Best Children’s Entertainer
If you ever had an uncle who would sing you clever and silly songs that he’d made up, and who generally delighted the heck out of you with his cheerful chicanery, and that uncle had released some CDs and videos of his fun, and he was beloved by children all over Austin & beyond -…
Best Romantic Spot
A brisk jaunt up 99 wide steps cut into the eastern ledge leads to Austin’s highest point; there’s also a sloping path on the north side to the observation platform at the top. From there, the city spreads out around you like a toy town: skyscrapers, neighborhoods, Lake Austin, MoPac – perhaps the secret of…
Best Bar Snacks
From nachos to the ever-popular fish & chips, from their multipartite “poo-poo” Platter to the somewhat simpler yet rather elusive Scotch eggs, this English Pub, influenced neighborhood watering hole (which “just happens” to sponsor the Silver Thistle Pipe & Drum band!), has righteous food to vanquish the most whetted of appetites.
Best Movie Theatre Facilities
This is the second year that Barton Creek has taken this from longtimer Arbor. A playfully glitzy setting, the luxury of stadium seating, huge screens – but let’s face it, the chairs rock! You remembered the Alamo and voted it second. Dobie’s renovations certainly didn’t hurt it; it pulled in third.
Best Coffee House
Second-time Best choice Flipnotics, fueled not only by a wide variety of tasty caffeinated beverages but by the smorgasbord of live music featured on many nights, ties with cool & campusy/arty upstart Spider House this year as leader of the laidback java pack. You can’t go wrong either place, whether you’re looking to slam liquid…
Best Local Features Writer
Who says stoners don’t vote? We couldn’t be happier for our own scruffy curmudgeon; he’s a man outstanding in his field. OK, Ken, you won; you can come in now.
Best TV Anchor Person
In this age of media mergers, downsizing, and rapid turnover, it’s nice to have someone like Judy who’s been in one place long enough to feel like an old friend. Add to that her warmth, professionalism, and knowledge of Austin, and she’s an anchor on whom we can rely. We love you Judy!
Best Neighborhood Park
Try to imagine Austin minus Zilker – it’s a sad picture. You’ve chosen Zilker as your favorite place to play for the last six years. There’s something for everyone: Soccer! Playscape! Choo-choo! Barton Springs! Rock Island! Plus, room to stretch out or to get lost! Pease Park off Lamar wins second and Stacy Park in…
Best Local Scandal
Those pesky salamanders just can’t seem to stay out of trouble. This year, they made the news when cleanings shut down Barton Springs Pool, ostensibly to protect the darlin’ critters. The real scandal, though, may be the way developer-friendly lawyers pitted environmentalists against the pinky-sized amphibians. Other scandals of note: Hyde Park’s Triangle wrangle (a…
Best Florist
The high-class-sans-pretentious service, quality, and ambience of this floristspurred readers to use this category for gallop poll purposes. Run, don’t trotto C&F for bunches of flower ideas.
Best Furnishings/Decor
Okay, so techinically it’s not really your living room, it’s their living room. But you’ll wish it was your living room. And they’ll even sell it to you so it can become your living room. Even the window display is always divine, featuring their latest in contemporary digs crafted by Texas artists.
Best Used Book Store
Half the price, all of the quality. An Austin tradition and a place to unloadall your unwanted books, to make room for the new ones you won’t be able toresist buying while you’re there. And an Austin Chronicle tradition, as this place has swept this category for as long as it has existed!
Best Place To Reflect Upon The Essential Loneliness Of A Bull, Part One
In an act of bovine largesse, the Texas Wranglers and Silver Spurs commissioned and donated a statue of a staunch and stern, anatomically correct steer to the University of Texas. Though it must have seemed a place of honor at the time, the pathway between Hargis Hall and the Nowotny Building is a university pasture…
Best Regards to Old Broadway
There are reasons that the world went gaga over American musicals, and we can see them in every production from Austin Musical Theatre. True, the company has just three shows to its credit, but its Peter Pan, West Side Story, and Annie were so consistent in their exuberance, high gloss, and sheer zest for the…
Best New Saloon
The back room at Eddie Wilson’s southern Threadgill’s location is as geographically close to the site of the former Armadillo World Headquarters as he’s likely to get in this lifetime, so maybe that’s the reason the music in the new saloon is so appealing. We can’t get enough of great bands like Hot Club of…
Next Best Thing To The Chieftains In Your Living Room
Yeah, yeah, yeah … sometimes they’ll riff on the theme from The Addams Family but it’s not all Riverdance revisited here. Musicians begin to gather about 7pm at Fadó on Sunday evenings, and by about 8pm, quite a little céilî develops. The shifting personnel of the group guarantees no two sessions are ever the same…
Best Drive-thru Malteds & Shakes
See those pillow-toting mamas? Or rather mamas-to-be? They go directly from their childbirth classes at Seton and make a beeline to Hilbert’s to order one of these babies. Honest to goodness shakes and malteds that are, in a word, yummy!! Could an entire class of pregnant women be wrong about such a thing? Remember, follow…
Best Place To Unleash Your Inner Eastwood
We popped on our goggles and our ear protection and stepped into the airlock. We were soon on Planet Gunpowder, and boy was it loud. Of course we spent the first five minutes jumping and yelping every time our partner discharged his weapon (whew!). We were a bit afraid of our Glock 9mm at first,…
Best Kiss & Make Up
The May 2 bond election saw an unprecedented coalition of longtime political enemies, the environmentalists of the Save Our Springs Alliance and the business people of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. It did our souls good to see these brothers breaking bread together after the election night victory, but that will-we-or-won’t-we vibe can sometimes…
Most Improved Community Project (and We Really Mean It This Time)
For nearly three years, the folks around 11th and 12th streets told all who would listen that until they had a voice in the “revitalization” of their own neighborhoods, nothing good would happen. They were right. Now that the city has imposed democracy on the ARA, the project is rolling full-steam ahead, toward a renewal…
Best Non-committal Swing Lessons
One… two… rock step. One… two… rock step. Swing dancing is back in fashion, and we wanted to learn without committing a lot of time or money. Four on the Floor offers swing lessons at three locations with a relaxed environment that is inviting even to beginners. Don’t worry about calling ahead, just show up…
Best Place To Get Hip To The Sounds
Post-punk, power pop, old school, electronica – if you’ve never heard of it, deejay Tina has got it. Playing old and new songs that commercial radio won’t touch with a 10-foot pole, Tina will keep you hip and keep your Saturdays happening. Where else could you hear Eighties Depeche Mode sandwiched between cub and Neko…
Best Way To Find Out The Latest With La Raza
The only bad thing about Latino USA is that it’s only broadcast on Fridays at 3:30pm. The half-hour news program covering issues of and about Latinos is produced at UT in a small suite of offices buried deep inside the Communications Building on the Drag. The news program has become a vital link for providing…
Best Place To Live Out A Hitchcock Movie
If Austin harbors a place where you can regularly be chased by a cropduster or scale the giant stone nose of a president, á la Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, we’ve yet to find it. But we have discovered a spot that lets us be menaced by scores of seemingly malevolent winged creatures right out of…
Best Almost Free Wardrobe Makeover
The next time you look in your closet and see nothing you want to wear, consider actually gettting rid of it all. Bring whatever you’re tired of to the used clothing buy-sell-trade store Buffalo Exchange and the ultra-hip salesgirls will pay cash or store credit for anything they think will sell. Use whatever you’ve made…
Best Late-night Used Baby Furniture Outlet
This place is a wonder: We wonder why Lawrence is sometimes open at 11:00 on Friday night. We wonder how he stays in business when we never see customers. We wonder where he gets all those fine late-model baby strollers. We wonder who lettered the crazy sign. As the parade of progress marches inexorably down…
Best Reason To Avoid Builder’s Square
A recent foray into the Deep South made one of our editors misty-eyed over Greek revival homes. Okay, so Corinthian columns are not in the plans for your apartment, but a few minutes of poking around Pieces of the Past might turn up carved molding for a doorframe, a crystal doorknob to dress up the…
Best Protein Fix
We know steakhouses are all the rage, but when it’s red meat we need to sink our teeth into, we go the way of the little lamb. Ararat’s sizzling lamb platter is protein like we like it – perfectly grilled, tooth-tender meat smothered in an incendiary Middle Eastern chili sauce. Sizzling indeed!
Best Cheap Thrills For Kids
Want to go sledding, but can’t afford a trip to Colorado? Murchison Jr. High has the next best thing. The gigantic grassy hill behind the school is excellent for sliding down. We recommend taking your own cardboard box, but sometimes old boxes can be found on the hill.
Best, Coolest Afternoon Diversion For Kids
When its 100º in the shade, sending the kids outside to play could bring on allegations of child abuse. A cool (in more than one way) alternative is to take them to Laser Quest. A heart-pumping, air-conditioned game of super-charged hide & seek, laser tag is the modern, high-tech version of our favorite childhood games…
Best Overlooked Deejay
KOOP 91.7FM has lots of great music deejays, and Rod Moag probably springs to mind first for vintage country music. But don’t forget John Hauser’s “Country Roots” program on Tuesdays, 9-10am. He takes you back to a time before it was even called country music – in those days, it was “hillbilly” music. Hauser is…
Day Trips
The Texas Capitol, with its statues, manicured grounds, and new underground extension office building, is still the best place to begin a day trip with out-of-town visitors. photograph by Gerald E. McLeod “The best day tripping things around Austin” is a big category. There is never enough room for me to mention everything and my…
Best Children’s Resale Clothing
What better way to instill a sense of recycling’s worth in young minds than to provide, for their bodies, excellent clothes that have been previously worn? Between Friends can have your kid decked out in duds that look like the antithesis of hand-me-downs, the sort of garb that is cool in school and out. Our…
Best Signage
Not even a fire could stop the smart-ass laureates from their self-appointed task of publicly flogging just about everybody with borderline tasteless humor. And you love it.
Best Bartenders
The postmodern alchemists in this downtown den of eclectic swank (Montgomery Conner, David Dart, Mendy Frohlich, and Sam Sighold), ably assisted by barbacks John Nordstrom and Davis Comeau, will put to rest any worries you may have about the mixological brilliance of the chocolate martini, as well as providing some killer margaritas. Not sure what…
Best Movie Theatre Programming
If you want to see the latest blockbuster go somewhere else. Helmed by Scott Dinger, the Dobie has become Austin’s premier (sm)arthouse, ousting longtime category winner the Village. It’s Dinger’s balance of indie films, cult classics and just plain classics that makes this unexpected mall theatre some kind of wonderful.
Best Custom Cakes
Picasso’s dead, Michelangelo’s even more dead, Claes Oldenburg would probably need to create a cake the size of Moby Dick, and Julie Doucet’s off in Canada somewhere. And besides, we’re talkin’ cakes here. Best to call Lucy’s, Austin’s Old Master in the art of confection decoration and the readers’ fave again this year – for…
Best Local Journalist (News)
Interesting switch in this category this year: Two veteran TV newscasters – KVUE-24’s Judy Maggio and Fred Cantu in first and second places respectively, knocked out their print competition. No doubt Maggio’s warmth and intelligence anchoring the evening newscasts and Cantu’s personable approach to the morning news caught our readers’ eye. The revolution had better…
Best Tv Newscast
A lot of reporters from other stations won awards this year, but when it comes to putting it all together and delivering a balanced product – one packed with community initiatives and brilliant concepts like “less violence and more news” – no one does it better than the gang at KVUE, according to you.
Best Overall Nursery
The dirt on Gardenville is that they’ve buried the competition in this category. Perhaps readers dig the impossibly vast variety of herbs or just find the minds of the helpful staff to be fertile when it comes to advice. Gardenville’s radio show on KLBJ-590AM keeps their reputation growing. Photosynthetic hubs Barton Springs Nursery and Red…
Best News Story
The ongoing Triangle saga, resurrected from1997’s Readers’ Poll as Austin’s top news story, may be a little closer to resolution but it certainly ain’t over yet (see “Scandal”). The Barton Springs salamander slithers into second, and that nasty haze that had Austin hiding indoors in May-June is another top contender.
Best Hair Salon
There’s lots of contention in this category – you’re loyal to your hairdressers like Robert Goulet is to his hair gel. Avant’s royal treatment is what keeps our readers in the chair. Aside from executing the latest and greatest “‘do’s,” and helping you get rid of those pesky “don’t’s,” Avant rubs it in with a…
Best Gift Shop – High End
Repeat winner Cadeau thrills returning students (and addicted regulars) withnot-to-be believed shower curtains and sundry other stuff you probably nevereven thought existed but suddenly feel an absolute burning need to possess.For those of you who think stepping into Target with a credit card isdangerous … just try to wisk through the fancy-schmancy gift shelves andclothes…
Best Vintage Clothing
Our readers have loved the folks behind the Blue Velvet curtain enough to have voted them tops in the past. They must like the well-organized racks: Hawaiian shirts are with other Hawaiian shirts, Western snap-downs are hung with other Western snap-downs, Plaid pants – you get the picture. And the array! Whether you want to…
Best Place To Reflect Upon The Essential Loneliness Of A Bull, Part Two
In an act of bovine largesse, the Texas Wranglers and Silver Spurs commissioned and donated a statue of a staunch and stern, anatomically correct steer to the University of Texas. Though it must have seemed a place of honor at the time, the pathway between Hargis Hall and the Nowotny Building is a university pasture…
Best Theater Sound
After walking into a theatre, have you ever felt that – when the movie actually starts – the sound quality would be better at home, on your own TV minus a speaker? Well if you have, we hope you got your money back. Gateway is an auditory Graceland. Teeming with digital and THX sound, it…
Best Odd New Happy Hour
The Electric Lounge, in recent months, has undergone a revamping leaving it shinier, more efficient, and more audience-friendly, and their Friday Happy Hour is part of the plan. But leave it to the Lounge to present a Happy Hour with the charming, artful quirkiness that attracts the most giftedly off-kilter bands in town. Mariachi Estrella,…
Best $8 You’ll Ever Spend On Your Health
Even after they tell you the names of the foods on your plate, you won’t know what half of them are: a bowl of miso-wakame soup, adukis, millet, collards, root vegetable nishime, burdock-hiziki medley, and a little umeboshi pickle. Yeah, right. Whatever it is, it looks beautiful and tastes delicious and is arguably some of…
Best Drive-thru Pizza
Okay, okay … so your favorite pizza isn’t the same as ours, we know it’s a peppery subject. But it’s no toss-up that Aljon’s is the best NY-style pizza in town with a drive-through window! All we have to do is call ahead for our favorite pie – say, pepperoni and mushroom, on a traditional…
Best Place To Unload Your Quiver
À la Ted Nugent, bow hunters are a burly, macho lot. If you stumble into Archery Country on a Monday (Monday night and Saturday mornings are reserved for leagues), you’ll be in over your heads, kids. (Although it is worth a look-see.) Better to go on a quieter night when you can sink deep into…
Best Looking Race For November
The governor’s race is already over. The down-ballot races are for the most part, boring. At stake is command of the Texas Senate and a job that in some ways is more powerful than that of governor. As an added bonus, the winner of the race will occupy the governor’s mansion if Gov. George W.…
Most Vigilant Advocates For Public Health Care
When these two longtime activists approach the podium in council chambers to offer advice or criticism for the city’s operation of public health care, officials stop thumbing through their notebooks and listen. Plainly driven by the conviction that health care is a right for both rich and poor, Flynn and Schmidt practice civil, measured, but…
Best Place That Really Gets Under Your Skin
This salon is a little low on atmosphere (the waxing room in particular receives low marks for being a most unwelcoming place to get your short hairs torn out by the roots), but what it lacks in decor is more than made up for in service. A native of Poland, Halina has been poring over…
Best Quick Read
It does, indeed, take only a quarter-hour to rifle through this irregularly released publication, but the writing is funny, sharp, and engaging. Gerg and Zub’s food reviews factor in all the things you wish restaurant reviewers would focus on, and their front-page Jetsam section takes on all those newsside items and things seen while driving,…
Best Way To Infiltrate The Media
It’s true. Ted Turner and Robert Murdoch have conspired to keep you silent, building multi-billion dollar empires just to make sure nothing intelligent seeps out over the airwaves. But don’t let that and a complete lack of video equipment, not to mention technical skills, keep you from your birthright: being on television. Twenty-five years after…
Best Place To Play Hoops In A Thunderstorm
In many ways, Metz is like any other outdoor hoops court: a stretch of asphalt with hoops on the perimeter, rims slightly bent and nets in need of repair. What sets Metz apart is that it’s got a ceiling 25 feet overhead. It’s not just a roof in a rainstorm, but shade in the summertime.…
Best Bargain Hunter’s Paradise
This place was started by three young friends just out of college in Utah. They’ve been in town for less than two years and already local bargain shoppers have sniffed them out. They are a clearinghouse for several major department stores and their merchandise includes close-outs, overages, damages, and returns. 60-80% savings – always having…
Best Latin American Music Record Shop
This little record shop is literally stacked floor to ceiling with all your favorite Latin American hits on cassette or CD! You got a favorite mariachi group? No problem. A tejano tune you’re looking for? No problema. Or maybe you’re into the new Vallenata craze from Colombia? This is the place to find it. Owner…
Best Record Store Most Like Your Own Living Room
Sure, the couch looks like it was pulled off somebody’s porch and the “organization” resembles a post-kegger jumble of titles and artists, but that’s half the appeal. If you’re looking for tongue-pierced counter clerks to sell you a sneer with your Joni Mitchell Blue, there are plenty of hipper joints to cruise new tunes. But…
Best Purveyor Of Indian Imports
Not only does India Bazaar have those hard-to-find authentic ingredients (like weird beans and exotic grains), but the owner of this unusual nook of a grocery store loves to instruct those interested in the ways of spices and recipes. The small triangular frozen samosas (thin dough filled with peas and potatos) she sells are great…
Best Cultural Overhaul
The Children’s Museum folks took a great thing and made it a whole lot better. They also moved locations. Now, you can enjoy some of the same old favorites (the coin vortex and Stuffee, the oversized doll thingie) and some new (the huge pipe organ at the entrance). And their summer camp programs rock. Not…
Fastest Kid’s Birthday Present In The West
The party starts in less than an hour, you are on a budget, you are clueless about what kids really like, and you want to make sure you come up with a gift that won’t offend parents’ sensibilities. Somewhere “Over the Rainbow” is your connection, my friend. Tell one of the Rainbow’s always-helpful employees how…
Best Place To Buy A Used Computer
The computers here may not be top of the line anymore, but they’re still very functional. Where else can you find a working Classic Macintosh for less than $100? Most IBM-compatible computers are less than $500 and come with a 60-day warranty. Check out their “Relics of the Past,” a virtual museum of computing history,…
Page Two
In the beginning, we did it a bit cynically. The “Best Of” issue, a booster catalog of Greater Austin, wasn’t really our style. But “Best Of” issues were noticeably big sellers for other alternative weeklies and (let’s be honest here) we figured if we didn’t do it, some other entity might. So we bit the…
Best Children’s Shoe Store
One of the main things kids do is grow. And, perforce, their feet grow with them. And you just know last week’s shoes will be hard-pressed to fit next week’s feet – which is why any place where you can actually pay less for footcovering is going to be popular with parents. Thus, our readers…
Best Annual Party
As long as there has been a poll, this party has won the category. The University YMCA’s springtime Pease Park bash celebrates Winnie-the-Pooh’s forlorn donkey pal. The event has evolved, through the years, into a two-parter. The first, a kiddie-friendly, community day in the park, complete with games, face painting, treats for tots, and of…
Best Beer Selection (Retail)
What Guinness is to World’s Records, Central Market is to beer: a vast, chilled repository of it, with sufficient amounts of enough different kinds to float an international armada of parties. And, yes, they do have Guinness itself.
Best Non-downtown Club
Texas twang is the thang at this nifty, no-frills honkytonk. A far cry, but a short drive, from slick downtown, the Continental is no-frills blues and brews at its simplest: dancin’, drinkin’, smokin’, sweatin’. Second place Carousel came close to grabbing the golden ring, and Flipnotics outdoor deck and coffeehouse coziness earned enough votes for…
Best Diner
Once again, the virtually uncontested champ in this category. To change the ranking, we’d have to change the label: Star Seeds seems custom-ordered from central casting, as if a set designer had bellowed “Yo, Murray! We need a diner, totally laidback & low-rent, thick with an ambience of grunge & funk, college kids & townies,…
Best Local Visionary
Well, it’s one thing to have a vision; it’s quite another to nurture and steer that vision into international, world-resounding significance. Austin’s Michael Dell, he of the Gordian-knotlike property appraisals as well as much local philanthropy, has done just that with his self-started computer company. (And he’s such a snappy dresser, too! LOL!)
Best TV Reporter
Our readers love Jim’s off-beat, down-home peeks into the heart of central Texas; he’s Austin’s version of Charles Kuralt.
Best Participatory Sport
Whoever thought of taking the wanky sport of golf and combining it with the wanky sport of Fris – ahem, flying-disc-tossing, throwing in some beer and some pot to create a decidedly slacker sport, and taking it to the parks of America … Well, if the inventors weren’t Austinites themselves, they sure struck a chord…
Best Nonprofit Group
A three-way tie in this hotly contested category shows that Austin isserious about its nonprofit community. The three top organizations haveoutwardly different aims but share a common goal of providing a safety netto those who need it, in issues regarding health, welfare, and both (personal safety). Habitat for Humanity was a close runner-up.
Best Home Repair
Size apparently does count in some instances, and this is one of them. Votershammered home their approval for this mambo-mart of everything including thekitchen sink. For the second year in a row, the vertigo-inducing behemoth Home Depot is the most popular spot to re-create the experience of being in your father’s garage – and you…
Best Gifts – Novelty
The nun collection alone (including the spark-spitting Nunzilla) is enough tohypnotize you. But wait, look over here at these weird lizard hand-puppets.No, no, come over here, check out this dogs-on-TV thingie. We can’t! We’re toobusy trying to figure out this 3-D lamp. Hey, and they gift wrap for free,too.
Best Western Wear Store
Git along little dogies, and steer yourself right on over to this bastion ofboot-scootin’ hat-waving shoppin’. Fer real cowboys and cowgirls and those who just want to pertend, Shepler’s has been selected more than once as the Austin locale for a full (home-on-the) range selection of western duds. They know this is where readers bring…
Best Place To Throw A Swanky Party
We dream about living in this former artist’s haven hidden under a mass of cedar trees. With its heavy stone floors, walls, and ceiling, the home is rustic but oh-so-comfortable, too. We love the way the light fills the rooms and can’t get enough of the arched doorways and maze of indoor and outdoor living…
Best Theatrical Scene Designer
If theatre is a gateway to distant and exotic lands, then Christopher McCollum may be our top travel agent; his magical sets never fail to transport us. Whether it’s Depression-era NYC or Paris during the Great Terror, this Austin native can take a little lumber, some paint, and canvas, and carry us there into what…
Best Oh, Who Cares, They Have 75¢ Pitchers
We think we remember a huge, crowded room, exuberant bartenders, a hardcore jukebox, a sea of pool tables including two extraspecial blacklit ones, an arcade populated solely by adults (all new-school games, unfortunately, except the lone Pac-Man/Dig-Dug combo machine), two policeman who stood at the door in a manner we thought menacing until we saw…
Best Authentic Chinese Experience
Looking for the real Chinese food thing, or the closest thing to it here in Austin? Check out the green and pink shack over there, yeah, the one that looks like a taqueria or a flower shop. Mmmm, here’s that smell – that greasy, heavy air that fills up your nostrils and coats your skin…
Best Gelato To Go
Is it the friendly chefs form Italy behind the counter? Is it the allure of the gigantic Sophia Loren plastered on the back wall? Is it that our tongue starts automatically speaking in Italian as soon as the lucious flavors like zabaglione (made with Marsala wine), bacio (chocolate & hazelnut), menta (mint) hit it? We…
Best Place To Watch Football (american Or European)
Built in 1939, these unassuming bleachers play host to both the Austin Lone Stars soccer club and a regular schedule of AISD football. With peaceful greenspace Pease Park lying just west and the downtown skyline crouching benignly to the south and east, this central city park is a decidedly Austin spot to spy a speck…
Best Media Omnipresence
The guy is everywhere. Has a day gone by in the 15 months of his term that he hasn’t been on the cover of the daily, a local news program, or the Sam & Bob show? Watson’s savvy packaging of his personal image often extends to his political message. He calls press conferences at the…
Raddest Mayoral Performance
Is our mayor cool or what? Stylin’ in his baggy pants and backwards baseball cap, Watson stole the show when he borrowed a BMX bike and made a beeline for the nearest vertical curve. Sure, it landed him flat on his backside in front of a whole nation of viewers, but what are politicians for…
Best Place To Find Good Old Electronics
You wouldn’t believe what we went through looking for a transcribing machine that uses standard-size cassette. Back in our day (the pre-digital ice age-) Dictaphones and transcribers were staple journalist tools. Try telling that to these upstart, barely shaving, embryonic whippersnappers clerking at the local personal-electronics-marts. “Huh?” “Do you mean like a Karaoke machine?” “A…
Best Radio Station, In Spite Of It All
Yes, Austin’s cooperatively run, community-owned radio station has been in turmoil lately, but those controversies haven’t damaged the on-air content: KOOP’s mornings are an unbeatable mix of various jazz, funk, and roots music (Rod Moag’s “Country, Swing, and Rockabilly Jamboree” is one of the best programs in town and Jay Robillard’s “Lounge Show” keeps those…
Best Way To Sell Widgets On The Web
Formed in 1996, WebZealots provides corporate customers with custom database solutions for web integration. The majority of their sites are Internet replacements for legacy systems and they do it all: site hosting and development, domain registration, e-mail setup – everything short of crawling through your customers’ monitors and asking if they’d like fries with that…
Best Precision Cutters
Using a high-pressure water stream, these folks can custom cut through any flat material including rubber, plastic, foam, Masonite, wood, glass, stone, tile, metal – anything as long as it’s flat. Watch out, Clark Kent! Pieter Tirion’s in town and he does it all with water.
Best Bra Attendants
The ladies at this traditional undergarment shoppe know cup sizes inside out. They know what the wrong size brassiere can do to an aching back. They know the power of one little word: contour. They know that kindness, discretion, and a good sense of humor go a long way to guarantee repeat business. They know…
Best Military Surplus
Good military surplus stores are always a litttle creepy. This place is a great military surplus store. All the standard hip accessories like flight boots, camouflage Tees, and those Air Force bags are here, but there’s also no shortage of disturbing wartime relics. Check out their grenades, German helmets, and 50-caliber machine gun.
Best Resurrection Of The Dead
Dead Freaks Unite at these two cosmically connected but otherwise unrelated businesses. With roots in Bozeman, Montana,The Shed offers an incense-laden atmosphere aurally enhanced by Widespread Panic, Phish, and of course, Grateful Dead tunes and paraphernalia, poster-covered walls, and five rooms filled with “stuff to decorate your life,” like hemp clothing, jewelry, and Pyrex pipes.…
Best Restaurant To Take Out-of-town Visitors To Watch The Sunset
High on a cliff overlooking Lake Travis, the restaurant’s patio offers a prime view in the fading evening light of the silver lake dotted and streaked by boats winding between the hills as the sun slips away to appreciative applause of the patrons. Most importantly – the Tex-Mex food is just about as fine as…
Best Flashback
Yeah, yeah, radio stations feature programs full of Eighties new wave and downtown clubs have similar nights set aside for dancing like we all did to try to forget Reagan was in office. But there’s something about Skate World – something that throws us back to the Seventies and the Eighties like nothing else in…
Most Hearty Survivors
Situated along a peaceful plot next to shady Walnut Creek, this real Texas farmstead stands frozen in time. With the steely fortitude of the real pioneers of the 1880s, our local jewel-in-the- rough attraction continues to thrive despite a funding crisis a few years back. We think that’s great, because kids love to learn about…
Best Happy Hour
Tropical Fish Happy Hour, that is – If your especial love is the Ciclid family, Amazonia offers a huge selection of African and Central Americans, as well as our little friend the Apisto (dwarf Ciclid). Go for Friday happy hour from 8-11pm to indulge your habit economically. We love our tropical fish the way some…
Public Notice
Hey! It’s “Best of Austin” week. And what’s better in Austin than its Public Service Community? Here is a list of local volunteer opportunities. Part Two of this list will run next week. If your organization is missing from this roster and you have volunteer opportunities available, please do submit your listing in writing for…
Best Children’s Video Selection
Lassie! Benji! Disney! Flipper! – if you ask kids, there’s no place hipper! It’s hard to beat Blockbuster anyhow, and that is triply true when it comes to finding video fare for those restricted to PG-13 and milder. This major chain is the major pick of parents with VCRs. No wonder that local Vulcan Video…
Best Art Gallery
AMOA takes risks and takes time to consistently create some of the best exhibits in town. Although its downtown gallery always comes a close second, we think it’s the florid surroundings and scenic landscape of its original home that give Laguna that extra nudge.
Best Brew Pub
Is it the brewski itself, or the tasty grub from the kitchen, or the pool table, shuffleboard, foosball, and air hockey upstairs? Or is it the unpretentiousness of the mixed & mingling crowd that makes this place such a favorite in the downtown beertank scene? Stop in to quench your thirst and figure it out…
Best Place To Be Seen
It’s no Studio 54 (thank God), but with its hush hush entrance and a velvet rope, it’s classic glam. But is this where the readers want to be seen, or is it where they go to stargaze when a celeb stops in town? Sullivan’s is another fave. But so is Sixth Street.
Best Grocery Store
This is the place, definitely. If good shoppers want to get a preview of what grocery-store heaven will be like, in whatever afterlife they may imagine, they need to come here. Central Market is a food store, cooking school, restaurant, live music venue, and local tourist attraction, all in one. That’s an Austin take on…
Best Local Web Site
What can we say about this photo-finish between two paper-anchored entities? The difference here, really, is the difference between the Austin American-Statesman and the paper you’re currently reading. Both are locally oriented, in-depth, entertaining, and informative; you’ll choose your news as you choose your views, and cyberspace will be all the better for both sites.…
Best Weather Person
No one takes more heat than weather forecasters when they’re wrong. Kimmel gets it right most of the time; he’s good enough, he’s smart enough, and gosh darnit, people like him!
Best Place To Skate
This category seems more a testament to how fashion is dictating your glide than a measurement of your loyalty to a particular venue. In-liners rule, voting in the Veloway for the third year rolling. The ice rink at Northcross Mall places second, and those who enjoy \’blading in the great indoors or still like the…
Best Nonprofit Volunteer
Single mom Kramer credits her 13-year-old son for motivating her activism on the UT staff salary issue when he asked, “What are you going to do about this, Mom?” What the firebrand has done since becoming president of the University Staff Association has been to mobilize a previously listless organization around the salary issue, forcing…
Best Kennel/Vet
Breaking their own tie with Hyde Park Animal Clinic in ’97, Brykerwood pullsto the front of the pack. Drs. Gregory Beile and Tom Riggan have offered Austin 25 years as top-dog/top-cat docs, not to mention exotic pets as well. Drop-ins (not droppin’s!) are welcome. Let them play with your poodle.
Best Hardware Store
It smells good, it looks good, there’s practical stuff, there’s frivilousstuff, readers like it enough to keep voting for it … Heck, you can even buya big bag of fine cow crap out back. Don’t just think hardware, think awesomewedding and birthday gifts, think gorgeous floating candles, think of it as apleasant excuse to go…
Best Arch
This monolithic Stonehenge of towering shell-encrusted limestone actually has nothing to do with the Holly Street Power Plant; it merely resides in its shadow. Despite the hiss and whine of millions of gallons of water coursing and steaming through the Holly superstructure, the monument stands silent, solid, acting as majestic gateway between the Town Lake…
Best Place To Write On The Bathroom Walls Sans Vandalism
Finally, a place where interesting, intelligent people can do their business and still share their crude drawings, thoughts, and tawdry sayings with every other bathroom goer and not have to worry about contributing to the cost of a new paint job. Or is that half the fun? Oh well. To all you delinquents out there,…
Most Intriguing Event Rumor
We first heard about this through some odd inquiries to our “Public Notice” column, and then continued to hear about it at the bars. The murmurs around the possibility of a weekend-long Chances reunion extravaganza intrigue us. Despite its reputation as the South’s gay-friendly hot spot, Austin is sure lacking when it comes to lesbo…
Best Place For A Romantic Late-night Snack & Drink
On nights that the hotel on Town Lake isn’t full of drunken conventioneers, the bar on the first floor is often nearly empty and seductively dark. Slip in for a drink or a snack until midnight on weekends (kitchen closes at 11pm on weekdays). Even though there is no service after 9pm on the outdoor…
Best Big, Honkin’ Chocolate Eclairs
When you have a craving for this French pastry, Quack’s will surely satisfy. No puny, petite sample, this is a Texas-sized round mound full of egg custard and covered in dark chocolate that’s big enough to share with a couple friends. Some people have been known to hide while eating this delicious desert to fully…
Best Gelato To Stay
The patio of this Hyde Park cool spot is one of our favorite places to people-watch while we enjoy a crisp waffle cone full of ultra-creamy lemon sorbetto and sip a frothy iced cappuccino spiked with one of the many available flavored syrups and liqueurs. The “sweet life” is just what we experience when we…
Best Place To Work Out Aggression
Maybe it’s the countless posters, photographs, and other boxing memorabilia lining the walls that provide Richard’s boxers with the motivation they need to survive his grueling workouts. Perhaps it’s his constant encouragment that helps them get through the heat, the warehouse is hot, really hot. Whatever the stimulus, they work hard – beating those heavy…
Best New Addition At The Courthouse
Travis County will ring in the New Year by redoubling its commitment to crack down on domestic violence offenders. In January, the county’s first Family Violence Court will open its doors with Mike Denton as the presiding judge. What’s unique here is that the new court is one of only three in Texas (and one…
B(r)est Advice To New Mothers
Breast feeding may seem as if it should be instinctive but any new mom will assure you it’s not. Getting that babe latched on or figuring out how to work a breast pump takes a bit more than just a willing spirit; it takes a little help and a lot of practice. Donna Cordoba can’t…
Best Place To Gain No Pain
For the past nine years the compassionate professionals at Austin Pain Therapy have helped thousands of chronic pain sufferers improve the quality of their lives. Utilizing an eclectic mixture of more traditional physical therapies – your basic stretching, relearning your household or job tasks and exercise; in the water and out, as well as the…
Best Reason To Drive To Work On Monday
Monday morning would be too much to bear without Courtney Davis’s 7:30am air break monologue. Whether she’s recounting her lousy weekend, deconstructing the latest Golden Girls rerun or kibbitzing long distance with a friend in San Francisco (So what if it’s 6am out there? Wake up!), deejay/diva Courtney Davis beguiles us with her valley girl-like…
Best Way To While Away A Saturday Morning
Every Saturday morning from 10 til noon, KOOP crooner Jay Robillard makes getting out of bed a dance. Playing vaudeville, big band jazz, and Rat Pack classics, Robillard adds a velvety touch to the morning coffee and paper. And if a hangover is what meets you come Saturday, The Lounge Show is the next best…
Best Reason To Get Up At 8am On Sunday
Just when you thought that going to church was going out of style, UBC shows up with a thoroughly modern message: Come one, come all. Refusing to back down from its acceptance of homosexuals in church leadership, UBC was booted out of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Austin Baptist Association. Far from…
Best Cheap-o Horror Comics
Not only are the people who work here some of the nicest people in Austin, but the store is wisely and thoroughly stocked with all things comics-related. We like to bring boxes of our old horror comics in to trade. The Comics & More staff is so generous that we usually leave with almost as…
Best One-Stop Satisfaction Shop
Home to much more than its humble name suggests, Acapulco Video can meet ‘most all of your basic needs under one roof. In addition to the advertised gran variedad of Spanish-language music, it’s also got video rental, Western wear, and a sit-down cafe. From grub to threads to tunes, camarones to camisas to corridos, Acapulco…
Best Revival Spot
All of Hyde Park held its breath for a year waiting to find out if Starbuck’s or Einstein’s would bulldoze the intimate hub of all neighborhood conversation, Hyde Park Bakery. But wonder of wonders, another homegrown Austin tradition stepped in to revitalize the bakery’s sagging reputation. Once again we sit and chat the evening away…
Best Sign That Civilization Has Reached South Austin
No longer does anyone South of Slaughter have to make a trek into Westlake Hills or Central Austin to get European pastries and cakes. Chef Scott Teal makes some of the biggest, chocolatiest croissants and blueberry danishes. Besides croissants & danishes, you can get espresso, cinnamon rolls, muffins, scones, cookies, cakes, breads, eclairs, cheesecakes, wedding…
Best Fundraiser To Benefit Kids
The people at CASA mobilize volunteer advocates for abused and neglected children in Travis County. We can’t say enough about all the good things they do for kids. Their big summer fundraiser mimics the importance of “safe houses” for all children. To train and oversee their super volunteers they raise money by raffling miniature masterpiece…
Best Bumper Sticker
Seen on a privately owned yellow bike that apparently has been confused with those other yellow bicycles: THIS IS NOT A YELLOW BICYCLE.
Man of the People
It’s been more than 30 years since Francisco Roux-L�pez was offered his first government job by the Mexican ambassador in France. At the time, being a career diplomat was not exactly what Roux-L�pez had in mind. In Paris on a Rockefeller fellowship, he was more concerned with his studies toward a Ph.D. in international relations.…
Best Healthy Restaurant
If your kids like vegetables, this is the place to take them. And if they don’t like vegetables yet, after a few visits to Mother’s beautiful patio, juxtaposed with the spinach enchiladas and the mouthwatering veggie lasagne and the various & scrumptious Southwestern dishes – not to mention smoothies worth putting off adolescence for -…
Best Artist
Housing her work in her own Blue Road Studio & Gallery, first-time category winner and longtime Austin artist DiBona’s edgy sculpture is flashes of the future with a flair for the artistic. Longtime faves Amado Peña and Mary Doerr pulled votes but not enough to brush off DiBona.
Best Cocktails / Martinis
Great bartenders, smooth jazz, and top-notch drinks – Cedar Street’s steady hold on this category had been neither shaken nor stirred, even by worthy contenders and runners-up Club Deville and Sullivan’s.
Best Place To Eavesdrop
You could keep the bestseller lists and tabloid racks full for decades by transliterating only half of the dishing you can get an earful of among the tables & booths at any Kerbey Lane Cafe. It’s their diverse clientele representing both the high and the low, the tech and the granola, the current media celebrities…
Best Lunch Under $5
If you’re trying to save for a rainy day but are reluctant to ingest less than bodacious noontime provender, this local chain is the silver lining between the cloudhorns of your fiduciary/culinary dilemma. These are submarine sandwiches that’ll help raise you from the depths of debt and hunger, especially in the middle of the workweek…
Best Locally Produced Radio Show
If you’ve ever seen the studio at KVRX, you have to be impressed at the music that comes out of there; it’s got to be like playing in a closet. KVRX’s “Local Live,” Sundays 10-11pm, features the best of local and touring bands right there in their studio. Hats off to the folks like producers…
Best Austin Athlete
Our state is obsessed with football; but as y’all know well, Austin ain’t your typical Texas city – our readers’ ongoing rally behind astounding, resilient, cancer-fighting cycler Lance Armstrong is testament to that. Of course, we’re not ignoring our Horns altogether; running back and 1998 Heisman Trophy candidate Ricky Williams touches down in second.
Best Public Sports Facility
Village People jokes aside, the YMCA packs you in and pumps you up. Their early/late hours, cool indoor pool, massage therapist, and wide array of fitness programs only enhance an already extensive gym. Last year’s winner is still your favorite Neighborhood Park, Zilker.
Best Public Servant
Watson tenure so far shows that his man-of-the-people image is substance as well as style – and our readers love him. Funny thing about this year’s vote in this category, however: Sandwiched between current and prior winner Kirk Watson and Austin’s man in Washington Lloyd Doggett (in third) is Republican Gov. George W. Bush, a…
Best Laundromat
We sense a theme here and that would be – Can you say “multi-tasking?” In afast-paced world where those who don’t do two things at once get lost in theshuffle, both of our winners offer twofer opportunities. At Clean and Lean youcan break down nasty clothing stains while building up your body. Not everyone knows…
Best Jewelry (costume)
No matter how she transforms herself, we always know that Lucy will show up at the party that is the Readers Poll. Sure enough … here she is again … in disguise with faux diamonds and every other sparkling fake you can imagine. This queen of costumes, then, according to our readers, is also the…
Best Cemetery For Meditation
Eyes can’t help but shift from one tombstone marked “unknown” to the next as intense heat is kept from gravesites by a thick surrounding of trees. History takes shape in a family of markers, one with a three-day-old’s name on it – her mother’s name and day of death close in time. A plaque telling…
Best Renovation
Any respectable Gotham City set would have a building like this, not only for its lit-up letters at the top but also for its sleek and strong presence, which features large glass windows within a heavy dark stone structure. Makes us want to don pin-striped black suits and Tommy guns, and head up the avenue…
Best “Electronica” Club
Owner/bookers Ramen and Joseph have transformed this much-maligned Seventh Street location into a bastion of mad beats and ecstatic cyalume camraderie, creating a haven not only for Austin’s swarms of candy ravers, but also for local deejays (Trevor, Rollers Redefined) and even some of the old skool guard. Not content with simply catering to the…
Best Place To Avert Your Eyes
During a sultry autumn happy hour at the Crown & Anchor, we needed to make a phone call – to a friend, a cab, mom – whomever, it doesn’t matter. We plunked in our quarter (ahh, the good ol’ days) and began the shouting match necessitated by the din of drunken graduate students. Suddenly, as…
Best Bowl Of Coffee
High Time’s ample serving of New Orleans-style chicory coffee has the soft, creamy essence of marshmallow, and it’s a great complement to their fabulous breakfasts, like Portabello Omelette With Tomato-Sherry Sauce and mixed green salad. Even the toast seems like someone made it with love.
Best Gourmet Tamales
When Angele Cleopatra Stavron gave up playing bass in punk bands to go into the tamale business, some snickered as if to say, “You? Start your own company?” They’re not laughing now, they’re smacking their lips and belching in satisfied torpor. Angele’s masa marvels are made with quality ingredients and are available in such non-traditional…
Best Reason To Visit Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium
The NFL paperwork was signed and Longhorn fans were resigned: The nation’s highest-rated running back was surely going pro. But then – surprise – Ricky Williams decided to stay his senior year at UT, a decision which catapulted him to the top of the list of Heisman trophy contenders and added a much needed jolt…
Best Out-of-Court Settlement
Commonly referred to as the Valentine’s Day Incident, this long-running lawsuit stemmed from allegations that police officers had used excessive force against several youngsters in trying to quell a disturbance at an adult-chaperoned party. The incident threatened to create an irreparable chasm between East Austin African-Americans and the Austin Police Department. But only days before…
Best (if Not Only) Pedicure By A Straight Man
With the deft touch and attentive manner that have made him indispensable to the leading ladies of Austin’s political and cultural milieux, Roberto will bathe, exfoliate, and massage your feet. He will slather them with mint masque and wind them up in muslin strips. He will make them smooth as marble and fragrant as flowers,…
Best Recruitment Campaign
Okay, so your new Porsche Boxster may not exactly fit into your bohemian lifestyle and it may not exactly impress them down at the recycling center, but oh, the thrill of an engine that purrs and then roars, the luxury of a convertible top on a cloudless blue day, the terrible decadence of leather under…
Best Web Site For Business Research
Gary Hoover, the man who founded Bookstop and TravelFest, has taken his superstore theme online. The eight-year-old Austin-based Web site offers a well-stocked database of information on companies in every industry – from adult entertainment to TV and radio. Billed as “the ultimate source for company information,” the Web site provides company profiles written in…
Best Roving Photographer
“The Mexican photographer with an Italian name – American citizen with a Japanese camera” is how Tom Borrocio, better known as Mr. Flash, bills himself. Never mind that you can hardly eat a dinner without seeing him wandering by with his Polaroid camera, ready to snap you with your mouth open or looped on margaritas.…
Best Church Lady Thrift Store – 1
Sorting through tons of crapola to find a few rewards is part of the fun of thrift shopping, but it wears on the spirit of intrepid thrifters when store after store has been picked dry. Next to New, tended by the Ladies’ Ministry of St. David’s Episcopal, always has such great stock that we feel…
Best Outfitting For Noir And Boudoir
“I love to watch people’s reactions when they walk in,” says Blackmail moll Gail Chovan. The local performance artist (formerly known as Lydia) turned boutique baroness especially loves it when “Seventies polyester chicks come in, look around, and scream.” Black is sexy – not to mention slimming. But try telling that to a generation nostalgic…
Best Sheet Music
Their window sign exclaiming “We don’t need no stinkin’ Internet!” proved particularly prescient as the largest Web-based slinger of chords and tablature, the Online Guitar Archive (OLGA), closed earlier this year under threats of copyright-infringement lawsuits. And sure, that stuff was free, but there ain’t nothing like the paper thing. In our latest perusal of…
Best Silk Purse From A Sow’s Ear
With a stack of donated materials, a little bit of money, and a lot of hard work, patio proprietors Miranda Walton and Malik Khurshid took a vacant, weedy, and downright ugly Manor Road lot and turned it into a “Relax-Station” of the first order, serving burgers, burritos, and breakfast tacos from a small stand. Okay,…
Best Innovative Combo-entertainment
Okay, so we are a little concerned that those big electrical projectors are resting – on wheels no less – at the edge of a pool full of kids and water (remember the hot tub scene from Eating Raoul?). But there’s no denying the innovative brilliance behind this summer past-time. The place is packed with…
Best Clear Voice On Lone Star Affairs
Too often getting broadcast news on Texas issues means filtering out static from reporters who feel the need to gussy up their stories with faux drawls, tired Texas-isms, and outdated references to Southfork. Whenever we tune in to NPR’s Texas specialist John Burnett, however, we hear our state’s affairs discussed with uncommon clarity. Burnet knows…
To: Mayor and Council Members
From: Jesus Garza, City Manager As you all are aware, Milton Lee will be leaving the City at the end of November. I am extremely excited for him and want to thank Milton for his dedication to this organization, particularly during the last 12 months as the General Manager for Austin Energy. Milton leaves behind…
Best Kids’ Party Supplies
The partying porker wins for the second year in a row. One step inside the sprawling splash of balloons, streamers, banners, and coordinated table covers in every color imaginable tells why this fiesta barn is our readers’ favorite. Whether the theme is pop cultural (Stars Wars, Jurassic Park, Hot Wheels, Barbie) or general (rainbow colors,…
Best Book By A Local Author
Thirty years after Whitman’s assault on the UT campus, the public’s fascination with the seemingly wholesome family man seems to just keep growing; Kinky Friedman never goes out of style, and that’s not just because he publishes one book a year like clockwork. Available at better bookstores, everywhere. A Sniper in the Tower (Ingram, $18.95…
Best Country/Western Club
Year after year, readers tip their 10-gallons to the Broken Spoke. It’s two-steppin’ with yer Lone Star and yer best gal; none of that fancy stuff here. Just simple folk and simple pleasures — except those nights ol’ Willie shows up.
Best Place To Take A First Date
The dim lights, the rich Italian food, the soft flush of the world after a glass (or two or three) of wine makes starcrossed lovers of us all. It’s no balcony scene, but you won’t encounter any crazy Capulets either, unless of course you blab to the in-laws.
Best Open-air Market
Here’s where you’ll find a vegetable cornucopia ready to spill off the trucks of local growers and into your thankful pantry & fridge every Saturday from 10am – 2pm. A perfect weekend combo of great outdoors & grocery shopping, with a wide variety of produce fresh from the earth. There are often as many as…
Best Locally Produced TV Show
Public television that doesn’t put you to sleep or make you feellike you’re living in the original 13 colonies, Austin’s KLRU has had astellar year so far in 1998. With record-breaking fund drives and thecontinuing popularity of one of public television’s most popular nationallysyndicated shows, Austin City Limits, the station continually entertainsand educates its audience.…
Best Austin Team
Admit it: You laughed when you heard Austin was getting a hockey team. Buttwo years later, the Ice Bats are the WHPL’s most successful franchise,drawing over 200,000 fans last season. The Bats will face off Oct. 8, inthe third-season opener at the Travis County Expo Center – and they’ll bespending their off-the-ice time looking for…
Best Rock Climbing
When you want to dino for a jug on the only rock in Texas that doubles as an exfoliant, Enchanted Rock has you under its spell. So does Pseudo Rock, even though it’s fake, and you’re all over the Greenbelt for third.
Best Rumor
For any of you TV Jocks quaking in your closet, fret not. Just about every one of your professional colleagues was mentioned (except Andy Liscano) in this scathing expose of fifth grade proportions. Who knew our demographics stretched into such a sophisticated segment of the populace?
Best Pharmacy/Drugstore
Readers declare: “Just say yes to drugs. As long as they’re from Peoples.” Is it the last bastion of socialism in Austin? Maybe a surge of pinko, single-payer minded folk voted for them for their name; more likely it’s the non-corporate, cornershop feel of their five locations that won them their first title this year,…
Best Jewelry (fine)
Odd thing about James Avery jewelry – lots of people seem to have the same pieces, but somehow they always look unique. Simple yet elegant, with a number of real specific designs – wedding bands, teacher-targeted rings and pendants, ornaments for everyone. We especially dig the St. Francis medals.
Best Diner Decor
It would be novel to breakfast in the Beaver’s kitchen or lunch with Lucy & Ethel, but that’s sort of what eating at Laura’s Bluebonnet is like. Part diner, part museum, Laura’s decor pays homage to the Fifties by showcasing brightly colored Pyrex stacking bowls, colored aluminum drink serving sets, and shiny chrome small appliances…
Best Rooftop Riot Grrrrrl
It’s been months since the split of the Skagen-Brakhage team, and they’re still making ink in our pages. What can we say? We’re suckers for public art. Our latest objet d’amour is the glam gal perched on the roof of Fran’s Hamburger’s. Guit-tar in one hand, burger in the other, she’s literally grasping the Austin…
Best Ambassador Of Good Will (music)
Someone with this many opinions isn’t usually this endearing, but it’s hard to ignore Mark Rubin. Whether behind stand-up bass for the Bad Livers, tooting on tuba for his klezmer group, Rubinchik’s Orkestyr, or sitting in for John Aielli on KUT-FM as he did recently, Rubin is disarmingly frank, charmingly opinionated, and enormously talented. Could…
Best Place To Pretend You’re An Asian Pop Star
Everything about this place is cheeseball – from the neon-encased “Fear This” plaque to the selection of English songs comprised almost exclusively of sappy Seventies and Eighties ballads. But it’s good cheeseball. Settle back into the plush acrylic chairs and the waitress will drop a bowl of chips onto your table. If you’re nice or…
Best Chain Restaurants That Have Surprisingly Good Coffee
Even in your tonier establishments, a satisfying cup o’ joe can be tough to come by. So it’s always a pleasure to return to these cheap eatin’ institutions for food that is exactly the same as it was the last time you ate it, and have a really good cup of coffee to top it…
Best Grocery Store Mega-food Court
We won’t lie to you. When we first saw that the new HEB did not carry over its Chinese kitchen, we were bummed. But the overwhelming selection and the courteous and knowledgeable staff at the remodeled grocery store’s new Greats! Cafe more than makes up for it. The hot food selection offers barbecue, pizza, pasta,…
Best Reason To Visit Springfield, Ma
With more than 700 wins under her belt, Jody Conradt is women’s college hoops’ most successful coach and – along with the likes of Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp – one of the winningest coaches in all of college basketball. Next month, she will join Celtic star-turned-Pacers coach Larry Bird and other basketball legends in…
Best Performance(s) By A Neighborhood Association (or Its Equivalent)
Last year at this time, North Central Austin was fighting an unwanted and noxious strip mall; now, it’s helping create the most intriguing development project in Austin in at least two decades. Everyone is sick of hearing and talking about the Triangle, but it’s hard to underrate the accomplishment of HPNA and NTP – once…
Best Collective Services For The Aging
It’s not like the world doesn’t already spin fast enough, but it seems to be spinning faster and faster, and orbitals seem to turn more and more frequently. As we age, does it become even more a blur? The AGE (Austin Groups for the Elderly) Building, located in the purportedly haunted ex-home of the Confederate…
Best Place To Take A Shower Away From Home
Something about stepping into the tiled steam showers after a massage at Salon 505 says, unapologetically, “I am pampering myself, okay?” Sprigs of eucalyptus dangle from the shower head, filling the booth with heady vapors. Shower gels and shampoos redolent of herbs are perched on a shelf for the lathering. Wrap yourself in the hotel-grade,…
Best Response To The Media Glare
Our sympathies go to anyone caught in the media spotlight. Fifteen minutes of fame is paltry compensation for the intense scrutiny that comes with the attention of the news machine. In July, as a lawsuit over police behavior in the 1995 Cedar Avenue incident inched toward trial, the microphones and cameras crowded in on the…
Biggest Media Bandwagon
The ridding of South Congress’ porn theatre was a media playground and made real estate broker Henry Benedict an overnight local joe celebrity. We’re guilty as hell. But while we’re at it – here’s something else to chew on. While vice cops were swarming the aisles at the height of their sting, theatre employees entertained…
Best Salon To Dye For
When you can’t get in to see your fave stylist because sheis being featured at a prestigious color convention, you know you’re in the right place – even though your roots may have to wait a week. It’s also a testament to how well the salon is managed that the turnover in stylists is slow,…
Best Church Lady Thrift Store – 2
Laura, Debbie, and Linda were sitting in Bible study class when a bolt of lightning ripped through the walls, and an angel on horseback appeared to deliver a message about what their new mission in life was to be. Okay, we’re exaggerating. But just because the message was delivered without all the grand Biblical flourish…
Best Place To Buy A Pair Of Boots
This unlikely looking little shop in a small strip mall on Airport Boulevard houses some of the coolest boots this side of the Pecos – green, sharkskin, American Flag, or the pointiest boots in town. Tiny, the genial and animated proprietress has been in the business for over 30 years and even has stories of…
Best Sneakers
Sneakers are back in fashion to be sure, but for the boarding set, they continue to be a lifestyle. So where better than a skateboard shop to find the coolest (functional) rides – the latest from brands like Vans and DG, and old school Pumas, Converse, and Adidas, too? Blondies can outfit your feet for…
Best Specialty Dish
Jimmy Perkins’ photo looks out over El Patio. He ordered the same thing for so many years that it eventually got put on the menu. The Perkins special is a chalupa shell covered with taco meat under lettuce and tomatoes, then smothered in queso. We give it two yums up.
Best Kids Drama Camp
If your 7- to 17- year-old yearns for a life in the theatre – or at least an intense month in the summer – this is the ticket. A dynamic staff of drama professionals, many MFAs; a delicious (to the theatrically inclined child, that is; sports camp this ain’t) menu of not-dumbed-down classes like mime,…
Best Community Newspaper
This small publication produced in East Austin has been in existence 18 years, which makes it the longest running community paper in the city. Providing not only coverage of local and national Latino art and business news that often doesn’t get covered in the local daily, ARRIBA is a unique publication that has also launched…
Naked City
Gus Garcia is resigning from the mayor pro tem post as of Oct. 1, he announced yesterday. Garcia, who has held the position since June, 1995, says he supports naming CouncilmemberJackie Goodman his successor. Recent health problems are not behind his decision, he says… There’s an election Nov. 3 – and it’ll be a big…
Best Playground/Park
Zilker Park, with its eminently climbable fire engine, its miniature train rides around the entire park, and oh yeah, the multicolored chutes and ladders and platforms and semi-cages of its almost Dr. Seussian architecture, right there in the middle of the great in-town outdoors, is the perfect place for kids to get happily heated up…
Best Choreographer
That’s Bravo as in “brave,” an apt word to describe this independent local artist who uses modern dance as her vehicle for courageously exploring social and political issues, from women’s roles in society to spirituality. And as far as our readers are concerned, that’s also “Bravo” as in “Bravo!” Well-done!
Best Cover Band Club
Hear somebody play somebody else’s music just about any night of the week in the club that has taken this category for the five years that it has existed. Steamboat and Antone’s tie for an impressive second, considering how many original bands populate their rosters.
Best Pool Hall
Must’ve been a lot of interns stuffing the ballot box this year. Just a little topical humor, there, folks, and with a name like “Slick Willie’s,” we bet that the crew at your favorite pool hall can take it. Clicks and the Ritz tied for second place, and Eric’s took third.
Best Playscape (indoor)
Go ahead, just sit there and read a book or chat with friends near the video games while your kids go tear-assing through the circuitous maze of giant overhead tunnels, as they careen down the types of slides you could only dream of during your own childhood, as they climb over giant cargo nets and…
Best Morning Deejay (or Team)
What’s this? Seven years in a row? Whether inspiring road rage on the morning’s commute or providing a wake-up call through many a clock radio (ummm, to shut the damn thing off?!), D,B, & D are our readers’ choice again for hottest breakfast jocks. There’s no denying it, these guys are the royal family of…
Best Basketball Court/Game
The half-court heavy Enfield Park is the players’ perennial favorite. Clark and Pease got next.
Best Scenic Drive (in-town)
Drive this smooth highway as it winds gently among the hills bordering the southwestern flank of “The Live Music Capital of the World,” glide through places where those hills have been kindly cut to allow vehicular passage, feast your eyes on woods and fields and close-to-town country, marvel at the exquisitely simple-looking feat of engineering…
Best State Office
Along with thousands of hardworking Austin artists, these divisions of our state governor’s office are there behind the scenes to represent, promote, and brag to the world that Austin is the creative person’s Mecca. Music maestro Casey Monahan and film fan Tom Copeland make quite the tag-team as directors of these concerns. Attorney General Dan…
Best Photo Lab
Wethinks one reason HEB is the big winner here is practical. Since most HEBsare now so huge it takes at least an hour to get from one end of the store tothe other, using their one hour photo lab service offered at many locationsmeans you don’t have to leave and come back. Hell, if you…
Best Lingerie Shop
This is not what your mother meant when she was suggesting what type ofunderwear to wear “in case you get hit by a car.” But apparently, your motherdidn’t vote in the readers poll, and so Victoria safely wins the contestagain, panties down.
Best Door Handle
It may be plebeian, it may be mundane, it may be just a hunk of burnished wood, but we’ve always had a soft spot for the baseball bat that serves as a handle on the Hole’s front door. We can hardly grasp it without sweet daydreams dancing in our heads: knocking hanging curves into the…
Best Street To Drive Down & Check Out The Murals In South Austin
The murals on South Congress emerged from a need to advertise all the general oddities for sale in that area combined with a creative urge to paint by all the artists that live there. The result has made the Congress drag from Academy Drive to Mary Street a lively, colorful, and perfectly quirky part of…
Best Avant Garde Margarita
As if Curra’s hadn’t given enough to the eating community already, with their cochinita pibil, tamale plates, and generous happy hour (all afternoon). Now, they’re coaxing avocado into the world of sweet drinks by taking a frozen lime margarita and adding a quarter of an avocado and some cilantro. Mmm, cool and frosty, and, well,…
Best Place To Tie One On For $10
It’s a little past midnight and you’d rather swallow a mouthful of broken glass than spend another hour at Emo’s. You reach into your pocket: 10 lousy bucks and no buzz. Well, get your ass to G&S Lounge and fast! The G&S has over 45 different selections of domestic and import bottles – always for…
Best Cheap Drink
In June, Austin’s water was chosen as best drinking water in Central Texas by the Texas Water Utilities Association in a taste test against samples of water from other cities in the region. The water was judged on clarity, purity, and taste.
Best Hearts
Year in and year out, these hardworking sisters always give from the heart to support the causes they believe in, most notably the local Latino arts community. This year in addition to providing exhibit space for La Peña’s Toma Mi Corazon Heart Auction, they persuaded several hotshot chefs to donate food and opened their restaurant…
Best Scenic Drive
As an alternative to MoPac or even Bee Caves Road, we take the long way home whenever there’s time. Running from Lake Austin Boulevard to Bee Caves Road, Red Bud Trail crosses Lake Austin just east of Tom Miller Dam and wends through Hill Country terrain and wildlife. Driving toward town, this route has the…
Best Place To Eavesdrop And/Or Gossip
Wanna be there when the deal is sealed? Want to watch as one campaign plots to overthrow the other? Want to catch up on the latest gossip with state senators, judges, city councilmembers? Well, stroll yourself into this joint and you’re sure to get the skinny on more than just your latte.
Best Dogsitter
Bart “Dog Boy” Emken’s15-acre ranch is like doggie camp. You get a vacation, Rover gets to frolic on scenic trails. Exercise and loads of attention – what more could your buddy ask for? Emken also provides an affordable doggie-day care for working parents and obedience classes.
Best Plumber
Master plumber since 1983, Bruce David prefers service work. The guy to talk to when it comes to replacing your water-guzzling toilet with the ultra-low flush kind. Not only will he fix the leak but will explain why you should use the better connector to avoid problems in the future or why you can use…
Best Secret Clubhouse
In the time of instant connectivity, you don’t have to wait for some hard-to-find flyer to find you when you want the really big party action. Dial up some kindred souls who dwell underground in far away Tarrytown. Down a dank flight of stairs lies a gin-u-wine Fifties era bomb shelter (complete with original operating…
Most Useful Fanzine
Consistently giving the lowdown on the low-price chow down, Gerg Steeb and ZZub Narom dare to venture into the heart of Buffet darkness and come out smelling like roses. Er, at least Swiss Steak.
Best Shoe & Leather Repair Shop
This neat shoe repair shop boasts that it can repair anything leather and for a good price. The owner does all the repairs himself and has 34 years experience at his trade. He tucks all the sole stitching so as not to expose it to wear and tear – something not all shoe shops do.…
Best Counter Intelligence
I [heart] Video won a Critic’s Pick in 1997 for “Best Point-of-Purchase Marketing” for their stickered-on-the-box critiques and counter-critiques from store employees. We also [heart] their tip jar and their countertop mosaic of sliced-up Blockbuster Video membership cards. They infuse new meaning to the adage “read the fine print”: their receipts feature a rotating selection…
Best Place To Buy Cheap Videos
Save plenty when you buy “previously owned” videos from the vendors at this vibrant marketplace. Vendors commonly charge $6 for movies that cost $20 new, and most offer refunds if videos don’t play. If you’re lucky, you might even get your hands on a lost title like Rich Kids, the forgotten 1979 flop produced by…
Best Thrift Store Without Dressing Rooms
Looking out over racks and racks of clothes we can’t help but get excited. With different colored tags on sale each day, you’re bound to find a screamin’ deal. If you ever wanted to go to a thrift store the size of a supermarket, Thrift Land is the place for you. Aside from selling clothes,…
Best Summer In A Bottle
Nothing quenches a Texas thirst like lime aid, and the good folks at Goodflow sure know how to mix up this classic cooler. Just the right amount of tart and sweet, it’s interminably sippable and smooth enough to be downed in a single, sweaty gulp. We can’t get through summer (or spring, winter, or fall,…
Best Koi, But Not Shy Pond
You might miss Austin Aqua Dome if you’re not paying attention, but we guarantee that will only happen the first time. Once you see the grey bulbous wonder, located just off the whiz and whirl of Ben White Boulevard, you’ll look for it each time you pass its way. The Aqua Dome is home to…
Best Fumble Recovery
After constant, ridiculously harsh criticism of Pacifica Network News from a more-left-than-thou faction at KOOP radio, the venerable pacifist network finally severed its ties with KOOP, depriving Austin of Pacifica for several months. Thankfully, KAZI came to the rescue, and the best daily news program in the nation rides again in Central Texas, Mon-Wed and…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
At 38,000, the New York City Police Department is larger than the United States Coast Guard, which has 36,731. Smell is the sense most closely related to memory. As a footnote, most people who experience some sort of ESP say they can tell when it’s about to happen because they smell citrus fruit. Professional wrestling…
Best Bed & Breakfast
This century-old, Neo-Classical Victorian B&B in the heart of Austin’s West Campus area has taken the prize as your favorite for the last two years. Maybe next year we’ll just ask you to vote on which one of the 10 rooms named after a Texas governor is your fave. If there’s a Hogg room, count…
Best Comic
He’s got it going Awn, folks. Chronicle readers have enthroned Kerry as Austin’s king of comedy for a decade now. Whether he’s bagging on Austin’s pinhead weather forecasters, jamming to the HEB radio jingle, or lounging out as the oily Ronnie Velveeta, there’s no one who can make us laugh at ourselves like Kerry can.…
Best Dance Music Club
Apparently a lot of Austinites didn’t get enough of the Seventies or Eighties the first time around, and Polly Ester’s gives it to them with plenty of day-glo flash and wumpy disco beats. Last year’s winner and undergrad fave, Paradox, pulls second place and newcomer and hellectronica HQ, the Red Room, makes a strong first-time…
Best Teen Scene/Hangout
Only in Austin is the term “dragworm” also a geographically accurate description. Quacks, Einstein’s, The Hole in the Wall, Le Fun, Texadelphia, and of course, what day spent hanging out would be complete without the personality testing at the Church of Scientology?
Best Toy Store For Kids
This is where you bring your kids as an excuse to spend hours looking at and trying out dozens of familiar and exotic toys you’d like to buy for yourself someday. Since they also feature a wide selection of beautiful books, a couple shelves stocked with truly retro candy, quirky educational gadgets, fine dollhouse furniture,…
Best Online Guide To Austin
The growing urban entity formerly known as Waterloo is growing so fast that we can imagine that even local folks can sometimes feel like a newbie tourist among its streets, attractions, and various diversions. Online offers a little better grip. The Statesman’s austin360 took top honors. City Search’s local branch site and our own auschron.com…
Best Bicycle Repair
Three-time past winner Bicycle Sport Shop falls to second against your ironic pedal-pushing pals at Ozone. Buck’s cranks in at third.
Best Spectator Sport
Admit it: You laughed when you heard Austin was getting a hockey team. Buttwo years later, the Ice Bats are the WHPL’s most successful franchise,drawing over 200,000 fans last season. The Bats will face off Oct. 8, inthe third-season opener at the Travis County Expo Center – and they’ll bespending their off-the-ice time looking for…
Best Texas Legislator
It was a close race, but three-time favorite Maxey, known for his dogged, tenacious work in the underprotected arenas of healthcare and human rights, edged out Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos as Austin’s favorite rep. Champion of the downtrodden Elliot Naishtat made a strong third-place showing.
Best Printer/Copy Shop
We received votes 24 hours a day in this category, though we assure you noneof them were photocopied. Whether you need a copy of your dissertation or your ass (well, they might have a no-pants/no-service rule, but you know what wemean), Kinko’s has it covered for the second year in a row; Ginny’s and Abel’s…
Best Liquor Store
Hey, a cigar store Indian! Oh yeah, we’ll drink to that. Again. And if we want to drink to that but shouldn’t, Wiggy’s has one of the largest selections of non-alcoholic beer. Five years on the top of the list – Skol! They got cigars, too ….
Best Fair Warning
The stenciled sign on the side of this venerable I-35 motel reads “No Trasspass No Weapons No Drugs No Prostitusion.” Oh, and we checked: no hourly rates, either. Guess we’ll have to keep lookin’.
Best-looking Dance Club
This dance club just off Sixth Street, not even a year old, starts with the very Nineties, Urban Outfitters approach of exposing the guts of the building. But rather than give it a crumbling-mortar facade, Twist gleams brightly, all chrome and smooth cement and shiny balcony railings and arty couches, while keeping its historic exterior…
Best Celebrity Eyebrows
We love a big bushy brow, and Derailers’ frontman Villanueva looks like a couple of ditch caterpillars crawled up on his face and died. Bold, brave, and undeniably immense, these brows are two for the books. Check ’em out.
Best Place To Two-step And Get A Funky Grind Down Going On
Dallas Night Club on Burnet Road is the home of the modern urban cowboy. Go check out Dallas, where they play all the hot or young country you could want and the DJs mix it up with Nine Inch Nails, C&C Music Factory (Everybody Dance Now), Sir Mix-A-Lot, and even Prince’s “Pussy Control”. Forget the…
Best Chef’s Apprentice
This dedicated young man seems to be pursuing a chef’s apprenticeship the European way, by working his fingers to the bone in the service of resident and guest chefs alike at the Central Market Cooking School. You’d never know to look at him that he’s only 14 years old, but this aspiring chef is gaining…
Best Hippie Cookie
One might think a no-dairy dessert would be no more exciting than say, a handful of raisins, but Ronnie’s Chocolate Chip Cookies are our favorites even before we look at the ingredients – a dense concoction of oats, organic flours, chocolate, a little canola oil, and some other components that shouldn’t rightly turn up in…
Best Target Practice
Practice makes perfect, and here at Red’s 100-yard concrete range, you can rent a lane for a nominal fee to work on your shooting accuracy. Gruff but helpful attendants will rent you a gun, or there’s a gun store attached in case you want to invest in a weapon of your own. This is an…
Best Political Fashion Model
Last year she had the bad boys of late night television eating right out of her hand, and this year she’s showing up in print ads modeling Anne Klein designs in photographs by Annie Leibowitz. You never can tell where our beloved former guv will show up next, but you can bet your ass it…
Best Electrician
Are you tired of hitting your head on the light fixture DIY’d by the previous owners? Maybe you don’t like that little shock every time you want to turn on the porch light or ring the doorbell. Who ya gonna call? How about the O’Bannons? Exacting perfectionists in a sea of not-quites, they do a…
Best Little Big Bites
Tapas once meant little more than the crusty bread rounds that covered wine jugs, but they’ve come a long way from their modest beginning, and the Rhythm House offers a selection no one could get around in a single sitting. We love the humble patatas with their spicy little sauce when we’re feeling casual and…
Best Sign Of Austin Online
We’ve always been impressed with Austin Free-Net, our city’s cooperative effort involving educational, civic, and corporate entities to provide community computing resources and on-line access for the benefit of all citizens. So when we heard that Executive Director Sue Beckwith was being “kicked upstairs,” we were ready to raise hell, until we found out that…
Best Adult Lemonade Stand
OK, it’s not lemonade, it’s sports drink, but why quibble? You need the electrolytes, the price is right (free!), and it’s right where you want it, right when you need it: At the north end of the MoPac footbridge on the Town Lake Hike & Bike. Our favorite flavor? Blue.
Best String Instrument Shop
Whether you are looking to buy a violin, viola, cello, string bass, etc. or want to get the one you own fixed up, this is the place to go. Fair prices and great service make this shop indispensable. The McDavid brothers know these instruments inside and out and you can pick up some tips on…
Best Creepy-Crawly Pet Store
Nature’s dark side is on display in South Austin. Dozens of snakes twist around their logs; tarantulas stare ominously out of their little Plexiglas cages; lizards dart out from behind foliage; mice, rats, and small rabbits await their doom. The people who work here know so much about creepy crawly things that it’s downright nerve-wracking,…
Best Place To Buy Chinese Stuff
Be sure to greet the little man at the counter of Say Hi, and he’ll be sure to make your day a little brighter. This Chinese market has charm, China sets, painted fans, paper lampshades, canned duck, and porcelain Buddhas. The storekeeper will be sure to help you find anything you need. “You want China…
Best Unpretentious Music Store
This is a shop with everything from rare concert posters to trashy romance novels, collectible Playboy to Elvis memorabilia, a handful of CDs to Austin’s largest selection of used vinyl. They used to be located at Westgate under the name Book Source, but this summer they made a move to the more convenient, although a…
Best Taqueria Around Us
This funky Taqueria has everything a starving artist (or any starving person, for that matter) needs: great gobs of Mexican food for a few pennies and a smile. Their location one block south of Oltorf on South First has a hole-in-the-wall atmosphere complete with orange diner booths and exotic art, which rivals that of Star…
Best Mini County Fair
For the second year now, our annual rodeo featured Kids’ Town!, a small-fry county fair of sorts that entertained children of all ages with a cool mix of Texas agriculture, Wild Science, comedy shows, and animals, including a petting zoo, rescued tigers from the Bridgeport Nature Preserve, and even some high-diving pigs. This year’s rodeo…
Best Info On Latino Politics
This is Politico’s first and last Best of Austin award, because founder James Garcia moved his operation south a few months ago when he became editor of the San Antonio Current. Every week for just over a year now, Politico has been providing the total lowdown on the Hispanic political world, with everything from Washington…
About AIDS
We’ve been getting lots of questions lately: “What’s this about a new kind of AIDS?” First, there is not a “new kind of AIDS.” It’s the same old AIDS that results from infection with a virus called HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. What’s new is that French scientists working in the African country of Cameroon…
Best Downtown Building
The Nineties have been kind to our glowing symbol of Texas liberty. The early part of the decade saw the renovation of her brilliant pink dome. In mid-decade, services and sightseeing points were enhanced with the addition of the north wing’s Capitol Extension. Last year, the grounds themselves, including all monuments and fountains were scrubbed,…
Best Dance Company
Its chosen form of dance is the one most weighted by tradition, but there’s nothing draggy about this longtime dance company. Ballet Austin can take the most obligatory of ballets – The Nutcracker being an obvious example – and make it spring freshly to life. And with original work, such as artistic director Lambros Lambrou’s…
Best Downtown Club (East of Congress)
As long as the drinks are stiff and a there’s a chandelier hanging in the treecovering the patio, people will forgive the crummy outdoor furniture. Bringnight vision goggles if you plan to sit inside. Next-door neighbor, the swanky Caucus Club, comes in a close second, and the solid rock Steamboat takes third place.
Best Tejano/Conjunto Club
Dancing to quite a different beat from the other shops in the very Asian-flavored strip mall in which it lives, Tejano Ranch has held strong in this category for four years. With live music on the weekends and free buffets on weekdays, there’s always a fiesta goin’ on.
Best Billboard
A tie between two beer companies; what a surprise! Local staple in the hand of just about every clubgoer Shiner we can understand – we chuckle every time we pass the beehived granny rockin’ out with her electric ax, too – but Miller Lite? Who would have guessed that so many Austinites like Dick?
Best Photojournalist
An Austin institution unto himself, Alan Pogue has captured Texas culture for decades in haunting, memorable black-and-white images that speak volumes; you might call him the eye of Texas. Head-shot hot-shot Fabrizio makes Austin actors look like Hollywood stars.
Best Bicycle Shop
This place is so well-loved that it’s busier day-to-day than Santa’s workshopthe week before Christmas. With fast, pleasantly priced repairs on what youalready own, plus a supplies of new bikes to choose from should you desire,Ozone has all your needs covered. Bonus points for weekend bicycle workshopsthey run at area schools. We wonder what Amy…
Best Sporting Goods Store
Those of you who (rightfully) refuse to plunk down more than $50 for athletic shoes know that Academy can’t be licked for its bargain-basement prices and unpretentious selection – it’s the practical man’s sporting good store. Hand-in-hand with the Roost, Academy knocks Oshman’s out of its four-year reign in first. Let’s hear it for the…
Best Alterations
Seams are strongest when they have been torn and then mended. OK, so that’s an adage about heartbreak, but it’s a truism of clothing, too. No doubt Ace gives a darn about service as, for the sixth year running, they’ve sewn up this category as your favorite clothing therapist every year since this category’s inception…
Best Public Health Clinic
The people have spoken: People’s wins for the third year running; this time Planned Parenthood shares the top spot with the not-for-profit, sliding-scale clinic where, insured or not, you will not be turned away. Because some agencies still recognize that even the poor and/or uninsured need health care, affordable birth control, and immunizations that may…
Best Music Business
Also for the fifth Strait year on the list. Locally and, dare we say, “organ”-ically grown and expanded over the years, Strait Music remains a favorite in a town full of folks who know from music. Ray Hennig shows that reader’s hearts are with him enough to vote his Heart of Texas into second place.…
Best Improvement In Bathroom Decor
Time was, relieving yourself at Lala’s was like walking into the Yellow Rose: The men’s room was plastered with posters of waxy, busty babes in poses both tawdry and revealing. Imagine our surprise when, the last time we went to (ahem) “see a man about a horse” in that fine old bar, we were greeted…
Most Elegant Parking Lot
Italian restaurant mogul Carmelo Mauro went all out when he created this new parking lot adjacent to his eatery housed in an historic old Austin railroad hotel. Diners are met by the valet attendant as they pull under the white limestone porte-cochere. Cars are then whisked away to a perfectly paved lot enclosed by limestone…
Best Celebrity Giggle
Who else? So spontaneous, so robust, so sincere. When Big Don lets go one of his infectious, high-pitched giggles, purt-near everyone at the hoedown giggles along with him. Luckily, Don’s not stingy with his snickers, and it’s a rare night indeed when you don’t get a least a dozen from the stage. Keep ’em comin’,…
Best Place To Write A Book
One of the best ways to avoid the Scylla and Charybdis of working at home – i.e., household chores and telecommunications devices – is to take your project and hole up at a coffeehouse. You need one that’s comfortable and aesthetically pleasing, with perfect coffee, quiet patrons, kind employees, and conducive music. After playing the…
Best Church Brunch
The brunch at St. Julia’s is homemade in every aspect of the word. Breakfast is served by hustling volunteers carrying dented baking sheets stacked with handmade tortillas, empanadas, and sweet rolls, breakfast tacos, huevos, and menudo. Though the beige plastic plates, matching coffee cups, and metal folding chairs have probably been in service since the…
Best Homestyle Lebanese Meal
The greatest addition to the usual deli-style fare at the downtown Po-Boys is the presence of owners Mom and Dad. Dad is usually hacking away at the register with a big smile on his face, while Mom works invisibly in the back preparing the daily specials of homestyle Middle Eastern cuisine (served ’til 3 pm,…
Best Two-Hour $5 Vacation
Out near City Park, 30 minutes from downtown, a relaxed resort attitude permeates this hamburger joint like the smell of motor boats and beer. The cheap menu is the hook and the yummy food is the sinker. Off-duty usicians (like Stevie Ray Vaughan) have been coming to hang out at this quiet little piece of…
Best Public Performance In The Hot Seat
As designated apologist for the City Council’s annexation campaign last fall, Futrell went toe-to-toe daily with a disgruntled citizenry often not inclined to trust city staffers or listen to reasoned debate. But the countless hours she spent answering barbed questions and refuting protesters point by point didn’t cause Futrell to lose her civility or composure.…
Best Employee Benefits
We were awestruck and then envious when we heard the local Four Seasons property provided massages and other therapeutic support to its staff during the annual spring endurance marathon known as SXSW. Management wanted to be sure the chefs, waitstaff, bartenders, and bellmen had all the stamina needed to give the industry guests at the…
Best New Branch On A Family Tree
We’re very fond of this funky little monkey we found swinging on a branch of the Manuel’s family tree. While the downtown ancestor is responsible for our favorite half-priced appetizers, Changos evolved into a very affordable taco heaven. We’re partial to the rotisserie-cooked pork in adobo that fills the tacos al pastor and the delicately…
Best Site Redesign
We are proud card-carrying members of the Harry J. Knowles sychophant club. This year, he’s even more so the “Best Austinite to Shake Up Hollywood” with his glitzy new redesign of the Ain’t It Cool News Web site, a monstrous compendium of news, opinion, and hearsay about the film world, all rendered fiercely compelling by…
Best Blacktop
Oh, sure, there are bigger blacktops, with more basketball hoops and ample four-square space, and there are smoother blacktops, better for marbles and skateboards, but Maplewood is the only one we know of with a six-color map of the world painted on it, in all it’s cartographical glory. Think you can hit a jump shot…
Best Swimming Pool Cleaner
What do you want from a pool cleaner, besides a great body? You want reasonable prices, reliable service, and really quick response when the thing turns sickly green the day before the big party. With Pool Aide, you get all this plus a truly clever name and a star-studded résumé that includes cleaning the pool…
Best Gigantic Overhaul Of A Hyde Park Grocery Store
Ha, bet you thought we were going to say HEB, didn’t you? Nah. Fresh Plus managed to expand considerably without losing its little grocery store charm. You don’t have to run the length of four football fields to get to the eggs. And cashiers and regulars call each other by name. Much of the credit…
Best Place To Buy Frozen Mice
An awesome snake and amphibian store with well done displays, expert staff, and happy animals for sale, Herpeton hosts a complete line of pythons, boas, iguanas, toads, lizards, turtles, hedgehogs, little frogs, gerbils, hamsters, mice, rats, guinea pigs, crickets, ferrets, sugar gliders, and more. No puppies or kittens here. You’ll have to go to the…
Best Used Academic Books
Only in business three years, and already the Book Market (located on the second floor of the Dobie Mall) is the best place in town to find second-hand academic books (their literature section isn’t shabby either). It pays to go regularly because not only do they get in boxes of treasures daily, but also because…
Best Truck Stop Coffeeshop
When you just want to gulp a cup of coffee and smoke a damn cigarette without a permit from the SOS, the FDA, or the TABC, Jim’s is the place. Sure, Austin has lots of fine, independently owned, gourmet, hipster eateries, but it is sorely lacking in the all-night plain ol’ cup o’ joe department.…
Best Place To Meet Tomorrow’s Local Independent Filmmakers
This afterschool enrichment program was the brainchild of Ben Thompson and Jay Lubman, Zavala teachers and ACAC video producers. This hands-on class works on the premise that “kids learn best when they are allowed to tell rather than be told,” which means they do it all from concept to finished product: writing, shooting, animating, editing.…
Best Legacy
KVUE-TV’s news director passed away in January, but she left her mark on television journalism – an official station policy mandating strict guidelines for coverage of violent crime. Despite statistics showing violent crime on the decline, many stations continue to sensationalize crime coverage; KVUE only reports on crimes which its staff feel are relevant to…
Coach’s Corner
The last college freshman in our fair land to leave home and go to school is still — at 2pm late in September — asleep in his own bed, upstairs in my house. It seems like years ago he was accepted to a surfing college in California, even longer when we proudly attended his high…
Best Historic Structure
The Nineties have been kind to our glowing symbol of Texas liberty. The early part of the decade saw the renovation of her brilliant pink dome. In mid-decade, services and sightseeing points were enhanced with the addition of the north wing’s Capitol Extension. Last year, the grounds themselves, including all monuments and fountains were scrubbed,…
Best Dance Space
Every little girl loves to dance – the selfless swing, the pitter patter, the kick and shuffle all wrapped in the frills of a lacy pink tutu. But somewhere, in growing up, many of us lose that magic, the freedom of movement. Alisa’s Dance offers intimate classes for dancers of all ages in jazz, ballet,…
Best Downtown Club (West of Congress)
From the plush velvet tones of Speakeasy to the squeal of a blues guitar at Antone’s, this year’s results prove one thing for sure: it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. Impressive showings for both the Electric Lounge and Liberty Lunch have them in a tie for second.
Best Video Store
This is what happens when people who really care about movies run video stores. Film-savvy clerks, a newish location, and one of the most extensive independent, cult, and foreign film sections around keep Vulcan on top in this category year after year. Kudos also go to I Luv Video and Waterloo, which tied for second…
Best Computer Book Selection
The vast hi-tech selection in this Grand Old Chain nails shut the lid of the coffin containing the once-living conceit that computer technology would soon render paper obsolete. Whether you need help pointing & clicking or hacking & cracking, this is definitely the meatspace homepage for all siliconish hardcopy. With sprawling locations in close proximity…
Best PM Drive/Rush Hour Radio Program
Stop honking, return your middle finger to the horizontal position, take a deep breath, punch that wisely preset button on the radio, and find out what’s going on in the world while you’re inching down I-35. Coverage of events in all corners of the globe, reported on in more-than-10-second soundbites, personal essays (by our own…
Best Bike Ride
With so many different types of paths – from gentle slopes to hell-on-wheels – along so many of our blessed Barton Creek’s corridors, is easy to see why readers crank out the vote, year after year, for this challenging woodsy wondertrail. On your right!!!
Best Swimming Hole
From the “oh, big surprise” file: Barton Springs is again your favorite spot to dip your tootsies. But really: Despite gross mossy floating clumps, despite developer-salamander-environmentalist fisticuffs, Austin’s love for Barton Springs proves transcendent and spiritual year after year. Hamilton Pool dives in a cool second; you also feel deeply for Deep Eddy.
Best Appliance/Tv Repair
Must-See TV repair guys? Must get over to reigning champion, Mr. Wizard. Their fine-tuned explanations of what’s wrong with your CD player or turntable are neither condescending nor requiring a degree in advanced electronics. Mr. Wizard just keeps on winning, and winning, and winning, and -.
Best Recording Studio
The most stalwart of our local bands take residence at Music Lane: Spoon, the Scabs, the Damnations. They come for the 20ft.-high ceilings, the state-of-the-art equipment, the digital editing, the spaces large enough to hold five Vallejos, and the gold-brick Wall of Fame, but they stay for the engineers.
Best Naughty But Nice
“Hmm … I wanna do something different today. Shall I get my labia pierced or buy me a nice new – ahem, educational model? Decisions, decisions.” For those of you in touch with your deepest, um, thoughts. For those of you in touch with your partner’s deepest, um, thoughts, forget Eve’s apple, there’s a lot…
Best Industrial Landscape
We fell in love with this place while putting the Eastside Guide together. Down on East Seventh, the eccentric building stands out from its fast food and taqueria-filled street like a misplaced little piece of 1950. Though the building was used most recently as a distribution plant for Shiner of Austin, the red Schiltz signs…
Most Glorious Renovation Potential
Liz Lambert thought she had seen everything as prosecuting attorney for the DA in Manhattan. That is, until she bought and began managing the San Jose Motel on South Congress. The venerable flea-bag has been home to many a rent-by-the-hour tryst and contraband run – traditions banned when ths new manager took over the joint…
Best Celebrity Hairdo
With apologies to Neal Spelce, this award can only go to Clifford Antone, who has perfected the Albert Einstein meets Lou Costello look with a set of silver locks that defy the laws of physics. So what if he doesn’t have much to work with? As they say in a few of our favorite blues…
Best Reason To Take French
We would be lying if we didn’t own up to the fact that Catherine Deneuve is often a hot topic of conversation in our music department. Still, les amis at Alliance Francais d’Austin make sure that we know it’s not all berets and skinny mustaches. Aside from giving support to French expatriates and aficianados with…
Best Comeback
We never know where or when the indomitable Flo Washington will pop back into the Eastside culinary landscape, but we’re just as happy as all her other loyal fans whenever she does. This newest incarnation offers her signature soulful downhome specialties (fried chicken, smothered pork chops, vegetables, cornbread, pie, and cake) at the usual bargain…
Best Host Chef
Both these men are highly regarded for making visiting chefs welcome in their kitchens. Celebrity chefs from all over the country who invade the Four Seasons kitchen for collaborative dinners rave about chef Prambs’ hospitality and professionalism. Cookbook authors and culinary instructors who frequent the Central Market cooking school kitchen always give high marks to…
Best Urban Track
The triangular area which includes Disch Faulk Field and UT Press is bordered by a broad sidewalk on all sides that makes an excellent walking/jogging track. One “lap” is almost a perfect mile. The terrain is well landscaped and surprisingly pleasant, with good trees and lamp posts for stretching. Plus, when the ball park is…
Best Reason (maybe) To Move Into A Downtown Loft
No matter what your ideal vision of Downtown Austin may be, the current, flood-ravaged, unsafe and unsavory Waller Creek ain’t part of it. With the Tunnel, we can bring downtown renewal – however defined – east of Congress Avenue, where it’s most needed, while protecting public safety and water quality and protecting millions of dollars…
Best Film, Video, And Production Equipment
One of the contributing factors to the rapid growth of any film community is a reliable, well-maintained equipment rental house for both studio and independent filmmakers. And if you haven’t noticed, Austin’s love of film has been spreading around the city like wildfire, bringing about production of many major films, including Hope Floats and The…
Best New Brunch
We’ll have to admit we’re smitten with this classy new little jewel box of a restaurant on Kerbey Lane. In a very short time, we’ve become addicted to the elegant but very reasonably priced Sunday brunch menu with its savory waffle topped with spicy sausage and chile con queso or big, beautiful biscuits crowned with…
Best Survival Story
The Lone Star State’s leading source of progressive journalism needed $40,000 to survive, so Waco philanthropist/liberal good guy Bernard Rappaport challenged its readers: If they would come up with the first $20,000, he would pony up the rest. The readers came through in a big way, with $90,000 in donations.
Best Collection/Shrine
Four display cases at the entrance to Austin’s Dart Bowl celebrate not only the noble bowling pin, but also its hard-headed bud, the bowling ball, plus an occasional ode to its sister, the towel. The cases brim and strain at the weight of this massive collection of bowling-themed everything: pins painted like Santa Claus and…
Best Thing About Owning A Mac
This place won our hearts and hard drives back in 1996, but they continue to come to our rescue with their first-class service. Owner Ken Gould provides Mac users with complete Macintosh resources. Customers like them because they understand what they’re doing – and they’re honest about what’s best. Hey, if it’s good enough for…
Best Global Overview
Map lovers are a peculiar sort. The sweet smells of the heavy paper covered with a jungle of colorful, inky lines captivates the imagination of the connoisseur of the contour. A new type of map provokes little trills of pleasure in some mysterious map organ in the brain. If this could be you, seek out…
Best Place To Buy Makeup
Wafaa Karim, an exquisite Princess Jasmine type from Lebanon, is waiting with her magical wands and brushes to mix the perfect makeup base for you, to select your lipstick, and to teach you to put on eyeliner the way she does – believe me, a worthwhile thing to know. Based on her experiences backstage at…
Best Used Car Place
So, you say the French can’t make cars, huh? People said the French couldn’t play soccer either, and Les Blues knocked off the seemingly impervious Brazil team to win this year’s World Cup. French Revolution owner Pat Whale has a passion for the uncommon car – those known in their native tongue as voitures, such…
Best Two-for-one Business
We can’t help but admire the chutzpah of a woman who will stock a line of locally-baked whole pies to attract shoppers to her South Austin antique shop. We’ve heard of all kinds of two-for-one deals but this is quite a concept. Our hats are off to clever entrepreneur Michelle Hart.
Best Place To While Away An Afternoon With A Toddler
With peacocks, fish, water flowers, and a maze of lush little pathways, Mayfield Park & Preserve is a paradise for wee ones. And given its ample shade and beautifully soaring palm trees, it’s a peaceful park for parents too, a welcome change from the plastic playscapes found elsewhere around town. Take a picnic and admire…
Best Local Radio Program Not On Local Radio (again)
You know the story by now: The nationally syndicated Hightower broadcasted every weekday for over a year from smack-dab in the middle of Austin, out of Threadgill’s World Headquarters, but no local station would carry him. Finally, KNEZ picked him up, bringing a refreshing left-wing tilt to local radio. But then the station went all-Spanish,…
Best Street Vendor
Jim-Jim’s Water Ice is a golden cone of frozen fruity heaven, and nothing tastes better on a hot day. Jim Moy was a systems analyst in Philly until that fateful afternoon when he took a friend from Austin out for an Italian ice. The Austinite ranted and raved and wished he had this rare Yankee…
Best Hotel/Motel
The venerable grand dame of Austin hotels got a much needed facelift this year, and we have to say, she’s never looked lovelier. From the meticulously restored ballrooms to the enlarged guest rooms, this favorite hotel for politicos from Governor Conally to LBJ appears to be good to go for another hundred years, at least.…
Best Place To Hear Poetry
Weekly readings, a great cup of java, and a nifty curb to just sit and listen make this Fourth Street haunt the local Poet’s Corner. You like the meter at Mojo’s and the “eeeee”literation at the Eeeeee-lectric Lounge, too.
Best Drink Specials
It’s the $2.50 frozen margaritas that put this place on top with Austinites, especially the mango margaritas on Sundays, and the sangria-based specialty o’ the house, the Sangfrita.
Best Wine Selection (retail)
Looking for basic good wine, or perhaps some vintage beyond the ordinary? Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, some grape-based delight known by a name you’ve never even seen before but which will soon become your favorite? Our readers know you’ll find it among the racks & shelves of the Central Market, along with many other continually…
Best Computer Repair
With a turnaround time “five times faster than the industry standard,” it’s little wonder that these anyware gurus, who have been providing professional service for over a decade now, are on the top of so many local “Who Ya Gonna Call?” lists. Added kudos for the whacked-out artwork at their Web site, too. Wallingford has…
Best Public Access TV Show
In a sea of bizarre, kooky public television that’s often hard to watch, one ship stands clear from all the others: Capzeyez, Austin’s quintessential local music video program, which airs our rock stars first. The show claims first in this category again, after losing the title a few years back. Producer Dave Pruett and host…
Best Camping & Outdoor Gear
“Honey, pack up the mini espresso machine in the Range Rover, we’re going camping!” They climbed down from the rainy Northwest U.S. to bring their sportier-than-thou attitude to Gateway strip mall in our own northwest quadrant. That said, those gearhead boys and strappin’ gals who comprise the gregarious staff at REI can pitch our tents…
Best City Department
This year’s award goes to our number one tough guys and gals. Always first on the scene, the folks at AFD continue to prove themselves as city heroes. Hats off also to the folks at Parks & Recreation and our friends in blue who tied for second.
Best Auto Body/Paint Shop
The increase in bumper-to-bumper traffic has surely led to an increase inbumper-to-bumper crunchin’. No wonder we need a winner on either side of theriver, helping you not to get bent out of shape even when your car does.
Best Shoe Repair
Get those pumps patched, stat! ER meets shoe repair – new on NBC this fall? Anyhoo, when your gaiters lack gusto and your clodhoppers need care, Austin Shoe Hospital has the medicine for your moccasins – and “stat” is where it’s at with their next day service for many shoes at any one of their…
Best Pawn Shop
Aside from a few disappointed transplanted New Yawkers who think this placesells X-rated movies or Western tack (or both?), most everyone else agrees that Doc is the man to take that unwanted stuff off your hands in order to sate the landlord or fill the fridge. And with nine locations open early and late seven…
Best Interior Design
More than a thousand bunches of plastic grapes adorn the ceiling over Centennial’s wine section at the back of the store. If you look at the right angle, it gives the effect of a vineyard trellis. If you look at the wrong angle, the fluorescent lights are clearly visible behind the grapes and so is…
Most Riveran Mural
Diego Rivera, the Granddaddy of muralists everywhere, would be proud to see this one. The two 25-foot tall murals inside the Rec. Center were painted around the rear and front entranceways and tell the story of the three men who organized the Diez y Seis de Septiembre celebrations (Mexican Independence Day) at Zaragoza Park in…
Best Cheap Kegs In A Bind
We all know the tragedy of a floated keg, especially when you’re the one throwing the party. What’s even worse is when the sand is running out on time to buy. Instead of cussing the thirsty strangers that suddenly showed up, head down to Junior’s. For $42.95 these guys can keep the party going -…
Best Restroom Pornography
The collage of Carter-era Playboy and Penthouse centerfolds that brightens up the men’s room of this punk rock dive makes us feel like we’ve just walked onto the set of Boogie Nights. Curiosity and prurience aside, this smorgasbord of airbrushed fantasy is the perfect diversion for the terminally pee-shy.
Best Cookbook By A Local Author
Popular local chef Miguel Ravago contributed his culinary expertise to this fascinating collection of Mexican-American immigrant family recipes written with Seattle travel coordinator Marilyn Tausend. The book garnered a Julia Child Book Award for excellence from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and Simon & Schuster plans to bring out the Spanish language version in…
Best Hot Dog
Restaurant choices along this stretch of Barton Springs Road are certainly staggering, but if a person has a jones for a hotdog, Shady Grove is the answer. Not too many establishments go to the trouble of making this old-fashioned specialty into a meal, but Shady Grove does; its deliciously grilled hotdog and a half (exactly…
Best Way To Lower Your Internal Thermostat
On the heels of a summer that’s been an infernal and cussed mess, a surly swatch of unmitigated torment, an unholy amalgam of unpardonable heat and unacceptable drought, we’re more grateful than ever for the 68 degree waters of ye ole city swimmin’ hole. Barton Springs for Best of Austin? Old hat, to be sure,…
Best Resource For Local Lore
God loves a reference librarian, and so do we. Housed in elegant digs, the Austin History Center is home to one of the premier local history collections in the nation, managed by a staff as knowledgeable as they are kind. The best news? Proposed cuts to the center’s budget were never put in place, giving…
Best Friend In Need To Ailing Animals
Domestic pets make up a significant part of Austin’s animal population, but there’s also a variety of other wild denizens populating our locale, including birds, opossums, raccoons, and deer. When an animal is ill or badly injured, its chance of survival and recovery can be greatly enhanced by timely human intervention. Wildlife Rescue is an…
Best New Restaurant Without A Kitchen
Leather-bound wine lists, marinated beef tenderloin with bleu cheese, staying open until 2am: All of these things make Malaga a new favorite, but the secret is that the space they occupy doesn’t have an actual kitchen. For now, their tapas are being prepared in the kitchen of the old Soma space, next door. What will…
Best Techno-kids Business Idea
Last spring an enterprising group of AIL multimedia students snagged a $1,450 grant from the Capital Area Tech-Prep Consortium as the startup money for their own Web page business. Their previous success with making videos, digital editing, and Web site design generated plenty of support documents from already satisfied customers. Browse the AIL Web site…
Best Fledgling Altruistic Tradition
With Corpus Christi native Bobby Julich finishing third in this year’s Tour de France, Lance Armstrong may no longer even be the best cyclist from Texas much less from the U.S. No matter, he’s still tops in our town. Who else could bring Miguel Indurain, Greg LeMond and Jakob Dylan to Austin? With rides of…
Best Time & Temp Announcement
Austin is fortunate to have not one, not two, but three operating Time & Temperature dial-up phone services. While all three provide essential information in a pleasant and competent manner, we give the special wink and nod to our favorite one offered as a service by Frost Bank – one we hope they continue to…
Best Gun Store/Gun Safety Lessons
Yes, there is actually a store behind that mysterious story-tall display case out front, and it’s one of the finest of its kind. Since 1961, the McBride family has provided gun lovers with everything from the littlest garter-belt sized Derringers to the biggest big bores. In addition to carrying a wide variety of firearms, they…
Best Place To Buy New, Cheap, Quality Clothing
Rather small and semi-hidden, this store leaves something unmentioned in its name: Not everything is one price. Nonetheless, bargains are truly available. Cost-wise, it’s like sifting through racks in Goodwill, only the clothes here are new, and if thoroughly inspected, damage-free.
Best Vintage Expansion
Stuck between pressboard and French Provencal? In-between jobs and living quarters and not ready to commit to long-term furniture but sick and tired of reclining on ratty frat-house reject, bedding-barn crap? Limbo is a great place to be. When New Bohemia moved operations south, many of the dealers stayed at the old flight path location…
Best Wacky Restaurant Idea
Once again, Bick Brown enlisted the stunning design vision of Sarah Bishop (previous work includes Dolce Vita’s cool interior) to present a unique and welcome dining experience to Austin. The menu features a variety of Asian dishes priced reasonably and spiced nicely. The decor is sleek, and the entire back wall is a square of…
Best Pollywogging
Mud between your toes and slimy creatures in your hands – what could delight a child more? The creek that runs through Reed Park offers a clean, shady, pleasant place to spend summer days hunting the elusive pollywog. With a jar and some plastic cups, your little biologists can entertain themselves for hours, not to…
Best Morning Show
Strictly speaking, the focus of 101X is music, specifically modern rock, but with Sara and Jen at the controls, we’re tempted to just tune out the music and turn up the talk, especially during the 9:00 hour, when they breathe a little easier and expound on a slew of social issues with intelligent and quick-witted…
Best Waitstaff, Fastest
When you get the kind of frequently-packed-to-the-gills patronage that Chuy’s gets, you need a fast waitstaff. And the efficient men and women dealing from the arm in this ‘way popular Tex-Mex restaurant & Elvis shrine are even faster than the speed of Lite.
Best Landscaping
As if Austin’s favorite city park weren’t wonderful enough, this jewel in the top of the Zilker tiara shines often in this category. Topiary letters: Z-I-L-K-E-R G-A-R-D-E-N welcome visitors at the gate’s entrance. From there, it becomes more surreal and serene. Ponder Texas native vegetation on a bench in the Xeriscape gardens. Sit in the…
Best Poet
Raul Salinas is one of the most well respected Chicano poets and activists in the country. He has inspired countless young men and women of the barrio to take up poetry in defense of their community. His Resistencia Bookstore and Red Salmon Press endeavors are monuments to the extraordinary energy and committment he brings to…
Best Gay/Lesbian Club
It’s not just yuppie boys — everyone cuts loose at this popular five-time category winner. With two indoor rooms and a large patio to spread out and flex those pecs, it’s a funky, funky scene. Austin’s longest continuously running gay bar, Charlie’s on Lavaca, shows handsomely in second.
Best All You Can Eat
You want what? Thai, Szechuan, Korean, Chinese, a sneeze-guarded wonderland of oriental edibles and plenty of them? The Buffet Palace, retaining its position as Reader’s Poll winner, is stocked and steaming with more mouthwatering far-Eastern dishes than you can shake a chopstick at. The really cool Sushi bar has closed, however, as has their Brodie…
Best Computer Store
The mammoth outlet store gave a swift kick to the power supply of perrenial winner CompUSA, which came in second. How can you resist something that, besides being produced right in Your Own Backyard, is also consistently rated – by tech-savvy panels of judges in almost any source you can find – at or near…
Best Radio Station
One public, one private, both great stuff to listen to. These two stations are consistently Austin faves, so we’re glad to let them share the glory once again.
Best Community Garden
Nestled behind Lamar Boulevard on six lush acres near Hyde Park, the Sunshine Gardens site is home to over 350 tended plots, where young and old gardeners from all over Austin grow a diverse array of flowers, vegetables, and herbs. The all-organic garden plots, which rent for $70 a year, are tenant-maintained but overseen by…
Best Community Program
Austin recycling has become a phenomenal success thanks to the city’s heads-up operation and thousands of beer drinkers who keep them busy. You voters also recognized that Yellow Bikes still roam the streets and that the Community Gardens continue to grow.
Best Auto Mechanic
Sorta like the pink plastic variety is to lawns, these guys are to the readers poll – they just keep cropping up year after year. The shop is always so tidy and all the mechanics are dressed impeccably, all of which is nice but says nothing of their service. We can tell from experience that…
Best Antiques
Whit Hanks has won this category so many times it’s getting old. Fitting,wouldn’t you agree? Both of their stores on West Sixth offer a variety of styles and services, seven days a week. The location at 1009 features the prize finds of over 70 dealers, while nearby at 1214, Whit deals in consignment of homes…
Best Periodicals Rack
Nosh and niche the afternoon away just trying to work your way through the80 gazillion mainstream and specialty mags and zines heaped, overflowing,upon the shelves at BP. Congress Avenue Booksellers show up in second place.
Best New Building Facade
We almost got into a wreck when we first saw the gorgeous glowing, green light pylons jutting out onto W. Fifth. Five of them protroud from a new turquoise facade atop bright Texas limestone. Big storefront windows (for a new Tapelenders video branch, Zan-Ray salon, and a gym) are accented by bright yellow awnings and…
Most Self-serving Structure
We were just checking to see if the latest issue of Girlfriends was in stock, when lo and behold we happened upon it. Now, we here at The Austin Chronicle’s crack team of “Best of Austin” compilers and tabulation experts frown mightily upon ballot stuffers, vote crammers, and public opinion influencers alike. But when we…
Best Counterculture Conclaves
Not only is FringeWare the only bookstore in town where you can find vast quantities of books with an anarchic-technocratic-cult-drug-psycho-criminal bent, but now they’re having parties! In league with Mojo’s coffeehouse next door, FringeWare has recently started hosting free Friday night events. Star attractions range from SubGenius Devivals to comic book artists to Manson family…
Best Silly Drink
You know the kind. Drinks that are adorned with little paper umbrellas and fruit impaled on tiny plastic swords.Tien Hong is best known for its outstanding dim sum, but this wonderful concoction of bananas, strawberries, coconut, rum, peach brandy, and fruit juices is yet another reason to drop by. Dr. Skull even arrives in a…
Best Corn Tortillas
Sometimes there is a wait for the food to arrive on the table at Amaya’s; they’ve run out of their popular corn tortillas and they have to be made, just for your order. Thick and hot with the feel of the comal still clinging to them, these corn tortillas are great by themselves or with…
Best Human-scale Place To Buy Good Food
Don’t get us started on the parking lot thing again, but suffice it to say that both Central Market and Whole Foods sort of terrify us, and going to either one of them feels like a major expedition. More often than not, we’ve already had all the super-sized multi-option mega-life we can handle in one…
Best Brand-new Idea In Local Politics
Councilmember Willie Lewis is often misunderstood, but his Eastside TND plan is inspired. If the city’s gonna get into the proverbial bed with private developers – which it’s done for decades – doesn’t it make sense for those deals to produce the projects we want (neo-traditional neighborhoods) in the places we want them (the storied…
Best Unsung East Austin Visionary
As president of Austin’s oldest college for the past 10 years, Joseph T. McMillan has unshakeable faith in HT’s bright future, not to mention a humble attitude which drives him to serve the needs of Eastside. His afterschool learning programs have helped hundreds of kids stay off the streets and make college a realization. His…
Best Guitar Maker
Behind the green door of his workshop, in front of the hall of bad art, Jamie Kinscherff makes guitars you’re kind of afraid to touch. Gleaming pieces of wood seamlessly come together, deep deep browns and mellow yellows, a long graceful neck, and precision inlay so fine you’re squinting and bringing your clumsy old self…
Best New Take On The Lunchtime Noodle Bowl
It ain’t always for Pho we go when we’re craving a bowl of Oriental noodles, not since we discovered the homemade noodle making talent at Yen Ching, anyway. We always ask for the restaurant’s main menu (the special lunch menu was created for folks in a hurry and out of the know), then choose from…
Best Gym For The Lazy
We’ve gotten steadily healthier since the renovated Gregory Gym reopened last November. Before, we used the Texas heat as an excuse not to run, now we jog on the AC’d indoor track overlooking the basketball courts. We used boredom as an excuse not to go on the Stairmaster, now we can watch sweet television as…
Best Upholsterer
After fire heavily damaged her shop last year, upholsterer Sabrina Stewart managed to recover from the burn-out nicely. In fact, re-covering nicely is her specialty as she makes house calls to turn that piece of crap couch of yours into something you can really sink your butt into. Her custom seam work – services also…
Best His And Hers Tejano Shops
Mother and daughter operate this pair of shops. A translation of their signs boast “Clothes for the man and woman and much more.” If you want to turn heads on your night out at Tejano Ranch or Plaza Mexico, you’ll want to stop here for your fine duds first. And if you play in the…
Best Place To Buy/Rent Laserdiscs
Regrettably, laserdiscs are getting harder and harder to find, but the folks at Encore still keep an impressive variety in stock, particularly in the rental section, which is conveniently categorized by genre. There’s also a wide array of videotapes to rent or buy, and, for those who have embraced the latest in video technology, Encore…
Best Vintage Semi-secret
With the advent of the retro swing movement and the frustrating weekly pillage of the well known vintage shops, we thought it was time to let Teenie out of her bag. Teenie is a diminutive, friendly woman who runs a small but decadent vintage store in the Pecan Square shopping center. She doesn’t advertise much,…
Best Way To Enjoy Lake Austin On A Budget
A neighborhood coffeeshop with outlet and a view of the lake is something every writer with a laptop needs access to, and Mozart’s new juice bar and book store provides additional fortification for those working away from home.
Best Shady Spot The Whole Family Will Love
Tennis, basketball, swings, swimming, even hopscotch! All under the wonderful umbrella of some colossal old oaks covered with some sturdy swinging vines. Sounds like a posh country club, right? How about a free public park instead? The basketball courts and sidewalks are currently being redone, so we don’t know if the hopscotch boards will still…
Best Net Missives
Like the revealing Essaies of Montaigne, Don Webb, local webdiarist and shameless self-promoter, packs his site with candid and personal “letters.” At one letter per week, 147 weeks of entries are currrently online; each generally has news about his latest published works alongside personal anecdotes about his wife Rosemary and friends, conversations with his mother.…
Best Waitstaff, Nicest
Loyal patrons of Austin’s Texas Star and her satellite locations all know how far a kind word and a friendly smile go – especially on a Friday night, when the lime-strawberry swirls are swirling out of the waitstaff’s hands at the speed of sound, or on Sunday morning, as crowds swell for a swell plate…
Best Local Restoration
The Nineties have been kind to our glowing symbol of Texas liberty. The early part of the decade saw the renovation of her brilliant pink dome. In mid-decade, services and sightseeing points were enhanced with the addition of the north wing’s Capitol Extension. Last year, the grounds themselves, including all monuments and fountains, were scrubbed,…
Best Stage Director
For years, Austin’s youngest artists have had a friend in Clark. The founder and still-driving force behind KidsActing has not only taught them performing arts skills, she’s given them the chance to create and star in original musicals such as Monsters, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Bugs. Now, our readers have given her a standing O.
Best Happy Hour
“Happy Hour” is usually a misnomer, since they tend to last at least two hours and sometimes more, right? Well, Trudy’s Happy Hour lasts all day on Mondays. Nuff said.
Best Bakery
These two heavyweight (yet decidedly light & flaky) contenders have been duking it out for years, only to tie in this year’s poll. Whether you’re looking for simple yet satisfying breakfast munchies or grandiose eventide desserts adrip with flavor and health, we’re sure you’ll be able to fill your plate at both of these local…
Best Evening Radio
Why do we even take a vote on this one? A real culturalsmorgasbord; great music, great syndicated shows like “Car Talk” and “Selected Shorts,” “Prairie Home Companion,” and deejays who have been spinning discs long enough to be hometown heroes – Paul Ray, Larry Monroe, Jay Trachtenberg – spinning the best in jazz and the…
Best Radio Station To Listen To At Work
This ain’t no muzak, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around. It’s an eclectic mix of current and classic tunes, it’s hepcat deejays like Kevin Connor and Jody Denberg, it’s great in-studio live performances by folks like Shawn Colvin and maybe a little bit of foolin’ around. Maybe you’ll catch the boss humming…
Best Day Hike
The intricate trails of the Barton Creek are fun on foot, too. It’s easier to catch the sights and sounds of the creek’s creatures and drink in both its obvious and subtle blessings while taking it a little slower. The Greenbelt has been winning this and the bike ride category for so long, and hikers…
Best Councilmember
We’ve given our former politics editor some not-so-gentle ribbing since he took office back in 1996, but really, he is our favorite city councilmember, too. Annexation, Prop. 2, and other efforts on behalf of smart growth will keep our city the jewel that it is, and Slusher has been a driving force behind these moves.…
Best Barber Shop
For the winner of this mane-stay category, a haiku:Boys and men lined uphead, neck, meet massage machinesideburns disappear
Best Art Supplies
Texture. Ahhh. Color. Ahhh. Brushes, paints, papers, pens, pencils. Ahhhh.Those squishy rubbery gummy erasers. Ahhh. Every type of fine art supply to paint naked ladies or trees – not to mention an amazing array of handmade papers and free art demos. The Co-Op is open to the public, not just limited to university patronage.
Best Pet Store (local)
Two paws up for last years’ returning victor. In a world full of mambo petemporiums, readers still like to know there’s your friendly neighborhood poochpalace. Take a left at the fire hydrant, pee on those two trees, lunge forwardon your choke chain and you’re there …. Tomlinson’s gets a steady sniff, as does Amazonia.
Best New Neon Sign
Actually, the shiny red boot is facing Duval right across from the gigantic fork at Hyde Park Bar & Grill. The pride of owner Steve Martin, this new landmark makes giving directions to Hyde Park locations even easier.
Best Art Print Shop
Artist Sam Coronado started coming into his own in the early Eighties, when his Dias de los Muerte paintings received public attention. Cornado then developed his printmaking skills several years ago when he attended a workshop at Self-help Graphics in Los Angeles. Since the workshop, he’s been hooked and has applied for grants to establish…
Best Drink Named For Its Restaurant
Seems a simple enough concoction: The first syllable of both restaurant and cocktail were the same, voila, the Marstini was born. Basically, it’s an Absolut Citron martini with Grand Marnier replacing the vermouth. Sounds easy, right? Well, replacing vermouth with Grand Marnier is trickier than it sounds. Try making them at home, and you’ll end…
Best Street For A Bar Crawl
A recent bachelor party saw us hopping from LaLa’s Little Nugget (on Justin, just two blocks off of Burnet) to celebrate Christmas in June, to the Poodle Dog Lounge for a game of pool, and finally to Ginny’s Little Longhorn to hear the country genius of Dale Watson (he’s there every Thursday). They’re all classic…
Best Delivery Pizza South Of The River
They looked across the waters. They saw a land where pizza chains held dominion, and they said “Woe unto them who must subsist upon lame-ass pizza,” and they begat delivery to that land; and lo, it was sustenance deemed divine, for the crust was hearth-baked; yea, the three sauces were revealed to be slow-simmered, and…
Best Jewish Deli Sandwich
The “Joan Rivers,” a tongue, corned beef, and Swiss sandwich, with cole slaw and Russian dressing on either rye or pumpernickel, is the real deal. Order a latka or knish on the side to eat in at their recently expanded restaurant, or take home other deli classics: a container of chopped liver or an addictive…
Best City Bureaucrats
Watson is in charge of perfecting Austin’s land-development process; Barrett oversees the neighborhood-planning project. Both have brought their projects off with prowess; without them and their teams, there ain’t no Smart Growth in Austin, and because of them, we may in our lifetimes see a day when “development” is not synonymous with “battle.”
Best Use Of Zoning To Make A Difference
There’s nothing like a symbolic victory, especially when its results are more than just symbolic. The City Council achieved both goals when it effectively shut down the “Tank Farm,” which housed first gasoline tanks, and later used tires, in a residential East Austin neighborhood. Locals fought the dump for over eight years, and the rezoning…
Best Hassle-free Place To Take Your Aging Vehicle For Inspection
They run a homegrown, 14-year-old car inspection biz, working out of an old shed with an electric fan and a yellow lab on hand for company. There’s no waiting room, just a few lawn chairs on a dirt lot under an old shade tree. These guys will go the extra mile (patch jobs, etc.) to…
Best Noodle Soup
The third location in Austin of this Vietnamese restaurant chain, Pho Cong Ly downtown has the atmosphere and freshness lacking at the other Pho joints across the city. Their Pho, a light beef stock poured over rice noodles topped with various cuts of meat in one large bowl, is served steaming and fragrant. No dishwater…
Best Unsung High Tech She-ro
Hey, have you seen Austin rent prices lately? Yeah? So what do you do if you make $5.50 an hour? What if you’re feeling the lasso of “welfare reform” tightening around your neck, trying to move out of public housing, or you just got out of prison? What if you have three kids? What if…
Best Local Sports Story
While coaching controversies and disappointing records grabbed headlines in football, baseball, and basketball, the University of Texas softball team christened its new stadium with a stellar season that saw them go all the way to the college world series in only their second year of Division I play. Led by pitching phenom Christa Williams, Coach…
Best Way To Avoid The Post Office
Drive-thru postal services are unacknowledged gifts from heaven. This little business has been faithfully shipping off late Christmas gifts from one of our editors for five years now and only one has been late. Besides standard mail services (U.S., FedEx, and UPS), they sell boxes and packaging, make keys, offer mailbox and fax service. Riverside…
Best Human-scale Rabbit Warren
There are no longer separate rooms in Andy Castillo’s home/shop; now there are only tunnels. The intricate tangle of colored plastic objects, shiny chrome, and cord are so densely woven together, to enter the doorway is literally to feel the material culture pressing in from all sides – completely stimulating and claustrophobia-inducing at the same…
Best Place To Enjoy Being A Girl
A little trashy, a little slutty, and proud of it: That’s our Bazaar. Though we still mourn the loss of this store’s original incarnation on the Drag, it’s all still there at the current location on Riverside just east of I-35. Vinyl, leather, lace, and spandex are the materials of choice here, though you can…
Coolest Strip Mall
Ah, strip malls! Boon to bull & bear and bane to aesthetes. Since this one was already full of things we really like (Ray Hennig’s Heart of Texas, Lamar Plaza Drugs, the drive-thru Thundercloud Subs, Let’s Dish, Big Bertha’s, and more), since the grocery store was renovated into a decent little Cutrer’s City Market, and…
Most Necessary Restaurant Expansion
Argentinean beauty Maria Corbalan is the reigning taco queen of South Austin in our opinion. Her funky little taco trailer on South Lamar proved to be such a success that she had to expand into the Sugar & Spice General Store to stay ahead of the demand for her delicious tacos and other homestyle Mexican…
Best Theme Store
Here it is.The whole ball of yarn! The entire kitten kaboodle! The cat’s meow! But this is not a pet store. In fact, save for Angel and Tiger, the store’s affectionate mascats, customers are spared actual encounters with aloof felines. Kids-N-Cats is a themed gift and party shop, loaded with trinkets, tchotckes, and yes, even…
Best Night To Cook To The Radio
We can’t speak for you, but when we’re whippin’ up a week’s worth of family-feedin’ feasts, there’s just no night like Mondays on KUT. Start the sauce to simmerin’ while cackling to Car Talk, then bring it to a boil with Larry Monroe’s Blue Monday. It’s five hours of prime-time air-fare. We can’t imagine a…
Best Camps/Classes
The play’s the thing, it seems, with these two strongholds of theatre-for-the-swingset-set sharing first place with drama programs intent on catering (to) the young hams of River City. Check out the “Best Stage Director” category in Arts & Entertainment; Kid’s Acting’s Dede Clark took the top spot. Dougherty Arts, on the other hand, also offers…
Best Mural/Graffiti
This year’s winners voted by you as the two best pieces of wall art in Austin, Texas, are not only in the same part of town (the University) they face each other right where 24th hits the Drag – a street corner homage to an entire generation of Austin mural art. The colorful tribute to…
Best Theatre Actor/Actress
He’s been a staple in Austin theatre for years, but it was his multilayered, meaty performance as the vitriolic Roy Cohn in Zachary Scott’s Angels in America this season that has really made Tom the talk of the town.
Best Happy Hour Entertainment
“Hippie Hour” continues to be our readers’ favorite in this category, and with good reason. The queen of soul brings heart and harmony to her set and her loyal fans week after week. It’s finger-plucking good, and won almost unanimously!
Best Barbecue
This top-notch & convenient north campus joint, a veritable Classics library of barbeque-ery where the word “vegetarian” is no slur, usurps perennial best Salt Lick as our readers’ Chaucer of Chickens and Brontë of Brisket. Indoors, outdoors, take-it-home, Ruby’s is a place you can always make book on.
Best Internet Provider
This year’s reader favorite, the TexasNetworkingCompany, has been providing great service – with digital modems and T3 connections to the Internet backbone through multiple providers, with over 15 servers, with more than enough available bandwidth to handle future growth and 56k modems, and with a 24/7 tech support system – since 1994. And it’s even…
Best Radio Talk Show Host
Listening to the mellifluous voice of “Eklecticos” host John Aielli is like taking a little happy pill. He plays lots of far-out music and supports lots of local talent in music and the arts. This year, his dulcet tones took the prize over the yammering that dominates “talk” radio.
Best Day Trip
Ehhh, get out of town, wouldya? Enchanted Rock wins, as it has every time, as our readers’ favorite destination. The enormous stone outcropping near Fredericksburg, so rich in history and abundant of view, lives up to its name. Readers also think that Fredericksburg ist wunderbar; Pedernales falls in third. And a roll-of-the-eyes and lick-of-the-tab honorable…
Best Effort To Control Pollution/Improve The Environment
For years now, S.O.S. Alliance has been on the front lines of defense to preserve beautiful Barton Springs and has provided an emotional voice to the endangered salamander.
Best Car Wash
When our readers aren’t exploiting child labor and having neighborhood kids wash the wagon, they take it to Genie, the three-time first-place winner in this category. Finish Line and Doc Holliday’s get pine-scented honorable mentions.
Best Bookstore
It’s real big. It’s not a chain. You can drink coffee there. They don’t yellat you for sitting around for hours and hours. And there is always somereading going on. Did we even mention the incredible kids’ section?
Best Record Store (Local)
No, it is not just the free beer and ongoing in-store concerts. Well, okay,maybe that has something to do with it. But beyond that, there’s thisinimitable something, a je ne sais quois that is comprised of the wacky worker attitude, the history of it all – six Best of Austin’s in six years. And, oh,…
Best New Public Building
The Cepeda Branch pulls off a neat trick: It’s a secluded hideaway and a community landmark at the same time. You can’t get much more accessible than Seventh & Pleasant Valley, but the plaza-like grounds and assertive yet inviting structure (both nearly hidden from the busy intersection) suggest something more cloistered and hallowed – perfectly…
Best Cultural Cut-ups
An off-shoot of Teatro Humanidad Cansada, a Latino theatre group, the Latino Comedy Project has in the last two years brought some of the best Latino comedians to the forefront of the entertainment scene in Austin. With biting satire on race and culture, LCP hits the funny bone time and again in bilingual sketches that…
Best Excuse For Lone Star Flag-Waving
Texas has a unique cultural identity that is threatened by the commercial homogenization of our world – but not if TFR can help it. With fascinating presentations and performances by master Lone Star artists (such as Don Walser and Santiago Jimenez, Jr.) in traditional music, literature, food, and more, they can satisfy both academic and…
Best Way To Keep The Cops Busy On A Full Moon
Local DJs Coy West and Chris Specht of the 626/Soul collective return to the glory daze of the global party community with this monthly series of unsanctioned, “renegade” parties that are as likely to make you scream with unabashed joy as they are likely to draw the eye (and ear) of Johnny Law. A secret…
Best Dinner And A Movie
The best dinner and a movie pairing this year had to be the Alamo’s first anniversary celebration. Owners Tim and Karrie League presented Alfonso Arau’s romantic film Like Water for Chocolate paired with a dinner based on recipes taken from the novel that inspired the movie. The dining audience was served the delicate quails in…
Best Liquid Cure-All
The days of tonic touting may have passed, but we can’t help but boost this distinctive juice-for-what-ails-ya. Dr. Dream’s elixir, a tasty concoction of lime juice, ginger, and that miracle sniffle-stopper Echinacea, could prevent even a low pressure system from feeling under the weather. When we sense the funk coming on, we’re happy to take…
Best Corporate Cooperation
This giant chipmaker and Austin’s largest employer unwittingly became a successful test case for Smart Growth when it agreed to cancel a mega-expansion project on environmentally sensitive soil in southwest Austin. In earlier days, Motorola might have dug in its heels and vowed to fight for its right to build. But in this age of…
Bravest Councilmember
It takes some real guts to oppose the über-popular coalition builder Mayor Watson, but Griffith has not backed down from a fight yet. She wins some, she loses some. Sometimes she’s even dead wrong. But at least she never cowers in the face of political opposition and in this era of council oneness that individualism…
Best Leg & Bikini Waxing
Waxing is one of those things you don’t even know you need until you suddenly find you can’t live without it, and Ruby Aldridge is the woman to show you why. Formerly of the ever-fabulous Bella, now with her own brand-new place, this Colombia-born aesthetician is fast, thorough, reasonably priced ($35 for half-leg), and very…
Best Peanut Butter Cookies
Heaven for pocket change. For 39¢, the Kolache Shoppe can transport your mouth (and your weight) to a higher state, leaving you feeling somehow light and fluffy. Their peanut butter cookies, with an emphasis on butter, are divine. We’ve always known there was something special about them – the way their delicate, almost crunchy edges…
Best Used Computer Salesman
They used to say the difference between a car salesman and a computer salesman is that the car salesman knows when he’s lying to you – meaning that many people in high-tech sales are, um, a little unclear on the details of the product they hawk. This is not the case with Ken Gould. The…
Best National Champions
Last year, the Lady Longhorns missed a national crown by one agonizing point. This year, it was close again: Coming into the last event, they trailed UCLA by five points, and had to place at least third in the 4×400 relay to win the meet. Despite having an inexperienced freshman on the leadoff leg, they…
Best Way To Feel Safe And Sound
The people here take things seriously when it comes to safety. They offer classes in personal safety, self-defense, bodyguard services, concealed handgun training, physical control & restraint, first aid, and seminars and training for special groups. Owner Sam Langford’s got a great smile and knows his stuff!
Best Junkshop
And down at the Hunting Grounds there’s plenty to root through, from furniture to bric-a-brac to some rather, um, unfortunate art. (Did we mention the archaic banjos, railroad lights, and hand-me-down taxidermy?) At Hurt’s, you’ll find elegant antiques and unqualified junk side by side – and it’s up to you to decide which is which.
Best Place To Go From Bauhaus To Your House
Herman Miller for the home, anyone? When Out of the Past up and moved to North Austin a few months, Aqua asborbed the premises and has expanded to become even more minimal and spacious. The new space offers more in the way of less, as their philosophy decrees, meaning that you find only the best:…
How To Change A Sow’s Ear
Dreaming of that bed stacked high with yummy, shiny pillows? This speciality shop has without a doubt the most wonderful array of fine fabrics for making clothing or crafts. The silks, of course, are outstanding – luscious dupioni, sexy charmeuse, demure chiffons, and on and on. But fine linen and cottons are available, too, as…
Most Testosterone In Smallest Place
Animal Rights activists, steer clear. Bert’s BBQ is probably not the gentlest spot for vegetarians. The walls are decorated with mounted deer heads. A bulletin board labeled “Bert’s Wall of Fame” showcases photos of customers with their kill. Offering a small-town feel without leaving the city is Bert’s specialty. You’ll come for the decor, but…
Best Wait For Food With Hungry Kids
When the kids are hungry, any wait for food is interminable, unpleasant, and potentially embarrassing. Hence the proliferation of juvenile fast food joints. But when you forget to make a reservation and still want to go out for good food, grab the kids and head for East Side Cafe. The wait could be a while…
Best Office Space & Commute
Inspired by a discarded baby jogger, local artist and alternative technologist David Santos sculpted an entirely green and mobile office by lashing together the baby jogger, solar panel, laptop, video cam, umbrella, and lawn chair. The pastoral Webmaster has trekked over 1,000 miles of Austin, pushing the cart and seeking his muse in the details…
Best Children’s Bookstore
Frogs can’t read but children can And they won’t let you leave without book in hand Parents know this is the place to go That’s why Toady’s won five years in a row Book People showed well, too, it’s true That might account for them taking place two. Kids happily reading, we like to see…
Best Public Artwork
People really do make pilgrimages from all over the world to see this tribute to Austin’s native blues-rock son. Even more telling, the locals still do, too. It can’t give us the outstanding guitarist’s Texas lightning fingers in action, but this statue by XXXXXX does give us some of his dignity and his soul. R.I.P.…
Best Theatre Company
With high-profile smashes like Angels in America and The Who’sTommy, plus an armful of honors at this year’s Critics Table and B. Iden Payne awards, everything’s coming up roses for artistic director Dave Steakley and Co.
Best Jukebox
Given the number of badass jukeboxes in this town, Casino’s three-year streak is something to marvel at, and so are its selections – from Dino to the Ramones, the Propellerheads to Louis Jordan. Just don’t play “Ring of Fire” too, too often.
Best Breakfast
This is the one where the emcee introduces someone “who needs no introduction.” Kerbey Lane’s popular mix of good and good-for-you creates a paradoxical mystery: “How can I like these apple whole-wheat pancakes better than I like either apples or whole-wheat pancakes separately?” And it’s precisely this kind of synergistic combination of excellent early-morning victuals…
Best Late Night Deejay
Barker’s House/Beats show, 1-3am on Fridays, shows off his mixing skill. Congratulations are in order; it’s quite an honor when a college deejay wins against a town full of some serious competition. What’s he gonna do when he graduates?
Best Sportscaster
These two have been going head-to-head for years. Bohls brings an impressive knowledge to his game, and the fans love the Coach’s witty takes on the sporting scene, not to mention his regular briefs about his doggone boxers.
Best Dog Walk
Pease poochie hot, Pease poochie cold! Please poochie off the leash, keep controlled! (Growl.) But seriously, this long and winding greenbelt along Shoal Creek offers plenty of room for Fido to stretch all four legs. The “Doggie Happy Hour” invites dogs of all stripes (and spots) to remember what it’s like to run with the…
Best Lobbyist/Consultant
Can Ann Richards do no wrong? The ex-guv-turned-lobbyist has enormous popular appeal, nay, clout, suggesting that losing her campaign for a second term in office may have been the best career move she ever made. Longtime education juggernaut, the PTA, takes a respectable second place.
Best Dry Cleaner
Rick’s $1.59-per-garment charge has freed the masses to own rayon and other dry-clean-only fineries, and our city is all the more beautiful for it. Hmm, Rick’s takes the competition to the cleaners for the third year running. Only this year, the official name is One Dollar Fifty-Nine, as opposed to One Dollar Thirty-Five in ’96.…
Best Comic Book Store
Out of nine years of BoAs, Austin Books has activated its superpowers to take seven in this category. They’ve got not only stacks of the faves (enough to keep any kid in Spider-Man or Archie for weeks), but their selection of “indie” or mature-themed comics and graphic novels is impressive. They also house one of…
Best Specialty Bookstore
BookWoman has broken last year’s tie with BookPeople, once again taking solo honors (as was the case in \’95 and \’96.) For Grrls who wanna have fun and be serious and augment their chick-book collection as well as their chick-T-shirt collection, BookWoman will not only fill those needs, but will give you plenty of alternatives…
Best Non-residential View Of Austin
Across a wall in the Thundercloud Subs on Bee Caves is a triptych of a view over the large iron bridge of 360, the treetops of Westlake, and the centerpiece skyline of Austin, skyscrapers and all. Well, this wasn’t just an incredible vision, thought up by the artist – no. It really exists and you…
Best Funny Smell
As if we needed another festival in this, the city of never-ending fetes. But when one is run this well, when it shines a light on Austin’s underappreciated comedy artists, and when it provides hours of gut-busting guffaws, it not only must be given its due, it must be celebrated! So we doff our jester’s…
Best In-store Wine Tasting
These casual Thursday gatherings have gained in popularity and attendance all year long. Savvy wine buyer April Lowe chooses her programs well, offering excellent domestic selections from California, Washington, Texas, and Oregon, plus interesting vintages from the best wine regions of Italy, France, Germany, and Australia. She wowed us recently with a tasting of several…
Most Delectably Seedy Club
Although there are no hot dogs and only a few bikes now linger outside, the Black Cat is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. A new crowd mingles with the old in the Cat’s decrepit open courtyard, uses the overflowing toilets, and rallies around the Flametrick Subs (psychobilly featuring Satan’s Cheerleaders) during their Saturday night gig.…
Best Downtown Breakfast In The ‘Burbs
Weekends in Austin are breakfast heaven. There are so many choices! Problem is, if you’re like us and wake up after 11am, by the time you get your lazy, hungry, jonesing-for-something-eggy butt out of the sack, your favorite brunching hot spot is packed. Head north to Austin Java Company’s location on 183. Amidst the sprawl…
Best Place To Run The Pooch
This park has it all: endless meadows in which to run or Frisbee, cliffsides to hike and explore, lots of wild animal scats to sniff, and an old spillway. Fido won’t know where to go first, but you’ll always know where he is no matter which way he chooses. The park is laid out in…
Best Grandiose Vision
Considering we can’t even have peace between City Hall and the County Courthouse, the Corridor Council’s mission seems pretty rich: regional harmony, coordinated problem-solving, and shared investments from Salado to Floresville and Kerrville to La Grange. That is, until you consider the alternative (the status quo), and then add a few more decades of thoughtless,…
Coolest City Planning Pipe Dream
Visualize a bridge to the 21st century. Or how about just a footbridge over Town Lake? Sound pretty awesome? Now what if that footbridge could take you from a SAMI Show to a dessert and coffee in the cavernous art deco interior of the converted Seaholm power plant? Not nifty enough? Then what about taking…
Best Local Safety Net
Formerly the Caritas Clinic, the Tuesday and Thursday free evening clinic has been treating those without insurance or Medicaid for more than 30 years. Last year the clinic treated more than 5,000 patients on a budget of $150,000 using 380 volunteers. The clinic’s clientele includes the unemployed and workers unable to afford health insurance.
Best Pizza Slice
Ooooh. North Austin! Do you realize what you have? Not just one but two choice pizza joints within crawling distance. Last year we waxed wistfully about Reale’s – home of some of Austin’s finest mom and pop Italiano cuisine. This year, we drove a little further north and got hooked on the crispy, crunchy, chewy,…
Best Value-added Customer Service
Even if you never buy a single piece of produce from Boggy Creek, you’d enjoy the weekly e-letter, in which proprietors Larry Butler and Carol Ann Sayle (usually the latter) update friends and fans on the vicissitudes of farm life – sexing chicks, fixing Big Red the farm truck, fending off raccoons, surviving the summer…
Best Pick-up Soccer Games
Athletes from a range of nations, showing skill and passion and love for what Brazilians call “the beautiful game” – there was plenty of that going around during this year’s superlative sporting event, the World Cup, but this is also the weekly scene at 51st and Guadalupe. Each week, as the sun relents, a rotating…
Most Dependable Artist Safety Nets
Austin is a town as dedicated to public service as it is to maintaining its “Live Music Capital of the World” status. It stands to reason that our public service and entertainment communities would intersect. Artists’ Accounting & Legal Assistance (AALA) offer up to 10 hours of pro bono accounting and legal services to artists…
Best Last-minute Birthday Shopping For All Ages
If you are phobic about giant parking lots and the consumption-plexes they serve, get to know this survivor of the Austin’s phoggy hippie past. So much more than just a head shop, Oat Willies has clever toys and novelties, jewelry, clothing, gorgeous colored glassware, greeting cards and much more. If you need a flushing toilet…
Best Place To Knock On Wood
If you‚re looking for a pine 2×4, head on over to your nearest homecenter. But if you’re looking for a full array of hardwoods or a hard to find piece of exotic wood, Paxton is the place. Full-time builder or weekend craftsman, alike, will find that this store has the special wood required for any…
How To Make An Austin Quilt
Your great grandmother was the last quilter in your family, and if you don’t take it up soon, there will never be another quilt to pass on to anybody. The Quilt Store has a dizzying selection of cotton fabrics for quilting – and just to make it a little less daunting for first-timers, packages of…
Best Big Fun With The Grandparents
Yet another amazing gift from our Parks and Recreation Department, each hole at Butler is about a third as long as a standard one and clubs are available for rent. A real golfer can get on the green with a wedge, then putt into the hole, practicing the critical short game. For a beginner or…
Best Way To Introduce Children To The Joys Of Theatre
When the world gets too virtual for you, when you wonder if Game Boy and South Park can irreparably damage a child’s capacity to appreciate old-fashioned live entertainment, when it’s 100 degrees in the shade and you forget why you live here, try this. Pack a big cooler full of food and drink and spread…
Best of Austin 1998
Whew! This is the largest issue The Austin Chronicle has ever produced. No wonder. This year reader response to our “Best of Austin” poll (ballots were run last summer) exceeded all previous years. While we don’t release numbers, we can tell you that when we read that “over 500” readers contributed to the results of…
Best Children’s Clothing
So many kids fall into the Gap each year, it’s a wonder that ol’ Gap isn’t all filled up by now. Well, if it’s not all filled up, at least it’s stocked, as always, with everything from pretty pastel onesies to cool cotton cardigans. This repeat winner has everything you need to prep up your…
Best Public Restroom
Sick, you people are sick. We tallied the ballots and shook our heads. You didn’t say, “The public restroom facilities at Barton Springs.” No, you said, “Barton Creek.” Time to retire this category.
Best Theatre Space
This is the kind of theatre you see in the movies; not the kind you see movies in. But amazingly, this exquisite opera house of yore has been kept in impeccable shape, and is put to great use with touring shows, limited runs, and one of the best lineups of summer movie classics yet. It’s…
Best Movie Theatre Concession Stand
This year, all three movie theatre categories see a shake-up. Regular winner of best Concessions, Dobie Theatre, shows up tops in another category, while moving down a slot here, making room for this popular new face on the Austin movie-viewing scene. With a full menu and kickass waitstaff, it’s hard to imagine Alamo Drafthouse not…
Best Caterer
Two fine catering companies, ready to handle all your on-site culinary needs – from sorority soirees to corporate confabs – with food so good it seems out-of-this-world instead of out-of-their-ovens. Can you imagine both of these businesses having company parties on the same night? Who would they call? Having shown up often in this category,…
Best Local Columnist
Everyone’s favorite Bubba reigns as top columnist for the fifth year in a row. But what does he have against salamanders? The Statesman’s own know-it-all, Jane Greig, makes her debut showing in this category, and Austin’s favoritepundit on all things political Molly Ivins, steals third.
Best Sportswriter
These two have been going head-to-head for years. Bohls brings an impressive knowledge to his game, and the fans love the Coach’s witty takes on the sporting scene, not to mention his regular briefs about his doggone boxers.
Best Golf Course
The narrow, tree-lined fairways at Lions Municipal are our readers’ bag. But beware the badass dog leg left par 4 Hogan hole! Not to be outdone, second-place Hancock “the Rock” sports a mean par 5 second.
Best Local Eccentric
The fashion savant of Congress Avenue and community bull Max Nofzinger tie forfirst place. Not five blocks from the pink protuberance we call the Texas Capitol, a middle -aged man named Leslie tinkers with his elaborate shopping cart, a House of Style on wheels, while wearing a G-string bikini. (You know, he’s actually quite fit.)…
Best Fitness Club
Once again strong-arming its way to the top of the list, World Gym is clearlyrun by the opposite of dumbbells. Get taut by the experts while taking in some of the local scenery at the Littlefield building on Sixth Street downtown or at any one of six Austin locations.
Best Drugstore
Are we all nostalgia freaks? Maybe. Who cares? Readers continue to concur that there is no chain drugstore remotely like the beloved Nau’s. That soda fountain in the back with those egg sandwiches and gut-busting sundaes bring tears of joy to the eye everytime. The wacky wordsmiths with the clever signs at People’s Pharmacy come…
Best Thrift Store
In a town as crammed with thrift stores as your Aunt Fanny’s attic is with junk, it’s cool to see this category go to a public service thrift. Goodwill is more than just a junque shoppe. With 10 locations/drop-off points, they give Austinites opportunities to shop and do good all at the same time. Employment/empowerment…
Best Place To Have A Gathering
Marsha Gomez has done a tremendous job of transforming 22 acres located out by the lake into a retreat center capable of housing dozens of people and providing such amenities as an outdoor stage, a sweat lodge, an herb and vegetable garden that supplies items for the veggie gourmet cooking done in the big kitchen…
Best Homage To Prometheus
Named for the power chakra, the “double burner” in the chakra system – the place from which all of our fire energy comes – Tantien is a quadruple-burner of flaming dance and athletic derring-do. Four dancers twirl batons, toss sticks, and wrangle lariats of fire in a sensual display of elemental power. They have performed…
Best Local Use Of The Potato
Made proudly at the only distillery in the state, Tito’s Vodka is so smooth that we’re sure it would give even Dostoyevsky something to write home about. Tito’s tastes great in a peppery Texas Bloody Mary or in an shimmering vodka martini, but we’d be willing to line up a straight shot against any of…
Next Best Thing To St. Patrick’s Day
Although both organizations promote Celtic culture, they are not one and the same. The Gaelic League accepts its charter out of Dublin, and takes its mission of promoting Irish culture seriously. While it takes a dim view of green beer and plastic bowler hats on St. Paddy’s day, the League does offer friendship, Irish-Gaelic language…
Best Drive-thru
A drive through Culver’s includes a viewing a sign near the drive-thru window that says the reason customers must wait longer for their food at Culver’s is because it isn’t pre-made. Culver’s specializes in butterburgers (which means that the top of the hamburger bun is lightly buttered) and thick, stout frozen custard that every day…
Best Place To Teach A (scaredy) Pup To Swim
Low lake levels, a narrow channel, warm water, and gentle currents conspire to make Cypress Creek the perfect place to let your trepidatious pooch develop his dog paddle. We’ve spent a few years searching the Hill Country and the Gulf Coast for a place to share some sun-soaked frolics with our dogus. We’d sort of…
Best Head Of The Class
When Ruth Kane started as principal of Lanier High School in 1993, she arrived at a dingy school marred by gangs and apathy. Five years later, the north Austin school became one of 18 secondary schools in Texas and 166 across the country to be named a Blue Ribbon school by the U.S. Department of…
Most Eye-Popping Public Performance
They work hard, they play hard. As if the May 2 bond election hadn’t already been a night to remember, with business leaders and environmentalists offering mutual congratulations for the victory of Smart Growth, Watson, Slusher, and Garza were each coaxed to take the dance floor at Save Our Springs Alliance’s headquarters. We made no…
Best Name For A Urologist In Austin
Don’t be fooled by the name. He knows what he is doing. Need we say more?
Best Place To Buy Videogames
In addition to stocking new video game titles for the Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, and Sega Saturn, Gamefellas has a broad selection of used games for those systems, as well as titles for older machines, including those that have long since bitten the dust. Looking for an NES cartridge or a Game Gear TV tuner?…
Best Voice On The Radio
La voz del radio, Maria Martin has been in radio for almost 20 years. Her smooth vocals and in-depth reporting bring the latest news on issues affecting Latinos in the US. Winner of several radio journalism awards, Martin will soon be taking a hiatus from Latino USA to pursue a masters degree.
Best Place To Impersonate Sisyphus
Sisyphus, the despot of Corinth, was condemned in Hades to roll a huge boulder uphill, which always rolled back before he reached the top. If you’re looking to atone for some sins, pick a summer ozone day when the heat hangs in the air like a wet towel and at, say, 2pm, head down to…
Most Reliable Key-cutters & Locksmiths
Seems like every chain store, discount shop, and mega hardware mart has a key cutter these days. Sure, it’s convenient, but have you had great luck with the keys? We haven’t. Nope. In too many cases, the keys are cut by whatever clerk happens to be stuck with the shift. Sure, key cutting is not…
Best Late Night Shopping
It’s late. All the stores are closed but you need a fix. Satisfy those late-night urges to thrift at New Bohemia, ’til 11pm every night. From cabana boy shirts to wicker ottomans the choice is yours, the hours are late, and the stock ever changing. (We heard world-class shopper Lucinda Williams declare it a boon…
Best Pot Of Gold In A Most Obscure Spot
When you‚re pointed to a jewelry store by another jeweler, you know it‚s got to be good. These guys do sell some jewelery, old and new, but gold and silver repairs is their main gig. Need a fob on that old watch from Grandpa? Need a catch on that cool chain from great-grandma? That Seventies…
Best Place To Get Cheap Breath Mints
Altoids, schmaltoids! Unless you just like the fancy tin, there’s no reason not to head over to the candy aisle at Only Deals to buy roll upon roll of Trebor Extra Strong (England’s No. 1 Mint) for only 33 cents each. Trebor’s have an unwieldy 7/8″ circumference that makes them difficult to pinch between cheek…
Best Bonus Of Owning A Library Card
Aside from the obvious benefits, library card holders can now check out a free pass to the Austin Children’s Museum at their new 201 Colorado location. The passes can be checked out and returned at 10 Austin libraries: Carver, Central, Little Walnut Creek, University Hills, Zaragosa, Oak Springs, South East Branch, Twin Oaks, Terazzas, and…
Best Way To Say “CIPs Are For Kids!”
When video games just won’t cut it and the kids areclimbing the walls and furniture for some old-fashioned rough and tumble play, what’s a parent to do? The City of Austin Parks & Recreation Department has seen to it that they can climb the snazzy new playscapes at Shipe playground and the Alamo Recreation Center…
Best Online Gals Club
All us chicks need a little advice now and then, a bit of harmless camaraderie when it comes to dating, shopping, fashion, and bitching – you know, those things that separate the women from, well … the men. Billed as a “Guide to Modern Living and Intersex Relationships, this site’s many features make you feel…
