School of Thought
by Roseana Auten “This is a free environment, but it’s freedom with a lot of responsibility.” -Amber Miller, pictured above at the Austin Montessori School with students using educational tools common to Montessori classrooms photograph by Jana Birchum Nestled in the shadows of the very “establishment” Sunset Valley Elementary School next door, the Austin Montessori…
Best Annual Party
Oh, bother. That unexpected tempest threatened to spoil Eeyore’s celebration, but wily Poohs and Piglets saved the day.
Best Bar Snacks
BW3 sports spicy hot buffalo wings at $.25 apiece to complement your trivia or home game. Dog & Duck claims the Thames, but their tasty bar snacks — chips, quesadillas, nachos — run closer to the Rio Grande.
Best Movie Theatre Facilities
This gargantuan movieplex is first-world viewing at its finest. Huge screens, cushy stadium seating, and – most crucial of all – wide cup holders.
Best Breakfast
Power breakfasts for those on the run with recently added screwdrivers and mimosas for the lingering set.
Best Morning Deejay (or Team)
Is it the nitrous oxide? The giddy hosts of this raucous early-morning snort-fest win again.
Best Weather Person
Surrounded by heavy machinery and blinking screens, benign weather tracker Spencer makes us feel comfortably informed.
Best Neighborhood Park
A jewel in the crown for outdoorsy Austinites, the spaciousness of Zilker Park keeps winning year after year.
Best Local Scandal
Ah, Big E. There were many to choose from – we’re guessing that most readers had his graceless concession speech in mind.
Best Dessert
Chez Zee pastry chef Corey Harris came to Austin two years ago inheriting the stellar dessert tradition of Chez Fred but has consistently upped the quality of that tradition to a higher level; check out her Truffle Cheesecake or Key Lime Pie, among many others, to find out why.
Best Children’s Video Selection
It’s everywhere!
Best Public Health Clinic
The people have spoken: power to the people!
Best Lingerie Shop
It’s no secret that Vicky has once again swept this category. Not-too-shabby showings by the Bazaar, La Dolce, and Tabu.
Best Down-Homey Hosts
Live Oak Inn owners Kevin and Renee Buck (and their Simpsons look-alike dog Molly Brown) live in a veritable, old mansion but exude a hospitality that’s downright homey. Opened last September, Live Oak Inn, with six rooms, has already seen more than 1,000 guests. Internet advertising has brought them guests from as far away as…
Best Wistful Transport To Veracruz
Heading out south on Airport, toward the 183 interchange, we notice this handpainted wonder. “Mexico Chiquito, Frutas y Tacos lo Mejor en Comida Mexicana con Sabor Casero” it reads, highlighted with little fruits on the bottom and etched in that handmade style gracing so many of the beachside cantinas of Veracruz. This place isn’t even…
Best Theatre Source
How many theatre companies are there in Austin? “Call Ann.” What happened at the last Arts Commission meeting? “Call Ann.” What plays are running that I can take my grandmother to? “Call Ann.” No matter what question you may have about local theatre, you can bet Ann Ciccolella has the answer. And if she doesn’t,…
Best Karaoke
The grassroots name of this bar devoted to the fine art of the “empty orchestra” ain’t for nothing. Here you’ll witness everyone from the feathered-hair woman singing Pat Benatar with her eyes closed, to yucksters belting out “Danke Schoen” off-key, to very serious patrons gifted with actual vocal skill rendering soul classics. If the occasional…
Best Little Screen In Town
Rob Campanell’s dream to produce an online soap opera was finally realized recently through InterneTV, which he operates with Austin multimediast Jay Ashcraft. Both have been talking the Internet’s multimedia potential for years now, and with InterneTV they’re pushing the envelope. I gotta warn you, it’s a rather small envelope-like 2 inches wide and an…
Best Place To See A Movie Premiere
John Sayles and Maggie Renzi introducing Lone Star, Richard Linklater and Quentin Tarantino introducing From Dusk Till Dawn, Linklater introducing Before Sunrise (was this at the Paramount?), Matthew McConaughey and Linda Obst introducing Contact, each one more an event than just a mere movie screening, and the splendor of the Paramount helped make them special.
Best Cuisine Theft
A cheesesteak sandwich probably doesn’t meet most criteria for cuisine, but the locals do a great knock off of this Philly staple. While many makers in the city of brotherly love (or is that open hostility?) swear that authenticity mandates the use of Cheese Whiz, Texadelphia delivers a stellar sandwich with a less alarming mozzarella…
Best Place To Eat Yourself
Will wonders never cease? Take a good photograph down to the Fiest Mart bakery, slap down some cash, and their dye-spewing supercomputers will reproduce the image in full digitized color, smack on the top of a sheetcake. The likeness is almost alarming. You’ve been good this year: why not get your own smiling mug on…
Best Way To Ease Into Saturday Morning
Maybe Friday night was rough, maybe not; either way Saturday is a day to be approached slowly and with reverence. We can’t think of a better start than coffee and breakfast at the G-M Steakhouse. A seat at the counter provides the best exposure to the immaculate grillside skills and dyspeptic panache of head cook…
Best Place That Might Consider Target Marketing Families More
What a perfect set up: Movies, food, and an attentive waitstaff. The Alamo could introduce a whole new generation of kids to the wonders of George Pal and the Harryhausens, to serials and superheros, to matinee idols and musicals. But with their current 21 & up policy, Alamo Drafthouse is limiting its clientele of funky…
Best Story We Thought We’d Never See
After years of watching the local daily ignore the wheelings and dealings of Gary Bradley, it was a pleasant surprise to see the Statesman examine our least favorite aquifer-busting mustachioed millionaire developer in a three-part series in mid-June (albeit a decade late).
Best Pitcher
Up until four months ago, Christa Williams’ story was as fairy-tale as it gets. Within the past year, she had graduated from Dobie High in Houston as one of the top recruits in the nation, with 47 career no-hitters and an 0.01 ERA, won an Olympic gold medal in Atlanta (pitching 9 2/3 scoreless innings),…
Best Display Of Grace Under Pressure
The monster being cyberporn or censorship, depending on your tastes. No one is thrilled with the limited, customized filtering on APL’s public-access Internet terminals, but imagine what Library Director Brenda Branch could have done. She could have gotten herself arrested for distributing pornography to minors (a felony in our state). Or she could have blocked…
Best African-american Barber Shop
For the African-American male with a “real job,” dreadlocks and bushy afros just don’t cut it. While the clean-shaven, bullet-head look has its adherents (among balding major league sports heroes and the victims of barbers who just don’t know any better), most African-African men have full heads of hair (short and nappy though it may…
Best Pampering
One Chronicle staffer who lacks a sense of smell swears that her dead olfactory nerves awaken upon entrance to Jami’s domain. Make yourself an appointment for an aromatherapy facial or massage for the most relaxing, luxurious sensefest imaginable.
Best Book Deal
Once a year, the University of Texas Press has a giant book sale of overstocked, out-of-print and damaged books often for a fraction of the list price. Despite monsoon-like conditions, this year’s sale featured lines of book laden buyers, 20 people deep at the four cash registers for most of the day.
Best Souvenir Stand
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: You don’t have to drive out to a roadside Stuckey’s to get great Texas Tack. And we don’t mean like feed and tack; we mean tacky tack. Texas everything is available — postcards, T-shirts, pens & pencils, knick-knacks, keychains — just a few leaps and bounds…
about AIDS
Women Rising!!!!! In early November, HIV+ women from central Texas will have the opportunity to come together at a retreat center on the banks of the Guadalupe River in the Hill Country west of Austin. They will share their experience of living with HIV disease in a safe, nurturing environment away from the cares of…
1997 Austin Film Festival Schedule
$25 Film Passes (good for all films except U-Turn) an sale at Star Ticket Outlests, or charge by ohone (469-7469). $5 Individual Tickets sold at all theatres prior to showtime (space permitting). $175 Weekend Passes (good for Saturday and Sunday films and special panels). Call 478-4795. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 Shores of Town Lake at the…
Best Art Gallery
The gorgeous atmosphere was perhaps the reason Laguna Gloria garnered more votes than its own parent museum, downtown Austin Museum of Art, which won second. Mary Doerr and Laughing at the Sun tied for third.
Best Bartenders
The first winners in this new category pour ’em cool and stiff, according to our readers. Mmmmmmm… just like we likes ’em.
Best Movie Theatre Programming
Village people are a cerebral bunch. From the epic Lone Star to the epic Hamlet, this unassuming little theatre is where four-star films come home to roost.
Best Caterer
Word of Mouth is the city’s upscale caterer and has been so for several years. They’ve recently moved into the old Run-Tex building at 12th & Lamar, and by the beginning of next year should have a gourmet take-out business opening in the old Amandine’s location.
Best Photojournalist
Repeat winner Pogue’s work is artistic, political, and above all, human.
Best Web Designer
This local firm has streamlined the Web presence of Dell and IBM, among others. They specialize in CD-Rom production and graphic design, as well.
Best Overall Nursery
When you’re down to seeds and sprouts again, Gardenville is your favorite place for replenishment.
Best Nonprofit Group
This relatively new category honors the labor-of-lovers of Austin’s public service community. Congrats, ASA, and runners-up Sustainable Food Center, S.O.S., and Center for Battered Women.
Best Diner
Quintessential Austin indifference plus dirt-cheap food (and fabulously sinful breakfast tacos) make this all-night greasy spoon a city favorite.
Best Drop-Off Childcare
Sweeping two categories, the newly renamed Nature & Science Center is the place to go to learn all about Austin-area ecosystems, wildlife, conservation efforts, and natural history. The center says that despite the readers kudos, theirs is not technically a “drop-off” childcare facility, and that you should call ahead for program information.
Best Recording Studio
Music Lane, Parrot Tracks, and Sweatbox tie for second with Production Block the winner.
Best Liquor Store
From the wooden Indian standing sentinel to that little Elvis decanter in the window, everything — including a whole wall of Scotch — is a little wiggy here.
Best Downtown Sunset View
Downtown truly shines around sunset from this vantage point. An incredible glow reflects off of the re-done Bank One building when standing outside the post office’s upper ramp. Fridays when we take the office mail for the weekend, we can’t help but stop and savor this amazing display.
Best Arts Exposure
Austin’s performing artists have a priceless friend in the longtime KUT deejay. In the course of his weekday morning music (and musing) program, Aielli typically devotes a couple of hours of on-air time to actors, singers, dancers, musicians, choreographers, composers, et al., to promote their current creative endeavors. Who else in the country gives local…
Best Unexpected Literary Arts Support
Laura Bush is a former elementary school librarian who is passionate about the subject of literacy. She enlisted an army of smart volunteers to fashion a festival based on successful models in other states and solicit total corporate underwriting so the proceeds could benefit Texas libraries. The big party weekend last November featured a black-tie…
Best Lesbian Hot Spot
If you’re a single lesbian and you haven’t heard of Club Skirt, get out of the house, girlfriend. The hugely successful event, held once a month at the Zilker Clubhouse, benefits the Cornerstone Gay & Lesbian Community Center and brings out the kind of gal you wouldn’t mind taking home to meet mama (unless of…
Best Local Food Web Site
Visiting Larry Butler & Carol Ann Sayle down on the virtual farm is our new favorite recreational activity. We can catch up on what’s available at the Wednesday and Saturday markets, order Tubby Totes or farm T-shirts by mail, download some delicious recipes for cooking with fresh, local organic produce, and read up on the…
Best Place To Stargaze On The Avenue
A visit from President Clinton earned Guero’s a reputation as the place to be if you’re both famous and visiting. Over the course of one Saturday morning breakfast, we spotted Lyle Lovett, Quentin Tarantino, and ER’s Julianne Margoules, each munching migas separately from the other celebrities. Even more notable than seeing Tarantino mow down was…
Best Deliver Me Good & Quick
Oh, lordy are we living in our own! Uh- Private Idaho, that is. We can attest to its “tuberular” goodness. For the first time, many of us here are actually compelled to eat potatoes. Our proofreading department orders on the average of 72 times a week. We can’t tell if it is the Keanu Reeves…
Best Place To Hear ‘Let Them Eat Cake’
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…
Most Authentic Chocolate Malt
Thick, rich and simply divine. You can try drinking it through the straw, but this malt tends not to cooperate. Opt for the spoon and savor the treat, served in an old style malt shop glass, complete with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Calorie watching or cold December weather won’t stop us from…
Best Place To Encourage Your Young Drama Queen Or King
You’ve seen their productions, now see their academy. Serving two groups, ages 5-7 and 7-17, this summer marked the first training session for the theatre. For the young set it’s about creativity, motion and exploration. For the older kids it’s all about theatre; everything from performance to technical production. We know one six-year old boy…
Best Technophiliac History:
Austin’s resident cyberpunk archivist Bruce Sterling and author Richard Kadrey, perceiving the romance of technological acceleration with planned obsolescence, realized that new media was burying old so fast and so deep that a historical index was needed, pronto. Sterling ran with it, but he wisely shared the responsibility for the archive with, well, anybody who…
Best Place To Contemplate The Endless Slumbering And Reawakening Of The Eternal Buddha
We’ve had luck with this at places as diverse as the barbecue shack and the beer garden, but for unfiltered eastern inspiration, no place beats Zilker Botanical’s Oriental Garden. In specific, take a stroll across the Togetsu-Kyo, or bridge-to-walk-over-the-moon, and search out your reflection among the lilypads. You may not find everlasting bliss, but a…
Best East Austin Watchdog
The group known as PODER – People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources – is enjoying a renewed surge of energy these days. The environmental justice group is taking a lead role in raising city hall’s consciousness about unfair zoning practices in industry-clogged East Austin. PODER organized in 1991 in response to fears…
Best Alternative To Having A Garage Sale
If you’re down to one room because the others are filled with stuff that you’ve been storing until you get around to having a garage sale, or because you already had a garage sale and the ordeal of it (not to mention schlepping the all of the unsold junk back into the house) made you…
Best Place To Do The Shuffle
When we asked John Salazar, Sr., how long he had been cobbling Austin shoes, he grinned and muttered, “Too long,” and shuffled to the back room of the small Delwood shop to fetch his son. The affable John Salazar, Jr., with a grin as wide as his senior’s proudly pointed out an old flyer for…
Best Down-Home Flea Market
The nefarious creep of global capitalism sure seems to have infected the entire planet. Other than perhaps jumping a bus and heading for some small town market in Mexico, there seem to be few shopping experiences left in North America which aren’t darkened by the shadow of some corporate logo or linked by some chain…
Best Spiritual Peach Picking
Pick your own fuzzy fruits at Barsana Dham, home of the Divine Orchard of One Thousand Trees. The variety of different peach trees planted here provides staggered harvests from early June to August.
Hearth & Soul
The Best of Everything Since this is the Chronicle issue where raging cynicism is beaten back for a brief spell and the good things in life take center stage, I thought I, too, would lay aside my caustic criticism for one day — just one — and concentrate on the best stuff, even if it…
CinemaTexas International Short Film And Video Festival
The CinemaTexas International Short Film + Video + New Media Festival is one of the rare places where short-format cinema is truly celebrated. The festival, in its second year of exhibition, focuses on works of personal and artistic expression, works that aspire to poetic rather than novelistic structures and lengths. So often, especially in the…
Best Artist
For the first time in years, an artist who actually lives in Austin beat out regular fave Amado Peña. Doerr’s Images of Austin are everywhere. One peek at her shop on Burnet will show you why.
Best Beer Selection
With 82 international beers on tap, this bar — named for J.P Donlevy’s book — may require a taxi ride all the way home.
Best Neighborhood Bar
After years of Crown & Anchor and Deep Eddy Cabaret duking it out in this category, this year’s winner was a dark horse indeed.
Best Coffee House
After four years at their downtown location, this spare, soothing coffeehouse finally hit the big time, with a second locale near campus and a first-place coup d’etat.
Best Pm Drive/Rush Hour Radio Program
The heavy-hitters from NPR take the prize again: radio journalism at its best.
Best Austin Athlete
For inspiration and perspiration, it’s hard to top our resident beatin’ cancer Tour-de-Francer.
Best Participatory Sport
It is only appropriate that the city that institutionalized slack hails Frisbee Golf as its favorite group activity.
Best Nonprofit Volunteer
This ubiquitous activist-attorney donatesabout 20 hours of legal services a week to 20 different public service organizations.
Best Grocery Store
An eclectic mix of the organic, exotic, and basic, mixed with just plain friendliness, redefined the grocery shopping experience.
Best Kids’ Party Supplies
Don’t take the kids or you’ll leave with at least one of everything.
Best Shoe Repair
Getting your shoes fixed is a bit easier now that Austin Shoe Hospitals are located all around town.
Best Music Business
Strait has swept this category for the last four years — quite an accomplishment in a town filled with greats like runners-ups South Austin Music, MusicMakers, and Musical Exchange.
Best Dr. Seussian Mix-Master Interchange
One day, making tracks/In the prairie of Austax/Came North-South Going Traffax/And East-West Going Traffax.//The East-West Going Traffax puffed its chest up with pride./”We never,” it said, “take a step to one side.”/”Well, we live by a rule,” yelled the North-South Going Traffax/”that we learned back in North-South Going School./Never budge! That’s our rule. Never budge…
Best Arts Venue That’s Way Out There And Close To Home
When VORTEX Repertory Company relocated to this barn on Manor Road a few years back and christened it Planet Theatre, it chose an especially apt moniker; watching some of the experimental work staged there – such as the cybernetic operas The Black Blood and Panoptikon – you feel as if you’ve beamed onto some alien…
Best 83¢ Margarita
They never even offer change for your dollar so it’s a bit pricier than advertised, but we still can’t complain. The 83¢ margs were originally in honor of plans to remodel the restaurant, but they’ve been available since at least January, when we would bundle up and brave it out on the patio, the only…
Best Low-key Bar On Sixth Street
No, that’s not an oxymoron. There is one place on the strasse where you can lounge and lounge without all the hubbub: Casino El Camino. Once hip, then excruciatingly ultra-hip. Now it’s so passé that it’s again safe to wander in without having to worry about whether the color of your fingernail polish clashes with…
Best Local Usenet Watchdog & Helpful Guy
Most users of Internet e-mail have to spend at least a few minutes each day shoveling unsolicited messages – spam, in the parlance – out of their inboxes. Software developer Chip Rosenthal argues that spam costs not only time, but money, and he’s been doing something about it. An active participant in Austin’s Usenet scene…
Best Place To Sweat With The Oldies
Shag carpets, free popcorn, and a drink called the “Train Wreck,” sway us in Donn’s favor, but it’s the shimmying senior singles that make this one of our favorite places to cut a rug. This way, we when get shown up on the dance floor, we can chalk it up to years of experience (not…
Best Dinner Skin Show
Commodities traders in Chicago may have a soft spot for pork bellies, but we prefer the softly undulating human belly that accompanies Middle Eastern mezzes Thursday nights at Ararat. Nothing like celebrating the beauty of a full figure while filling your daily calorie count.
Best Proof That Bigger Is Better
One is probably all you’ll need of these big boys (in fact, you might want to share). Loaded into glasses only slightly smaller than a bathtub, these tasty lime treats will take the edge of that summer heat, and most of your nerve endings, as you plow into Nuevo Leon’s great Tex-Mex.
Best Agency For Kids In Trouble
This private non-profit outfit gets our vote for the extraordinary range of services it provides to children in life-threatening situations. Travis County’s abused and neglected children are brought to the Center by law enforcement and child protective services personnel for care and evaluation until permanent homes can be found. It’s a safe haven where medical…
Best Place To Hang With Your Elementary School Buddies After The 2:45 Bell
For the working parent, afterschool childcare doesn’t have to pose a major problem. The Austin Parks & Recreation Department offers great aftercare programs at area rec centers. Our pup goes to Hancock Rec Center. Aftercare counselors meet and supervise his walk from school with a gaggle of other kids. At the center, Hancock provides a…
Best Television Performances By A Former Governor
Whether she’s sharing her informed perspective on the death penalty with the panel on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher or enlightening Dennis Miller about her recovery from alcoholism, the former guv with the signature bouffantus-erectus hairdo always entertains. Within minutes of taking the stage, Richards had each of the irreverant, smirking bad boys of late…
Best Place To Dip Your Feet In
Okay so this creek gets a little help from the fact that its water comes from Stacy Pool and is therefore slightly chlorinated, but that doesn’t detract from its beauty. There are myriad nooks and crannies along this meandering creek – many which just beg for someone to spend a leisurely afternoon with a good…
Best Failed Legislative Project
In the end, the status quo won. Gov. George W. Bush (Teflon George) will try to take credit for lowering property taxes. But the near-hero of the session was Sadler, the Democrat from Mt. Pleasant, who plowed through weeks of tedious hearings. Sadler and his cohorts on the tax committee produced a plan that would…
Best Bike Resurrection
The bike establishment (big boys like Bicycle Sport Shop and Freewheeling) gets a lot of repair referrals. However, word of mouth led us to this small outfit. From a routine tune-up, a well-traveled Klein road bike came back almost a brand new machine. Impeccable attention to detail. Oh, and you can get some good training…
Best Place To Rent A Big Honkin’ Van
Personally, we pine for the days when the fleet featured nice n’ banged-up cargo vans with Honest Ed’s smiling mug on the side, but it seems Ed has spiffied up of late. No matter: It’s still a cheap place to rent wheels when you’ve got to move a lot of people. Can’t fit no livestock…
Best Good Neighbor
Are you putting up doors or laying down floors? Installing tubs or searching for rugs? Maybe you’re just looking for a place to donate those old attic vents. Or, just looking for ideas. With 40,000 s.f. of donated building supplies to pick through, the fun never ends at the Re-Store. Staffed primarily by volunteers, this…
Best Target Marketing & Selection Of Hard To Find Xena And Comets Stuff
Oh Susan. Blessed be Susan: The fates smile brightly on you for your service to the local sisters. Sure, we love those volumes of femanisfestos and woman-authored bits of goddess goodness. But Susan, we gotta tell you, the idea to stock all of that wicked hard to come by Xena and Houston Comets women’s pro…
Benefits
The Chronicle benefits database extends a year or more into the future. Call Julie Lucksinger, 454-5766, to list your event. Deadline: Friday, 5pm, one week previous to the issue.
Short Cuts
As we went to press last week with Louis Black’s heartfelt “Page 2” reminiscence about the all-too-brief life of D. Montgomery and her enduring influence on the Austin film community, her funeral arrangements were yet to be announced. With great sorrow we include them here: A funeral service will be held Thursday, Sept. 25, 7pm,…
Best Book By A Local Author
Sterling’s edgy tale of aging and art in the late 21st century won out among stiff competition. Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael and the paperback release of Marion Winik’s Telling tied for second place.
Best Brew Pub
With homemade brews a buck from 5-6pm daily and $2 pints Sun-Tues, you won’t even notice this casual bar serves no cocktails — even on Fourth Street.
Best Non-downtown Club
Loyal patrons, legendary musical talent, and swift bar service make this modest little Congress dive a swingin’ shoe-in.
Best Custom Cakes
Year after year, Lucy’s affordable prices and impeccable service take the cake.
Best Public Access Tv Show
This second-time winner celebrates a two-year anniversary and covers topics that run the gamut from Scientology to politics. Look for it midnight or 12:30am on various nights of the week.
Best Austin Team
High sticks go to the Ice Bats as this year’s team. In second place, the Lady Longhorns basketball and a surprising third for the UT Longhorn football team.
Best Place To Skate
Should thee have a penchant for skating, hie thee to thy Veloway.
Best Public Servant
Chairman of the Travis County Family Violence Task Force and the Director of Travis County Attorneys’ Trial Division, Denton exemplifies what a good lawyer can be: compassionate, dedicated, and humane.
Best Lunch Under $5
Compare T-Cloud’s seemingly simple recipe to Kim Phung’s mysterious and mystifying kitchen. Both are fantastic and fantastically low-priced.
Best Kids’ Space
Open Door, and its director Nira, have an “inconspicuous” approach to teaching, so that kids learn while having fun. They welcome pre-school kids of various learning levels and abilities.
Best Adult Bookstore
Apparently, our readers have been doing a little dreaming….
Best Pawn Shop
Dropping off or picking up, readers run to Doc Holliday’s.
Best Entrance
Not since Ray Liotta whisked Lorraine Bracco through a nightclub in one fell shot has there been such a thrilling bar entrance. Impossibly tucked behind Fourth & Congress, Speakeasy’s is a drinker’s lush fantasy in the midst of the greyish, derelict downtown alley. While the distant martini clinks may be a siren song for some,…
Best Austin Film Program That Won’t Be Here Next Year
When you could only see films from the New German Cinema in about five places around the country, Austin was one of them; when the Australian cinema was hot and the Hong Kong cinema exploded you could see their best efforts at the Texas Union Theater. Over the last 20 years, Steve Bearden has been…
Best Addition To The Local Film Scene
An award-winning documentary film producer (Eyes on the Prize, Vote for Me), a film professor, and the head of UT’s Radio-Television-Film production department, Stekler has already made an impact on the greater Austin film community. He has offered support and advice to filmmakers and has helped initiate the monthly documentary film series at the Alamo.…
Best Mariachi Accompaniment
A Thursday night at La Feria is a great way to fill up on Mexican food and culture. Mariachi Estrella takes the stage (actually, a tiny section of the patio) at 7pm and turns S. Lamar into Old Mexico. Call ahead to reserve a table; it’s packed.
Best Looking Crank
Alex Jones Libertarian posterboy Alex Jones has a radio show on KJFK called The Real Spin. But if you limit your Alex exposure to just radio, you are missing half the fun. No, the real show is on ACAC, on his access TV show called Reality Check. Damn, he’s good-looking. Now, we hope this doesn’t…
Best Place To Watch Sports And Not Be Harassed By People In Potentially Distracting Outfits
It’s a chain, and it’s on Sixth Street, but between the wings and the reasonably priced beers and the giant screens and the ergonomically shaped stools on a balcony that puts you at eye level to the action, it’s hard not to endorse BW3 for watching the game, or on those weak nights on ESPN2,…
Best Drive-thru Ribs
Tired of Quarter Pounders and fries? Take a drive down Airport to Slim’s Real Bar-B-Que and get a slice of slow-cooked soul slid straight through your car window. Slim lets smoke, not sauce, do the talkin’ on his spicy slabs – served with a smile at $5.25 for a plate with two sides. So if…
Best Range Of Cheap And Expensive Texmex
Whether we spend $3.75 for a steak taco, a mushroom taco and a side of beans or $11.50 for a fancy interior specialty like Pescado Veracruzano, we leave fat, happy, and often saddled with leftovers. The innovative salsas and delicious aguas frescas only make us wonder why there aren’t more Curra’s around town.
Best Anticipated Bundle Of Joy
We just can’t wait for the grand autumn re-opening of our beloved children’s museum in its brand new downtown location. We are pacing the halls, practicing our breathing, buying cigars, and even Kegeling while we wait!
Best Place To Show Your Kids Real Star Wars Toys
The re-release of George Lucas’ mighty epic triptych has zoomed out a new generation of Skywalkers faster than a MillFalcon in (kofff! sp-p-putter!) hyperspace. Take your offspring (and their latest chunk of allowance) to Hog Wild and go hogwild over the great selection of classic and modern Star Wars-ana. Tons of other classic universes (Star…
Best Truth Test
The Austin American-Statesman after the Willie Lewis campaign asserted that Eric Mitchell had missed over 25 percent of city council votes in seven months, the Statesman performed their own detailed study of council voting records – and consequently provided the ammunition which helped sink their own endorsed candidate. The Statesman’s detailed chart chronicling the voting…
Best Place To Scope
Let’s be truthful about this. For many people the fitness aspects of jogging along Town Lake are just a fringe benefit. The primary activity out there may very well be sizing up the local talent. Take in a long walk or a good run and you can check out a couple hundred members of the…
Best Final Chapter Of A Long Story
Oak Hill was promised a library when it was annexed in 1984, but voters didn’t approve the bonds until 1992, and construction didn’t begin until last year. This delay didn’t just frustrate Oak Hill – it became a symbol for every suburban neighborhood that fought City annexation, claiming they’d be similarly ignored when it came…
Best Construction In Oak Hill
It’s about time literature hit the Hill, but worth the wait. Named after the late lawyer and Oak Hill advocate, this library is packed with crisp, new books, audio and video tapes, compact discs, and sometimes more squealing kiddos than a free immunization clinic. Almost makes us proud to pay our city taxes.
Best Place To Rent A Small Honkin’ Car
Their line of Plymouths will cart you all around the great State of Texas at eye-poppingly affordable prices. Day takes cash deposits and sell cars off their fleet, too.
Best Guitar Shop For Wacky Sixties Jap Guitars And Cheap Old No-name Gits
Looking for a cool looking, good playing guitar for under $200? Dale Allen’s guitar shop on Burnet is just the place. There is a wide assortment of Japanese guitars and old Americana department store guitars. Dale has them fixed up, sounding good, playing fine, and looking great. He buys, sells, and trades on most vintage…
Best Toy-Encrusted Structure
When we were on a quest for an authentic Lone Ranger doll, the Toy Soldier alone possessed our exhaustively sought treasure, and at such a reasonable price! Tucked away at the far edge of North Austin, this modest little building would escape notice entirely except for its facade which is liberally festooned with toys. Big,…
Coach’s Corner
John Mackovic, I must admit, got off a pretty good line last week. His reference to the “coach’s paparazzi,” if he thought it up himself, was pretty clever, though totally misplaced. Mackovic, crispy after a week-long, well-earned public barbecue, snapped back at his tormentors: the media, in particular, the talk show media. It’s true he,…
Public Notice
The news is a fickle lover. It pounces on a story, cause, issue… proceeds to caress every possible angle, then forgets it as soon as the sun comes up. Harrumph. The May 27, 1997 Central Texas Tornado story may seem like old news to some folks, but to others, to the victims, the sting is…
Best Cartoonist
In a town saturated by java joints and caffeine, his “Too Much Coffee Man” leaves fans jonesing for more.
Best Cocktails / Martinis
Inventive martini menu, but nothing beats it dirty and ice cold, with juicy olives skewered in that chilled glass.
Best Place To Dress Up
If Hanson made it big here, you can, too.
Best Computer Book Selection
BookPeople will pave your way to yet another frontier of knowledge. BookStop took second with chains Borders and Barnes & Noble tied for third.
Best Public Place To Surf
The brilliant, valiant efforts of Sue Beckwith and crew made this a banner year for public access to the ether despite the free speech controversy incited by the Library’s use of Cyber Patrol.
Best Basketball Court/Game
Enfield is still the best place for a quick pick-up. Who got next?
Best Public Sports Facility
For the availability of rolling fields, Austinites return to the traditional favorite, Zilker Park.
Best Rumor
There were so many scattered votes in this category, but the curious common element in a great number of them was “Eric Mitchell” and what he supposedly is. Believe us, the list is too tedious to put here. Hmmmmmm.
Best Milkshakes & Smoothies
Wrapido’s fruit and energy smoothies are a paean to Nineties chic health consciousness while EZ’s is a throwback to Fifties indulgence, with decadent milkshakes thick enough to suck out your tonsils.
Best Playground/Park
What can we say about Austin’s favorite city park? It’s where kids go to play, splash, learn, and ride the Zilker Zepher.
Best Antiques
Once again, readers choose the classiest antiques joint in town as their favorite.
Best Periodicals Rack
Austin’s Book People once again beats the national Goliath, Barnes & Noble, for a simply staggering selection of magazines, etc.
Best Grasshopper
Neither we nor our bush beans are great fans of plague-type insects, but the giant wooden grasshopper at the Wildflower Center is a gentleman among pests. See this harmless hopper and more big bugs (ants, dragonfly, praying mantis) created by sculptor David Rogers through November 30, 1997.
Best Dressed
S. Alton Dulaney is a trip. Regularly seen with performance collaborator Lydia, at Tesoros, in PeACh (the Performance Art Church), or on his own cable access show (ACAC’s Alton on the Spot), the lanky Splendora native distinguishes himself from the Great Unwashed with his impeccable sense of Haute (He looks stunning in a gown-) or…
Best Audience Member
We see him at Emo’s and at Antone’s. At the Music Hall and the Continental. At Liberty Lunch and at Steamboat. He pays cover at the door and for his own drinks. He shoots pool, often brings his wife Linda, and he actually watches bands. His name is Bill Lodwick, and most members of the…
Best Mead
As the only purveyor in town, the Bitter End wins this category by default. Mead, which most are probably acquainted with solely by name from reading Beowulf back in high school, is essentially just honey, water, and yeast. Left to ferment it works itself into a potent little potion. What is at first a peculiar…
Best Mindtrip
We can’t pretend that we really know what’s going on when we watch Space Channel, but we are sure that it’s not bad for us. Beth Clare and OVA, a “a group of teachers of Pleiades” channel we’re not sure who… but it’s probably someone dead. The first time we stumbled across this program, we…
Best Reason To Get Up On Sunday Morning
A longstanding tradition on small-town radio stations around Central Texas is the Sunday-morning polka show, catering to the many area residents of Czech, Moravian, and German descent. Thanks to KOOP, us city folk can wake up dancing as well, as enthusiast Thomas Durnin spins the Tex-Czech hits and reads off a calendar of upcoming dances…
Best Expansion Of An Eastside Franchise
Surrounded by mostly Latino clientele and waitstaff, you might easily think you’re in the heart of the Eastside – especially when you sample the delicious food. There’s no predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in the area that we know of, so apparently people who know good Mexican food are coming from all over town to hit this…
Best Replica Of A Seattle Latte
In the caffeine mothership of Seattle, you need only mutter the words “double tall”; the “latte” is default. You’ll find this lingo, not to mention a damn fine cup of coffee, at Los Armadillos. Quartered in an easily overlooked shack on West Fifth, owners Joe Lozano and Jerry Goff and the staff roast their beans…
Best Bucket
In some cases, a “bucket” means a small amount — like, if you had to bail out a sinking boat with a bucket — that would take forever. But sometimes, a bucket is a buttload. Take, ferinstance, Celebration Station’s Bucket of Fun deal. For $49, you get 280 tokens. Whoa! That’s $70 worth of tokens…
Best Pre-school Kids Herb Garden
Ronda Dizney believes in getting kids into the garden early and the principles of organic gardening dovetail perfectly with the Montessori curriculum (ask her how). All year long, the students (age 2 1/2 to 5) in her small pre-school tend their own little garden plots, planting, watering, weeding and harvesting the crops they’ve decided to…
Best Use Of $287,000
For roughly what it costs to pave one block of city street, the Austin Music Network gives local cable subscribers a year’s worth of music video-some national, most local. Sure there are lots of reruns; but, given the minuscule budget by TV standards, the staff does a deft job of covering all bases. Plus if…
Best Place To Watch Baseball
The Ballpark at Arlington is too damn far, the minor leagues aren’t coming, and Disch-Falk – well, Disch-Falk has astroturf on the basepaths. What’s a baseball fan to do? Simple: Grab a lawn chair and a cooler of cold beer and head over to Parque Zaragosa for Zaragosa League Baseball. It’s pretty good ball -…
Best Friend To East Austin
Or, more specifically, outgoing Commissioner Cathy Vasquez-Revilla, who made it her cause to not only bash BFI and Balcones Recycling, but to do something about the Eastside’s industrial dumping grounds once and for all. Hence the new East Austin zoning ordinance, a useful tool for crafting a diversely developed community where people can actually live…
Best Country Holiday For The Pooch
We like to think our dogs are having more fun than we are when we drop them off here. Plenty of diversions – peacocks and sheep circle the kennel – and plenty of comfort in the air conditioned and heated indoor runs. The theater-in-the-round setup also gives them ample chance to meet their fellow vacationers…
Best Place To Unload 1,000 Jars Of Horseradish
Last time we went to the Food Bank warehouse, there were – we’re not making this up – 1,000 jars of horseradish packed on a pallet. At least those in need won’t have to worry about bland sandwiches. Seriously, in 1996 the CAFB distributed over 2,800 tons of donated groceries to 233 human service agencies…
Best Neighborhood Health Store Name
Life and health, what more could you ask for in a store selling vitamins, herbal preparations, tonics, skin and hair care products? This cheerful little tienda is located in a stretch of S. First Street that is humming with creative small business activity.
Best Use Of Space
Using the approximate space of an efficiency apt., owner Hank has managed to pack in 75,000 varieties of beer, and everything else you can possibly imagine from pipe cleaners to water pistols to food products to toiletries. And the guys that work the counter are poetry in motion – the perfect mix of standoffish band…
Day Trips
Every year in the “Best of Austin” issue I take the opportunity to point out some of the best things that I have discovered during my travels around Texas. There are so many wonderful and unique things between the Red River and the Rio Grande that no list could mention all of the best of…
Best Bed & Breakfast
Chalk up 100 years for this charming home away from grandma’s home.
Best Choreographer
Lambrou’s infectious enthusiasm for ballet and contemporary sensibility give even perennials like The Nutcracker a fresh spin. Andrea Ariel throws herself into the art of dance – part gymnast, part sprite – to make movement that’s exhilarating. Gray is a hoofer, plain and simple – a dancer with that old-school show biz polish and panache,…
Best Country/Western Club
If it’s Broke, don’t fix it.
Best Computer Repair
Wallingford Electronics noses out Computer Nerdz and AES Computers for that “Help, this thing cost more than my car” panic call.
Best Radio Station
With its sense of soul, eclectic playlist, and a heaping spoonful of local flavor, KGSR takes the cake. (Again.)
Best Bicycle Repair
When you’re down to seeds and sprouts again, Gardenville is your favorite place for replenishment.
Best Rock Climbing
Not always rappelling, places to go up, up, and away are Enchanted Rock, the Greenbelt, and Pseudo Rock.
Best Texas Legislator
Maxey and Barrientos trade this trophy every year or so, and with good reason: They’re both strong local advocates who govern from the heart.
Best Sandwich Shop/Chain
Their jingle gets more play than the Wallflowers, but it’s those killer subs that keep ’em drifting back.
Best Restaurant
Actually, Hang Town is kid-friendly because they serve the traditional burger-fries-shake fare with such panache that parents don’t mind coming back for more.
Best Bookstore
It bills itself as the largest independent bookstore in Texas, but once you deposit yourself in a certain genre, you’re certain to feel right at home.
Best Pet Store (Local)
Bark n’ Purr is still the favorite of those who woof & mew.
Best Highway Development Project
The restoration of the final resting place of confederate soldiers and distinguished Texans was completed in February of this year for $4.7 million. Where’d the money come from? Ever hear of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act? It provides funding for development along state highways. State highway? What state highway? It’s State Road Spur165, the shortest…
Best Eastside Performance Space
This privately run venue provides a much-needed showcase for many of the emerging talents in the local Hispanic arts community, thanks to efforts of organizer Roen Salinas. It’s possible to catch an elaborate folk dance performance by the Aztlan Dance Troupe, laugh uproariously at the comedy sketches of the CIA (Chicano Intelligence Agency), appreciate the…
Best Bar Name
“Honey, I’m at the Office- Yes, dear, I’ll be a little late-“Need we say more?
Best New Saloon
Something about this tony new jazz venue in the busy downtown beef emporium just screams “Sinatra” to us. It’s one of the only small rooms in town actually designed for listening to music and the simple, classy decor is very inviting. We expected the Rat Pack to drop in all evening long. This is a…
Best More Than A Pretty Face TV Reporter
Fletcher recently moved from KTBC Fox 7 to KVUE 24. And she’s the rare TV reporter who rises at the crack of dawn to make the Mayor’s 8am kaffeklatch, who shows up every week to council work sessions and meetings, and who actually knows enough to ask intelligent questions and move beyond pointing a microphone…
Best Sense Of Humor In A Club Owner
He was our cover boy for the Burger Round-up issue. He patiently waited on a weekend day while our photographer and models cut-up and posed in front of his club for our fashion issue. And he runs a hell of a club. Steve Wertheimer of the Continental Club is our choice for biggest chu… er,…
Best Food On The Spot, Whichever Spot You Desire
You just stumbled in from the bars. Or maybe you never left the house. Maybe you just sat on the porch and smoked a couple of big ones. Now you are STARVING. Short of swerving the car over to I-Hop or the Magnolia, what is a party boy/girl to do? Ahhhh… Meet Midnight Tacos, Austin’s…
Best Samosas
New-to-towners don’t go through the same withdrawl that many of us old-timers do for Austin’s old Ethiopian Restaurant. Well, not only does Wheatsville carry items form the long-lamented area fave, but they also carry an item quickly becoming a deli classic: Samosas by local company, Kala’s Kuisine. Associated with India cuisine, these delicate pouches of…
Best Buddies
In 1982, a librarian at the Carver Branch decided to provide neighborhood students with a homework center staffed by volunteers. Fifteen years and several VISTA grants later, the program is now a multiple-award-winning partnership between AISD and the City of Austin, providing tutoring services in nine East and South Austin branch libraries. We discovered the…
Best Rockin’ Summer Camp
Hey, kids, wanna play in a band this summer? Michele Murphy’s Natural Ear Music Camp sounds way cooler than the boring marching band practice we remember from junior high. During two three-week sessions each summer, kids ages 8-18 work in groups of 6 at the Austin Rehearsal Complex learning to play guitar, bass, drums and…
Best Virtual Storefront
I resisted this, but I gotta admit: underneath that slick corporate veneer, there’s real juice. At Dell’s online store, you can build ‘n buy your own computer and pick up the requisite peripheral warez or buy one of Dell’s packages, zippo-bang, just like that. The word on the street is that the service is great,…
Best Random Act Of Kindness
These sweethearts setup at the end of the MoPac bridge on the hike and bike trail and hand out free water and power-ade so people don’t die of heat stroke (and so consequently, they will live to buy STILL MORE running shoes….)
Best Lateral Move
His objective was not far, only a few chairs away on the other side of the dais, but Councilmember Gus Garcia’s decision to leave Place 6, the de facto “Hispanic” council seat, and run for Place 2, sent shock waves throughout the city’s political structure. Calling the existence of the old system “plantation politics” Garcia’s…
Best Drive-in Dry Cleaner
In by 9am out by 5pm. There’s a cleaning plant on-site, so your clothes won’t have to be sent to God-knows-where and returned three days later. Home Steam is an industrial operation, specializing in real clothes for real people cottons, denims, twills, wools and robust synthetics, clothes that you’ll wear more than once. Plus, they…
Best Publicist
Publicist. The very word gives many writers and editors the willies but publicists are the reason why your favorite band/movie/book/play etc. is getting into the news. Around town, there’s one who doesn’t make us cringe, and that’s Jill McGuckin. McGuckin started in music but has expanded to such clients as Threadgill’s Cookbook and the Texas…
Best Old Fashioned Gift Gallery
Slow down! You might miss this mecca of real Texas folk art. And we mean real, not trendy, not priced out of sanity range by some art connoisseur. Our Old Bakery & Emporium is the federal government’s Older American Act in action. This Parks & Rec project sells handicrafts made by local seniors. Part tourist-souvenir…
Best Way To Say We’re Open
With it’s neon YES sign playing usher, Emerald’s welcomes you inside to behold a fabulous array of cadeaux, bric-brac, and bijoux. Gifts such as Magnetic Poetry 2: The Sequel, and Amber & Campagne Body Splashes are just a smidgeon of their rich offerings, many of which are curly or wavy in nature. From frames to…
Page Two
At 8am Wednesday morn- ing the building is empty save for Nick Barbaro, who is checking over the issue layout, and myself. It is the eye of the storm. But now it is quiet. This issue is our annual “Best of Austin” issue, as usual one of our biggest issues of the year. The Best…
Best Downtown Building (New)
This architectural Goliath, housing not an Epcot adventure but an advertising firm, opened to more oohs and aahs than Wheel of Fortune.
Best Comedy Troupe
Two decades of making musical mirth, and these postmodern vaudevillians are still ripping it up; when you see them, it is to laugh.
Best Cover Band Club
It’s only just begun. If you wanna rock & roll all night and party every day, Maggie Mae’s has the medicine to cure your boogie-woogie flu.
Best Place To Meet People
From music on the patio to the more than 575 international cheeses, this is a place everyone can chat about.
Best Evening Radio
From Texas Radio (Sun) on through to Twine Time (Sat), the KUT lineup doesn’t miss a beat. Best in Austin? Heck, this is some of the best programming anywhere.
Best Radio Station To Listen To At Work
Overall fave KGSR shares the prize with public veterans KUT.
Best Bicycle Shop
When you’re down to seeds and sprouts again, Gardenville is your favorite place for replenishment.
Best Scenic Drive (in-town)
Loop 360 is still the favorite with 2222 and Mt. Bonnell picking up the slack in second and third.
Best Alterations
“Four Stars!” “It’s haberdasherrific!” Our reviewers agree: Ace will leave you in stitches.
Best Waitstaff
They’re young, good looking, and downright kind. It’s no wonder they won, but perhaps their retro red shirts swayed the vote for some readers.
Best Toy Store For Kids
It was neck and neck with Terra Toys, but Geoffrey’s neck is longer.
Best Cigars
Those who blow smoke in the face of the surgeon general prefer to do so at Ruta Maya, with Wiggy’s and Cigar Palace placing as other dens of delight.
Best Record Store (Chain)
A Tower of tunes clinches the competition as this year’s favorite chain.
Best House To Dream On
Have you seen this house recently? Damn. The neigborhood may be a little crowded, but architecture like that fires the imagination. Oh the breakfasts we would have, tucked into a well-lit Victorian cranny. Oh the parties we would have, drinking rum madras on the second story porch. Oh the trysts we would have, squeezed into…
Best Ecstatic Experience
Remember singing at church on Sundays before annoying details like whether you could actually carry a tune got in the way? After hearing this gospel choir, those glory days are here again. Sparking near Dionysian delight, this choir will have you on your feet in no time, clapping, singing, and just carrying on. Praise be.
Best Bars To Relive Your Childhood
Usually we’re well into a bottle of cheap tequila before we start seeing flying elves and pink elephants, but Lala’s and the Carousel offer those childhood charms from the moment you hit the door – it’s always Christmas at Lala’s, and at the Carousel the circus never stops. So if you’re the type who likes…
Best Nightclub Newsletter
Even when we can’t make it to the Spoke for a dose of chicken-fried steak and boot-scootin, we’re still privy to all the inside information at the legendary local honky-tonk. Proprietor James M. White keeps us up on the straight skinny on celebrity sightings (everybody goes there), who sat in with what band and who…
Best New Austin American-Statesman Writer
Richard Oppel stated his intention to hire “up” when filling writing positions when he took over at the daily. We think his best new hire is lifestyle writer Patrick Beach who hit the ground running with a dead-on profile of local legend Eddie Wilson during his first week in Austin and then impressed us with…
Best Trailers/Execution Of A Cool Movie-Viewing Concept
The Alamo outdoes itself. It’s a pleasure to see that this great concept for dining and movie watching been implemented so well. And it’s pure pleasure watching movies there, as well. Before the feature, viewers are seated, offered menus, and treated to some of the coolest trailers in the biz. Where else are you going…
Best Free Meal & Grazing & Beer Sale
Don’t go grocery shopping while hungry, says conventional wisdom. Conventional wisdom, though, must have never gone to CM’s weekend (?) samplefests. If you can tough the rabid crowds clustering about the demonstration tables, you can fill your growling tummy with a virtual (and did we mention delicious?) seven-course meal as you fill your shopping basket.After…
Best Sandwich Bread Available In Local Groceries
Once, long ago, Austin was devoid of good bread, but those days have changed and the city boasts many bakeries putting out estimable loaves. These go great with dinner and complement all sorts of meals. But if it’s lunch and we’re feeling like a homemade turkey sandwich, Texas French Bread’s Sourdough Whole Wheat is the…
Best Friend To Kids In Trouble
The blistering tirades unleashed at parents accused of drug abuse, child abuse or neglect before Judge Meurer’s court are legendary in the Travis County judicial system. Her tough-mindedness and passionate advocacy are often the last line of defense for some Austin kids at risk. Bravo, your honor.
Best Rollin’ Summer Camp
The members of La Pena designed a very creative solution to two of their biggest challenges, finding paying work for artists and providing enriching summer camp activities for children who could not afford traditional camps. They found grant money to pay local artists with skills in a variety of media to be arts camp instructors…
Best Way To Check On Your Potential Internet Pal Or Sweetie
It’s an Ether out there! Anybody could be anybody. How do you find out more about a mysterious new pen-pal you found on alt.fan.keanu-reeves? How do you know that he or she is a regular troll on alt.spank.me.mommy? Thank the dieties for DejaNews. This local firm has cornered a slice of the Internet idea pie…
Best Secret Makeout Spot
We probably should not be telling you about this, but if you want to get a smooch-on at the end of your date, this place is it. Good parking, lots of sky, and a great view of Austin downtown. Lip-smacking good.
Best Most Dogged Political Activist
Not only has Troxell succeeded in keeping the camping ban and the homeless campus in the newspapers, but his tireless efforts have brought together the far-ranging, diverse homeless community. Troxell doesn’t worry about making political friends. Instead, he relies on relentless advocacy for human dignity to fight his battles. He may not win very often,…
Best Foreign Exposure
The next time you need to have your spy camera fixed try Eurotech. The whole of the experience lends itself to intrigue. Perhaps it’s being peered at through barred windows before admittance, or that the place actually does business on E. Fifth. Maybe it’s just that the proprietors name is Sorin (Dangerously close to Zorin,…
Best Record Store Owner-Turned-Realtor
In the old days, Joe Bryson sported a very different profile around town as founder and owner of the once-beloved campus community hub, Inner Sanctum Records. Time has a way of making us all settle down though, so it was a thrill to discover that after selling the store in the Eighties, Bryson turned his…
Best Place For Cheap, Prepaid Phonecards
Like any other “everything for a dollar” discount store, you get what you pay for. But in the case of Dollar Deal$, that phrase has a positive connotation. We love their odd selection of posters, party favors, invitations, and decorations, their great deals on personal hygiene products and household cleansers, their knock-off faux Hercules, Xena,…
Best Wrapping Paper
A chorus of colors and textures: from modern to ones feeling almost papyrusy, including Van Gogh’s Irises, Fat Toddler on Rollerskates- or for those of a material nature, good ole’ Greenbacks. Couple that with some of fun stickers, ribbon, or 15 different colors of raffia, and you’ve got a perfect wrappage ensemble.
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
Albert Einstein’s last words will never be known because they were in German and the attending nurse only spoke English. At least 20 million sea horses are captured and processed annually to be used for making medicines, aphrodisiacs, aquarium exhibits, curios, and delicacies. It was Davy Crockett who was indirectly responsible for naming the neighborhood…
Best Historic Building/Local Restoration
Politicians may come and go, but nothing can squelch the city’s burning passion for its one enduring political love. This year’s redo of the south lawn and entrance was the final phase down the long road of renovation for our beloved Capitol. Our lovely rosy granite landmark is toured by over 20,000 visitors a month……
Best Comic
Call him Ronnie Velveeta, call him a Uranium Savage, call him Elvis, he’s always hilarious, jabbing Austin’s funny bone with savage glee.
Best Dance Music Club
It’s not too paradoxical that 1996’s second place Paradox takes this year’s first place, while last year’s first, Area 52, takes second.
Best Place To Take A First Date
Those flickering amber lights, those highbacked booths, and rich Italian food are Austin’s version of a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou.
Best Internet Provider
For the past few years you’ve voted UT number one ISP. That’s all well and good if you have access. This year, Illuminati tied with UT for first, with respectable showings from Realtime and Eden Matrix.
Best Radio Talk Show Host
It’s high time. For most of the year, our own Jim Hightower was not even broadcast in Austin. Catch Jim Mon-Fri on KNEZ 1530 AM, 11am-1pm.
Best Bike Ride (challenging)
One of the things that makes Austin so special is the Greenbelt. Five minutes from downtown, it is once again your favorite place for a quick get-away.
Best Spectator Sport
Austin’s favorite team is also our favorite thing to drink beer to.
Best Appliance/Tv Repair
When it busts and burns, Austin’s off to see the Wizard. (But don’t look behind the curtain.)
Best Baby Presents
For high-end baby commemoratives, this is the place. Previous winner, Li’l Things (’95 and ’96) takes second.
Best Billboard
Do our readers love this billboard because it encourages them to listen or hit the scan button? Either way, 101X is voted the smartest.
Best Comic Book Store
Last year, Austin Books tied for first with this year’s second placer, Dragon’s Lair. Booksource (winner in 1995) takes third.
Best Record Store (Local)
A longtime readers’ favorite, Waterloo carries all of your local (and not so local) music needs.
Best Lobbyist Holding Pattern
During the Lege, you can see every type of digital and cellphone known to human (with a lobbyist attached) in the Open Air Rotunda. Power suits and ties now aren’t complete without the technological power tools. Wheelin’ and dealin’ is the bidness here as each step taken in both houses creates a surreal electronic flurry…
Best Excuse To Throw Food
When one of Austin’s smartest, most irreverent new theatre groups, Rude Mechanicals, staged Jarry’s Ubu Roi last year, the idea was to replicate the riot that broke out when French turn-of-the-century audiences saw this groundbreaking absurdist play for the first time. According to Rude principal ShawnSides, the Austin audience let some hair down, yelling and…
Best Bloody Marys
Cedar Street’s reputation for martinis, cigars and jazz is clearly the big draw every weekend. In exploring much of the bar’s drink menu, we’ve found another bragging right for the popular club – their Bloody Marys. Consistently excellent, the perfect mix isn’t simply in the glass. Sink into one of the sofas inside and enjoy…
Best Pint Night Every Night
Sometimes we’re a little cash poor. Does that mean we must suffer bad beer? Does that mean we can only afford to go out on certain nights of the week? Not at Lovejoys! Here we can enjoy a freshly poured pint for $2.00 any and every night of the week – pitchers just $7.50. They’ve…
Best Online Community
Allucquere Rosanne Stone, aka Sandy, has participated in online communities since her days on Communitree, one of the earliest, so it was natural that her unconventional multimedia lab at the UT School of Communications would develop as its backbone a strong sense of virtual community spirit. Sandy herself represents a postmodern, poststructural media vision past…
Best Way To Beat The Heat:
Sure, Barton Springs provides some nice relief from the oppressive summer sun, but get out of the water and it’s still 100 degrees outside. Catch a double feature at the Paramount and for $5 you can escape the late day heat for over four hours. The movies are classics, the prints are usually of good…
Best Half-price Burgers
Even though hanging at the Parlor sometimes reminds some of us of our misspent youth, it’s still one of our favorite places for burgers. The half-price deal on Tuesday nights positively can’t be beat. We’ll have two big, juicy bacon-1X chili-cheese burgers with a bag of Fritos, please. After 20 years with no fried food,…
Best Selection Of Cultivated Capsicums
Farmer Carl Jansen has a very impressive crop of peppers, over 20 different varieties last time he counted. There are your garden variety red, green, and yellow bells, plump jalapenos, dark green bullet-shaped serranos, thin little yellow aji limons, some fiery cayennes, several shades of incendiary habaneros and a profusion of Bolivian rainbows. His big…
Best Grilled Cheese Sandwich
For the longest time, we couldn’t decide what we liked better about the Frisco Shop: the counter service or the beehives on the waitstaff. Now we are utterly confused, because there’s yet another thing to keep the last living Nighthawk in our hearts forever. We realize that it is one place we can take the…
Best ‘new Media’ Biz
Monsterbit Media designs and builds web sites, but anybody who knows Monsterbit knows that’s not the whole story. Several Austin bands and musicians call Monsterbit home; it’s the best source of multimedia nuggets from quirky local bands, and the home of King Coffey’s 24/7 RealAudio jam.
Best Women’s Show Host Who Is A Woman
Saturday night and you aint got nobody… Or, maybe you do but you just don’t feel like facing the crowds that will inevitably be out there on a weekend night. Grab yourself a cool drink and turn your radio dial to 90.5 FM. Not only will you hear the smooth and soothing voice of DJ…
Best Senseless Act Of Beauty
Heading south on the MoPac access road, it’s the last clump of trees before West Enfield Park. Some subversive visual poet strung up some plain white lights to illuminate the trees and add some beauty to the urban landscape. The lights are still hanging in the tree, but unfortunately, they’re left un-lit with ever-increasing frequency.…
Best New Political Trend
For the first time in a million years, the citizens, their elected officials, and those officials’ minions are all on the same page. That’s the page that says top-down planning (or lack thereof), subsidized sprawl, and big-money ownership of the political process do not work and will not continue. In Austin, citizens and their neighborhoods…
Best Friend To The Bottle
Hahn gave away 60,000 bottles of out-of-date beer last year. He had acquired 5,000 cases of old beer from Shiner of Austin. Refusing payment for the beer, Hahn asked only that everyone return the bottles for him to recycle. Unfortunately, the owner of Green Guy Recycling was charged with two counts related to unlicensed sale…
Best Seamstress
We’ve yet to find something this very talented woman can’t do. She can copy any item of clothing she sees, make patterns, re-design an antique wedding dress to fit a tall, pregnant bride, create flamenco dance costumes for international stars, alter wardrobes depending on weight fluctuations and turn out unique bunting bags every time our…
Best Place For New and Old Bohemians
Yo! Mofo! Whether you’re new to the whole pomo boho hobo thing or you were boho before boho was boffo, the lads and lassies at New Bohemia will outfit you up right. Damn! At any given time, the north store (New Boho, Sr.) offers the consigned goods of 6-8 dealers, all expressing a range of…
Best of Austin 1997
Introduction Welcome! This is our town, Austin, Texas. Pull up a chair and sit down. We’d like to show you a few things about this city we love. This, our eighth “Best of Austin,” is our way of opening our pages to readers’ comments and opinions about the things that make Austin great. And of…
The Music of Our Sins — Part II Letters at 3am
photograph by Jason Stout 1952…Dwight Eisenhower was elected president (with Richard Nixon his VP). Elizabeth II was crowned Queen. The Korean War ended. Senator McCarthy’s committee was blacklisting thousands for their real or supposed political beliefs. Books published that year include Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano, Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden,…
Best Hotel/Motel
Lavish and star-studded, both posh hotels are the ultimate in Austin extravagance: The Four Seasons reflects modern tastes while the Driskill offers classic elegance.
Best Dance Company
With a repertoire ranging from the romantic to the racy, a company of dancers who just get more impressive every show, and a shiny new Nutcracker, this troupe makes you hungry for ballet.
Best Downtown Club
Speakeasy is all metro silk and urban swank, and Club DeVille is all tin and tack – very Vegas. But these flip-sides of city chic both serve up cocktails the old-fashioned way.
Best Pool Hall
Attention, hustlers. Ample pool space riddled with smoke for sharks and minnows alike.
Best Late Night Deejay
Either 9pm is late night or readers have been quick to latch onto Monroe’s new Saturday overnighter, Segway City. Either way, well-deserved praise for a local legend.
Best Sportscaster
When pass comes to punt, more readers want their scores from Cody than anyone else.
Best Bike Ride (scenic)
One of the things that makes Austin so special is the Greenbelt. Five minutes from downtown, it is once again your favorite place for a quick get-away.
Best Sporting Goods Store
Year after year, Oshman’s is your favorite for sporting needs.
Best Auto Body/Paint Shop
Bring ’em in Bent & Broken, pick ’em up Bright & Bodacious.
Best Branch Library
Austin’s kids don’t take chances when it comes to good books: They head for library headquarters.
Best Hair Stylist
With a name like that, how could she not win? Avant’s Head is said to be quite creative with the snips and is the salon’s star educator to boot.
Best Consignment Store
First time around winners! Buffalo Exchange took second, no bull. Second Looks took third. Go figure!
Best Shopping Center
Mallrats, unite. Highland is consumer Americana at its best and most air-conditioned.
Best Neighborhood Guardian
Every Austin neighborhood enjoys the protection of the city’s men who wear blue, but only one is under the watchful eye of a man who is blue. This year, the Bouldin Creek neighborhood got its own super-size supernatural security guard, an azure-skinned genie – Shazzan, if we remember our Sixties Saturday morning cartoons right -…
Best Hip Drama
Under the deft guidance of artistic director Jason Neulander, this troupe has burst into the forefront of a new movement in local theater – unorthodox, nomadic and ballsy. Able to cross boundaries without blurring their focus, Salvage Vanguard serves up their hip drama dark and steamy, eerie and provocative, without all the high-falutin nonsense that…
Best Cinematic Resource
The Austin Film Society shows movies and gives money to filmmakers. It offers consistently interesting programming, whether it is an Abbas Kiarostami festival, a film noir series, the films of Powell & Pressburger, or a Satyajit Ray retrospective. The Film Society supports local and regional independent filmmakers by giving them money, by showing their films,…
Best Place To Drink A Cold Beer & Listen To George Jones On The Jukebox
A fine watering hole in its own right, the Horseshoe boasts a top-notch shuffleboard pit, a friendly disposition, and a bar shaped like a- like a- well, like a great big U. The jukebox here is one of them newfangled CD contraptions, and it’ll give you four plays on the dollar. Now, some say George…
Best Overworked And Underused Elections Reporter
Statesman city reporter Ben Wear covered every campaign forum for every single race, but his hard work often ended up buried in the back of the Statesman’s Metro-State section or never appeared at all. Although he was the only Statesman reporter assigned to all four council races, Wear managed to pull off some excellent reporting…
Best Way To Spend A Rainy Saturday
Bowling, video games and pool; it sounds like the bane of middle class teenager-dom. But if the day is shot by lousy weather, you could do worse than act 15 again. With low volume on the music and good lighting all the way around, the Union basement is far less threatening to your senses than…
Best Holiday Tamalada
What started out three years ago as a small project to involve non-English speaking parents in a cultural exchange at this near South Austin elementary school has grown into an extremely successful fundraiser every December. Families come to school and stay all day, making, cooking, eating and selling tamales for consumption during the upcoming holiday…
Best Soup Selection
Comforting in winter, refreshing in summer, we’re big fans of soup and few places fill bowls as tastefully as Eastside Cafe. The cafe’s fruit-based summer recipes are out-of-this-world, and vegetarians are assured a meat-stock-free version each day as well.
Best Hot Time
Open since March, Fire Works provides a novel alternative to the pizza/video game kiddie date. It’s always a minor miracle to see a dozen 8-10 year olds quietly working together. Fire Works provides the paints, brushes and age-appropriate pottery. You and tykie supply the imagination. Four days later, pick up your finished, glazed ceramic objet…
Best Against-all-odds Media
With rusty old equipment and virtually no budget, the troopers at UT’s mini-station, KVR-TV, keep fighting against dead air. These kids are DIY-ing their way to a better education than UT could ever offer, and creating the kind of low-budg cool you used to find on ACTV. Sure, you can only pick up UHF channel…
Best Women’s Show Host Who’s Not A Woman
He’s charming, sexy, deboiner- the Cary Grant of the Austin airwaves. We all know that the best man for the job is a woman, but in a brilliant fit of Nineties reverse open-mindedism, the best woman for the job of hosting KVRX’s Women’s Show this summer was a man – all man. Foxy, Ipswich, England-native…
Best Way To Enjoy Athletic Gender Equity If You Missed It In College
For many a middle-aged woman playing sports just wasn’t an option when growing up; but at the ARC, there’re a few moms who are willing to prove they are tough – and don’t be deceived by the apparent effortless beauty of the sport; there is plenty of pain involved – while discovering the previously foreign…
Best Open Door Policy
Used to be, back in the Bruce Todd Stone Age, the climate surrounding the mayor’s office in City Hall was chilly at best. The mayor often kept the double doors to his office frozen shut to reporters and fellow councilmembers, and actually getting a sit-down interview with Todd meant an even colder reception. Now, our…
Best Graphic Design
Who’s responsible for the sprawling metal murals that adorn the walls of Little City’s downtown location? Matt Hovis of Hovis Design. Integrating inspirations drawn from outside the realm of traditional design, Hovis, along with partner Kevin Whitley, are designing for such local luminaries as 15 Minutes, Club de Ville, and Threadgill’s. Designs approximating art: much…
Best Self-indulgent Babying
Okay, it’s not quite Austin, but it’s worth the trip and one visit to this sweet and soothing little skin salon will more than erase the tensions you build up making that 183 drive (even if you do it every day). Owner/operator Tina Scheidler knows skin and her results justify her salon’s name. If you’re…
Best Place To Get Roasted Coffee
Mainly, these folks sell to commercial businesses. But they will sell to the public, and sometimes even offer a complimentary latte while you wait. And dig this: they refuse to sell you too many pounds of beans at a time cause they want to make sure you will always have that fresh bean experience. They…
Dancing About Architecture
Mayor pro-tem Gus Garcia recently tossed his sombrero into the ring regarding that ever-troubled annual function known as the Austin Aqua Festival. In a memo dated August 22, Garcia said he had placed an item on the council agenda regarding information provided to him by Aqua Fest volunteers that he said “appears to indicate… [that]…
Best Landscaping
More flowers than Laura Ashley. More beauty than Lady Bird could imagine. More votes than the Arboretum, last year’s winner.
Best Dance Space
Nia (Non-Impact Aerobics) offers classes in everything from bellydancing to salsa-merengue and specializes in NIA dancing, a combination of fitness and expressive, fluid movement.
Best Gay/Lesbian Club
A younger, wilder crowd keeps Oil Can plenty lubricated.
Best Teen Scene/Hangout
It seems ironic that the best place to hang out is a drag – fortunately ours isn’t. With so much to do, no wonder kids love it.
Best Local Columnist
So what if Ivins likes her pork political and Kelso likes his barbecued? They’re both damn funny and honest-to-God Texans every (column-)inch of the way.
Best Sportswriter
The sure and steady Bohls takes the top spot from our own Cotton: Was Cowboy-hating a factor?
Best Camping & Outdoor Gear
The national co-op of outdoor enthusiasts once again leads the pack for the choice place to gear up.
Best Swimming Hole
This refreshing combination of natural beauty and human sculpting is simply divine.
Best Auto Mechanic
It’s not just bright pink birds and hunky young mechanics: Flamingo is quality repair and conscientious service at a reasonable rate.
Best Camps/Classes
Sweeping two categories, the newly renamed Nature & Science Center is the place to go to learn all about Austin-area ecosystems, wildlife, conservation efforts, and natural history. The center says that despite the readers kudos, theirs is not technically a “drop-off” childcare facility, and that you should call ahead for program information.
Best Home Repair
In our fair city, Home Depot has staged a coup against longtime repair renegade the Fox. By this ballot, we guess our readers prefer the D.I.Y. principle. Home Depot doesn’t do home repairs.
Best Costume Shop
You say Lucy’s neat-o for incognito and find that second placer the Bazaar is bizarre enough to keep your identity well-masked. With regard to jewels: You say Lucy’s fake jewels are so nice you’ll want to pass them down through the family. You also love Eclectic and Emeralds enough to tie second.
Best Specialty Bookstore
Chronicle readers know their specialty bookstores well, it seems; so well, in fact, that not only was there a tie for first place but for third as well (Austin Books, Lobo) with Fringeware coming in second.
Best Office Foyer
Known around the Capitol Complex as the Jukebox building or OCS (One Capitol Square), the Clements building was home to the Lege when the Capitol was under restoration. Now housing various state agencies, it’s a shame not as many people get to walk through this elegant foyer. Surrounded by a glass front, the marble floor’s…
Best Local Arts Party
The folks at TFR really know how to throw a party! Where else could we have heard the accordion stylings of Eva Ybarra followed by award-winning author Annie Proulx reading from her novel “Accordion Dreams?” Nowhere else but the shores of Lake Austin on the splendid grounds of Laguna Gloria. And it wasn’t just one…
Best Doorman
Club Deville could probably take home an award for “Best Underlit Bar,” but the intentional darkness has a better effect: highlighting the city’s best doorman. Local poet and Deville gatekeeper Matt Baker is in fact the only face you’re likely to see, in full, all night, and he’s invariably smiling. He’s also got a quick…
Best Place To Drink A Cold Beer & Listen To Merle Haggard On The Jukebox
There’s something right and good and true about drinkin’ a cold beer in the cozy confines of Ginny’s Little Longhorn, one of the last great holes-in-the-wall, god bless ’em. (Ginny says: No Fussin’ No Cussin’ No Hasselin’ No Wresslin’ and that suits us fine.) The jukebox is a classic David C. Rockola “Singature Model,” and…
Best Print Ad Rip-off? Or Homage?
For months we watched a woman’s crotch, a pair of fishnets, and some stilettos. Then, this new, jungle print wonder arrived for our viewing pleasure, spoofing the Forbidden Fruit ad that caused no end of controversy, this new concoction was swiftly followed by shots of several baristas in the altogether – a series parading the…
Best Wedding Band
With the swanky swingy and loungey arrangements of rock & roll tunes your grandparents will have no idea that they are dancing to AC/DC and the Beastie Boys. It’s the perfect touch of surreality to add to your wedding reception.
Best Iced Mocha Latte
Get it with skim milk; your taste buds won’t miss the fat when they enter nirvana after the first sip.
Best Thing To Happen To Carrots
With a cracker and cream cheese or on a hot dog, Hell of a Relish by the Austin-based Two Women Cooking is a piquant condiment that muscles aside puny pickle relish any day of the year. Made with a blend of shredded carrots and jalapeno slices, this orange manna and it’s stronger big brother, Hotter…
Best Kids Culture Club
This very active group under the direction of art teacher Lynn Bryant was well-represented at two of our favorite holiday celebrations this past year. The in-school exhibit of the ofrendas they constructed for Dia de los Muertos enlightened us about the cultural celebration of that holiday last November. We were also very impressed to see…
Best Applesauce From Rotten Apples
They’ve “lost their license for speeding.” After just two years as leader of the Mac clone market, the sassy firm that out-marketed and out-innovated Apple Computer itself has sold its core products back to the California computer maker. Refusing to become a victim of Apple’s seesawing business strategies, the company that once led the charge…
Best (we Wish It Were A) State Park
With the Veloway hidden in the wilds of Circle C and the helmet laws crowding recreationalists off the streets, it’s just about all a body can do to have fun these days. But thanks to the Department of Health building one of the most open, airy, gradually-sloping parking garages in town and placing it smack…
Best Way To While Away A Sunday Afternoon
Few sports reward indolence as well as pickup softball; the regulars at Ramsey Park have raised it to an art form. What better excuse to stand around in the sun and scratch your belly for a few hours? To be sure, there’s a game to be played, and a pretty good one at that, but…
Best Parliamentary Maneuver
Maybe it was a bluff. But the Austin Democrat told other House members that he had 500 amendments ready and waiting to tag onto Wohlgemuth’s proposed prohibition on gay marriage in the state. With lots of other items on the agenda, House members were anxious to dispose of Wohlgemuth after she insisted on bringing the…
Best Lamp Resurrection
Lose that clamp that held a Luxo/swing arm lamp on your desk? Want to convert that lamp to a table lamp? The Fixture Shop sells replacement lamp parts, shades, crystal and unique gifts. The best part is leaving the dead lamp and they’ll fix it.
Best Service Station To Pretend That You Still Live In A Tiny Town
This is fine place to go experience a taste of small town Austin. On our most recent visit we whiled away our wait watching the comings and goings at the service desk and eavesdropping on the conversations- one particularly juicy story involved a large bandage a butcher knife and a nearly severed thumb – eeeeyikes!…
Best Place To Get The Willies
There’s always something looking over your shoulder at the Corner Shoppe Mall – and those eyes don’t blink. The shoppe is the place to get stuffed bobcat, muskrat, polecat, racoon, wallaby, hedgehog, warthog, leopard, antelope, buffalo, billygoat, and enough birds to make an impressive (although very dead) aviary. You want skulls? Choose from alligator, elephant,…
Working Class Hero
photograph by Todd V. Wolfson In 1984, Nanci Griffith left Austin to record her Nashville debut, Once In A Very Blue Moon. In Austin, albums are cut with your band, but in Nashville, putting together the perfect group of studio musicians is far more important than any set of personal loyalties. Since Griffith was on…
Best Mural/Graffiti
This was a tough one to call. El Jardin came out ahead in direct votes for the mural at this Sustainable Food Center facility, but there were so many general votes for the many murals of those wild public artists Skagan-Brakhage that we felt it only right to acknowledge them here. Musical faves Tower and…
Best Photographer (art)
Repeat winner Pogue’s work is artistic, political, and above all, human.
Best Happy Hour Drinks
The simple fact that their perfectly mixed margaritas are only $2.50 is enough to make five to seven very, very happy hours.
Best Tejano/Conjunto Club
From their 1,200 square foot dance floor to Thursday night live music, “The Ranch” is where the Fiesta never ends!
Best Local Features Writer
It was a close call, but the Statesman’s columnist also takes it for features, as the Chronicle’s Andy Langer, Michael Ventura, and XL’s Joe O’Connell tie for second.
Best Store – Customer Service
Being able to explain the differences between a byte, a gulp, and a swallow is only the beginning for Wallingford as they sweep this category too.
Best Community Garden
The beauteous blooms of Zilker Botanical Gardens win out. Newcomer El Jardin Allegre takes a not-too-shabby second.
Best City Department
With last summer’s drought and this year’s tornado & flood TKO, it’s no wonder Austin loves its firefighters and first-response emergency teams.
Best Car Wash
Pardon us if we sound soaporific (we do hate to wax sentimental), but roll out the shampooed carpet for Genie: good clean fun, bumper to bumper.
Best Children’s Bookstore (new)
Croak it from the hilltop: Toad Hall is the winner of this category since 1994.
Best Kennel/Vet
Tied this year for best health care for your hounds are Brykerwood and Hyde Park Animal Clinic.
Best Cowboy Boots
Boots to make you feel like you could wrestle a bull blindfolded. Not that boots from runners-up Cavender’s or Shepler’s don’t….
Best Thrift Store
There is Goodwill in the hearts of Austinites when they are a-thrifting.
Best Place To Get High &/Or Re-Enact A Scene From Rear Window
The Omni’s glass elevators are not intended for pregnant women, those with heart conditions, or children under 4′. The ultraswank elevators overlooking the lobby are Austin’s closest approximation to a carnival thrill ride. “Stop this thing… I feel sick!” For a different kind of thrill, sit at the Omni Hotel’s lounge, and the friendly bartenders…
Best Local Film Talent Incubator
We celebrate the Dobie not only because it shows so many local productions and gives so much support to local and national independent filmmakers nor simply because of its prominent role in such film events as the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival and SXSW Film- although that would be enough. The Dobie gets…
Best Emergent Fest Crew
description
Best Place To Drink A Cold Beer & Listen To Van Halen On The Jukebox
The P-Dog may have something of a rough reputation, but in truth they’re just a big bunch of pussycats. Just don’t tell ’em we said so. The CD jukebox in this roomy, swaggering pool hall has a wide selection, but last time we were in there, Miles Davis didn’t sound quite right. Melissa Etheridge either.…
Best Radio Station You Can’t Get
Almost as if to taunt us Austinites and damn us to corporate airwaves, the signal for the Hill Country’s Rebel Radio-KFAN, 107.9-fades just about 10 miles west of town; and with it fades sets of music that’ll sandwich the V-Roys between the Derailers and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Could you tune in, you might find that…
Best Baguette
It’s been our continuous quest: to find a baguette worthy of its name. Our searching ends at this mammoth South Austin bakery, where slim golden loaves exit the brick oven baked as close to perfection as it comes, with a crisp light crust and a soft dense inside.
Best Little Slice Of NY In N. Austin
When the moon-ah hitsa yooo eye like-a bigga pizzzzzzzz-ah-pie, that’s Reale’s! Resident cranky Chron food guy Robb Walsh gave them the nod in our pizza issue this year. But since his last name is Walsh, we took our own hot roman blood to the family-owned pizzeria way up on 183 to taste for ourselves. Mama…
Best Tree-Shaded Patio For Alfresco Dining
This newly remodeled restaurant off South Congress has yet to firmly establish its identity but it already has at least one really great asset. The new owners have built a lovely patio around and underneath one of the biggest, most perfectly shaped oak trees in near South Austin. It’s the kind of patio that just…
Best Kids Skating Lessons
You’ve seen him for years rolling around town, posting flyers. Some historic sources even suggest he owned the very first pair of Rollerblades ever. But what you might not know is that Fritz Blau is no stinge-meister with his secrets of Zen & the Art of Blading. Offering classes to both kids and adults, from…
Best Austinite To Shake Up Hollywood
One day, he was a little kid our editor Louis Black used to see running around collectors’ conventions (“with better comics than the adults”), then he’s suddenly got Quentin Tarantino calling him “The Wolf Blitzer of the InterNet.” Who is Harry J. Knowles and how does he get directors like Joel Schumacher so pissed? Just…
Best Bike Rider Who Complies With And Mocks The New Law All At Once
When Thor drums, he sounds like the God of Thunder. When Thor rides a bike he looks just like the rumbling deity – aside from his buff bod and long, Scandanavian tresses, his bike helmet is festooned with horns, just like the ones worn by the fat lady who sings at the end of the…
Biggest Upset Of A Cornhusker Football Team
When the Huskers came to town a couple of weeks ago, the defending Big 12 champs were undefeated and ranked #5 in the country. An NCAA quarterfinalist last year, Nebraska had never lost a Big 12 game. The Horns, on the other hand, were 1-2, had never had a winning season or beaten a top…
Best Political Exit
Though we often disagreed politically with fifth-generation Austinite Ronney Reynolds during his tenure on the City Council, we offer our honest salute to the mature, gracious way he exited the race for mayor. When faced with the facts about the amount of cash and negative campaigning required to wage a competitive run-off battle against Kirk…
Best Laundromat Attendant
Maria! We just met a laundromat lady named Maria! And suddenly it seemed our clothes smelled nice and clean again! We noticed a change for the better at our local Kwik Wash last year. The place is brighter, cleaner, less smelly, and all-around less dreary. We think Maria Cedillo is the reason. Whether we are…
Best Thing In A Tool Belt
If we had a hammer we’d still call upon Garland to do any remodels on our homes. Be it built-in cabinetry or a major renovation, Garland’s artistry and design sense come through in the finished product. An addition is about a whole lot more than just extra square footage; with Garland it’s about style, details…
Best Place To Go Bloomin’ Crazy
Love roses and flowers but cringe at the prices? Hie thee to the Flower Market, niftily redesigned in the old Texaco station on 38th Street near Randalls. There, you can choose your very own assortment of roses and other exotic blooms and foliage by stepping into the refrigerated area; the fragrance alone is enough to…
Record Reviews
REGGATTA MONDATTA: A REGGAE TRIBUTE TO THE POLICE (Ark 21) “Reggatta De Blanc (or `White Reggae’) was the foundation on which the Police established their unique musical sound. Now with Reggatta Mondatta the music of the Police has come full circle as the world’s greatest reggae artists interpret their songs.” Is it just me, or…
Best Neon
That classic home of Home Cooking, a flashing icon of down-home goodness, ousts Amy’s, heretofore the undefeated champion heifers. The backroom at Threadgill’s WHQ, designed by Bill Narum, with restorations and direction from Todd Sanders Signs, has taken the remains of many area advertising icons and saved them from the rubbish heap.
Best Place To Hear Poetry
For those who complain that Austin’s recent growth trend has stolen the city’s identity, Ruta Maya may be the spot to soak up some native vibes, particularly when Austin’s local poets show up.
Best Happy Hour Entertainment
From 8 1/2 Souvenirs’ seductive chansons to Toni Price’s “hippie hour,” the Continental is limitless talent in a confined space.
Best Video Store (specialty)
These Roman gods of filmic fire melt our hearts every year, especially now that they’ve opened a second location behind Güero’s. We love that you love I Love Video in second and Waterloo in third.
Best Local Journalist (news)
There is no cow too sacred for this hardboiled journalist. Bryce’s solid reporting and bulldog nature have brought readers continous coverage of Freeport-McMoRan, particularly human rights issues in Indonesia, as well as of the foibles of UT and its luxurious skyboxes, of the legislators’ most powerful lobbyists, and of Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock. All this…
Best Store – Deals & Bargains
It’s almost a complete sweep for Wallingford, but in this category, they tie with Way 2 Cheap. Dell and CompUSA make honorable showings as runners-up.
Best Day Hike
One of the things that makes Austin so special is the Greenbelt. Five minutes from downtown, it is once again your favorite place for a quick get-away.
Best Community Program
The Happy Kitchen provides nutritional info, shopping hints, and cooking tips as a public service. It won Critics Picks in ’95 and ’96. This is its first showing in the Readers Poll. Congratulations!
Best Dentist
Here’s the drill: Dr. Glenda Smith is this year’s dental diva. Capped competitors were Dr. Jim Root and Dr. Ann Lyon.
Best Children’s Bookstore (Used)
Even kids have heard HPB’s new ads: “You’re a book lover, you’re happy when you read.”
Best Laundromat
Still one of the best ideas around, Clean & Lean is a gym and laundromat in one.
Best Gift Shop
Could something be French (at least in name) and not be high-end and charming?
Best Vintage Clothing
Flipnotics regained first place, sending last year’s winner Blue Velvet to second. New Bohemia shows well in third.
Best Place To Rubberneck
Chronicle sources (our eastward facing windows) claim that Friday afternoons are the best time to watch the overheating (in the summer months) urban hordes rend bumpers, hoods, and tempers as they flee northward. In the winter, our sources suggest, foggy windshields provide an even grislier more slippery spectacle of internal combustion implosion, any day of…
Best Micro Gallery
Entering its 14th year, Manuel’s is fast approaching institution status. To celebrate, they’ve converted their back hallway into a micro gallery. This wee area is part of the restaurant’s on-going campaign to enhance the dining experience by creating an unexpected relationship to the space. Showcasing the works of such renowed photographers as Alan Pappe, to…
Best Friendly Bar Attitude Without The Booze
Be you a recovering alcoholic or just someone who enjoys camraderie sans alcohol, High Time is the place for you. Owner Phil has had a couple of other locations for the business before settling into this cozy corner. All along he’s maintained an excellent ambience. The patrons are encouraged to hang out, get to know…
Best Place To Eat Peanuts
After a hard fought game of giant Jenga, there’s nothing quite like saddlin’ up to Charlie’s bar for a juice pitcher full of Shiner and a plate of salted-in-the-shell peanuts. As you eat, take care to throw the empty shells on the floor – Charlie would be hurt if you didn’t. Charlie likes to keep…
Best Religious Partridge Family
Ricky Sparkman loves Jesus like nobody’s business. He makes it everybody’s business on an access TV program called Sparks Speaks, which unfortunately does not have a regular time slot (call for schedule). The baby boomer loves the music of the Sixties, too, but has seen fit to change the words around a little to bring…
Best Breakfast Beyond The Ordinary
When we get a hankering for a breakfast beyond the ubiquitous taco, we head to HighLife Cafe where smoked salmon, steamed eggs, homemade hearth bread, and fresh squeezed juices complement an ebony pot of dense French press coffee.
Best Meatball Sandwich
We had been going here for the pizza, but then discovered the meatball sandwich one fateful lunch. The handmade meatballs, lots of provolone, and really tasty marinara sauce are enough to make this the best meatball sub in Austin, but the bread really puts it over the top of the other good meatball subs in…
Best Trip To Ireland Without Leaving Home
Maybe it’s the comfortable pub decor with couches in little nooks and crannies or the pints of Guinness on draught or the boxty and imported farmstead cheeses on the menu that made us fall in love with this place the very first night we visited. Those of us with some Irish heritage felt as if…
Best Lo-key Video Arcade
It’s not necessary to go all the way out to the burbs to find video arcades with great selection. The campus area boasts a number well-maintained arcades with the latest hits. But for smaller videots, the atmosphere can be a bit daunting. Not that our eight-year-old can’t whip the baggy pants and wallet chains offa…
Best Cable Substitute
Can’t afford cable or, have no intention of paying for TV when you feel like you already watch too much? Fear not! KNVA will make you forget about Time Warner – the latest late night rerun faves being Barney Miller and All in the Family. Missing ESPN? How about a good four hour fix of…
Best Birdwatching
There are probably more waterbirds at the Hornsby Bend sewage treatment plant, but who wants to smell sewage while birdwatching? Green herons, little blue herons, belted kingfishers and wood ducks are a few of the birds commonly seen on Barton Creek. When there’s water in the creek this area can’t be beat and it’s in…
Best Campaign Statement
Libertarian candidate for the Texas Supreme Court said about his desire to join the bench: “I want to be judge about as much as I want to take out the garbage.”
Best Shadow Government
The Green Council – whether you love ’em or hate ’em, at least you know who to credit (blame?) for their succesful paths to public office. Media whiz Dean Rindy, and independent political consultants Butts and Yznaga are the tight-knit team which spun all seven councilmembers into office. Sometimes paid, sometimes unpaid, but always hanging…
Best Local Heroes
Fires are flat out terrifying and experiencing just one can make you a compulsive air sniffer for the rest of your life. It would be much more traumatic if it weren’t for the humane heroics of our city’s firefighters. Courageous and compassionate, they quell fear as quickly as they quash conflagrations. Whether it’s comforting terrified…
Best Voice Mail Service
The strange thing is, you can order voice mail with a local Austin number and end up with a service headquartered someplace like Phoenix. Voice Mail Plus, based in nearby Dripping Springs, is not only a chance to go local, but one of the more tested and word-of-mouth praised virtual phone services around. The basic…
Best Place To Set Your Mouth On Fire
You could possibly try to sample all of the Louisiana-style hot sauces available at Sambet’s hot sauce bar during one visit. But trying to experience the fire power of the 100+ hot sauce bar too quickly could lead to spontaneous combustion, mouth first! Don’t risk it. Make one trip for a custom gift basket, make…
Road Shows
SEPTEMBER FRI 26 Lyle Lovett, Backyard FRI 26 Happy as Hell, Idle Hands, Atomic Cafe FRI 26 Beausoleil, La Zona Rosa FRI 26 16 Volt, Back Room FRI 26 Sons of Hxercules, Sugar Shack, The Mullens, Emo’s FRI 26 Magnatone, Hole in the Wall FRI 26 Hobex, Mercury FRI 26 Jane Siberry, Cactus Cafe FRI…
Best Outdoor Patio
This aptly named eatery on Barton Springs offers one of the most delightful patios around, with mandatory hour waits proving it is hardly the city’s best-kept secret.
Best Poet
Whether the lash of her Tejana tongue is solo or spread atop the jazzy riffs of her groovy accompaniment, McNada, Gomez is a modern bard with attitude.
Best Happy Hour Food
This Top is your tops for pub grub with a noshy twist.
Best Wine Selection (Retail)
Affordable wines from France and Italy, plus exotic locales like Chile, Argentina, and Oregon.
Best Local Visionary
Local author and sci-fi über-gürü Bruce Sterling snatches the laurels away from last year’s wünderkind Michael Dell, who ties for second place with Paco Nathan. Sterling also took “Best Book From a Local Author.”
Best TV Anchor Person
KVUE’s Maggio is both professional and personable — and a repeat winner. Stationmate Fred Cantu takes second.
Best Day Trip
Your favorite places to go when you need a change of scenery haven’t changed in the last few years — they are still Enchanted Rock and Fredricksburg. A tie for third goes to San Antonio and Pedernales Falls.
Best Councilmember
The Slush man woneth. Could it be that you, our readers, feel that way because you read him here first? Seat jumpin’ Gus Garcia was a very close second.
Best Dry Cleaner
Best place to air your dirty laundry goes to Rick’s again, just like last year.
Best Children’s Clothing
Clothing for the kiddie cool set. Whether or not your child is a follower of fashion, they’ll outgrow ’em before they wear ’em out.
Best Lawyer
In a town with more lawyers than you can shake a fist at, Dan Dworin emerges on top of the pile. Wilson McVicker is next in line and a heartfelt thanks to our readers for all those smart-ass comments.
Best Gifts – Novelty
The bright, visual cacophony and smell of new plastic makes every kid’s pulse race.
Best Local Visionary
God loves a lefty, and so do you. A couple of them, apparently. Curious that Max swept the “eccentric” category, as well.
Best Replacement For The Terminix Bug
Ever since the giant rotating cockroach at 12th & Lamar crawled off to North Austin to make room for yet another center city coffeehouse, the cityscape has seemed somehow empty. Robert’s Pest Control on S. Lamar has come to the rescue, installing a huge neon cockroach that is almost as beguiling as its predecessor. Crafted…
Best Musical Theatre Guru
Many folks assume that all show people are gifted with a flawless sense of rhythm and pitch. T’aint so, Magee. Most belters aren’t born, they’re made – and it’s usually a show’s musical director doing the making. He’s a Pygmalion, shaping a singer’s talent to suit the music at hand and the sounds of all…
Best Heavy Breather
Sxip is the “world’s premiere industrial flutist and tampon applicator player.” Performing with PeACh (Performance Art Church) and solo, he presents his bizarre mix of music/activity/puppet show/glorious stuff. He is a man with a vision. His music defies definition, but let’s just say it’s real percussive and involves lots of heavy breathing. Definitely first date…
Best Idea Whose Time Has Come
Internet Service Providers have a rough business. They’re in a market so new that nobody knows how it’s supposed to work. Internet legislation’s being proposed at state and federal levels. Way-deregulated telcos heap gobs of drool on the market as the tiny ISPs try to gain a foothold. The SPA wants ISPs to patrol for…
Best Roadside Exclamations
When it comes to thoroughfare signage that proffers pithy satire – that sort of savvy wise-ass commentary on local follies that provokes a good guffaw as you cruise past – El Arroyo is el rey; it has the sign of the times. But for roadside messages that speak more to a state of mind than…
Best But-it’s-good-for-me Smoothie & Best Full Food Pyramid In A Single Dish
You gotcher protein, yer calcium, yer potassium — this is a cool, creamy meal in cup and it’s scrumptious to boot. And it ain’t no rabbit food neither. That peanut butter will stick to your ribs clear through to yer midnight snack. It’s dessertifiable too — just ask the Wrapi-staff to douse yers with a…
Best Mom & Pop Neighborhood Bakery
The discovery of this little southwest Austin treasure has been the serious downfall of our diets. We’ve become addicted to the big, flaky schnecken, studded with walnuts and fat raisins and the cinnamon rolls dusted with crunchy cinnamon sugar. Our newest jones is for the apricot kolaches, we call early on weekend mornings to find…
Best Tropical Patio Dining
We favor the tables at this colorful new restaurant because they’re insulated from the traffic, shaded from sun, and offer a view on a well-tended courtyard garden. The restaurant’s fare adds just the right tropical touch providing a kind of vacation right here in town.
Best Local Fossil Hunting
Tiny, ancient snail-like crustaceans are camouflaged in the pale mud lining Shoal Creek. Once you find the first graphite gray or buff colored specimen you’ll realize that you’re SURROUNDED!! Very satisfying to the novice fossil finder. There are other more exotic beasties concealed the the flaking limestone, See how many different kinds you and Rocky…
Best Community Networking Activists
Sue Beckwith’s been working long and hard to create and sustain community networking projects throughout Austin: a project to put 74 computers in Austin’s Public Libraries, an East Austin Media Lab to teach East Austin youth job-grabbin’ multimedia skills, a project to use Internet connectivity to reduce juvenile crime, and more. Sue’s incredible energy electrifies…
Best Disco Bowling
Highland Lanes is no mere bowling “alley,” they’re a bowling “center.” Locating an appropriate house ball here is, well, an adventure, but we think that adds to the charm, and anyway, the inexpensive rates, drinks, and snacks more than make up for it. Your life will not be complete until you experience the Electric Bowl…
Best Comic Relief
Holding up one of his homemade campaign signs, Kirk Becker – mayoral candidate and homeless person – pointed out to the buttoned-down Real Estate Council of Austin (RECA) forum that the sign could, in a pinch, also double handily for a bed. A former UT Chemical Engineering major, Becker is a reality check in motion.…
Best Simulated Use Of Three Quarters Of A Billion Dollars
Deeply satisfying in that Jetsonesque things-will-be-perfect-in-the-future way, the computer-animated tour through the new Austin-Bergstrom Inernational Airport put all our minds at ease. Soothing elevator music and a firm voice direct a late-for-my-flight speed jog through the new airport’s lobbys and terminals ending with a triumphant zip! into the air of a big, sturdy jet. If…
Best Lube Job, Dude
“Home of the Groovy Mechanics” reads the sign at their 41st & Red River location but when your car is on the fritz, groovy gets traded for good service. Yeah, yeah – it’s around the corner from our office so many of our staffers use it. But that also gives us a very good notion…
Best Way To Stay Fresh In The Heat
This bath and body mecca includes treasures to refresh and revive even the most dire heat victim. Offering materials such as pure cotton and Irish handkerchief linen and scents such as Wisteria and Sweet Pea, La Provence keeps you cool during those Dog Days. Not to be outdone by the merchandise, owners Tracy Baudoin and…
Best Place To Wait For A Taco & Buy Tchotchkes
You just know that any chance we have to say “Tamale House #3” will be taken loudly and frequently. So it is with great pleasure that we offer this “Best of” to the little sister shop, Front Page News, next to the venerable Temple of Tacos. In what used to be the space where Tamale…
Who’s the Boss?
These Deer Park residents are fighting further construction of what they claim are low-quality homes in their neighborhood. photograph by Jana Birchum You’re driving down MoPac, down way south past William Cannon. You’re stuck in traffic (of course). You see a bunch of Kaufman and Broad’s trademark white-on-black signs trumpeting the splendors of “their” Deer…
Best Public Artwork
Not a surprising showing from Austin’s favorite landmark guitarman. What is pleasantly surprising however, is the close number of votes for Skagen-Brakhage’s Blue Genie in South Austin, a newcomer to town and Critics Pick for “Best Neighborhood Guardian.”
Best Theatre Actor
His lounge act and a show-stealing turn as Ruthless’ incontestable diva prove Joe York is no drag. Rather, he is dazzling, charismatic, and one of our most prized performers.
Best Jukebox
Owner “Casino,” a former deejay, culled this diverse sampling from his own collection, in which glam, jazz, blues, and pop – finally – cohabitate peacefully.
Best All You Can Eat
The Asian banquet takes it. Dripping Springs’ Salt Lick scarfs second and previous winner Mr. Gatti’s grabs third.
Best Local Web Site
Quadralay’s Austin info hub has won this category again; they took first in 1995. Theirs is one of the better comprehensive Austin sites around. http://www.austinlinks.com
Best TV Newscast
First, KVUE bagged the Associated Press’ Best Newscast in Texas award. Now, the Readers Poll. Congrats.
Best Dog Walk
When Rover needs to go, Fido’s caretakers head for Town Lake, the leash-free zone of Pease Park and the Greenbelt.
Best Effort To Control Pollution/Improve The Environment
The court decision to uphold S.O.S. seemed to steady Austin’s enviro keel. Second-place Yellow Bike program colorfully addresses our auto-erotic car obsession and encourages alternative transportation.
Best Fitness Club
World Gym once again clubbed the Q and the YMCA this year as Austin’s favorite place to sweat indoors.
Best Children’s Entertainer
Creative, captivating, cute, classy, but not a clown: Captain Connie keeps the kids cutting up with her curious capers.
Best Pharmacy/Drugstore
HEB beats out People’s and Tarrytown as the best place to get your biotics antied.
Best Hardware Store
We like our hardware stores a little on the soft side — cluttered with espresso machines, lilac lotions, and chocolate bonbons.
Best Act Of Senseless Beauty
Master Kinetic artist Richard Heinechen made the ever-changing fork in the road, and Hyde Park B&G owner Bick Brown has various new art pieces added to the top regularly. This summer, it featured a tropical Mr. PotatoHead. Who can guess what the autumn will bring?
Best Restaurant Transformation
Restaurant builder par excellence Frank Seely garners our kudos for his skills in turning a plain American sow’s ear, CoCo’s at Shoal Creek & Anderson Lane, into a very classy Chinese silk purse, Suzi’s China Grill. Seely and restaurateur Suzi Yi chose a subtle, non-traditional Chinese decor for her second Austin location. The interior features…
Best New Direction
In April, the Austin Museum of Art named Elizabeth Ferrer as its new director. A native of East Los Angeles, graduate of Welesley College and former head of the Visual Arts Department and curator at the Americas Society in New York with a expertise in contemporary Mexican art, Ferrer should bring an new and exciting…
Best Hoot Night Series
It started as just a one-night stand at the Electric Lounge – a record release party for Fume Records’ Prince compilation Do Me Baby. But with a packed house happily celebrating the Man In Purple and an all-star cast, host John Riedie decided he had a good thing on his hands. So it carried over…
Best Ink Jet Recharge
The fine folks at ALBAAT work with you to get the most out of that expensive computer printer ink cartridge. Ink cartridges can be recycled five to seven times at about half the cost of a new cartridge. Each cartridge is tested, and if it cannot be recharged then the cartridge and ink left in…
Best Sabotaged Bumper Sticker
The absolute best splicing job goes to whoever emblazoned: “I’m Pro Blues Explosion & I Vote” on back of his or her Honda. Too bad there’s nothing particularly local about it. For sheer length, a nod goes to the Saab with “Animals are like mom, I like them better alive” done entirely in sliced up…
Best Cheap Food Near Campus
Most people think of the Drag when it comes to campus eats, but go east, young student – great food awaits in the red, white, and green building at I-35 & 26th Street. American cheese (and lots of it) would seem to be an odd ingredient in the cheddar-&-jack-dominated Tex-Mex world, but we’re converts now.…
Best New Pie Guy
Hitting the Waterloo Ice House during the burger round-up earlier this year, we chanced to notice some very appealing slices of pie in the cooler. We hadn’t come for pie, weren’t looking for pie, didn’t even know we were hungry for pie. But those pies called out to us, whispering, cajoling, seducing. Our resolve faltered,…
Best Unexpected Southern Breakfast
Known mostly for their great burgers, Dan’s also has one of the best breakfasts. The best hash browns in town (order them extra crispy to make ’em even better!), big, gloppy cinnamon rolls for just over a dollar, and pretty darn cheap prices on just about everything else, make for a great breakfast experience. The…
Best Musical Introduction
Middle school kids and classical music – not your ordinary mix. Thanks to the Austin Symphony, fourth, fifth and sixth graders every year are treated to a program designed to expand their view on music. We remember attending as kids, and being amazed that such beautiful music could be created just for us.
Best Doorway To Fringe Culture
One of the first virtual corporations, FringeWare, Inc. has always been, as Bob Rossney once said, “at the cutting edge of the cutting edge.” FringeWare has cultivated affinities along the technocultural borders of consensus reality, creating a true “temporary autonomous zone” and a great party online and off. The FringeWare book store supplanted the late…
Best Imitation Of A Broken-Down Drunk At A Lonely Hearts Bar
Moved from Reagan County and equipped with rambling loudspeakers, the Santa Rita oil rig has been telling the same old story for years – but as near as we can tell no one’s ever stopped to listen to it. But it’s an impressive rig, and underscores the importance of oil in our U’s history. So…
Best Community Watchdog
Architect, Little League supermom, and leader in the Guadalupe neighborhood, Letty McGarrahan has also, for the last two years, been one of the handful of neighborhood representatives on the board of the Austin Revitalization Authority. In that role, she has done more than anyone — though she has had a lot of help and moral…
Best Summation By A Judge
Judge James Nowlin Sentenced Harry Schreiber and Mark Izydore to prison and large fines after they were convicted of bankruptcy fraud in a case involving a Smithville manufacturing company. The pair had a long history of questionable deals in South Florida and Nowlin said he received an unprecedented number of letters from angry Floridians. The…
Best Mystical Mechanic
His sign advertises “Metaphysical Volkswagen Repair,” and we agree. (Note to selves: Is there such a thing as metaphysical Buick repair?) Owners Toby and Jacklynn Andrus specialize in good repair, a fair price, and that elusive feeling of spiritual wholeness. One friend of ours was so taken by Toby’s patient explanations of her car’s inner…
Best ‘Uptown’ HEB
Unlike center city HEBs, the Arboretum HEB was conceived as a superstore from the get-go and built to order. Outside, you’ll find adequate parking. Inside, you’re greeted by a high-ceilinged, brightly lit interior architecturally characterised by flowing volumes of space and horizontal planes reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright. A spacious traffic aisle surrounds this center…
Best Power Tool Emporium
When you hear “Milwaukee” what pops into mind? If you said power tools, then Austin Tool is your place. No aisles here to induce impulse shopping, just tools galore and a knowledgeable sales staff, more than happy to offer their professional advice. Tools repaired, too. In this small but well stocked store, one gets the…
Fox Faux Pas
“I’ve always wanted to work here. But I would have left Fox-7 just to get out of there. Even if I had to leave the marketplace, even if I had to leave the state, even if I had to leave the business.” — former KTBC reporter Erin Fletcher, now wtih KVUE “Turmoil” has to be…
Best Public Restroom
We’re not sure if this means the facilities or the Springs themselves. Perhaps it’s best not to clarify.
Best Theatre Company
After decades of dependable theatre, this company can still steal the show.
Best Margaritas
It’s forever clear what gives these colorful quaffs their tangy zip.
Best Bakery
The cream has risen to the Crust, which takes first place in this category. Hats off to Sweetish Hill and Texas French Bread for a competitive showing.
Best Locally Produced Radio Show
After years of sneaking down to Threadgill’s for a furtive listen, you can finally hear this radio visionary in the privacy of your own home on KNEZ, 1530 AM, Monday thru Friday, 11am-1pm.
Best TV Reporter
Fox’s well-spoken 5 o’clock anchor gets the nod.
Best Fishing Hole
Of those actually willing to give up the location of their favorite hole, Lake Travis came out the favorite with a tie in second place to Red Bud Isle and Pedernales Falls.
Best Lobbyist/Consultant
Behind nearly every major citizen initiative and progressive candidate in this town lies veteran political consultant Mark Yznaga, whereas after Richards lost the Governor’s Mansion, she landed on a velvet cushion as a lobbyist for weapons makers, railroads, and the City of Austin.
Best Florist
Blooming brighter than all the others, this year’s blue ribbon goes to the Flower Bucket.
Best Children’s Resale Clothing
Yet another category Austin shoppers know well: old clothing. This year, Between Friends and Second Time Around tie.
Best Photo Lab
Our winners for the past three years tie this year.
Best Imports
From around the world for around your house, Pier 1 is your first port of call. Local gateway to the corazón, Tesoros takes a close second.
Best Architectural Orgasm
Will somebody please fix the LBJ fountain? An entire generation of temporary Austinites (UT kids) stands to miss the frothy majesty of our city’s only water-based tribute to our nation’s 36th president. And we old timers miss the 120,000 gallons of water pumped at a rate of 75-80 psi. The tension is killing us.
Best Streetside Icon
Nothing brightens our day like a drive past Walker Tire’s tautological “If It’s in Stock, We’ve Got It” Man. Sleeves rolled up, cap tilted just so, spouting that absurd slogan, this smiling wooden cutout is an eager and innocent hero for jaded times. Meaninglessness has never been so refreshing.
Best New Multi-disciplinary Space
The young owners are bandmembers in one life, gallery owners in another. They understand and have filled the niche for alternate performers, in this high-ceilinged, coffeehouse-meets-salon haven. Beyond the ongoing availabilty of alternative performances, the walls are always chock-full of cool, local-artist art. The hours revolve around upon performances and exhibits, so call first.
Best In-store Wine Tasting Series
The casual, informal weekly wine tastings at this pleasant suburban wine shop are one of the best kept secrets in Austin. Leonard and Sue Carter always offer interesting samplings and are generous with their knowledge and wry British humor. Whether it’s a comparative tasting of reasonably priced sparkling wines or the first exposure to the…
Best Internet Tool
Austin software company’s been getting great press for its product, a tool for realtime interactive group or individual communication on the Internet. iChat is the platform of choice for chat rooms on Yahoo, Pathfinder, iVillage, Sony, and other high-end web sites. A new iChat gadget, the pager, allows individuals to find each other and chat…
Best Self-indulgent Nepotism In Advertising
When local chef and sauce master Raymond Tatum first went to work for Eddie Wilson early this year, we couldn’t see anything but an odd couple. However, the hilarious, tongue-in-cheek summer ad campaign touting Tatum’s menu specials at the original Threadgill’s location revealed they share a self-deprecating sense of humor and love of good food.…
Best Chicken Salad Sandwich
Chicken salad conjures up images of blue-haired ladies lunching, but the smoky stuff Ruby’s slathers on its sandwiches is chicken salad for the Nineties. Spiked with almond slivers, the stuff is the perfect juxtaposition of the creamy and comforting, and smoky and seductive.
Best Novelty French Fries
Okay, so the only other novelty fries we know are the sweet-potatoes at Texicalli Grill and the double-dipped ar Hyde Park and those are probably just as good, but these salty cinnamon skin-on wonders are like nothing we’ve had before. At once aromatic and savory, a basket of these and the highly economical jerk-chicken salad…
Best Use Of Peaches & Cream
Reading either the name or the Hyde Park Bar & Grill’s description for this dessert is wayyyy misleading. Two words: yum-my. It’s not really a pudding but a thin layer of peaches topped with a moist, cake-like thingy and covered in cream. Again it tastes so much better than that sounds.
Best Option For Kids With Few Resources Left
Area teens who’ve struck out of traditional school systems experience success every day with the “project-based” education programs at AIL. Project-based means hands-on learning, developing skills in the same real-world context where they’ll be used. Students in the Casa Verde Builders unit acquire construction skills and a sense of community involvement while building innovative, affordable…
Best Eye On The Tornado
When the May 27 tornado struck the tiny town of Jarrell and generally wreaked havoc all around, the Austin American-Statesman hunkered down and covered the story like there was no tomorrow. They did the same thing the next day and the next, practically leaving no stone unturned with words and visuals. There’s nothing like a…
Best Lifeguard
The City of Austin has a rather large aquatics program for a city its size and every year trains a slew of lifeguards to safeguard city pools. So who is the best guard. Believe it or not the city does surprises test, or audits, of its guards. This year’s highest score goes to Barton Springs…
Best Consumer Advocate
He warned us. W. Scott McCollough, the lawyer hired by the city to look out for the average Electric Utility customer (i.e. the Little Guy), told us not to give our six largest corporate customers a rate break. He begged us to not let the group representing four of those companies – the Federation of…
Best Thing The State’s Done For The City
Okay, sure, there’s still some big question marks. Was Sen. Barrientos’ Lone Ranger act designed to kill light rail in favor of commuter rail? Will any elected official willingly serve on Cap Met’s new board? Will we ever see a rollback of the sales tax? But consider the alternative: A transportation future in which public…
Best Outdoor Wedding Venue, In Town
Both the land and the statuary for this lovely pastoral retreat at the edge of Zilker Park were donated to the city by famed sculptor Charles Umlauf. Now the city-owned and privately run garden and museum are very popular with spring and fall brides. The beautifully landscaped setting is peaceful and serene, the perfect antidote…
Best 3am Grocery Shopping
When the late night need arises for Dickies work pants, Bimbo brand toast, or an exotic, bizarrely shaped squash, Fiesta is the only choice. Add the glorious people-watching opportunities (because Fiesta’s stock of international groceries intended for people actually from those countries), and the store’s weird-at-any-hour ambience, and you have an extremely poignant wee-hours consumer…
Best Selection Of Juices/Sodas
Convenience stores may be convenient, but sometimes their selection stinks. The big behemoths rarely stock regional or local vendors, so you’re usually stuck with the top-selling brands for choice. Ick. When we are thirstier than we wanna be, we head over to Manor Road where not one, but two, glorious convenient stores reign. Both Kwik…
Naked City
Five more Parks Police officers will be added to the undermanned Parks and Recreation Department staff, according to the terms of the recently passed city budget. But will there be enough officers to deal with all the land the city is planning to annex? The Parks Police staff has been dramatically understaffed for years, and…
Best Romantic Spot
Holding hands, sitting on a limestone boulder with your love, and overlooking our city of light is one of the area’s finest experiences. And when the cityscape wears thin, turn west and ponder the radio towers.
Best Theatre Space
At once nostalgic and novel, the Paramount makes sure everyone rides first class, with wine and beer to boot.
Best Movie Theatre Concession Stand
When the Dobie renovated, it not only spruced up its theatres, it began offering eclectic and apparently welcome items like Evian, ice cream, and unique candies. It wins hands down.
Best Barbecue
Also known as “the plate lick,” still holding the brass ring that they took away from long-time winner aka County Line.
Best Locally Produced Tv Show
Twenty-three years and going strong, ACL is a local treasure. Second-place for Austin Music Network, encouraging if it can hang in there.
Best User Group – Local
A 12-step program for the less-than-Net savvy? This year, the Capital Macintosh Group out-steps CACTUS, MAIN, EEF, and Web Grrls.
Best Golf Course
In the fore-front of this category, the Lions is the place to get teed-off.
Best Local Eccentric
Former councilmember and mayoral hopeful Nofziger beat out four-time champ Crazy Carl to win this soft spot in Austin’s heart (head?) – now, what does that tell you?
Best Hair Salon
“Avant a new updo, Dahling.” Reigning queen of your crown holds on to the scepter two years running.
Best Children’s Shoe Store
Payless beat out last year’s winner, Sandy’s, by a foot. The pair have been alternating as winners for the past four years.
Best Printer/Copy Shop
It’s open 24 hours.
Best Jewelry (fine)
The crown jewel of Austin’s fine jewels, according to our readers, is Benold’s, who beat out previous two-year winner Russell Korman.
Best Bathroom Gallery
At Mojo’s, they’ve solved the problem of kids hopped up on caffeine filling the bathroom walls with impish graffiti. Artist Nicole Labry has transformed both the cafe’s bathrooms into full-on installation pieces, and suddenly, we have a lot less desire to bring reading material in because there’s just so much to look at. Both installations…
Best Use Of The Commerica Bank Building On Congress
We should have known that any play that starts with a spiel about gravity-free blueberries would be a little unusual. But when that play is produced by Frontera, a company that has just begun to explore all of the unique, found spaces in this town, we should have known that Deviant Craft would be an…
Best Street For The Arts
As if we even have to explain this one. La Peña. Tesoros Trading Company. Mexic-Arte Museum. The Paramount Theatre. Live Oak Theatre at the State. Wild About Music Gallery. The Public Domain Theatre & Gallery. The Austin Museum of Art Downtown. The Austin Circle of Theatres office. What other street in Austin offers a couple…
Best Inexpensive College Crowd Pleaser & Best Place To Drink Beer Without Getting Hit On
Never fancy but always fun, good beer specials and cheap food packs \’em in Fridays and Saturdays. The Crown & Anchor Pub’s picnic-style tables out front have plenty of room to bring all of your friends for a pint and watch a game or two. The relaxed atmosphere and location lends itself to a great…
Best Linux Users Group
For many people, Linux, an inexpensive PC-based implementation of the multi-user, multi-tasking, industrial strength UNIX operating system, is becoming the OS of choice. The Austin Linux Group takes an informal, hands-on, seminar-like approach to Linux which appeals equally to beginners and old system administrators. Lab sessions focus on installing Linux and resolving hardware conflicts, while…
Best Slack Pickup
This past election showed that the major television news outlets in this town care little about city elections. Thankfully, those of us who are concerned about local government found relief – and immediate election results – on the city-owned Channel 6. The channel featured a good team-up with KLBJ in the primaries and KVET in…
Best Cinnamon Roll & Best Proof Of A Supreme Being & Best Bread That Eats Like A Meal
The eating of an Upper Crust cinnamon roll is an art form that can take all morning. Oh, the intrepid, go-getters among us might take the bite-right-in method and achieve a heady commingling of textures for their boldness. But those of us who like to linger in heaven will savor the crisp and sugary crust…
Best Place For A Cup O’Joe After The Show
We hesitate to award this citation this year, after last year’s winner, Soma, bit the big one. But with all of the theater happening on Congress, we just have to point out that Little City is a great place to have some java, a nice iced tea, or a nosh after watching the latest masterpieces…
Best Vegetarian Fare For Non-vegetarians
White Mountain Foods’ unfortunately named Veg-Itas are not just vegetarian, they’re downright vegan – but fry up some onions and peppers with these slender slabs and soon the most hardened of carnivores will be praising your name. Using wheatroast – a spongy amalgam of wheat gluten, peanut butter, and tamari – White Mountain has whipped…
Best Organized Sports Program For Kids
Little League, with it’s body-threatening hard balls and overzealous parents might have turned us off of competitive team sports forever, but discovering PARD’s summer swim team program turned all that around. The public pool program focuses on doing your best, cheering your mates and getting fit. Practicing for an hour five days a week and…
Best Good Cause Leap On A Marketing Bandwagon
Women’s pro basketball is a hot ticket. For the first time in history, there are two functional pro leagues (ABL & WNBA) enjoying the glow of successful first seasons and looking forward to bright futures ahead. So the Center for Disease Control knew what it was doing when it stategically placed billboards promoting immunization shots…
Best Meteoric Longhorn
We are so proud of all our ex-Lady Longhorns who are venturing, for the first time, into professional U.S. basketball. Recent grads like Nekeshia Henderson and Danielle Viglione are making names for themselves in both the ABL and the WNBA. But a soft spot is reserved in our heart for 32-year-old Austinite Fran Harris, who…
Best Council Aide
He’s been a thorn in city staff’s side for a while, but the ambitious aide to Councilmember Beverly Griffith can’t seem to stop pushing his boss’ agenda. Using lots of figures, and a load of common sense, Gilvar helped uncover the stupidity of the Davenport MUD deal and the raw deal known as the FAIR…
Best Use Of The Color Yellow
Austin’s Yellow Bike Project (YBP) is a community project designed to promote human-powered transportation for the Central Austin area. On January 25, 1997, volunteers released 24 bikes painted bright yellow. To date, the project has released 150 community bikes. They’re free to ride; get on and go! After you get to where you’re going, leave…
Best Outdoor Wedding Venue, Rural
We knew Melanie and Mark McAffe restored this stately Victorian home of a Southern cotton magnate years ago for a wedding facility but we’d never actually seen it. In the spring we visited to sample the wedding cakes and were totally smitten by the meticulously manicured lawns. There are several outdoor areas where nuptials can…
Best Band Shirt
Unveiled just in time for ’97’s SXSW, the yellow-and-black Wannabes shirt was as direct as you could want it: “Wannabes” and “Austin, Texas” on the front, and “Don’t Move Here” on the back. What a lovely way to tell the assembled throng, “Thanks for visiting,” with the emphasis on visiting.
Best Source For Cheap, Crappy CDs
Wrapped in anonymous newspaper, priced to move at $3 a pop: Fred’s Fun Packs are awfully tempting, and we think Fred knows it. Each pack contains three mystery CDs – choose from Rock, Rap/R&B, Classical, Jazz, and more. Last time, we tried World Music and the results were horrid. Absolute dreck. It was wonderful.
