants at least a year of operation just to catch on, so there’s nothing conventional about Vespaio’s success. Positive word of mouth about this cozy neighborhood Italian joint has had customers waiting two hours for tables since the fall opening. Chef/co-owner Alan Lazarus’ food has been attracting loyal crowds…
Best Place For The Munchies After Curfew
Around 12 o’clock on any weekend night you can usually spot throngs of teens milling about at one of the many “Cabana” locations throughout the city, licking their wounds from that busted party or having one last get-together before curfew. Best thing about it is that Cabana’s open 24-7 and serves good, fast Mexican food,…
Best (multi)cultural Stage
Located on East Seventh Street, the center now brings some of the best and most exciting cultural and offbeat programming to East Austin. The Center continues to physically expand with the recent addition of offices and storage space. Its programming is also growing with local theatre groups using the facilities on a more frequent basis.…
Best Chance At A New Chances
After five years, you’d think we’d stop bitchin’ and moanin’ about the loss of our venerated club Chances. But face it: Nothing’s ever replaced it. Hmmm. Well- Not so fast. Gaby & Mo’s has effectively filled a big slot for both cool, casual hang-out cafe and low-key, comfy live music venue in the Manor Road…
Best Recurring Eeyore’s Birthday Character
Like a hardy perennial, Eeyore’s birthday comes up the third weekend in April, successfully battling irate neighbors and City Council threats. Similarly, annual party-goer “Silver Man” is dependably out – clad primarily in silver body-paint. Every year we wonder where he lives, and how he gets to Eeyore’s without silver-painting his transportation. And how long…
Most Eclectic Kids’ Commercial Television
Adults who don’t get the appeal of the wildly popular Pokémon games certainly won’t be tuning to KVC-13 for the cartoon show of the same name, but you can bet the kids are. The station’s afternoon programming features standard kids’ fare of shows such as RoboCop, Spiderman, The New Addams Family, and the ever present…
Best Satirical Campaign Web Site
It looks just like the official website (http://www.georgewbush.com) of our resident next president, and that has Shrub hoppin’ mad. “There ought to be limits to freedom!” Bush exclaimed after learning of the site that almost exactly mimics the real thing, except that it digs up all those ugly facts that Mr. Compassionate Conservative would rather…
Best Full Service Garden Center
For years, Diane Winslow has had the ultimate nursery for herbs and antique roses. But with the addition of her husband Chris (who ran the greenhouses at Marbridge Farms for 20-plus years) to the place, it has grown by leaps and bounds. He’s added a heavy emphasis on native landscaping plants, and does irrigation and…
Best Place To Test Your Knobs
Like the slew of sorry SUVs on the road, most urbanite-owned mountain bikes will never know the pleasure of the dirt for which they were created. If you want to tackle some of Central Texas’ most challenging mountain bike trails, head out to Emma Long Motocross Park (FM 2222 west of Loop 360, left at…
Best Government Flack
We’re not big on going through public information officers to get the company line, but this particular mouthpiece for the city of Austin is the real deal: She’s low on spin and high on tracking down that elusive public official and making him or her call us back right away. Sometimes she’ll follow up with…
Friendliest Council Staff Member
Next time you feel like you want to fight City Hall, you might try calling Council Member Bill Spelman’s office first. Chances are you’ll get his executive secretary, Frank Kopic, on the line, and you’ll be chatting away happily before you know it. Frank remembers your name and your face, and always transfers you to…
Best Place To Get Your Radiator Fixed
Fast and cheap when it comes to car repairs, especially radiator repairs in the boiling (over) heat of Central Texas, is the nicest thing you could say about a shop. Courteous, quick, and affordable, The Radiator Shop will help you and your car keep cool on the mean and crowded streets of Austin.
Best Collectible Posters
Watching David Bowie’s head spin makes us giddy. Known for its extensive collection of collectible vinyl, Treasured Tracs poster selection is sometimes overlooked. Offering both vintage and new, movie and music, this store caters to the avid collector as well as to the poor college kid in need of wallpaper. Elvis, Marilyn, and Bart are…
Best Reason To Wait In Line At Whole Foods
Last time we checked, her roots were purple. She reminds us of that poem “When I Grow Old I Shall Wear Purple,” but Nant Z’s too young to be old; in fact she’s exactly the right vintage. She’s also a delight at the cash register, friendly without being too perky, doesn’t wear any extraneous hardware…
High-Tech
Computer StoreComp USA The past year has not been kind to Dallas-based CompUSA. Stiff online competition and falling prices have forced “America’s Largest Computer Superstore” to close its local Highland location and lay off several hundred employees. But the newly streamlined CompUSA has a much more efficient customer service setup and a burgeoning Web presence.…
Architecture & Lodging
Best Secret Garden300 Academy When the plans went in, no doubt there were more than a few raised eyebrows around the South Austin neighborhood, but the finished building stands as a testament to how contemporary and classic can coexist peacefully. Richard Vargas, the architect of this grand design, went for what he refers to as…
Shopping
Best Place to Buy Hemp NecklacesAustin Bead Shoppe Designing you own necklace has never been so easy. They have countless numbers of beads, shells, pendants, and rocks to help make any anklet, necklace, or bracelet meet your fancy. And for those of you who don’t know how to make your own hemp necklace, the employees…
Public Notice
What’s better in Austin than its public service community?
Dancing About Architecture
Exposing the Subgenius; Austin clubowners gather to mourn the Steamboat; Earthpig moving to the taxicab center of the universe; and Jonathan Richman breaks down.
Jakob the Liar
Jakob the Liar 1999, PG-13, 114 min. Directed by Peter Kassovitz, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Robin Williams, Alan Arkin, Bob Balaban, Mathieu Kassovitz, Nina Siemaszko, Liev Schreiber, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Michael Jeter, Hannah Taylor Gordon, Gregg Bello, Justus Von Dohnányi. There are going to be a lot of people who regard Jakob the…
Best Public Artwork
South Austin is carefully guarded thanks to the watchful eyes of the blue genie at Annie and the bat at the Congress Avenue bridge. The bat, called Nightwing, courtesy of local sculptor Dale Whistler, is a benevolent protector, swaying gently in any breeze it can catch. The genie, with its gently menacing eyes, warns off…
Best Bar Staff
This popular downtown joint refers to itself as a “cocktail lounge,” and the staff appears dedicated to the proposition that patrons are there to enjoy expertly prepared mixed drinks. Here’s our toast to Mendy Frolich, David Dart, Davis Comeau, John Nordstrom, Jamie Schroeder, Kevin Radican, Michael Nowlin, and Sam Williams. Salúd!
Best Swanky Joint
There are very few places in Austin where a double-parked limo out front isn’t completely pretentious. Sullivan’s is one of them. Come with your red-meat appetite in place and your martini buds primed. The other place is the sneaky Speakeasy. No fear of an Elliot Ness-esque raid here (unless, of course, your taxes aren’t paid…
Best Camps/Classes
Want to keep those little minds and bodies busy with things like painting, clay modeling, collage projects, and especially explorations of theatre and its varied arts? The Dougherty Arts Center has been doing just that, and – judging from the smiles and grins and bright creativity – very successfully, for years. Kids realize instinctively that all…
Best Computer Repair
With a reputation as one of the most computer-dense cities in the world, it’s no wonder Austin technicians – especially the mobile kind – are at a premium. Our readers’ endorsement of those lovable nerds proves that they are fast, efficient, friendly, and professional. When your PC or Mac is ailing, that’s comfort indeed.
Best TV Reporter
The management at KLBJ-AM was reportedly greatly saddened by Culpepper’s recent jump from radio to television, and with good reason – they lost an excellent broadcast journalism talent. Now on your small screen, Culpepper has impressed us with her ability to get a handle on hard news issues and concisely explain why they matter. She…
Best Skating Rink
With ice hockey taking off all over, slipping on a pair of skates and sliding across the rink doesn’t seem so strange when it’s 80 degrees outside. The little ones love it, trading in their rollerblades these days for a pair of ice skates. And we love watching them stuttering across the ice, gliding more…
Best Barber Shop
Step right up, boyo, and set yerself into one of the four oldschool barber chairs presided over by Pete Perales and his tonsorial technicians. These guys have been in the same location for 31 years, nestled amongst shops hawking turquoise jewelry, custom-made caskets, and scuba gear. Pete’s knows just what it takes to lower your…
Best Drugstore
No wonder Austin loves Nau’s. The cashier who reminds us of cookies baking greets everyone with a smile at this Clarksville cornerstone. Sodajerks mix concoctions from a real fountain while making a mean chorizo-and-egg taco at the ever-popular lunch counter. We love browsing through the gifts before finally buying some Blackjack gum at the ancient…
Best Diner Decor Redux
When we bolt outta the sack with the shakes and a bad hankerin’ for a 3am tortilla soup fix, it steadies our nerves to remember that Jim has what we need. Jim is Our Man. We’ll turn you on to him. He can set you up. This popular Texas chain diner can take care of…
Best Reuse Of A Building
Well, wouldn’t you know it, Madalyn’s old office is now an intake room for clients of AIDS Services of Austin. Couldn’t think of a better use for the place than as a branch of Austin’s nonprofit dedicated to providing an important service to the community. The small altars, candles, and other physical displays of spiritual…
Best Locally Made Cheese
When we wake up early enough on Saturday morning, images of the Westbank Farmer’s Market and white rounds of fresh goat cheese float before our eyes. From their wooden table and booth, the Pure Luck entourage from Dripping Springs encourages tasting and dialogue about their award-winning cheeses. Beat the supermarket and meet the chevrephiles.
Best Ride To A Step Back In Time
It’s just a stone’s throw across the lake, but the drive is something else. Once off the main road it weaves and winds down a dark, secluded two-laner that makes you feel miles from anywhere. At the bottom of the hill the reward is stumbling upon this lakeside shack that recalls the set of a…
Best Place To Cuddle With Big Cats
Our own pint-sized Hill Country zoo has always had charm to spare, but the recent acquisition of a pair of Siberian tigers and a male African lion provide an opportunity to observe these magnificent creatures in an unusually intimate setting. These rescued former pets are declawed, and while they maintain their massive strength, their keepers…
Best Art Space Where Everything Clicks
While the Austin Museum of Art – Downtown awaits its ultimate makeover by architect Richard Gluckman, last fall found the museum performing a little nip and tuck of its own, raising the bar on its exhibits, especially its photography. “Modotti and Weston: Mexicanidad” was a memorable survey of Mexico in the mid- to late Twenties.…
Best Club-closing Event
During the final set on the final night of this club’s existence, the Kiss-Offs had some severe problems with their planned pyrotechnic display. (Vocalist Travis Higdon ended up in the hospital with second-degree burns.) Meanwhile, a self-appointed demolition crew began deconstructing the place. Naturally, the show ended abruptly, and the cops waded in to restore…
Best Roving Dance Party
“Two turntables and a microphone” are all the Action team need to get the party started right (okay, a dance floor and a stack of vinyl never hurt). These freelance DJs have rocked the Carousel Lounge, the Ritz Upstairs, and private functions around town. We’ve grooved to new wave night (“Hiroshima, Mon Amour”) as well…
Most Sane Mall Experience
Used to be, folks were nostalgic for downtowns and main streets and friendly clerks at corner stores. Nowadays, with cultural trends folding over on themselves faster than breeding rabbits, there’s a shift toward mall nostalgia. Yes, mall nostalgia. Small malls, human-sized indoor shopping havens, home of mall walkers and easy-to-traverse shops, went out of style…
Best Silly Local Tv Ads
Comp Nerdz’s confoundingly funny and compellingly whacked-out commercials are made on the cheap, in-house, by VP of marketing Rob Lewis. At a sliver of the average ad budget, these ads still rival anything produced locally. Just check out their co-op promotion with Blazer Lazer tag, where a dutiful nerd, ably assisting a family in need,…
Best Imitation Of Cousin Itt By A Team Mascot
Tribble or Troll? Koosh™ Ball or hairball? What’s the deal with Austin High School’s team mascot? It’s a big ball of something. Fun Fur? Shag Rug? Fluff? Bellybutton fuzz? The nasty stuff that comes out of your dryer’s lint catcher? What’s up with that? Oh, Mr. Maroo (that’s the cuddly ball of something’s name), no…
Best Romantic Row
City-run, our town’s canoe center is a short walk down from the Springs in Zilker Park. For $7.75 an hour, or $28.50 for the day, you can paddle a canoe as far as your octopus arms can reach. Go right for the stunning cityscape, or left for the pastoral view. Pack a picnic, catch the…
Best Lobbyist For The Cause
Here’s a woman who knows how to persevere against the odds. Every other year, Hardy-Garcia, the tireless executive director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, goes to bat for us in the rough and tumble world of the Texas Legislature. Homophobia be damned, Hardy-Garcia gets out there and gladhands with the best of them.
Most Improved Community Organization
For years, ANC was a loudspeaker that amplified individual neighborhood complaints into citywide issues. Not that this isn’t sometimes what needs to be done, but with the Smart Growth challenge, ANC is aiming for a new role as the city’s partner in finding solutions to these issues and implementing a truly citywide neighborhood agenda. We…
Best Place To Learn All Kinds Of Stuff
Hang glide! Belly dance! Be a shaman. A horse whisperer. A weatherman. Learn to rock climb. Or to watercolor. Or to tattoo. Get on the radio. Tell stories. Compute. Learn how to travel free, trek the Himalayas, and get paid what you’re worth. Wanna be a private eye? A songwriter? A gardener? Cook! Feng shui!…
Best Healing Atmosphere
Hosting one of the largest selections of bulk herbs in town (340 different types), the Herb Bar is a veritable garden of delight. Helping people easily utilize the healing effects of these herbs is a goal of this privately owned store. They carry books and products for using color, aroma, and herb therapies, as well…
Best Shop For The Wearin’ Of The Green
Actually, a corny phrase like “wearing of the green” has little to do with the wonderful selection of arts, books, CDs, crafts, T-shirts, jewelry, musical instruments, and more from various Celtic countries. There are no chubby-cheeked leprechauns in green bowler hats and they don’t sell Guinness – but you can buy a harp! They also…
Readers: High-Tech
University of Texas (3)Best Internet Provider, 1995-97Comp USA (3)Best Computer Store, 1995-96, 1999www.auschron.com (3)Best Local Web Site, 1996, 1998-99
Critics: Architecture & Lodging
Texas State Capitol (4)Best Hole in the Ground: North Capitol Extension (1992) Best Save: North Capitol Extension (1993) Best Hinges: Texas Capitol Gift Shop (1996) Best Lobbyist Holding Pattern: Central Court Open Air Rotunda, State Capitol Extension (1997)University of Texas (4)Best Place to Get Lost: Perry-Casteneda Library (1992) Best Fountain to Swim In/Best Place to…
Critics: Shopping
Habitat for Humanity’s Re-Store (3)Best Best Gently-Worn Jambs (1994) Best Place to Shop for Cheap Household Fixtures (1996) Best Good Neighbor (1997)Breed & Co. (3)Best Place to Match House Paint (1993) Best Place to Spend a) the morning b) $50 C) Your Life (1993) Best Best Place for Kitchen Gadgets (1994)Half Price Books (3)Best Used…
Mr. Smarty Pants
Horses, monster movies, and the blues backbeat.
Naked City
What started as a loose but inspired mix of people kicking around ideas over margaritas at Trudy’s is now an organized group with a serious name and an upcoming charrette that could lead to big changes at the old Seaholm Power Plant. The fledgling group of arts and new media folks calls itself Advance TEAM…
The Minus Man
The Minus Man 1999, R, 111 min. Directed by Hampton Fancher, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Sheryl Crow, Dennis Haysbert, Dwight Yoakam, Mercedes Ruehl, Brian Cox, Janeane Garofalo, Owen Wilson. You can say this for The Minus Man: It comes with a darn good pedigree. Hampton Fancher is making his directing debut after…
Best Restoration Project
All ambitious restoration projects of landmarks this huge teeter between labor of love and construction nuisance. Any ambitious restoration project of a Texas landmark this lovely and important can take its sweet time to get the job done just right. For the longest time, our readers heeded the signs, watched out for the orange warning…
Best Casual Joint
Remember when your friend’s parents redecorated their basement, all soft funky chairs and disco lights and a killer bar at one end? That’s what you’ve got here, distilled, downtown, and with an outdoor section like Uncle Joe’s backyard. (But triple the size of that old haunt inside, and behind the bar, a cadre of booze…
Best Tejano/Conjunto Club
Live Tejano music, man. According to one faithful customer, “I used to be a Sixth Street man, but this Tejano music saved my life.” He admits he still forays downtown, but this is la familia. Cowboy hats are optional, not to mention handsome. The strutting on this dance floor is some of the best in…
Best Clothing
New York Times style maven and Fashion Ed. Carrie Donovan with her furry friend Magic the Airedale have endeared kids and parents alike to Old Navy (Can you say, “Gap this”?) with some of the silliest, most swingingest national ad campaigns to grace the boob- errr, we mean tube. Well, catchy jingles, whacked out neo-Atomic…
Best Computer Store
The past year has not been kind to Dallas-based CompUSA. Stiff online competition and falling prices have forced “America’s Largest Computer Superstore” to close its local Highland location and lay off several hundred employees. But the newly streamlined CompUSA has a much more efficient customer service setup and a burgeoning Web presence. And their gargantuan…
Best Weather Person
Jim’s competitors don’t come within spitting distance of reaching this holy man of weather prognostication. An Oklahoma boy whose fascination with the skies was honed growing up in the heart of tornado alley, Jim has won every weather-broadcasting award there is. He established the Live Weathernet with 75 sites at schools and fire stations all…
Best Spectator Sport
People come from all over the state by plane, train, automobile, and giant RV to cheer on the Longhorn gridiron. It’s more than a game, it’s a way of life. And you ain’t seen tailgating till you’ve checked out the parking lot prior to, during, and after a Longhorn game. Warning: Persons allergic to orange…
Best Car Wash
Genie waved a magic wand again to triumph for its fourth straight year. Is it something in the water? Nope. Is it the 48-hour rain check? Sorta. Is it the comfy viewing gallery? Kinda. But mostly, it’s the clean, convenient facility and the fast, friendly service, things too many businesses overlook these days.
Best Furnishings/Home
Your Living Room? In your dreams, pally; you should be so tasteful. But if you’re in the mood and money to consider furnishing those dreams, check out this stunning array of interior home designs featuring such local artisans as Eddie Myers, Judd Graham, and Gerard Less. It’s metal, it’s wood, it’s glass, it’s leather, it’s…
Best Eye On Central Austin
South Austin’s got its Blue Genie on South First to keep it safe and sound. Now Hyde Park has something more than Mr. Potatohead to ward off evil spirits and watch over things. This totem has the head of an eagle, just like the elegant Griffin for whom the school is named. The body, however,…
Best Riff On International Icons
There was no way in Heck that we were going to put hand over our heart at the home of so many derned Aggies (yup, Freebird’s World Burritos comes out of College Station), but when we saw that gleaming lady liberty stradlin’ that Harley, we weren’t sure what to do: Salute? Drop and give her…
Best New Pies
The ratio of the circumference to the diameter of these pies is Pi. No argument here. But there is argument all over town about Austin’s best pizza Liberty Pies is so much more than pizza, that we didn’t want to just focus on that. Owner Louis Lambert (whose name got around quite a bit during…
Best Stuffed Jalapeños
This Tex-Mex cafe in deep South Austin elicits a lot of strong feelings both ways for its food and service, but it’s hard to go wrong with their stuffed jalapeños – hand-breaded peppers with a white cheese filling. The red jalapeño jelly makes them unique and superb. Four for $4.95 makes them a good deal,…
Best Place To Find Santa, The real Santa
There is no doubt about it. This guy is the real thing: white fluffy beard, joyful, smiling face, big round belly, generous helpful spirit, and a red hat, too, but of course, he only sports that around the holidays. Norman Sharp is at his shop all year long making keys and selling locks and getting…
Best Dancer Of Versatility & Dynamism
Our recent visits to Ballet Austin have held many pleasures but perhaps none so exhilarating as the evolution of company member Christopher Hannon. Over the past few seasons, the athletic young dancer with the large, soulful eyes has proven himself a chameleon of the ballet. He has dazzled us in serious parts well-suited to his…
Best Corner For Rock
Home to a myriad of art, music, and dance organizations including Sweatbox Recording Studio, Center Dance Studio, and KOOP Radio, this reformed warehouse now provides some of the last affordable practice and art spaces in downtown Austin. Walk by most any evening and sample the sounds of Austin’s performers hard at work.
Best Single Silent Film Revival
It’s hard to pick one standout from such an impressive field of performances, but this show deserves special praise. The sublime score was performed by 10 musicians playing over 25 different instruments. Kamran Hooshmand’s unerring selection and arrangement of Middle Eastern songs displayed a perfect understanding of how silent film music has traditionally been used…
Best Corporate Team-building Experience
Work atmosphere tense? Deadlines looming? Clients crying? Boss acting like a real pr!ck? Feel like you could just go off like Dirty Harry, Rambo, or the little kid in Home Alone? A darned fine way to make sure that the atmosphere at your work place doesn’t go too “postal” (or “day trader” ) is to…
Best Speed Dealer
Psst, buddy. Looking for something that’ll make you go real fast and keep you up forever? Forget that bathtub biker speed. 1999 brought Austin Web surfers two affordable broadband Internet access choices. Both offer instant, always-up connections at speeds that make 56K modems seem like they are on Quaaludes. There are significant differences between them,…
Best International Jersies
Okay, the whole sporty-casual thing has gotten out of hand. Face it: officially licensed duds of the major leagues are major duds when it comes to fashion. Baby, you don’t have the body for that Spurs tanktop. But, y’know there is one or two sports that haven’t been done to death. Soccer is our favorite,…
Best Shallow End
Deep Eddy is a shallow giant, perfect for a summer afternoon of splashing and jumping through the seeming miles of cold, blue water. On a Saturday afternoon, there are swarms of tiny, naked bottoms swishing around the edges of the pool, while older kids shout “Marco” in the waist-deep center. For really big kids, there…
Best Outlet For Apartment-dwelling Do-gooders
We used to drive through cozy neighborhood streets lined with those blue bins full of beer bottles, plagued with guilt about our own wasteful ways. But those days of blue-bin envy are over since we began schlepping our reusables over to the Ecology Action gang. Located in the middle of town, they offer everyone outside…
Most Improved Government Agency
As long as Capital Metro spewed forth crimes and misdemeanors, it was easy to attack mass transit itself. Now, the antis have to explain why they think a totally auto-dependent city, choking on its own traffic and smog and far more expensive than it needs to be, is the American dream. If the New Cap…
Best Place To Spend A 20¢ Stamp & Find Someone Who Cares
Do you ever go on long, exotic vacations, to say, Hot Springs, and realize that friends just don’t want to hear about it? Well, if you are hankering for eager listeners who will appreciate your travel tales, mail a postcard to the nice folks at Travel Fest, and they’ll pin it up on their bulletin…
Best Local Soap
If cleanliness is next to godliness, then this soap is just one wash away from heaven. Pungent with rosemary and other essential oils, this simple amber bar, handcrafted by Sarah Nitsch, is a miracle of ablution. It might not make your hair talk, but if it did, that hair would say, “Wow! I’ve never felt…
Best Totally Fly Shop
For angling with a challenge (no bait buckets here), these folks have led the movement in the metro area since 1980. They were the first shop in the entire state of Texas specializing in fly fishing only. Stocked with an incredible selection of sage advice, flies, rods, reels, and all the accoutrements. Introductory clinics, casting…
Kids
BookstoreToad Hall Richard Scarry, Dr. Seuss; Brothers Grimm and Mother Goose; Stella Luna, Madeleine — all these beneath the Toad Hall sign. And more, of course: all the literature of childhood, in a shop so amenable to both kinder and their kin that going to Toad Hall is like rediscovering a favorite book left in…
Food
Best Phonetically Correct Restaurant NameAy Chiwawa! This expression may be the Mexican equivalent of “Oh my goodness!” but who amongst us doesn’t first think of that weird little Tex-Mex talking taco dog? Eat your corazón out, Taco Bell, for this new Austin restaurant is barking up the right tree. Featuring specialties from the Mexican interior…
Ten Years
Numbers, we got numbers. On the occasion of this, the 10th edition of The Austin Chronicle “Best of Austin,” we’ve gone back and tallied some figures on the people, places, and organizations who’ve won the most awards through the years, both overall and in specific categories. At right is the list of all-around winners, across…
After a Fashion
Awards shows offer the unique opportunity to see fashion happen under the unforgiving glare of broad daylight.
Naked City
Since Sept. 2, when Classified Parking started charging nighttime Warehouse District patrons $4 to park at the U.S. Postal Service’s Downtown Station lot, both the post office and Classified have received their share of angry phone calls, letters, and in-person feedback. “We’ve had some belligerent people stop by,” says Classified vice president John Moore. “One…
Mumford
Mumford 1999, R, 111 min. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Pruitt Taylor Vince, Alfre Woodard, David Paymer, Mary Mcdonnell, Jason Lee, Loren Dean, Hope Davis, Ted Danson, Jane Adams. Lawrence Kasdan has always done his best work with large, ensemble comedies, and Mumford is no exception. It’s an oddball…
Best Romantic Spot
Perhaps it’s the fact that by the time you reach the top you’re so out of breath that your date thinks you’re panting insatiably. Or maybe it’s the panoramic city view that takes your breath away and leaves you gasping still: Oh, that winding river, those city lights, those house-speckled hills. This mountaintop right in…
Best Country Music Club
You can’t get much deeper in that ol’ heart of Texas than the Broken Spoke, long a legend amongst classic honky-tonk dance halls. Good folks been dressing ornamental and two-stepping here since 1964, and for nine years, y’all been voting it the best, and you can bet the farm on that.
Best Video Store
Blockbuster guarantees to have it in, but not when we looked for Ponette or Astaire & Rogers’ Top Hat. No, when movies outside the current Hollywood offerings are their desire, readers head to one of these two locations. Where to start? Try the directors wall for films from your favorite, or check the staff suggestions,…
Best Clothing Resale
Remember coveting an older sib’s blouse or jeans? Today’s small families don’t always generate that treasure trove of hand-me-downs, and any parent knows the expense of new clothes. You voted this good cause as a good place to recycle good clothing. Good, good, good – this little piggy sang all the way home.
Best Evening Radio
From Selected Shorts to Car Talk, with cool jazz and informed deejays, every night we find something to satisfy our craving for great radio from this longtime favorite. So why haven’t we sent in our pledge yet?
Best Basketball Court
Half-court, full-court, order in the court! Well, it’s not alwaysorderly, but Enfield sure draws some good games. Come on down, ball in hand – you’re sure to find someone to join you in a little sweaty competition. Heck, even if there’s nobody there, we could all use a little work on our jump shots, don’t…
Best City Department
We couldn’t all be firemen when we grew up – only a lucky few could tackle the task. It takes the right stuff to be willing to risk all for others. To the men and women of AFD, for your vigilance, courage, and too-often unsung heroics, the readers of The Austin Chronicle salute you.
Best Dry Cleaner
At only $1.59 per item, Rick’s takes the terror out of those fiendish Dry Clean Only labels. No longer will we be shackled to the greenbacked ball-and-chain that keeps us from sartorial splendor! Jump back, rayon! Step aside, Monsanto! You might think that, with such meager prices, Rick’s wouldn’t be fast, reliable, and even friendly,…
Best Gift Shop
Oooooooooh, trying to find that perfect thing for that special someone can be such a drag sometimes. But now you have not one, not even two, but three fabulous “Best of” winners to choose from. Emeralds and Le Cadeau have duked it out as your favorites for quite a while. This year they’re joined by…
Best Flying Fish
A few years ago, without sacrificing their trademarked “quality,” Eaves Bros. decided to expand on their “quantity.” Seating at the popular afternoon fish market/cafe is no longer a crap shoot. There are plenty of tables to accommodate, and with the expanded cafe came special design touches and character. A seemingly endless hallway mural leads to…
Best Secret Garden
Once lodged haphazardly in the urban beauty of weeds and railroad tracks, this apparently unplanned sculpture garden now hides in plain sight. Although now in a more congenial setting amid trimmed grasses, crepe myrtle, and the pleasant outdoor gardens of Cafe Mundi, these sandstone and concrete constructions still emanate whiffs of Easter Island mystery. The…
Best Night Of Bluegrass & Barbecue
Fire ripped through the Green Mesquite’s Barton Springs restaurant recently, forcing them to close their doors for massive remodeling. They promise they will rise again from the ashes sometime in October. In the meantime, there are the Oak Hill and Scholtz’ Garden locations. But look for the bluegrass to begin anew come October, every Sunday…
Best Taco To Take As A Lover
There once was a man who was a lover to every woman, who could bring ecstasy to the body with a simple touch. His legacy thrives at Juan in a Million, where a taco named in his honor is able to satisfy our every desire. Overstuffed with piping hot potato, egg, cheese, and bacon (or…
Best Place To Get Kids Arty
A visit to the recent “Queen of My Rooms” exhibit at AMOA led us, naturally, into the gift shop; we left a few bucks lighter but happier. There are more traditional kids’ gifts, like toys, T-shirts, and books, but encourage the collecting of art postcards – artist Julie Speed’s will no doubt spark interesting dialogue…
Best Diva
For the purposes of this award, the word “diva” is used in the classical sense, i.e., the divine, a goddess. For little short of heaven does justice to the exquisite Ms. Kuykendall. When she takes the stage, it’s as if the sun has broken through a bank of storm clouds; there is light in her…
Best Dinner Entertainment
Though they often feature fine weekend performances on their outdoor patio by acts such as Correo Aeréo, we were strangely and indelibly affected by the striking singer-accordionist sporting a sailor’s hat who performed Italian-American standards from on high on the inside dining room balcony. To learn this bella cantante was none other than local dance…
Best Slam Survivors
They survived the slamming shut of the Electric Lounge and the unceremonious bouncing from the Red Eyed Fly and have still kept emoting. ’99 Slam Teamers Phil West, Karina McGlynn, Mike Henry, and Vicky Charleston, along with their many slammin’ compadres, take their art seriously, and have a string of impressive national placings over the…
Best Exploitation On The Airwaves
Black Belt Jones, look out! Those cats Sara & Jen are bad muthahs- Shut yo’ mouff! Blaxploitation! @#!x%! Sexploitation! #^$@!! Trex-ploitation! Hell, if it can be exploited, they’ll find a way to exploit it. The outlandish radio promos pimping the show of the primping FM soul sisters, Trexler and Garrison, are a laff-riotous get-your-groove-on stew…
Best Statesman Features Writer
Though he writes features, the American-Statesman’s Patrick Beach is hardly some human-interest zombie spewing petrified prose about lost puppies and platitude-spouting centenarians. No, like recent departee Hank Steuver, Beach is a writer whose features give readers the feel of a story – the smell of an event, the taste of a life, the texture of…
Best Lake Travis Park To Go To With A Swimsuit
For a clothes-on, great spot to watch the sunset and take a dip, head to Windy Point on Lake Travis. It’s cheap to get in, a great place to watch windsurfers, scuba divers, and bikinis, and you can play volleyball on one of the two sand courts. If you get there early enough, you may…
Best Springtime Yard Extravaganza
The yards in Wilshire Woods, just off Airport, are always lovely, shaded, and expansive – an Emerald City in the heart of town. But those yards are made drab by comparison to the corner lot of 1307 Wilshire. Like the difference between Kansas and Oz, the breathtaking masses of brilliant spring flowers and the incredible…
Best Peace Brokers
Never in our wildest dreams did we think we’d be recognizing an environmental activist and a business booster in the same breath. In this rare instance, Save Our Springs Alliance prez Rather and former Greater Austin Chamber chair Gary Valdez deserve credit for staving off bloodshed during several weeks of excruciating (and at times virulent)…
Best Animal Rescue Story
The three-and-a-half-foot alligator was captured in Town Lake in May. He was destined for a private alligator farm when local citizens rallied to his aid and persuaded Texas Parks & Wildlife officials to send him to a wildlife sanctuary instead of risking that he’d ultimately end up in a restaurant or boot manufacturer. TP&WD report…
Best Reason To Get Poked In The Eyes
It works! The success ratio is impressive. It has a lifetime guarantee. It is just a matter of time before this procedure is so routine that it becomes a rite of passage for young adults, and a gift of clear sight for those older who have been wearing glasses or contact lenses all their lives.…
Best Music Matchup In The Galaxy
These two unrelated music ventures – the mega Mars Music mart and the impressively stocked independent CD and vinyl shop Jupiter Records – reside in the same solar system: Hancock Center. Do we detect a pattern here? There is some retail space left at Hancock- How can etherial entrepreneurial types resist? Venus Furs, anyone? Neptune’s…
Best Unexpected Place For Wedding Rings
Who would’ve thought to find jewelry, much less some of the most stunning innovations for officially plighting one’s troth, in a place better known for its take on functional ceramics and larger art forms? Gold, silver, diamonds, so much of all that glitters forged into breathtaking circles of precious metal by the likes of artisans…
Readers: Kids
Toad Hall (6)Best Children’s Book Store, 1994-99Zilker Park (6)Best Playground/Park, 1994-99Between Friends (5) Best Children’s Clothing, 1994, 1995-98Terra Toys (5)Best Toy Store for Kids, 1990-91, 1996 (tie), 1998-99Toys R Us (5)Best Toy Store for Kids, 1993-95, 1996 (tie), 1997Half Price Books (4) Best Children’s Book Store, Used, 1994-98Payless Shoe Source (4) Best Children’s Shoe Store,…
Critics: Food
Threadgill’s World HQ (8)Best Chicken Livers (1992) Best Spinach Casserole (1993) Best Fried Green Tomatoes (1994) Best Assortment of Baked Goods Served with a Meal (1994) Best Emulation of Ben & Jerry: Eddie Wilson (1994) Best Possibility (1995) Best Movie Star Food: Threadgill’s Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (1996) Best New Saloon (1998)HEB Central Market (7)Best Chef…
BOA Top 20: Total Awards 1990-99
1. Zilker Park & Gardens (57)10 Critics, 47 Readers2. The University of Texas (44)30 Critics, 14 Readers3. Austin American-Statesman (43)31 Critics, 12 Readers4. KUT 90.5FM (35)10 Critics, 25 Readers5. Barton Springs (31)9 Critics, 22 Readers6. HEB Central Market (28)10 Critics, 18 Readers7. KVUE -24 (25)8 Critics, 17 Readers7. Texas State Capitol (24)4 Critics, 20 Readers9.…
Day Trips
The 1999 Best of Just Out of Austin awards.
Naked City
So what’s wrong with cul-de-sacs (or is it “culs-de-sac”)? Are they unsafe, inefficient, or just too “suburban” for latter-day Austin fashion? For all these reasons and more, the little “circles” and “coves” that distinguish nearly all late-model subdivisions, and the long winding streets that connect them, have been under attack all summer down at the…
Best Storefront/Sign
With a name like the Ditch (en Español), it’s a wonder this Austin hot spot keeps the business it does. But local happy hour goers continue to flock to the Fifth Street restaurant’s outdoor patio and deck. Is it the sign? The Ditch has done it again this year, winning best sign by sometimes intriguing,…
Best Dance Music Club
David Cassidy is still in his prime in the warehouse district’s Polly Esther’s Seventies fancy-wancey dance club. Which is a good thing if you never got rid of your lovebeads and smiley faces, baby. This is your club. We are family. Peace-out.
Best All You Can Eat
This sumptuous pan-Asian buffet just refuses to let diners go home hungry, earning the readers’ devotion year after year. Sample the stunning array of Asian salads, stuff yourself with fresh sushi, sate your appetite from the list of entree specials, and settle it all with several dessert selections.
Best Entertainer
Still King of the Mountain when it comes to bringing joy to the kiddies, Joe Scruggs reigns supreme as the singingest, smilingest, possibly the silliest guitar player in River City. With talents sharpened via live performance and audio-video recordings and a library of the latter to spread his gospel of fun, this man rocks the…
Best Internet Provider
Ten years ago, Illuminati was just a piddling little bulletin board system. Now it’s one of the most popular ISPs in Central Texas. Their deep roots in the community are appreciated, their packages and rates are still attractive, and their equipment is top-of-the-line. But their best feature is their customer service – phone calls to…
Best Bicycle Repair
It’s Bicycle Sport Shop in the lead! Here comes Ozone passing on the inside! It’s Bicycle Sport Shop! It’s Ozone! Ladies and Gentlemen! This year, it’s neck and neck, with both stores pulling in an equal amount of allegiance.
Best Community Program
Providing meals and services to those who can’t leave their homes, Meals on Wheels has proved invaluable to more than 2,500 beneficiaries in the Austin area. Free wheels, meanwhile, are what the Yellow Bike project is all about; they’ve been providing bikes to bipeds rent-free since 1997.
Best Fitness Club
Muscle in on the action with state-of-the-art equipment and classes in this perennial Best of Austin winner, this gleaming (from all those abs and buns of steel, no doubt) bastion of physical exertion, this fitnessorium where Austinites go for the sort of definition the less-built will never see in a million dictionaries. If Atlas had…
Best Jewelry
Maybe it was that Christmas TV commercial with the sweet little lisping girl that got your attention. More likely it was the watches and bracelets and pearls, oh my! Or the loose diamonds (So that’s where that band name comes from!) or engagement rings or the 14k gold choices. Or could it have been the…
Best Juicy Neon
Multitalented husband and wife team Greg and Sharon Keshishian of Ion Art – designers of so many glowing Austin landmarks – created this three dimensional figurative sign, a radiant, voluptuous bunch of grapes, for the new specialty wine superstore. The detailed work and craftsmanship on these these beauties is so realistic, it should entice potential…
Best Secret Passage To Nowhere
By now everyone knows about Thundercloud – fine sandwiches, fresh ingredients, fresher employees, but Store #6 has something special going for it: a staircase to nowhere. If life is not surreal enough already, head over to Lake Austin, swing open the TV set, and check it out.
Best Palate For Pairing Food & Wine
When dining at Tocai, we’ve learned to surrender ourselves to the expert wine suggestions of owner/sommelier Anthony Garcia. Whether he recommends a smoky Chateau-Neuf-de-Pape to go with the rich cassoulet or matches the perfect bright Spanish white with an appetizer of prosciutto, manchego cheese, and whisper-thin pear slices, his unerring palate and encyclopedic knowledge of…
Best Way To Get Creamed
The chicken-fried steak is practically a work of art, yes, but there is something about Hoover Alexander’s cream gravy that renders us dumb, at a loss for words to describe it. The perfect fluffy texture, the luscious peppery tang, the lingering, filling taste – It ain’t the meat, it’s the gravy (but the meat is…
Best Place To Indulge The Little Shopper
These places are pricey, to be sure, but there’s not an Oshkosh or Carter’s item in sight. The clothing is high-end, highly original, and highly desirable. Animal prints, tulle, organza, marabou, velvet, and vintage fabrics are some of the main materials. A simply wonderful place to treat a special child to something fabulous, or impress…
Best Guy To Have In The House When The Show Might Not Go On
The performance is set to start at 8pm. At 7:30pm, an actor hasn’t shown and no one can reach him. Under most circumstances, this is cause for cancellation. But not if you have Marco Noyola in the house, as OnStageProductions did one night during its run of The Hound of the Baskervilles last year. A…
Best Free Film Series
Getting to see some of the great old classic films on a big screen is a real treat, but when it’s free it’s even better. In a collaboration between the Austin Film Society and UT, every Tuesday for 13 weeks during the summer rarely screened gems such as An American In Paris, Imitation of Life,…
Best Tank Tops On A Coffeeslinger
We’re saving this award for the women at Jo’s, by the way. Guys in tank tops, no way. Jo’s is also a heat phenom – the sun bakes all day on the green stucco and tin coffee shack, and yet the temps are cooler than thou in the bamboo shade. Great mochas and The New…
Best Free Computer Help
For those of us who can barely tell a sewing matching treadle from a Macintosh mouse, the UT computer help line is a godsend. No questions asked. No enrollment necessary. Although intended for the UT community, they do answer, er, “anonymous contacts.” The budding Dells, Gates, and Wozniaks at the help line answer over 100,000…
Best Texas History Web Site
The Web site puts the full 7,000-page, six-volume state encyclopedia at the fingertips of casual and serious researchers alike, through the World Wide Web, without a subscription fee. Like the 1996 printed version, the online version includes 23,500 articles on a myriad of subjects dealing with our Lone Star state.
Best Man-Made Shade
Neither rain nor sleet nor black of night shall screw up your appointed round of one-on-one – if you set your date for Alamo Park, that is. This summer, Austin PARD installed a mod-looking open-air structure that effectively put a roof on the sucker without impeding incoming breezes – an essential element to that hour-long…
Best Summertime Workout
Not much of a jock or a joiner? Check out Austin PARD’s summer water aerobics classes. Although available at many city pools, Northwest pool is our personal favorite. Expect a low-impact workout with no discernible sweat. We love splashing and flexing in a happy neighborhood pool, shaded by waving oak trees. Our fearless leader, Brandi…
Best Performance By A City Board Or Commission
Speaking of thankless jobs. The bond package ended up not being the entirely citizen-driven spending plan we were promised. But it did a much better job than it could have of funding genuine citizen priorities, instead of political or bureaucratic fantasies, and we give credit to Rev. Joseph Parker and his committee for navigating through…
Best Bail Bonds
For once, dialing the first number you see in the Yellow Pages is your best bet. Zamora’s Triple A has been singled out for praise by many in the local community. “They do it the right way,” says one. All praise their honest, trustworthy way of conducting business – which is certainly the first thing…
Best Reason To Leave The Pets Home Alone
Peggy Alexander (our dogs know her as Peggy the Pet Sitter) has that special connectedness with animals. That’s reassuring to those of us who are skittish about leaving our beloved critters behind. Those anxieties disappear as soon as Peggy walks through the door for her initial visit. The lengthy questionnaire she has you fill out…
Best Musician’s Instrument Shop
Austin prides itself on being a comfortable, friendly, musical place to live. And if there is one establishment in town that cements this impression for both out-of-towners and natives alike, it’s the multi-instrument shop above the Continental Club. Mainstays Steve and Gary will not only give you top-notch advice and a square deal on their…
Best Weekly Carnival Atmosphere
Tired feet wander over warm concrete as dust wafts in. “$3 for Photo with Monkey,” “Bunny Rabbit $15: Good for Stew or Pet” “Ab Roller Plus $2, (only a little damaged)” “Hot Steamed Corn,” “Any Key Copied – No Refunds.” Plus, they sell that weird, white decal stuff we always see on pickup trucks with…
Media
ColumnistJohn Kelso, Austin American-Statesman Well, this ain’t his first rodeo. For six years running, our readers have bootlicked Austin’s answer to Dave Barry for his inimitable skill in tweaking our spleens and chuckling our butts. Lordy, he’s got the gift of wit; he makes us laugh out loud, and that’s a powerful good thing. No…
High Tech
Best Free Computer HelpAcademic Computing & Instructional Technology Help Desk For those of us who can barely tell a sewing matching treadle from a Macintosh mouse, the UT computer help line is a godsend. No questions asked. No enrollment necessary. Although intended for the UT community, they do answer, er, “anonymous contacts.” The budding Dells,…
Readers Poll Hall of Fame
This is the ninth BOA Readers Poll (there was no poll in 1992, only Critics Picks). The following have won the same Readers Poll category every year. Eeyore’s Birthday Party: Best Annual Party Enchanted Rock: Best Day Trip Goodwill: Best Thrift Store Strait Music: Best Music Store Waterloo Records: Best Local Record Store And these…
Coach’s Corner
The perfect boxing match for the peace n’ love generation.
Naked City
Pretty soon, you’ll need a program to tell where all of the Texas Republican strategists and press aides are working. Earlier this year, Scott McClellan, who just last year was running the campaign of his mother, Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander, took a job in the press office of Governor George W. Bush. Then, a few…
Best Annual Event
Age wears well on the donkey. No matter his age, his celebration brings the legions forth. It’s clear our readers bray in unison about some things, and this year marks a decade of pinning the winning tail on Eeyore. Sponsored by the University YMCA each spring, nothing mirrors our far-flung diversity more than this unrivaled…
Best Downtown Club
Weathering the recent storm-troop tactics of infernal revenuers and the threat of vertical bars for founder Clifford Antone, this club continues to earn its blues licks as a don’t-miss-it venue rocking our casbah year after year. It may well be the samurai of Austin clubs.
Best Bakery
Once again the undisputed victor, this Rosedale neighborhood treasure is the object of many pastry lovers’ affections. Legions of loyal fans line up daily for the divine cinnamon/sugar-dusted sweet rolls, the flaky croissants, the rustic Paraguayan cornbread. Grab a good cup of coffee and relax on the mismatched tables and chairs. Chat with old friends…
Best Indoor Playscape
What kids will discover here, besides the usual video games, is a carefully crafted catalyst for sheer physical activity. Huge plastic tunnels overlapping and interlocking like some giant alien’s intestinal tract, ropes to swing by, moonwalks to bounce on, rooms full of multicolored balls, a veritable smorgasbord of slides and things to climb. There’s even…
Best Journalist
Andy Langer walks a narrow line as a nationally published journalist and as local deejay on both KUT-FM’s Sunday Overnight show and 101X’s Next Big Thing. But with feet his size, his steps are solid. One thing Langer emphatically is, is on top of things. He was on the scene of Carole Rylander’s self-serving tax…
Best Bike Ride
Wheels are rollin’ as the Tour de Barton enters its seventh year of being touted as the undisputed champion of this grueling competition. You’ve gotta figure that if you’re making tracks in a town where the world’s greatest cyclist has oiled his chain, you’re in a good place. On your mark, get set, go!
Best Council Controversy
Day labor relocation, SOS, Liberty Lunch closing, so-called “Smart” Growth, other clubs and small biz closings, annexation, CSC, zoning, watershed protection – Ouch! Whatever they blame, our readers agree: Austin’s getting too big for its britches. With 30,000 new people coming here every year, Austin’s unprecedented growth has council members scratching their heads and scrambling…
Best Florist
This European-inspired market-within-a-market makes what once was a rare splurge an everyday necessity thanks to its proximity, affordability, and the able assistance of those manning the buckets. When $10 can get you a combination of three varieties beautifully assembled by the staff, readers know this is the florist for them. The more elaborate occasions (weddings,…
Best Lingerie/Naughty
“If they say it’s not about sex, it’s about sex,” said some senator during the Clinton unmentionables. No hypocrisy here – these hot spots are about pure, unabashed sex, and it is gloriously shameless. Wanna compare a whale penis with that of a goat? Need a new nipple clip? How about a tattoo for, uh,…
Best Last Chance No-tell Motel In City Limits
Through all the changes in South Austin, there’s only one motel between Oltorf and Oak Hill still standing. Opened since 1966, the Heart of Texas Motel has seen the widening of Hwy. 290 into a freeway, the extension of MoPac, and the creation of new mega-shopping stores like Target and Garden Ridge. Brenda and Jim…
Best Sidewalk Art
Perhaps this spray paint stencil is a reaction to the commerce-centric “clean-up” of South Austin, or a strategic move in the psychological battle for control of common spaces, or maybe just evidence of job dissatisfaction. In any case, its presence among the thriving shops of South Congress Avenue makes us pause and consider. Think of…
Best Persian/Mexican Cuisine Clash
Good mall grub may seem oxymoronic until you venture into the food court of Northcross Mall, pass the cacophonous din of the video parlor, pass the ice skating tykes, and head to the western end, home of Taco Arriba/Chelo Kabob. Serving up some serious Persian cuisine, and of course the taco part, it’s the perfect…
Coziest Downtown Attraction
A little off the road from the confusion of Sixth Street is a cafe to soothe the spirit. Ancient cigar boxes decorate the bar as if in honor of the 100-year-old building’s past. From its comfortable chairs to the library of books both old and new, HighLife Cafe caters first and foremost to relaxation. The…
Best Place To Wash Your Car
Remember the fundraising efforts you and your cohorts took on to get shekels for a special trip, new uniforms, or a hayride? Now it’s our turn to play adult, point out dirty spots and water streaks, and tip big. Scout troops, debate teams, cheerleaders earning for camp – they often set up on weekends in…
Best Literary Resurrection
Several weeks ago, it was announced that the tiny house in Kyle in which Katherine Anne Porter (Pale Horse, Pale Rider, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”) grew up is soon to be a writer’s center and library accessible to the public. Porter is probably turning in her grave just now, surprised to learn that she…
Best Hop For A Good Cause
Can I get a wuh-wuh; can I get a woo woo?! Yeeeeeeeeah – Old-school mamas and new nubians alike come out for this semi-regular fundraiser and excuse to get down for a good cause. Hip-Hop 4 Laydeez has attracted girls from all over and gets the local ones crawling out of the woodwork for these…
Best Way To End Up On The Floor By 11pm
And you thought 75¢ pitchers were deadly! At the Back Room, the music is loud, the TVs are large, the video games bloody, and the drinks cheaper than water. On Fridays, from 8pm until 9:30pm, everyone in the hall queues up for the cheapest drinks in town – 10¢! Our strategy? First of all, we…
Best Infotainment Web Site
It’s totally fitting that the Alamo Drafthouse’s Web site mirrors the theatre’s success, for www.drafthouse.com is a veritable feast for film lovers. Chock-full of useful information, the local site features helpful framing bands that provide a quick scan of important information (hours of operation, location, etc.), with secondary pages which contain food and drink menus,…
Best TV News Features
We’ve seen his ponytail hanging upside down as he investigated acrobatic massage techniques. We’ve purred over his piece about a baby squirrel adopted by a mama cat into her new bundle of kitties, and we know we’re in for other offbeat treats the several nights a week his “On the Porch” segment wraps up KXAN-36’s…
Best Mopac Exit
In rush-hour traffic, with Ricky Martin howling from the radio and our shaded eyes able to see nothing but dead cars ahead, it is always a relief to spot the exit-only sign for Windsor. Among all those cranky straight arrows shooing us off the freeway, a wide circle symbolizes the deep sloping turn ahead. Soon…
Best Sunrise View
When we just need that something extra special to feed our weary souls and appreciate a new day, we get on down to this LCRA campsite located just past Volente Beach on FM 2769 in the early dawn and hike down to the boat pier for the best sunrise over the lake. Better than any…
Best Performances By Neighborhood Organizations
The East César Chávez team tells us two things: You don’t have to be well-off to have a vital neighborhood, and everyday citizens can contribute just as much as established activists. The Mueller neighbors teach us something else: When the experts and officials don’t know what to do, the citizens will take over and make…
Best Combination Car Repair Shop/Taxidermy Museum
It’s fortunate that students in West Campus, so many of whom are away from home for the first time, have such a trustworthy and efficient car repair place within easy walking distance. It’s also fortunate that those students, so many of whom are experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs for the first time, have a chance to…
Best Store Greeter
Donna and Harry DeFoy’s store has survived in the era of warehouse discounters because of their great central location and because they provide the kind of personal service only a family business can. Gus DeFoy proves this every day, making customers feel at ease, listening to (if not exactly understanding) customers’ needs, taking frequent naps…
Best Place For Busy Bees
Frank Hunt calls it a hobby that got out of hand. Since 1972, his queens and workers have produced veritable tons of pure, raw honey which he sells in three-pound mason jars from the front of his furniture restoration business right off Guadalupe. The Health Department now says he has to move the hives to…
Finest Array Of 40 Oz. Malt Liquors
This West Campus wonder has it all: Mickey’s, Mickey’s “Ice,” Hurricane, Red Dog, Olde English 800, Big Bear, Colt 45, Miller High Life, Schlitz Malt Liquor Red Bull, Carta Blanca, Schlitz Malt Liquor BLUE Bull, King Cobra, Country Club, Crazy Horse, Magnum. All of them neck-deep in chests of ice and conveniently located near the…
Readers: Media
Dave Cody (KTBC) (7)Best Sportscaster, 1990-91, 1993, 1995-97, 1998 (tie)Dudley & Bob (KLBJ) (7) Best Morning DJ or Team, 1991 (tie), 1993-98All Things Considered (KUT) (7) Best PM Drive Show, 1993-99Judy Maggio (KVUE) (7) Best TV Anchor Person, 1993-99KGSR 107.1 FM (7)Best Radio Station to Listen to at Work, 1993-99KUT 90.5FM (7)Best Evening Radio, 1993-99John…
Critics: High-Tech
Harry Knowles (2)Ain’t It Cool News: Best Site Redesign (1996) Harry Knowles: Best Austinite to Shake Up Hollywood (1997)Boggy Creek Farm (2)Best Value-Added Customer Service (1996) Best Local Food Web Site (1997)Mac Alliance (2)Best Used Mac Gear (1996) Ken Gould: Best Used Computer Salesman (1998)Southwestern Bell (2)SWB ISDN Service: Best of Lines; Worst of Lines…
Arts & Entertainment
Continental Club (17) Esther’s Follies (11) Broken Spoke (10) Dobie Cinema (10) Vulcan Video (10) AMOA/Laguna Gloria (10) Eeyore’s (9) Ballet Austin (9) Paramount (9) Kerry Awn (8) Zachary Scott TC (8) Honorable Mention: Emo’s (7), Maggie Mae’s, Casino El Camino, Oilcan Harry’s (6) @cutline:
About AIDS
The Austin/Travis County Health Department is offering free, easy HIV testing at various locations around town, including clubs and bars.
Naked City
City Council members have promised us a fight over a consultant’s recommendations to trim and consolidate services in the city’s public health clinics, but the tightened budget the council approved last week guarantees that patients are going to feel a pinch. Council members did forestall the proposed closure of the South Austin Dental Clinic for…
Best Art Gallery
With 3,000 square feet filled with Rauschenberg and Warhol, Haring and Hockney, Matisse and Peter Max, this is by far the best collection of modern and contemporary art in the city. No kidding. Housed in the former Children’s Museum space in West Towne Common, Art on 5th covers modern art in all its varied styles,…
Best Drink Specials/Happy Hour
After more than 20 years of success in Austin, it’s no secret that Trudy’s has lots of things going for it: wonderful burgers, stellar margaritas, award-winning hot sauces, the list goes on and on.Trudy’s is especially the place to be at happy hour, when their exemplary house margaritas are cheaper by one American dollar and…
Best Barbecue
Bring the beer, bring the family, and belly up to the picnic table for family style servings of Texas BBQ and side dishes in a rustic country setting. The victuals will keep coming until you tell them to stop. The Roberts family has been smoking stellar brisket, ribs, and sausage for more than 20 years,…
Best Party Supplies
You are cordially invited to attend a celebration of celebration. Who? Party Pig, who else? What? Yet another “Best of Austin” for this soiree sow, of course. Where? Two locations serving Austin: the reliable Anderson Road depot and the new Hancock Center location near UT. When? Right now! What are you waiting for? See, we…
Best Locally Produced Radio Show
This is Local Live’s second take of this award and KVRX’s seventh BOA of the decade. Even back in its day as the cable-only KTSB, Texas’ only student-run radio station received national recognition as a true-to-form innovator. Local Live, the station’s weekly blast of live local music recorded right there in the Moore-Hill dorm studios…
Best Bowling Alley
What is it about bowling that gives it such allure? The sound of the ball crashing into the pins? The glisten of the highly polished floors? Or is it those alluring multi-tone shoes? And if a party idea is what you’re looking for, well Showplace is the place. For kids they provide the food, the…
Best Council Member
Perennial readers’ favorite Slusher may have endured some growing pains since his scruffier days as the Chronicle’s politics editor, but through it all – Smart Growth, watershed protection, and the city’s seemingly endless expansion – he’s managed to stay on top by remaining true to his environmental roots. Slusher’s dedication to keeping Austin livable has…
Best Hair Salon
Bad hair day? Well, get yourself on over to Avant and those days will become a thing of the past. Let them pamper, primp, and preen you; it’s like therapy for the head and the soul. Oh, and did we mention the post-cut massage?
Best Liquor Store
With stores both north and south, Reuben’s is there to serve your tastebuds and supply your accoutrements. From cactus donned ‘rita glasses to 20-year-old tawny ports, Reuben’s has it. Creaking wooden floors and friendly conversations with staff are both elements of seven-time BOAer Wiggy’s effervescent charm. There’s no better place in town to discuss the…
Best Lodging For Visiting Friends
We’ve all been there: friends, or friends of friends, or not-so-close relatives are in town, and for whatever reason, they can’t stay with you. But you can’t leave them out in the cold. Or in Texas’ patented 100 degree July heat. Centrally located, with clean, comfortable rooms, the Austin Motel is your best option, from…
Best So-so Nickname For South Austin
– as in the SoCo Center of South Austin. So SoHo, so SOMA, so NoHo, so TriBeCa, so Nolita, so hand us one of those airline bags on our way outta here because a simple 78704 was quite enough, thank you.
Best Phonetically Correct Restaurant Name
This expression may be the Mexican equivalent of “Oh my goodness!” but who amongst us doesn’t first think of that weird little Tex-Mex talking taco dog? Eat your corazón out, Taco Bell, for this new Austin restaurant is barking up the right tree. Featuring homemade specialties from the Mexican interior, including chile rellenos, fresh sangria,…
Fastest Culinary Trip Around The Globe
Located in the shopping center on the corner of Cameron Road and 183, Corner Pizza serves up Asian-American and Italian-American food while El Capitan sells fried chicken, fish, Mexican food, and Chinese food. In record time, local high school students get their pizza or chow mein to finish in time for class for a reasonable…
Best Playground That Isn’t
Kids like airplanes. Bergstrom has lots of airplanes, and unlike Mueller, you can go there without losing your mind, and you can go anytime, and you only have to pay for parking. Kids also like farms. Boggy Creek Farm – a real farm in the heart of the city – has chickens and tractors and…
Best Local Film Trend
Austinites were lucky enough to see more than half a dozen scored “silents” this year. The Alamo Drafthouse gave us Guy Forsyth and friends doing Buster Keaton’s The General, ST 37’s retro-futurist take on Metropolis, and Nosferatu paired with the unclassifiable stylings of Brown Whörnet. Additionally, the Gypsies provided suitably eerie backup for Todd Browning’s…
Best Local Character Without A G-string
In Texas, we dance like we play the mating game – fast! as says Tommy X, our local Obi Wan Kenobi. Retired at 70 from his celebrated Supernatural Family Band, and more barefoot than bareass, he can be found rollicking to the music of the Texana Dames, his wife and daughters’ band, as they perform…
Saddest Sixth Street Adios
As the venerable downtown paddlewheeler sails into the final weekend at its current location, let’s do like John Cage on Ally McBeal and “take a moment.” Steamboat did more than its share to help create the myth of Sixth Street, of loud music, packed houses, and good times aplenty. Even amid the street’s current frat-boys’-Bourbon-Street…
Best Misplaced Modifier
Every Sweetish Hill bag says, “Baked Daily While You Sleep With the Finest of Ingredients.” Perhaps this is what they mean by “fresh.”
Best Underdog To Cheer
In a year of swirling controversy, they’re still on the air. After personnel changes, a much-needed move to permanent facilities, and extended funding from the city, they’re working hard to get commercial revenue to ensure survival. Like them or not, they are committed to supporting the local music scene, and on that count alone, we…
Best New Park/Nature Spot
Located out on Hwy. 71 about 15 miles east of the new airport, the LCRA-run McKinney Roughs offers another Central Texas ecosystem for your examination and recreational pleasure. The park staff is big on education, so don’t be afraid to ask questions before you hit the well-marked trail system, which winds through gorgeous acres of…
Best Timing
The Astros AA affiliate Jackson (Mississippi) Generals came to Austin in May for a five-game series against the San Antonio Missions that was designed to whet the local appetite for minor league ball. (The Generals become the Round Rock Express next year.) Even though their previous season-high winning streak was two, the Generals swept all…
Best Place To Dig For Artifacts Of Austin’s Boys’ Town
At the end of the last century, the former site of the hallowed club (and several blocks along that stretch of the lake) was home to an old-fashioned red light district. Before that, it was one of Austin’s first settlements. So after you’re finished grabbing a little piece of the Lunch, look a little deeper.…
Best Free Advice When Your Slumlord Witholds Your Deposit
With the cost of living and real estate in Austin constantly escalating, it’s good to know that there’s an organization dedicated to giving dwelling hoppers the lowdown on the law and the feasible when a landlord exersizes his/her “right” to be an abusive ass. The ATC provides free telephone counseling weekdays, 9am-noon and 1-4pm.
Best Student Travel Source
Once out of school, you usually have the money to travel but not the time. Being a student means the opposite: time with no cash. Next to having a bake sale, the best way for students to make their traveling ends meet is to visit Council Travel. Informative and pleasant, their staff will help you…
Best Place For Young Men To Shop For High-maintenance Women
Any man that tells you he’s in Melange or By George’s San Gabriel location shopping for his girlfriend is a liar. Looking for a girlfriend maybe, but not purchasing for one. Savvy suitors know that finding attractive, smart, well-dressed, and approachable women in either clothier is easy – convincing them you have what it takes…
Most Aromatic Come-on
While the expertly chosen South American merchandise is alluring enough to get us into this meandering gallery of treasures, it is the pungent aroma as the door is opened when we walk by that makes it irresistible. The citrus potpourri is made on site and it is as beautiful as it is fragrant. Dried blood…
10 Years Long, 10 Years Strong
What a year it’s been. As we wrap up the last “Best of Austin” of the Nineties, of the 1900s, of the last year that this species will see beginning with the numeral “1,” we are struck less by the significance of our 10 years at this bizarre ritual than we are by the sheer…
Outdoors & Recreation
Basketball CourtEnfield Park Half-court, full-court, order in the court! Well, it’s not always orderly, but Enfield sure draws some good games. Come on down, ball in hand — you’re sure to find someone to join you in a little sweaty competition. Heck, even if there’s nobody there, we could all use a little work on…
Kids
Best Place to Wash Your CarAny Teen Team Wildly Waving Signs Remember the fundraising efforts you and your cohorts took on to get shekels for a special trip, new uniforms, or a hayride? Now it’s our turn to play adult, point out dirty spots and water streaks, and tip big. Scout troops, debate teams, cheerleaders…
Architecture & Lodging
Texas State Capitol (23) Four Seasons (8) Mt. Bonnell (8) Driskill (7) Amy’s Ice Cream (6) Zilker Gardens (6) SRV Statue (6) Tower/Varsity Mural (6) Franklin Plaza (4) Several tied with 3
The Boat
Feting Sixth Street�s 20-year-old live music institution
Naked City
A long-awaited 12-foot-tall bronze sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr., will be unveiled on the East Mall side of UT’s Main Building (the Tower) at noon Friday, Sept. 24, following a 9:30am march beginning on the South Mall. The Central Texas American Civil Liberties Union will hold its monthly Public Forum on police accountability at…
American Beauty
This Oscar winner is a bleak comedy of suburban mores and one man’s sudden rejection of the arrangement.
Best Artist
Check out the life’s worth of art at Mary Doerr’s Images of Austin store on Burnet Road. The lingering impression is that this local artist loves her locale. Her lifelike, almost photographic images of Austin convey a spirit and verve that leaps way beyond the concept of realism. It’s her true passion for this town…
Best Gay/Lesbian Club
What more is there to mention about this mecca for tight pecs – the groovy backyard patio or Cher’s “I Believe in Love?” All are synonymous with Oilcan’s laid back fun times and help keep the effects of that rose-hued lighting dancing in your brain even the morning after.
Best Breakfast
Years of breakfasts here have not dampened our ardor for the gingerbread pancakes. The coolest thing about Kerbey? Breakfast isn’t just for breakfast – it’s for daylight, nighttime, and late night. Whenever you need it, it’s open. They are ready, willing, and 24-hours-able to flip your lid with those mammoth flapjacks.
Best Playground/Park
Choo choo! First take the miniature train and see the sights of our prized wonderland. Then watch ’em climb the fire engine, the bridges, ramps, chutes and slides in the playscape. Hungry? Have a picnic in the Rock Garden. Dawdle in the shade of mighty oaks while you watch ’em rolling down the hills. Ready…
Best Online Guide To Austin
Austin360 is a one-stop portal for all your local news, information, and entertainment needs. They have it all – detailed maps and driving directions, exhaustive restaurant/movie/music listings, up-to-the-minute weather reports, interviews and chat, travel and recreation tips, terrific local and national sports coverage, searchable databases of employment opportunities and classified ads, and great technology and…
Best Day Hike
There’s nothing quite like being in the Great Alone. Okay, not really alone, with all the readers who have voted in stone this enchanted serpentine path along Barton Creek. But hey, we’re good company, we’re easily absorbed in this wondrous wilderness expanse, and if we walk softly, we might spot some critters or hear the…
Best Eccentric
Where else could a homeless transvestite crash a parade for a local football hero and draw big cheers? That’s what happened in January when Leslie Cochran, normally best-known for his scant outfits and tiara, donned a UT cheerleader uniform and jumped into the parade for Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams. Leslie may be under fire…
Best Laundromat
It took a pretty special laundromat to fill the slot of previous decade leader (but sadly, now defunct) Clean & Lean. Dry cleaning and environmentally sensitive in the same sentence? Oxymoronic? Not at EcoMat, where they use nontoxic chemicals on all your dry-cleaned duds. Clean & Green, anyone?
Best Music Business
… five, six, pick up sticks (drumsticks, that is), and maybe a music book or recorder or piano or organ or whatever your little musical heart desires. This is the sixth year “Strait” (We had to use that stale old joke again; we just had to!) for this no-longer-flood-threatened music biz, and in Austin, the…
Best Minimal Building With Maximum Usage
It’s a tiny building, not much larger than a studio apartment really, but this small green structure built on the blacktop of a former used tire lot can really serve up a big taste. From coffee regular to foamy cappuccinos, from loose meat sandwiches to the sweetest of cinnamon rolls and best goldarned peanut butter…
Best Cherry Lemonade
Who isn’t impressed with dazzling innovations in liquid refreshment like banana mango lime kiwi smoothies, high-carb blue-colored sports drinks, and honey spirulina orange pineapple juice? But on a scorching afternoon with only a half-dollar in our pockets, we love to give our change to the nice lady at the cart in exchange for a plastic…
Best Pickled Sausage & Eggs
You can see them glimmer invitingly in an enormous brine jar as soon as you walk into this homey little honky-tonk. The sausage is a dollar per segment and the eggs are 50¢ apiece. Each are served with a generous handful of saltines. Between these budget entrees, the free country music, and the $1.25 cans…
Best Cheap Date With The Kids
From the soft and cushy playscape of Kids Kingdom to a terrific (non-leagued-out) bowling alley, from the smooth new skating rink to in-house movie theatre, there is an activity here to please every age group. They even have a state-of-the-art arcade equipped with the hottest (non-gun-toting) video games. Play until you poop out, then seek…
Best Quarter Masters
Two dimes and a nickel? They’ve mastered it. Three nickels and a dime? Mastered it. Four nickels and five pennies? Mastered. Any combination that adds up to two bits, these guys have mastered it. They can change it for a solid quarter so you can try to master some of the dozens of videos and…
Best Museum Outgrowing Itself
From its tiny beginnings in a 300-square-foot space in the former Arts Warehouse, Mexic-Arte Museum has grown to become the city’s premier showcase for Latino art. Now situated on the corner of Fifth & Congress in a 20,000+ square-foot building, Mexic-Arte’s future plans include renovation and purchase of their building, expanding services and facilities, and…
Best Low-grooming, Low-intensity, Star-rubbing Event
In NY or L.A., an opportunity to hang with a hip director, watch his personal prints, and drink beer for 10 bucks a movie would be sold out – with plenty of prospective starlets and desperate screenwriters attempting ambushes. Not in Austin. Last year we were problem-free getting into the Alamo Drafthouse. More film society…
Best $2 Sammich
Once you get used to the patés, the gourmet hams, and the chopped barbecue pork that grace the inside of a sandwich at Ba Le Vietnamese/French Bakery, cold cuts will seem bland and lifeless by comparison. Forgoing the standard lettuce/tomato combo, fresh cilantro, and the delicious pickled carrot and daikon are the toppings on these…
Best Multimedia Receptionist Desk
It’s said you only have one chance to make a first impression. Walk into this bustling Austin-based ad agency and prepare to be impressed. Brushed steel panels are broken by a die-cut company logo overlaid on ever-shifting, hypnotic video imagery. Designed by architects Elizabeth Danze and John Blood, with video created by former T3-er Mike…
Best Weekend Anchor
Though she has what must be one of TV’s most thankless jobs, KVUE weekend anchor Kim Barnes not only performs on a par equal to that of her award-winning weekday counterparts, but is a true pleasure to watch. An experienced reporter who typically eschews visual flash for facts, presented clearly and professionally, Barnes brings a…
Best New Stadium
When King Football needed more seats in Royal-Memorial, the answer was to rip out the track. But fortunately, the UT track & field program didn’t suffer. The university kept its commitment to having the best of everything and built one of the greatest track arenas in the nation, with seating for 20,000 and improved views…
Best Whoosh!
Barefoot in the warm sand, we chased sandpipers as the foam from baby breakers tickled our toes. Ahhh, summers spent on the coast. Most Austinites transplanted here from a seaside strata agree that one of the few things missing in our near-perfect burg is a beach. Volente Beach goes a long way to re-create a…
Best Press Conference
A memorable small moment of political theatre. A diverse cast of sympathetic Austin neighborhood leaders. A bona fide villain in state Rep. Ron Wilson. A killer setting – Wilson’s decrepit rental house off Springdale Road, directly under the Mueller flight path, with about a dozen jets screaming overhead, at low altitude, in less than 40…
Best Friend When You’re Buying A Used Car
Apprehensive about dropping a massive wad of cash on a shiny little pig in a poke? Invest in a diagnostic exam by Lemonbusters. Will the tranny go south in six weeks? Odometer rolled back? How can you know, oh neophyte car buyer? Before you drain Junior’s college fund, let Lemonbusters crawl inside the beast and…
Best Toyota Mechanic
Watching Mark Larkin work on cars is like witnessing a one-person Indy crew – perfectly choreographed poetry in motion (plus he and Teresa now sell gently used Toyotas as well). Mark books by appointment only, guarantees his work, and fixes only what’s necessary. One food critic drives an ’83 pickup with 438,000 miles on the…
Best Place To Buy Hemp Necklaces
Designing you own necklace has never been so easy. They have countless numbers of beads, shells, pendants, and rocks to help make any anklet, necklace, or bracelet meet your fancy. And for those of you who don’t know how to make your own hemp necklace, the employees here are happy to make it for you.…
Most Practical Clothing
We generously offer our own jingle free of charge: Flames to the left of me/Eyeballs to the right/Here I am/Stuck in Work Clothes & More!!! So maybe we should stick to newspapers, but boy, does this place know how to serve the working crowd. Working attire is more than a blue collar these days. Working…
Best in Peace
If you want a quick peek into the future, take a spin down to Guadalupe Street where West Second crosses it, and look west at the old Liberty Lunch (1994, Best Mural) site. On the east wall where the sign was taken down is a faded old logo, visible from behind peeling layers of paint.…
Readers: Outdoors & Recreation
University of Texas (10)Best Pitcher: Christa Williams, UT Women’s Softball (1997) Biggest Upset of a Cornhusker Football Team: UT Women’s Soccer (1997) Best National Champions: Lady Longhorns Track & Field Team (1998) Best Pick-up Soccer Games: Sunday Night, UT Intramural Fields (1998) Best Local Sports Story: UT Softball (1998) Best Reason to Visit Darrell K.…
Critics: Kids
Austin Independent School District (7)Best AISD School Lunch: Enchiladas (1993) Best Elementary School for the Classics: Robert E. Lee Elementary (1994) Best Educational Curriculum: Green Classroom at Becker Elementary (1995) Best Environmental Programs for Kids: Green Classroom at Becker Elementary (1996) Best Kids Culture Club: Hispanic Culture Club at Sanchez Elementary (1997) Best Buddies:The Reading…
Food
Central Market (23) Oasis (14) Thundercloud Subs (14) Kerbey Lane Cafe (10) Threadgill’s (10) Whole Foods Market (9) Upper Crust Bakery (9) Quackenbush’s (9) Trudy’s (9) Waterloo Brewing Co. (8) Sweetish Hill (8) Timpone’s Salsa (8) Texas French Bread (8) Honorable Mention: Serrano’s, Lucy’s Cakes (7), Dirty’s, El Galindo, Wheatsville, Travis Co. Farmers Market (6)
The Boat
Danny Crooks Danny Crooks says he never wanted Steamboat to close on his shift. The once-outspoken Crooks is now uncharacteristically soft-spoken, clearly humbled and hurt by having to line up a closing concert series and look for a new building at the same time. “It sounds kind of corny, but I don’t know if I’ll…
The Art of Conversation
Austin Men’s Project encourages young gay men to hone their social — and safe sex — skills through communication
Blue Streak
Blue Streak 1999, PG-13, 95 min. Directed by Les Mayfield, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, William Forsythe, Dave Chappelle, Peter Greene, Nicole Parker. Call this one Beverly Hills Cop: 1999. Presumably because he’s also black and funny, Martin Lawrence has been shunted into the Eddie Murphy role in this…
Best Author/Poet
Sharon Bridgforth’s legendary root wy’mn theatre company pulled a 1996 Critics Pick for “Theatre of the Soul.” This, however, is the first showing for our local bridger of “traditional storytelling and nontraditional verse,” according to the root wo’mn herself on the back cover of her first book the bull-jean stories. While both the smoooooth and…
Best Jukebox
An unerringly slick assortment of the newest and latest, as well as the most eclectic and least hidebound collection of “oldies” in town: MC5! George Jones! X-Ray Spex! Roland Kirk! Motley Crue! Small Faces! Cab Calloway! Love! Shangri-Las! Repo Man! Eric Dolphy! Mott the Hoople! Temptations! Adverts! KISS! Big Joe Turner! Pere Ubu! Clovers! Flamin’…
Best Cake Decorators
The decorators at this campus-area cake shop aim to please. Famous for their signature creamy whipped frosting, they’ll adorn cakes with butter cream flowers, chocolate-covered strawberries, Austin Powers lettering, pictures of Bevo, or your very best girl.
Best Restaurant
These cheap, informal restaurants are an answer to a mama’s prayer. Most of the adult fare – pizza, soft tacos, burgers, salads – is also scaled down for kids, in addition to a sizable (and healthful) children’s menu. Yet the food somehow suits the tastes of everyone in the family. The good grub, plus the…
Best Photographer
This is Alan Pogue’s ninth BOA. What words can be said about this Austin legend that his pictures worth far more than a thousand words can’t? He’s been capturing shards and slices of moments in Texas time for decades. His recent shows on Iraq and on U.S. prisons put it all in black and white.
Best Day Trip
The results in this category may be not be new, but the experience is always fresh no matter how many times the trip is made. The drive out to the mammoth rock gets you completely out of the rat race. And although the climb looks daunting, even three-year olds and sexagenarians can tackle it. A…
Best Effort To Improve Environment
These people really care, and apparently so do you. Together we can preserve and yes, improve, the legacy that nature has bestowed upon us. The Save Our Springs Alliance lives in the trenches regarding our beloved Barton Springs and maintains priceless vigil over the Edwards Aquifer.
Best Pharmacy
This is the second year running for Peoples, in a hotly contested category. HEB, Nau’s, and Walgreen’s all pulled in close behind, but Peoples reigned supreme. With five locations in Austin, they still manage to keep it real. Their hometown neighborhood feel isn’t hurt in the least by their friendly pharmacists and the lunch-counter cafes…
Best Pawn Shop
Hey! It’s the wild, wild West meets wild, wild surplus weed-eaters! Maybe you seek a Best of the Oak Ridge boys album? Or perhaps a pearl-toned squeezebox is more your speed. Or trumpet? Or cornet? Or a reliable, sharper-than-your-average pawnshop staff who can tell you the difference?
Best New Amidst Old
When the plans went in, no doubt there were more than a few raised eyebrows around the South Austin neighborhood, but the finished building stands as a testament to how contemporary and classic can coexist peacefully. Richard Vargas, the architect of this grand design, went for what he refers to as “modern Victorian” – a…
Best Coconut Macaroon
Their eclairs are still the biggest in town, but when you’re hankering for a macaroon, Quackenbush’s has your chocolate-covered fix. Everybody we’ve turned on to them has loved ’em. Thinking it would be safe to keep these plump chewy mounds around a coconut hater was a big mistake – the macaroon converted him, and now…
Best Place For Runners To Carbo Load
The combination of Schlotszky’s sourdough sandwiches and Bread Alone’s fresh pastries make this the best stop for runners on Town Lake’s hike-and-bike trail. They can make a quick detour south at the Lamar Street bridge to load up on plenty of carbs, and still make it back to the trail to finish their run before…
Best Children’s Book Author
Reputed author of the Wayside School and Marvin Redpost series of children’s books, this Austin writer has fans – young and not-so-young – across the globe. His book Holes won the prestigious Newbery Award last February. The story that struck gold for Sachar is about a boy wrongly convicted of a crime and sentenced to…
Best Quick Furry Fix
When we’ve been hit with the “I’m in an animal mood today” declaration from the young one, we head out to Zilker Park and get a load of the wildlife at the Nature Center. The residents are like friends now – the albino raccoon, the barn owls, the snakes – and the trails and pond…
Best Play-full Wordsmith
Even the stumble of last fall’s Salivation can’t drop the wisdom and beauty of Lust Supper and Crucks, the first two parts of Lynn’s ambitious Faminly Trilogy. Note his award-winning Rude Mechanicals IPO, Pale Idiot, too, and his recent adaptations of print classics by Greil Marcus and Donald Barthelme. This is a gloriously busy man,…
Best Mexican Motif Decor In A Nightclub
We can remember when this place was still in its disco-fever daze with lots of lights and not much else for atmosphere. But oh, what a transformation! Bas relief murals of Pancho Villa and pre-Columbian pyramids, large Mayan-inspired columns and gargoyles around the bar, and the really cool, long cylindrical fish tank columns that greet…
Best Bantering Barista
Owner Phil Newton’s tart tongue may come from the delicious chicory coffee he serves, or from substances consumed in a paisley past. Whatever – his banter is quicksilver, sharp and fun. Locals drop by to be testy with him, and to enjoy his surprisingly good food and stimulating beverages of tea and coffee. Once part…
Best Nerds To Call When The Computer Conks Out
So the computer has conked out, and you don’t want to haul it to the repair place. Or maybe you’re ready to surf the Net but have no idea how to get aboard. Let the pros brave your place, tweak your computer, and actually show you what to do yourself. Not as pricey as the…
Coolest Texas Ad In Our Tv Market
Whoa, daddio! It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world, moving faster and faster every day, with wacky innovations and inventions of global proportion. Our world is positively electric! TXU knows this, and knows not to waste our time with hypocritical “clean-burning,” enviro-feel-good rationalization ads. No excuses, here, darnit! They’re a power utility, and proud…
Best Place For Summer Fireworks
To watch fireworks on a nearly black lake is a singular experience. The fireworks put on a day or two before the Fourth of July by the restaurant Carlos N’ Charlie’s last a dizzying 40 minutes. Each firework shows its fiery face and fizzles, only to be followed by another. The last minute or so…
Prettiest Place To Post A Letter
Whether to make bill paying less odious or to fashion a fitting sendoff for love letters, this mailbox in Pemberton Heights has a gifted caretaker who has made it the place to post. Canopied by pink crape myrtle, flanked by lovely flowers, and graced with a beckoning stone path, it is said (by us) that…
Best Project We Thought We Didn’t Want
Now that the former Central City Entertainment Center, aka the Mitchell Dome, is here, we ask two questions: Why is a bowling alley different from a swimming pool? And what would have been a better use for the big hole in the ground at Rosewood & Hargrave? The Millennium may just help turn a former…
Best Misnamed Post Office
These post office names hark back to an earlier, smaller Austin, and they’ve got to be confusing as hell for newcomers. At one time 45th Street must have been Austin’s north border. Then Austin grew. Now “North Austin Station” at 43rd & Speedway serves Central Austin. Bluebonnet station, near Research, is equally confusing. It’s a…
Choo-chooinest Railroad Fix
As we contemplated a visit to friends and relatives in Dallas, we considered our transportation options. Driving seemed tiresome after a long day at the salt mines, flying too cumbersome and expensive. Then we checked with Amtrak and hit paydirt. For an extremely modest fare, we left Austin at 10:30am and leisurely rolled into Dallas…
Best Place To Buy Men’s Resale Clothes
We hate to give this secret away, but how many Ralph Lauren shirts can a closet hold? The beauty of buying at The Shoppe is that many of the shirts come already dry cleaned and ready to wear to almost any occasion. Great prices, good selection, and support for good causes add up to great…
Most Unusual Glasses
From cat’s eyes to Buddy Holly frames, Santa Fe Optical has the prescription for fabulous eyewear. The little store near Kerbey Lane offers an impressive collection of hard-to-find styles to suit anyone from the conservative businessman to the pierced punk. We recommend asking for assistance: The help is wonderful.
He Definitely Belongs to Us
Since roaring across the finish line on the Champs-Elysees in that yellow jersey on July 25, Lance Armstrong has spent a grand total of five days at home in Austin. Five days. That’s a mere 120 hours in more than six weeks. Ask him what he’s been up to and he sounds like a Continental…
Politics
City DepartmentAustin Fire Department We couldn’t all be firemen when we grew up … only a lucky few could tackle the task. It takes the right stuff to be willing to risk all for others. To the men and women of AFD, for your vigilance, courage, and too-often unsung heroics, the readers of The Austin…
Media
Best Exploitation on the Airwaves101-X Promos for Sara & Jenn’s Morning Show Black Belt Jones, look out! Those cats Sara & Jen are bad muthahs… Shut yo’ mouff! Blaxploitation! @#!x%! Sexploitation! #^$@!! Trex-ploitation! Hell, if it can be exploited, they’ll find a way to exploit it. The outlandish radio promos pimping the show of the…
High-Tech
Wallingford Electronics (4) Dell Factory Outlet (4) University of Texas (4) Austin Free-Net (3) Bruce Sterling (3) Comp USA (3) http://www.auschron.com (3) http://www.austin360.com (3) Several tied with 2@cutline:
The Boat
David Cotten Few actually know his name, but the man at Steamboat’s door for the past 18 years is a survivor of three owners and five sets of managers. From behind the bar and in front of the club, David Cotten has perhaps seen more of Sixth Street than anybody in town. “This hasn’t been…
Council Watch
Local activists keep raising questions about the proposed water deal between the city and the Lower Colorado River Authority.
Double Jeopardy
Double Jeopardy 1999, R, 105 min. Directed by Bruce Beresford, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, Annabeth Gish, Bruce Greenwood, Spencer Treat Clark. I’ll take “sappy, implausible thrillers” for a thousand, Alex. On second thought, don’t bother. Bruce Beresford’s (Driving Miss Daisy) Double Jeopardy is predictable piffle, a comically…
Best Choreographer
“Bravo! Bravissimo!” Our readers applaud enthusiastically for this local dance diva, awarding “Best Choreographer” to Bravo for the second year in a row. Bravo means “brave,” an apt word to describe this independent local artist who uses modern dance as her vehicle for courageously addressing social and political issues. Her clever piece “Gender Boxes,” performed…
Best Movie Programming
Sold out – but still committed! Longtime Dobie kingpin Scott Dinger passed his reins to a new corporate owner, Landmark, amongst much fear and loathing in the Austin film community. So far, so good. They rode the Blair Witch hype broom to death, but have still managed to stay the course, and we’re breathing easier…
Best Caterer
Picture this: You’re an Austin ad executive, and the President of the United States is coming to your house for dinner with a few hundred friends. You’ll need a caterer with style and sophistication, of course, but also an organization that can deal with mountains of red tape, security clearances, and last-minute schedule changes resulting…
Best Shoe Store
Sometimes we just need quantity. Sometimes we need some sandals that will just see the kiddos through their current growth spurt. And sometimes, we hope that the cartoon character du jour that their hearts desire can be had without forking over a bundle. At these times, readers can indulge thanks to the wallet-friendly pricing at…
Best Pm Drive Time Radio Program
Ahhh, take a deep breath. Relax. The world may be imploding, the dog needs walking, the Prozac’s running low, but All Things Considered, we’re still here, and we can listen in peace to the moderated sounds and civilized voices of public radio at its best. This is indeed the antidote to the shrill cacophony of…
Best Dog Walk
Where man is outnumbered by his best friend at least 4-to-1, and poop scooping is a cultural norm, Pease Park’s Dog-Town Alley, between 24th and 29th Streets along Shoal Creek, is the place to be if you sweat through your tongue. Friends are made and stars are born: You are entering the “no leash” zone…
Best News Story
Yet another sign we’ve stopped being a small(ish) town: the exodus of the airport from a central city neighborhood to a spot in the hinterlands. This was the big story for the last year, and the media went all out covering it. While the Statesman’s ABIA day-by-day coverage bordered on overkill, the live TV coverage…
Best Photo Lab
You can’t miss Holland Photo Lab for their big tulip logo, and you can’t miss the HEB for their locations all over town. Holland not only serves the average shutter bug but carries all the high tech paraphernalia for serious photographers, as well. Most of the HEB stores have in-house developing and – the cool…
Best Pet Store
It’s like Sixth Street for pets! We can take our animals to this huge pet store to hang out, socialize with other cute canines, and pick out food and accessories that all the coolest kitties are using these days. Plus, they can get neutered and vaccinated cheaply by the in-store vets, eliminating the risks associated…
Best New Public Building
The new ACC complex in the heart of East Austin manages to be a grand gesture without crushing the surrounding neighborhood under its great political and symbolic weight. It’s a (surprisingly) attractive campus, but more importantly, it doesn’t look like it was beamed in from a distant planet, which is often what happens with projects…
Best College Station Import
They call ’em burritos, but we think they’re really wraps. No matter. Freebird’s World Burrito, new to Hancock Center and fresh out of College Station, is the best thing to come from our college-town rival. Never mind that a burrito as thick as your arm is like gourmet dining to an Aggie, or that part…
Best Place To Eat With Your Hands
Situated at the mouth of Sixth Street, draining I-35, is this little Cajun joint, which serves all shellfish (no catfish!) and the best gumbo west of New Orleans. They don’t believe in utensils at The Boiling Pot, and they let you eat food the way you were made to eat food: with your hands. This…
Best Daytime In Town Getaway
This is the little engine that can. The Zephyr, Zilker Park’s tyke-sized train, departs every hour (10 or 11am until 5 or 6pm), providing a relaxing toot around the park. Check out the soccer games, the hikers and bikers on the trail, and the lush greenery on the banks of Town Lake. It’s a neat…
Best Secret Playgrounds
McBeth is the obvious alternative to the Zilker anthill, and because it’s primarily designed for children with disabilities, it’s probably the safest playscape you’ll ever see. The Town Lake Trail playscape is no great shakes equipment-wise, but the setting can’t be beat (though it could use some more shade), and it makes a good destination…
Best Room With A View
This is a sterling arts venue, but what really makes the Helms such a swell destination for an arts night out is walking around the building and suddenly seeing the land drop away toward the Colorado below, and the layers of rolling hills on the far shore. Before stepping inside, amble about the hilltop at…
Best Overdue Release
1999 marks the first Bells of Joy release in over 30 years, and boy, is it about time. With Second Time Around, Austin’s Grammy winners are poised to bring their faith-filled grooves into the next millennium. We bet the Lord in heaven even puts on his dancing shoes when this band strikes up. We challenge…
Best Beignets
Wild as we are about the cuisine of Louisiana, we were thrilled when the enterprising Bunch family of Baton Rouge opened a local outlet of their beignet business. These sugar-dusted, deep-fried golden pillows of dough aren’t the best beignets in town just because they’re the only beignets in town. They’re the best because a heavenly…
Best Net-based Grassroots Movement
“Environmental awareness is currently an annoying burden to the consumer, who must spend his and her time gazing at plastic recycling labels, washing the garbage and so on. Better information environments can make the invisible visible, however, and this can lead to a swift reevaluation of previously invisible public ills.”Since this manifesto was pre-released, Sterling…
Most Astounding Net.deal By A Local Company
Austin-based drkoop.com has been gathering steam for the last year or so, but quietly. Whoever knew that their IPO would fly so high, or that they would make a marketing deal so huge that it would blast breathless headlines all across the net.biz weeklies? And that one deal’s not all: drkoop.com banners are popping up…
Best Place To Doze Off
Tucked away in the heart of the city is this refuge within a refuge. Located down a short steep cliff off a wandering path that leads to the Town Lake side of Mayfield Park, this tiny pier is shaded by large cedar trees that waft with their scent as the breeze coming across the river…
Best (in Conceptual Stage) Multimillion-Dollar Public Project
With all the madness going on (and going in) around downtown these days, the plan to tear up the asphalt (and, we hope, Riverside Drive) around Auditorium Shores will create an invaluable place to get away from it all. The new performing arts center and civic auditorium will be the anchors for our very own…
Best Score By A Former City Council Member
If she and her neighbors in the downtown neighborhood hold out long enough, as much as half a million could be hers (and her hubby’s) if a bulk deal between developers and the neighborhood goes through this year.
Best Mobile Bike Service
The “Dr.” in Dr. Bike is not a prefix to be taken lightly. In our modern world, Dr. Bike is one of those rare mavericks whose desire to serve goes above and beyond the call of duty. We prefer to think of him as not just a doctor, but a veritable bike repair superhero. With…
Craftiest Tailor
Know anything about French weaving? How about inweaving? Neither do we. But no problem, because Martha knows – and does – it all. From simple stitching to complex weaving, it’s all in a day’s work for this clothing surgeon. And not only does Martha tailor well, her fine craftswork comes with an affordable price and…
Best Place To Drink Your Way Around The World
This new wine and liquor market off MoPac is stocked by the former wine buyer at Central Market – and a cool and classy repository for the oenophile it is. Have yourself an expertly guided sipping tour, beginning perhaps with a full, chewy Argentinean Malbec called Miguel Gascon, or perhaps an Australian Cabernet/Shiraz blend that…
Best Local Athlete
Tough choice, so we’ll call it a tie. These two Lady Longhorn classmates finished their college careers this year as the most dominant athletes in their respective sports in school history: Reid in track & field and Sance in volleyball. Reid ended her career with five national championships in the 400 meters and six wins…
