Cover Story
MetroRail Is Back
Full service from Leander to Downtown resumes Friday
This Week’s Waste of Time
One man, many free online games to play
Newton Is Next Victim of Longhorns’ ‘Huge Expectations’
The search for a running game continues
Win Tickets to Dinah!
HRC’s women’s dance has Gay Place spinning, plus you can win tickets!
The Black Angels Telephone David Letterman
Austin’s psych evangelists offer a late night ‘Phosphene Dream’
Old Guy Radio
Dick, Elvis, and more
‘Tree of Life’ Puts Down Roots
Mystery-shrouded Terrence Malick film gets a distributor
The Daily Hustle: 9/9/10
Laura Morrison looks to the budget
No Offense, But it’s the Totally Awesome AusChron Newscast
Sex offenders, Sanders and the city budget
Alamo World Domination Plan Continues Unabated
The Drafthouse announces a new distribution banner
Fantastic Fest Flashback: Nacho Vigalondo’s “7-35 In the Morning”
Nacho Vigalondo’s Oscar-nominated 2006 short
‘Enrique’s Journey’ Author to Give Speech in Austin
Pulitzer winner Sonia Nazario to talk about children and immigration
Limited MetroRail Service Resumes Thursday
No trains to or from Leander until repairs made
![Cactus Cafe Manager Announced [UPDATED]](https://i0.wp.com/www.austinchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/cackut.webp.webp?fit=169%2C157&ssl=1)
Cactus Cafe Manager Announced [UPDATED]
KUT selects record label veteran
UT Professor Emeritus William H. Goetzmann Dies
Goetzmann was awarded a Pulitzer in 1966 for his American West studies
The Daily Hustle: 9/8/10
Breaking it down with Bill Spelman
No MetroRail This Afternoon
Flood damage stops trains
Guess Who’s Corman To Dinner?
Husband and wife duo Roger and Julie to get lifetime achievement award
Perry, White Tied
Echoes of Jan Brewer as gov dodges debate and press
In & Out
Texas Book Festival’s gala speakers get shuffled
The Daily Hustle: 9/7/10
The budget laid bare
Christeene: Yee-yons on Fire
Controversy begins to erupt around Christeene
Fantastic Fest Gets Inappropriate
Bumper competition launched
Might ‘The Tree of Life’ Sprout at Fantastic Fest?
Malick’s latest sprouts rumors, including Austin premiere
The Sunday Survey: 9/5/10
Award season in Austin
From Stage To Print
The comic of live-action graphic novel The Intergalactic Nemesis
Roller Derby Update: 9/4/10
The Austin Derby Brats need you!
Texas Smells Repeat Title Game?
Make it so, Mr. Simms Gilbert Applewhite
The Daily Hustle: 9/3/10
Zoning cat is not amused
The Common Law
Can My 15-Year-Old Work During the School Year?
Headlines
� President Barack Obama’s speech Tuesday marked the formal end of the war in Iraq, an operation that began more than seven years ago and resulted in the deaths of many thousands of Iraqis and more than 4,400 U.S. troops. Though nearly 100,000 American troops have now left Iraq, almost 50,000 will remain as a…
Best Holiday Display
Even on a tight budget, council knew better than to turn off the Christmas illuminations at Zilker Park. The Trail of Lights may have become the more modest Zilker Tree Holiday Festival, but you can still stand beneath the giant cone of lights and spin, spin, spin into winter.
Best Emergent Local Filmmaker
By the time this sees print, the term “emergent” may be historical as regards filmmaker Raval, so swift is the man’s trajectory. From stunning music videos for locals Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat and Little Stolen Moments to a series of subversive shorts with drag star Christeene to showcases at Cannes and Sundance and…
Best Movie Theatre
Just because the place draws raves internationally doesn’t mean that locals aren’t wise to the keep-Austin-weird splendor of the Alamo Drafthouse, the house that Tim and Karrie League built and are now expanding across the country, where the newest or the biggest or the freakiest films are only part of the brilliant programming that includes…
Best Lunch Delivery
Our readers know that behind the spectacular typography employed to promote this chain’s sammichy wares, the freshly created comestibles themselves, delivered direct to your stomach’s current ZIP code, are meat-and-veggie-packed heavyweights that can knock hunger for a loop without coldcocking a student’s (or a harried office-worker’s) wallet.
Best Sports/Rec Program
Though football reigns supreme in Austin, it’s the baseball and softball programs of Balcones that win with kids. With today’s ticket costs for movies, a family of five could spend $80 on a two-hour blockbuster. For no more than $95, you can treat your child to four months of America’s pastime. Play ball!
Best Photographer
This one-woman whirlwind of energy and talent has become synonymous with the term “photo booth.” At the forefront of the photo booth trend and known for her shouts for more passion, Annie Ray is loved for both her charisma and her fantastic shots, which always have colors that pop and personality shining through.
Best Day Trip – Dry
The Tonkawa Indians were convinced that this massive pink granite lump was home to spirits, and after hearing some of the strange groans and creaks that issue from the ancient dome, who are we to disagree? But we’d argue that even without that history of haints around it, someone was bound to dub this rock…
Best Activist
Veterinarian Ellen Jefferson has channeled her lifelong passion for animals into a full-time mission to make Austin a genuine “no kill” city by 2012. Under Jefferson’s leadership at Austin Pets Alive!, the nonprofit has become a key player in the city’s no-kill vow. That means finding safe, happy homes for healthy and treatable pets –…
Best Barbershop
More than just a hipster hair-cuttery, Birds has an expanding arsenal of fashionable hair pros to put the icing on your hair cake. Complimentary Lone Star? Foosball? The annual Man Fest? That’s why Austin loves you, baby.
Best Tattoo Artist
You may remember her in the Rosie the Riveter-esque pose she struck on the cover of our 2007 “Best of Austin” issue, and, fact is, she still kills it! Kali1313 owns Spellbound Studio now, uses vegan inks, and is a Reiki master. As if there were any doubt that this lady is a badass.
Humblest Use of Scare Quotes
Jim-Jim’s is a little slice of icy heaven, an Austin institution that purveys the ultimate frozen treat. If a frozen virgin margarita and a fruit smoothie could reproduce, they might create something close to this oxymoronically named “water ice.” If it’s not really famous, it should be. Do yourself a favor and try the strawberry…
Best 411
And by “411,” we mean the deets, the score, a clue, the data, the dirt on everything you need to know or report in our fine metropolis. Austin’s 311 harkens back to a time when customer service wasn’t just a long wait on hold and a byzantine odyssey through extensions and transfers that ultimately end…
Best Convenience Store
If you prefer cloves to Marlboros and organic brews to Budweiser, Whip In is the convenience store for you. While perusing the carefully curated selection, you might also enjoy live music, delicious Tex-Indian dishes, and suggestions from the ever-friendly, überknowledgeable staff. But don’t fear judgment: You can pick up Marlboros and Bud here, too.
Best Thrift Store
Need some inexpensive kitchenware to supplement that student budget? A nearly new sofa that makes the whole room come together? An armful of overlooked bestsellers, with a rare bargain find meant only for you? With 10 Austin retail locations and a host of related CenTex facilities, you’re never far from a Goodwill store, where you…
Best Funny First Steps
It takes not only great, original material to be a comedian in the making but also some serious cojones to brave a stage and wear your dementia on your sleeve. It also takes the loving embrace of a community and a club that is Austin’s funny bone to coddle and encourage those who just want…
Best 24-Hour Buzz
It’s only been open a little more than a year, but you wouldn’t know it by the crowds of caffeinated fans that pack this 24/7 Eastside coffeehouse. Owners Stephanie and Steve Williams have created a nice lounge space with one-of-a-kind beverages – including a menu of choice mocha delights named for classic novels – and…
Best Place To See Stars
Take a date or the kids to look through the 16-inch and 9-inch telescopes that UT astronomy students use for their studies of the night sky. On Wednesday nights when school is in session, brainy UT staff lead free star parties on the roof of Robert Lee Moore Hall. On Friday and Saturday nights, Painter…
Best Sustainable Future Today
New members sign commitment sheets with short- and long-term goals toward decreasing carbon footprints, and volunteers renovate the houses of qualifying low-income homeowners to provide a healthier, more affordable living environment – doing everything from upgrading to Energy Star appliances to installing rain collection systems, working from a checklist of sustainable, energy-efficient practices for great…
Best Tattoo Shop
We know a little something about the tattoo business at the Chronicle, since the late Rollo Banks served as our cover master in the Eighties. We also know that when Banks handpicked Keith Underwood as his last apprentice, he did so knowing Underwood would carry on the right traditions of the art form. Steeped in…
Best Place To Find Your Grandma’s Cute Clothes
While Austin may still be young as a city of fashion, Prototype is one of the leaders in keeping Austin looking good. Get beautiful via two storefronts on South Congress and Milton, Prototype Vintage Design (all women’s clothing) and Proto-Man. The selection is impeccable, and the “proto-hunnies” at the stores are always happy to assist…
Violent Ends
Fifteen years after first inception, Machete hacks its way into theatres
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
Best Hotel
It’s the perfect place, if you can reserve early enough to edge out the canny out-of-towners, to spend a night away from home in the heart of your very own city: Liz Lambert’s boutique hotel where Buddhist simplicity meets retro elegance in sweetly executed Lake|Flato reconstruction, where the attentive staff is likely to include a…
Best Museum
While we’re happy to give the University of Texas’ art museum points for size – at 180,000 square feet, it’s the largest university art museum in the country – what we really prize is what the Blanton does with all that space: showcasing the best of the 18,000 works in its collections of prints, European…
Best Neighborhood/Dive Bar
It’s all about the patio. Whether it’s the misted and lit-by-gas-station Nomad or the expansive sea of picnic tables at Liberty, we like to do our inebriating outside. Heat be damned. Escape from the increasingly crowded East Sixth Street strip or just avoid Downtown altogether. Either way, you’re getting drunk.
Best Neighborhood Grocery
Since its renovation and expansion, Wheatsville has re-embraced the idea of community. As the landscape of Guadalupe has changed in the past few years, so has the veteran food co-op, and the updated interior and exterior signal that. However, the same friendly vibe is just within its doors; the biggest difference is that the aisles…
Best Summer Camp
This tie for best summer camp makes us want to age backwards. Magic, juggling, puppetry, and clowning are four skills that will rocket a kid’s creativity and chutzpah sky high once school starts up again, and the Kent Cummins Magic Camp is the place to learn them. For the supersmart smarty-pants’d young’uns, Summer Wonders offers…
Best Public-Access TV Show
This international public access show includes debates about religious philosophy while promoting a positive education on atheism. Some of our town’s most delightful free thinkers, including Hepcats author Martin Wagner, computer scientist Don Baker, and aerospace engineer Jen Peeples, host this tasteful approach to lively, interactive conversations with viewers of various beliefs.
Best Day Trip – Wet
When your toes dig into the sand and pebbles near the tiny beachhead of Hamilton Pool, it’s a good thing you’re already wet. Now go back on shore and shuck down to your bathing suit. And don’t dry off before the ultimate misting under the enchanted swimming hole’s waterfall. A magic over-the-hills-and-through-the-woods hike to reach…
Best Activist Organization
Christian conservatives seem committed to rewriting the Constitution, so the need for the Texas Freedom Network to keep distinct the line between church and state has never been greater. Texans both secular and religious come together to keep the faith when it comes to the First Amendment.
Best Bicycle Repair
Bicycle Sport Shop loves cyclists. The shop’s mechanics will tune up your bike for free for a year if you bought it there, offer you labor discounts if you purchase their parts, and retune your bike if you’re not satisfied with the work they’ve done. But they’ll even do better than all that: They’ll teach…
Best Veterinarian
If you own a pug, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be taking your little man or lady to Westlake Animal Hospital. WAH has hundreds of pug patients and runs regular pug spa specials (our little guy comes home scrubbed with clipped nails and clean wrinkles and smelling faintly of lavender). Of course, we…
Most Sensual Sushi
With a menu this intimate, you might want to first shower and powder up your parts. Tomodachi has a playful menu with rolls like 4 play, xXx, and Say My Name!. The Volcano, with the simple description: “wow!!!! U will love it!!!” is the most fun to eat as it comes out on a flaming…
Best Affordable Fashion Blog
Indiana Adams’ eye for piecing together fab from drab is impeccable. With barely a year under her (well-coordinated) Web belt, she’s already made quite the scene, having gotten her ATX-centered fashion blog national attention with nods from Glamour.com and Lucky, and she was nominated for a Texas Social Media award to boot. All that while…
Best Drugstore/Pharmacy
Whether it’s a refill on a simple script or a careful explanation of the sometimes confounding option of compounding medications, the acute and comely apothecaries at our local drugstore (by and for the peoples, y’all!) practice the second word in that delicate field they master: health care. And they walk it like they talk it,…
Best Vintage
It’s like the attic of your supercool grandmother’s mansion, packed to the gills with clothes, furniture, art, textiles, jewelery, and flatware from eras gone by. Wading through this sardine can of a store is half the fun.
Best New Collaborative Art and Volunteer Space
Knowledge of Space12 spreads predominantly by word of mouth. This Eastside compound houses many organizations and nonprofits, such as Inside Books Project and Skillshare Austin, and hosts numerous events, including the Round, a 360-degree immersion in local musical, visual, and spoken-word performance. Comfy couches, clean work surfaces, foosball, ping-pong tables, free wi-fi, and more appoint…
Best Affordable Delectable Burger
To say the menu at Cherrywood Coffeehouse is extensive is an understatement – as is calling this Eastside restaurant just a coffeehouse. Seriously, what coffeehouse boasts such great grub? Sure, some might feature tasty tidbits rolled in and reheated from other great Austin food haunts, but Cherrywood – led by chef Kevin Jackson (the Woodland,…
Best Place To See Where Your Food Comes From
Since very few of us actually grew up on farms, it’s nice to have one we can visit. Not only does Green Gate Farms have a vegetable stand on Fridays and Saturdays selling fresh, organic vegetables, but it also offers tours. Farm Camp for adults gives the older crowd a short course in growing food.…
Best Thankless-Task-Doers
Unpaid. Unpopular. Yelled at in public meetings and browbeaten by the Texas Education Agency. On Thursday nights they receive a huge folder full of campus data that they have to wade through before the long board meeting on the following Monday night. Why anyone would want to sit on the Austin Independent School District board…
Best Tress Unstresser
Is there anyone else in town who loves cutting and styling hair more than Roxana Wise? It’s doubtful. Her charming little shop past the crook in Mary Street, just off South Lamar may be hard to place until your first visit, but once you’ve had your tresses cut and styled by Roxana, you will gladly…
Best Place To Get Cattle Feed, Spurs, Chicken Supplies, and That Ranch-Hand Feeling
A drive to Callahan’s is a trip to the rural roots of Austin, where the bulletin board advertises not raves and roommates but bull studs, foals for sale, and roaming ranch hands. The sprawling, quirky general store has feed and seed, hardware, hens, iron skillets, supplies for all manner of beast and bird, and a…
Arts Review
This critique of public education loses grade points on acting choices
Res Publica
Citizens’ calendar, Sept. 2-9
Best Hotel/Motel Pool
The only problems with San Antonio’s Hotel Havana and the Thunderbird hotel in Marfa? They’re not in Austin, of course. To the righteous go to the spoils, fortunately, so locals sidle up happily to Capital City hotelier Liz Lambert’s two local flagships: the MOMA-style modernity of South Congress Avenue’s Hotel San José, and the off-strip…
Best Performance Space
What do you want in a performing arts center? An expansive concert hall with pristine acoustics? An intimate studio theatre with the flexibility to present stage plays, dance, and chamber music? An exterior space to which patrons are drawn as a gathering place during performance breaks, maybe one with a sweeping view of the city…
Best New Club
In less than a year, Barbarella (aka Barbs) rocketed into the stratosphere of legendary Red River clubs. Its success is based on a string of smart choices by the management. First, there’s the support of local movers and shakers like the Glitoris, whose TuezGayz have become the weeknight gay night. Second, there’s the interaction with…
Best Outdoor Dining
For the sixth year running the readers’ mandate stands: Shady Grove’s twinkling canopy, barbecue, Hippie Sandwich, and stone patio make us happy on both sunny days and summer nights. Go by on a Thursday night for the Unplugged live music series.
Best Teen Hangout
This cold splash of delicious fun has long been a steady eddy for Austin’s youth culture. Here is where young folks of all stripes exchange their teenage angst for good clean fun – in a humongous spring-fed pool smack dab in the center of the city. Beats hanging out at the mall any day of…
Best Radio Music Deejay
Though his playlists today might not be quite as free-ranging (and surprising) as they were when he spent 30 hours a week behind the mic, John Aielli still spins enough varied and unexpected music for his long-running KUT program to more than justify its title, Eklektikos. The public radio station’s morning host for the past…
Best Fitness Classes
When the saying “Everything is bigger in Texas” starts applying to your ass, then you know it’s time to give Stephanie McDonald and her team at Austin Adventure Boot Camp a call. You participate; they motivate; your booty gets a little less bounce. You better let them see you sweat!
Best Austin Icon
You know you’re an icon when people visiting from out of state (or even out of the country) happily tell their townie friends “I saw Leslie!” as if it’s a badge of having nailed the Austin experience. Such is the prominence achieved by River City’s favorite cross-dressing, neighborhood-rambling magnet-doll magnate, former mayoral candidate, and T.C.…
Best Car Wash
Tell us if you’ve had the same reverie: watching your car roll down the cleaning production line at Genie Car Wash, wishing (just once) that you could hide in the backseat just to experience all the wipers (mechanized and human) from the inside. It’s either that dream or the one where we hijack the old…
Best Example of Turning Lemons Into Lemonade
Count us among those who were very surprised when the Sunset Valley Farmers’ Market up and moved to a prime location in the Barton Creek Square mall parking lot on a week’s notice in the early spring. Instead of signaling the end of a popular market in Sunset Valley, the internal squabbles that caused the…
Most Successful Spin-off Restaurant
For those of us too broke, impatient, and badly dressed to sit through one of Austin’s many fine Indian dining experiences, there’s Tarka, Clay Pit’s hot-younger-sister restaurant. Choose-your-spice-level curries, crispy naan, huge biryani bowls, fragrant rice, and thick lassis are prepared fast and consumed even faster. Oh, and everything on the menu is less than…
Best Artisan Resource
When contract publisher and graphic design company owner Marla Camp bought the Edible Communities franchise for Austin in 2007, we had no way of knowing how quickly and completely Edible Austin would become a reliable resource for the Austin artisan food community. Whether it’s a BookPeople reception for a cookbook author or a benefit for…
Best DVD Rental/Purchase
This year marks two solid decades of Vulcan Video being recognized as one of the “Best of Austin.” After earning your recognition for 20 years, we don’t think there’s anything we can tell you about Vulcan’s general badassery that you don’t already know. Go there tonight, thank the clerks, and ask them about what’s playing…
Best Clothing
What’s in a name? Spend an hour in one of Strut’s adorable dresses, in those supercute shoes, or those darling dangly earrings, and “strut” is exactly how you’ll move through the world.
Best Undiscovered Event Venue
Just 10 miles from Downtown in deep South Austin (aka Manchaca) sits Hummingbird House, a spacious indoor/outdoor venue for weddings, fundraisers, birthdays, and more. These beautifully manicured 5 1/2 acres beckon with lush greenery, flowers constantly in bloom, and hummingbirds, of course, in season. There is a 40-by-80-foot covered pavilion fed by lovely walkways and…
Best Combined Force of Radical Politics and Bluth Family Homage
Arrested Development went to the TV sitcom graveyard years ago, but its dream of a frozen banana stand still lives on. Actually, Bananarchy’s prime motivator, it seems, is in uplifting the neglected banana’s profile in the ongoing dessert wars (the website raises a fist at the “Cakeists” and the “Ice Cream Echelon”). So, to recap:…
Best Social Ride
It’s said that in order for bikes and cars to coexist, cyclists need to increase their visibility, both in general and in numbers. In Austin, group rides happen almost every day, but one of the biggest is the Thursday night social ride. Around 250 bicyclists, including everyone from kids to seniors on fixies, cruisers, and…
Best Uniform on a City Official
This is a woman who knows how to take the heat, as well as give off some sparks of her own whenever she appears in uniform. And it’s not just any uniform. As chief of the Austin Fire Department, Rhoda Mae Kerr presents an authoritative figure in her crisp white shirt embellished with her status…
Best Tribute to a Father
How cool is this: Inspired by the brief but pivotal career of her father, Gram Parsons, Polly Parsons’ Hickory Wind Ranch offers a sober living environment for recovering men and women. Though it does not regard age, ethnicity, or profession, there is a creative element to the program that comes from Parsons’ deep belief in…
Best Place To Keep Us in Stitches
Just south of the river, there’s a colorful sign pointing you toward a Craftsman bungalow bustling with creativity and inspiration. Last winter, Leslie Bonnell and her crafty cohorts assembled Stitch Lab from informal sewing classes held at homes and studios to a full-fledged center. The often wait-listed classes, geared to both kids and adults, cover…
Arts Review
This adaptation of Homer’s epic is faithful to a fault and rough around the edges
Back to (Informal) School
UT’s informal classes programs gets new lease on life
Best Hotel/Motel Staff
Well, what else would you expect from the Four Seasons? The expertly trained staff is at your beck and call, eager to cater to your every whim and fancy. If they don’t have what you want, they know where to get it for you fast. Any special need? Let them know, and it will be…
Best Place To See Local Art
The numbers alone might be enough to earn the East Austin Studio Tour this award; after all, where else in town can you see work by some 300 area artists and artisans over a couple of weekends? But EAST is also remarkable for its openness and diversity and a unique form of intimacy in its…
Best Party of the Year
We all know what South by Southwest is supposed to be: industry yadda yadda networking blah blah conference yammer yammer. Let’s cut the bullcorn, shall we? Open bars, dancing, making out with people from across the world, and meeting hotshot new musicians/filmmakers/techies/journalists turns SXSW into the biggest and best party this town has ever seen.…
Best Place To Take a First Date
A friend once told us that at Uchi, it’s not just about a reverence for raw fish; it’s about a delicate balance of flavors, an attention not just to all five senses but to all five taste sensations – sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and that most furtive and flirtatious of the five: umami, or savoriness.…
Best Texas Amusement Park
When New Braunfels flooded (again) earlier this summer, Schlitterbahn reopened the very next day. That’s a testament to the world-class resolve of this Central Texas treasure. Since 1979, the original Schlitterbahn has mastered the art of what loosely translates to “slippery roads.” With more than 65 acres of entertainment options, there’s literally something for everyone,…
Best Radio Talk/News Host
Charlie Hodge, formerly one-third of the morning radio trio on The Dudley and Bob Show, has launched his own four-hour midday program featuring his brand of idiosyncratic comedy (complete with impressions of notable local figures George W. Bush, the Whataburger dude, and the Lockhart sausage – yes, he impersonates a sausage) mixed with tried and…
Best Gear/Sporting Goods
Need a kayak? No problem. Baseball pants? Sure, we got those. How about a tent, meals ready-to-eat, slippers, or even a firearm? Yup, got ’em all. Let’s face it, between outdoor outfitting giants REI and Academy Sports + Outdoors, you can find anything and everything you need to tackle any and every outdoor activity –…
Best City Official
He’s admittedly not Mr. Charisma, but Mayor Leffingwell’s meat-and-potatoes approach to governance has gotten a lot done in one year – attracting several high-profile employers, calling a transportation bond election for November, and more, all with his Yogi Berra-esque brand of groan-worthy humor. While we haven’t agreed with all his decisions, we doubt he’d expect us…
Best Computer Repair
Visits to veterinarians and computer repair shops are possibly the most nerve-racking appointments we keep. Check a different award for the former, but when it comes to your precious iBook, it’s Whitney Tracy to the rescue. Founder of Happy Mac, Tracy isn’t new to this award. His experience inside Macintosh boards and drives, the reassuring…
Best Local Food Trend
Whether these meat products are called charcuterie (French), salumi (Italian), or artisan sausages (American), we are so down with this tasty retro trend in the craft of butchering and preserving meat. The chefs at these local companies are mastering the art of preserving meats, turning pork, beef, lamb, and seafood into delectable dishes that can…
Best Birthday Ball
Forget the beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking stereotype of bowling – the truth is, it’s hard to beat this game for a noisy, exciting celebration for your kid’s most recent trip around the sun. And it’s hard to beat Dart Bowl, with their famous Dart Bowl Enchiladas and those cute, kid-friendly cartoons that pop up with every score.…
Best Ironic Use of Letters
We of a certain overlooked generation have been down the block and back with sincerity a few times, but by now it’s pretty evident we’ve settled down and shacked up with irony the way goddess intended. And to keep our committed thing hoppin’, we’ve been known to indulge in some consensual mutual parody from time…
Best Furnishings/Home
Despite the website tout that Four Hands is the “Leading Importer of Lifestyle Furnishings,” folks here in Austin aren’t always wild about imports of any kind, and usually, the only lifestyle they care about is their own. So Four Hands is a particularly impressive success story, having won the hearts and homes of hundreds of…
Best Video-Game Rental/Purchase
Who could have guessed five years ago that the little temple to retro gaming would survive, let alone expand to three stores (not counting the new online-purchase option)? Not content to do your nostalgic controller jockeying alone? The annual Classic Game Fest gets gamers out of the house and into Game Over’s parking lot for…
Best Advocates of Drinking and Fact-Checking
Chicago transplants Mike Graupmann and Ralph Hardesty are no doubt masters of the nerdly arts, but they’ve harnessed their powers for good with the monthly Encyclopedia Show. Raging against the shadowy Institute of Human Knowledge and Hygiene, the series aims to crack wise on various topics like mythological beasts and vice presidents and has gone…
Best Cupcake Baker Without a Bakery
Cupcakes may be all the rage again this year, and there are some clever vendors out there that would have you believe they have the tastiest cupcakes of them all. But we’d like to submit the cupcakes whipped up by Maritza Lujan of Four Pink Dragonflies for your consideration, because she’s totally sold us. The…
Best Splash & Dash
Austin lap-swimmers already know the joys of a workout in the cool waters of Deep Eddy Pool. But have you tested your fitness against your aquatic brethren? Every August, this multiheat race – now 9 years old and organized by former Olympic gold medalist Sandy Neilson-Bell and top U.S. Masters swimmer Keith Bell – lets…
Best Unsung Downtown Advocate for Awesome
Any given day, Michael McGill is all over Downtown Austin – sitting on the boards of the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association and the Austin Parks Foundation, spreading performing arts awareness with Catalyst 8, or working magic with the Downtown Austin Alliance. And if that’s not enough, he’s also the cultural liaison for the Hideout Theatre.…
Best Way To See Right Through You
It’s no fun once you find out you need “diagnostic imaging services.” But if an MRI or a CT scan is what the doctor ordered, you know you are in sensitive, professional, and well-trained hands at River Ranch Radiology. Best of all, patients are allowed to bring in a DVD to help distract them during…
Best Reason To Start That Kraftwerk Cover Band
In the mood for a Moog? Dreaming of a drum machine? All about analog? The gang at Switched On is making hands-on sense of the synth wave that’s hit Austin recently, offering both vintage and new equipment, repairs, recording space, and classes, as well as an encyclopedic knowledge of electronica and all its spawn. If…
Arts Review
This ceramic, glass, and steel art’s beauty and wit will knock you on your ass
Debate? Check. Debaters? Er …
Perry plans to skip Oct. 19 gubernatorial debate
Best Motel
“So Close Yet So Far Out.” The landmark neon sign for the Austin Motel has appropriately marked the beginning of Austin’s SoCo strip since Mom and Pop Stewart built the now-iconic mom-and-pop back in 1938. Equally beloved for its old-school American charm, the Austin Motel’s ridiculously phallic sign – or at least a Photoshop’d version…
Best Theatre Director
Not content to be one of the best actors in town, not satisfied with tracking down the rarer gems of contemporary theatre for showcasing at his longtime venue, no, Hyde Park Theatre’s Webster also has to work his directorial craft so relentlessly well, with such an enviable company of talented performers, that Chronicle readers shower…
Best Place To Dance
In less than a year, Barbarella (aka Barbs) rocketed into the stratosphere of legendary Red River clubs. Its success is based on a string of smart choices by the management. First, there’s the support of local movers and shakers like the Glitoris, whose TuezGayz have become the weeknight gay night. Second, there’s the interaction with…
Best Sweets/Goodies
We’ve all heard the University of Texas slogan “What Starts Here Changes the World,” and this has proven true in at least one case — Tiff’s Treats, the brainchild of UT grads Tiffany Taylor and Leon Chen. Delivering delicious fresh baked goods at all hours of night and day, Tiff’s has changed the way we…
Best Toys
This longtime local purveyor of playtime pleasures is stuffed with enough goodies to fill a dozen childhoods – and not just the toy tie-ins to the latest Tinseltown blockbusters or TV toons, either. Terra Toys trades in playthings that have delighted kids for generations: Playmobil sets, Breyer horses, Brio wooden trains, Papo knights (and dragons!),…
Best Sportscaster
For more than 20 years, Mike Barnes has been with KVUE, using such local sports segments as “Friday Football Fever” and “Texas Tailgaters” as his calling cards. Arguably the more successful sports-related Barnes in Austin (with Rick presumably being his evil twin), Mike has clearly earned this award thanks to his love and loyalty for…
Best Golf
To outside viewers of the course, the only thing more recognizable than the netting protecting balls from straying onto Lake Austin Boulevard are the Save Muny signs. The Austin staple founded in 1934 keeps getting the “BOA” award for best golf course, so let’s hope the UT board of regents gets smart and Lions Municipal…
Best Council Member
Although he’s been a mover and shaker in Austin for a while now, Mayor Pro Tem Martinez is doing much more moving these days – on up. Expanding his roles and responsibilities while humbly deflecting kudos, this East Austin son’s sky is seemingly limitless.
Best Dry Cleaner
With eight locations around Bat City, Westbank Dry Cleaning is the place Austinites favor to make collars crispy sharp and restore glory to the garments we treasure. There’s even an outpost in the Frost Bank Tower, and deliveries are made Downtown to defeat wardrobe emergencies in the Capital City.
Best Lunch Refuge for Downtown Masses
Were the Goddess of Liberty to jump down from her perch atop the Capitol dome and set up shop at the corner of 11th & Brazos, at some point, she’d probably enjoy a nice, “cents”ible lunch at this delightfully utilitarian Downtown diner. After one of the revolving Messhall daily specials (such as lasagna, chicken-fried steak,…
Best Healthy Treat Atmosphere
The interior here is colorful with a playful feel: television set to Disney, a party room with glass walls, and one location even has a Guitar Hero arcade. The wall decor is a list of the reasons frozen yogurt is a positive alternative as a treat but also has spaces for doodling with available dry-erase…
Best Local Swamp (Pop) Tour
Every Wednesday morning, 9-11am, deejay and Louisiana-music master Tom Mahnke invites you to board the “Zydeco Train,” the Cajun/Creole choo-choo, as it were, for the qui, the quelle, the où, and the quand of Louisiana music, from tributes to Clarence “Frogman” Henry to the recently passed Bobby Charles (“See You Later, Alligator”), from all points…
Best Gardening Store
John Dromgoole’s Natural Gardener is a Hill Country oasis for the green-minded. With acres of organically grown plants, vegetables, herbs, and more (goats and chickens and donkeys, oh my!), it’s got every corner of your garden covered. Got a brown thumb, you say? Couldn’t even keep a cactus alive? Don’t fret, the NG’s staff have…
Best Blue Hues Renewed
Her flared top makes us think of Cybill Shepherd in the late Sixties, on her back at a slumber party, kicking up a bell-bottomed leg to Jack LaLanne on TV. The Robert Mueller Airport Air Traffic Control Tower is nothing if not nostalgic. Christened along with the rest of the then-updated terminal in 1961 by…
Best Approximation of the Fall of the Roman Empire
Although it took hundreds of years for the Roman Empire to decline and fall, Austinites only needed two nights. The first was the Austin Museum of Art’s annual Food and Wine Festival, where Austinites tasted “the sweet life” from more than 50 restaurateurs and liquor purveyors, all on the gorge grounds of Laguna Gloria, prompting…
Best Cure for the Nuclear Heat
Sure, Austin has had a relatively mild summer. A mild Austin summer is still ludicrously hot. GoodPop to the rescue! Using all natural ingredients, evaporated organic cane juice, and agave nectar as a sweetener, these paletas aren’t your average hot-day cure. Mango chile and El Cucuy (lime, cucumber, and chile) are amazing flavors for sure,…
Best Trainer of Rising Pugilists
Having retired from boxing in 2006 at the top of her game (having worn title belts in four different weight classes), Wolfe now trains such up-and-comers as unbeaten light middleweight title holder James Kirkland (currently sidelined while in jail) at her Ann Wolfe Boxing & Fitness Center, where she emphasizes “self discipline, responsibility, and contribution…
Dearest Departed
When a sudden illness took Señora Barrientos last December, it stunned her family and the whole community. Eulogized by her spouse, former Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, as his inspiration and strength, she was an unassuming but tireless activist for Mexican-American advancement, progressive politics, and a wide range of creative arts institutions. A founding board member of…
Best Way To Upload Friends and Family
We have few uses for photo prints these days, since we now share myriad images with a click and enjoy them on a screen. Most consumer printers yield only 4-by-6-inch prints or smaller, so take heart when it’s time to enlarge and frame that old shot of Uncle Buddy for Aunt Dixie’s birthday. Precision Camera…
Best Soul Proprietors
By moving from the Eastside to new North Loop digs this year, the vinyl-only Breakaway Records may have found its niche. Owner Gabe Vaughn, master of ceremonies for many a Second Sunday Sock Hop, knows his soul and R&B, and the 45s and LPs are organized with the care of a real record obsessive. If…
The Hightower Report
Wall Street’s Ethical Dilemma; and Big Banks’ Inside Job
All Things Budgetary … and WTP4
The proposed plant dominates budget discussions at the dais
More Debate Hate
Abbott leaves debate decisions to his campaign
Best New Building (Past Five Years)
Remember that saying about everything being bigger in Texas? The Austonian is not only the tallest building in Austin but also the tallest all-residential building west of the Mississippi River. The 56-story luxury condo development now dominates the Downtown skyline – even if it does look like a monolithic USB drive.
Best Visual Artist
Who says graffiti doesn’t last? The only trace of the old Tower Records on the Drag is the history of rock & roll caught in the murals of Federico Archuleta, aka Fe De Rico. His Tex-Mex-sexy spray-can Virgins and stencil Lady Godivas – part street art, part folk art – are Austin’s new icons.
Best Scenester/Mover & Shaker
ILoveMikeLitt, a social organization founded by Mike Litt, started out as a T-shirt in 2001. (Try reading it aloud without pauses – get it?) It eventually became a club at the University of Texas supporting Mike Litt’s campaign for homecoming king in 2004 and continues providing Austin with a variety of “Community-Based Entertainment Solutions,” including…
Best-Kept Secret
While these gems aren’t exactly hidden (they each have their loyalists), they are less obvious than more crowded contenders. And therein lies added appeal. St. David’s Cafe Divine is an air-conditioned respite in the heart of Downtown offering free wi-fi (boasting a “higher connection,” ha-ha!), hot coffee, cold libations, sinful brownies, sandwiches and wraps, and…
Best Video-Game Rental/Purchase
It may be a megachain store, but the employees know their way around a controller, and the used-game section is unbeatable. And when you’re stuck in the mall, what’s better than a well-placed gaming station?
Best Sportswriter
In a city where you’re vilified for being anti-Longhorn, this award is a testament to Austin American-Statesman writer Kirk Bohls’ great work. Even after he voted for Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh for Heisman over Longhorn legend Colt McCoy, you admired Bohls’ stand and decided an honest opinion was better than a pressured one.
Best Local Team
With Colt McCoy signed on as a Cleveland Brown, the Garrett Gilbert era has begun for Austin’s (and the entire state of Texas’) most beloved team. Some may attend church on Sundays, but here in football country, we worship in the pews of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturdays.
Best Elected Official
As U.S. representative for Central Texas, Doggett keeps actively connected to the community and personally invested in education, health care, and volunteer service. No matter how hard the Republicans try to gerrymander his district or sideline him in Congress, our Democratic supercongressman has remained a firm voice for health care and education on Capitol Hill,…
Best Florist
Serving Austin since 1974, this family-owned business pleases again and again as Austin’s full-service florist. Romantic occasions? Everything’s coming up roses! New baby? Gerbers, baby! Any occasion: St. James likes to gaze at the stars! Freytag’s aims to please and has done that so well that readers salute them year after year with a green…
Best New York Bagel Short of Actually Going to New York
So it’s the weekend, and you’ve got big plans ahead that could be impaired by a brunch of mimosas and eggs Benedict and lord knows what else. It’s time for the perfect bagel. Crusty on the outside, lofty, dignified dough on the inside: This is what you’ve been waiting for in Austin for years. Plus,…
Best Math Tutor for Musicians and Other Dreamers
We used to think “mathlete” was a euphemism for kids who are supernaturally talented at cipherin’ but don’t particularly enjoy throwing around the old pigskin. We now know, of course, that your brain needs exercise just like your body, and doing math is an excellent conditioning regimen. Lacie Taylor’s Taylor-Made Tutoring specializes in an engaging…
Best News for Dauber Dabbers
If it’s an early weeknight out with your friends and you’ve got half a six-pack under the table and dauber ink already all over your fingers, you must be at bingo. Between rounds, instead of buying pull-tab cards or making giant origami with your losing sheet, check out a copy of Bingo Gossip. This statewide,…
Best Green Business
From your regular organic, green home-and-garden shopping needs to a last-minute mad dash to find that environmentally friendly wood finish, Eco-Wise is the place. The friendly staff are knowledgeable, and though the shop may prove humble in size, there’s an extensive spillover online, including everything you need to know about biodiesel.
Best Double-Decker Clash Reference
Where else but in East Austin could you find not only a double-decker bus converted into a food eatery, but also one proudly emblazoned with the scowly mug of the late, lamented punk rock godhead Joe Strummer? Bus owner Tim Lasater serves up mammoth cheesesteaks and assorted Austinlicious pub grub, but it’s the stenciled Strummer…
Best Baby Girl
You may have never heard of Alicia Sedwick, but she is a one-woman Eastside institution. And so is her uncle’s bar, T.C.’s Lounge. You might catch Sedwick shakin’ it to her favorite song, or she might catch you first and lure you out onto the floor. You might even hear her cheering for her favorite…
Best East Austin Roots, Literally
Four family farms in Central East Austin and Farmhouse Delivery’s Elizabeth Winslow organized this tour, harking back to the days when their neighborhood was well-tended and productive agricultural property. Several hundred people paid to tour Boggy Creek Farm, HausBar Farms, Rain Lily Farm, and Springdale Farm, tasting dishes made from farm produce and sipping local…
Best Beefcake Entrepreneur
She’s one of gay Austin’s most stalwart allies, with a history in the community as deep and wide as her collection of big-brimmed, Sunday-go-to-meetin’ hats. She’s a diva of dishy proportions (a dish you wish to not be on the wrong side of!). She’s a bon vivant, a raconteur with stories that could make your…
Most Determined Whistleblower
Beginning in the spring of 2008, city Fleet Services Manager Daniel Lomas began reporting to his supervisors apparent problems with the department’s accounting of parts inventory, particularly tires. His concerns received only shrugs and reprimands from his bosses. He didn’t give up, continuing to keep meticulous records of his exchanges and sending them along to…
Fiercest DIY Spirit
Austin’s raddest bike co-op recently opened its new headquarters on Webberville Road, its third move in two years and hopefully its last. YBP operates by the teach-a-man-to-fish ethos, offering free education in bike repair and free or low-cost ways to get new riders on the road. The shop was renovated by volunteers and financed by…
Best Veggies by the Tracks
As far as we know, it has nothing to do with the Obama campaign, but the HOPE Farmers Market does encapsulate the social shift that swept him into office. Small-scale but thoughtful in its offerings (local produce, arts, crafts, landscaping plants, vegan Indian food), the market is a community-oriented nonprofit associated with the Helping Other…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
They have chocolate Cheetos in Japan. The moon smells like gunpowder. According to Nobel Prize-winning scientist Robert Richardson, the world is running out of helium, and resources could run out within 25 to 30 years. A 1996 law ruled that the Federal Helium Reserve, located near Amarillo, Texas, should be sold off within 20 years.…
Music Venue Owner Fights Lawsuit ‘Blitzkrieg’
Multiple firms claim money owed for work on Backyard, Austin Music Hall
Best Public Art
Many first encounter the large knit covering on the pipe outside of the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar and think, “What a great way to keep that poor thing warm!” So many of our readers name-checked Knitta’s reworking of artist Carl Trominski’s blue reflector signs, Moments, under the railroad overpass on Lamar. Having knitted coverings…
Best Bar Ambience
It’s like some opium-fueled steampunk dream, the interior of this posh eatery and bar that incorporates the industrial and fine-art metalwork of owner Mickie Spencer and features a few big works by mad-scientist sculptor Steve Brudniak. Such a setting’s an oddly compelling fit for the locally sourced weekly menus of Executive Chef Sonya Cote, the…
Best Video-Game Studio/Developer
In addition to churning out AAA titles such as Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2, BioWare is hard at work to maintain supremacy with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Though SWTOR is BioWare’s first entry into the MMO scene, it’s poised to be that World of Warcraft killer we’ve all been looking for.
Best Afterschool Activity
Here’s a theatre company that inspires and promotes the whimsical creativity that only a child can dream up. Erin Byrne’s focus on encouraging the inventive spirit of a child immersed in an artistic environment has sparked national acclaim. Parents love watching their children in the driver’s seat, creating and performing plays and music. Let the…
Best Journalist
Who knocked over the tire mound of mystery? Jordan Smith. Who unlocked the KeyPoint Government Solutions report into the Nathaniel Sanders II shooting? Jordan Smith. Who helped exorcise the ghosts of the fake satanic abuse scandal that put innocent people in jail? Jordan Smith: the best damn cops and courts reporter in Texas.
Best Talk/News Station
Whether you want the latest buzz out of City Hall, the scoop on the day’s national headlines, or someone to keep you company on your evening commute, KUT’s on the air. But Austin’s favorite public radio station does a little bit more than that. Like the sound of a baseball game in the summertime or…
Best Place To Camp
Thirty-two springs on 115 acres make this Hill Country getaway prime stomping grounds for campers. Take a stroll through the butterfly gardens or a dip in one of the spring-fed pools. Set up your tent, or park your RV. It’s only $5 for day-trippers and $10 for overnighters.
Best Environmentalist
Don’t let the bashful smile fool you. Robbins may be slight of stature (he once joked that if he turned sideways, he’d disappear), but inside that oversized blazer, you’ll find the heart of a lion undeterred after three decades of fighting for sustainability, transparency, and wise energy policy at City Hall. A tireless wonk and…
Best Hair Salon
Sure, you could spend the money on self-help audiobooks, but we think you’re already perfect inside. Why not try out personal transformation on the outside? Winner of this category in 2008, Urban Betty keeps its foot in the winner’s circle by consistently providing fabulous styling services in the neat and cozy 26 Doors spot stocked…
Best Next-Best Thing To Hiring a Personal Chef
Wish you could eat tasty, healthy meals every day without all the shopping, chopping, cooking, and cleaning involved? Of course you do and now you can, because the fairy godmother of busy, hungry, fit (or aspiring to be) people has finally waved her wand over Austin, making all these magical places appear where you can…
Best Place Between High School and a University
What better way to get that new grad up and out of their own personal couch indention than by encouraging a little local community college action? Affordable, approachable, and accessible from every possible angle in Austin, (as well as Round Rock and San Marcos), the many campuses of ACC are the perfect places to further…
Best Recession-Proof Rentals
For many, any entertainment expense outside the DVD rental kiosk requires some budgeting. That’s why the library’s so indispensable. Films and DVDs, including multidisc sets, can be kept out for up to three weeks, and the library regularly adds recent blockbuster, arthouse, and kids’ selections to its collection. Online holds can be arranged that will…
Best Liquor Store
A Spec’s employee’s suggestion to leave New Amsterdam Straight Gin in the freezer, allowing for a thick, icy smoothness, was one of the best pieces of advice ever afforded to this novice drinker. Whether searching for imported beer, fine liquor, or wine, that’s exactly the type of customer that will feel totally comfortable at Twin…
Best Mural Savers
When the Movie Store closed earlier this year, there was double sadness. First, because another mom-and-pop video store had gone, but second, because this could have spelled doom for an iconic mural. A mash-up of every sci-fi classic film, from Flash Gordon to Gojira, the fear was that it would fall prey to itinerant taggers…
Best Brewery
The fact that we can even give this award is a sign that Austin’s brewing scene has arrived: There are now enough breweries in town (nine, if you count brewpubs and Blanco’s Real Ale) that we can actually haggle over which one is best. Even more exciting is that the decision was difficult – there’s…
Most Unabashed and Honest Shameless Self-Promotion
And that’s saying a lot in this town! Since the trashy, porny, and beloved TWiT (This Week in Texas) has gone AWOL, the question has been who will take up the bar gossip mantle? The good folks at Charlie’s Austin have been publishing their own glossy rag for these past few months – and they’ve…
Best Campus Activists
When word came down from the UT Tower that the lights were dimming on the Cactus Cafe, everyone was shocked. Yet it was the Student Friends of the Cactus Cafe, spearheaded by Hayley Gillespie and Zachary Bidner, that campaigned against the closure, demanded documents explaining the administration’s high-handed decision, and busted the myth that students…
Most Elusive Object of Our Affection
Oh, luminous, silvery blue-gray, blind amphibian with salt-and-pepper spots, we look for you in the bottom of the springs, in the caves and rock crannies around the creek, hiding in the algae. You’re our canary in a coal mine, our endangered salamander that lives nowhere else in this whole wide world but our fair Barton…
Friendliest Greeters in Town
After a day of flying – or of waiting in airports for that delayed next connection – arriving home can seem like just another bleary-eyed burden: schlepping the baggage, loading the trunk, finding our mazelike way out of the lot. How delightful, then, to arrive at the parking toll booth to a Texas-sized smile and…
Best Vintage Reproduction Cowboy Boots
There are lots of cool cowboy boots in Austin, but Heritage has a lock on the glorious styles from the past. Loving the lore, craftsmanship, design, and feel of vintage boots, owners Jerry and Patti Ryan have gone back to the roots of the boot to bring us their gorgeous re-creations. In addition to the…
Louis Malfaro and 18 Years of AISD Politics
The teachers’ union veteran looks back as he moves forward
Takers
This Los Angeles-set heist movie stars lots of well-muscled men.
Best Sign
“So Close Yet So Far Out.” The landmark neon sign for the Austin Motel has appropriately marked the beginning of Austin’s SoCo strip since Mom and Pop Stewart built the now-iconic mom-and-pop back in 1938. Equally beloved for its old-school American charm, the Austin Motel’s ridiculously phallic sign – or at least a Photoshop’d version…
Best Bar Staff
In this time of fiscal belt-tightening, you can feel both your belt and your wallet loosening as you step into the expansive room lined with a huge bar, a Tardis taking you to the 19th century. Here, there’s absinthe. Lots of it, since it was relegalized in 2007. The ritual is the same as ever:…
Best Wine Selection
Everywhere you look, Vino Vino is nudging you to take it home, like a sultry late-night encounter. But this won’t end in a walk of shame; the staff know their grapes, and their grapes are good. So good, in fact, by the taste, glass, or bottle, you’ll be shouting this name twice. Vino! Vino!
Best Birthday Cakes
In the almost 20 years since Russell Milner founded his original bakery, trends in baked goods have come and gone, and Russell’s is still top-tier. If you crave the fluffy crumb of this bakery’s cupcakes, then treat yourself to a Russell’s birthday cake at the very next opportunity. You’ll love it so much you’ll be…
Best Local Author/Poet
Since he’s constantly writing novels, short stories, screenplays, and material for DadLabs.com, we’re not sure when Owen Egerton sleeps. Add to that his work onstage with Girls Girls Girls and Zach Theatre, appearances with (and helping found Austin’s original) Master Pancake Theater, and the release of his own album, and we can see why this…
Best TV Anchor
Amid the shifting TV news landscape, perennial “BOA” favorite Maggio is a comforting, steadying presence. A UT alum with nearly three decades of news experience, she’s in her seventh year of anchoring KEYE-TV’s newscast, delivering the 10pm news with smarts and sincerity.
Best Place To Skate
Under the giant sparkly disco skate, Austinites have learned to tell their toe stops from their bearings, the Texas Rollergirls and the Texas Speed Club have become better competitors, and kids have celebrated their birthdays on wheels. With a new floor laid earlier this year, Playland will keep rolling into the future.
Best Grassroots Activists
Every Saturday for two years, rain or shine, a small but dedicated band of animal lovers stood outside the now-closed Petland along I-35 in far South Austin, bearing signs that read: “Honk for no more puppy mills.” The City Council heard those honks, and in late July passed a citywide ban on retail sales of…
Best Landscape Services
It’s an organic thang! For the second year in a row, Fertile Ground Organic Gardens is our readers’ choice for landscape services. With design, installation, and maintenance with an artist’s touch and an environmentalist’s know-how, the two women who own Fertile Ground keep us blooming.
Best Pies on the Edge
The almost salty snap of the shortbready crust provides the perfect foil for the one-two sugar punch of the meringue and rich wall of chocolate. Judy and Amber Chandler know how to make a pie, and their chocolate cream is just the tip of the sweet tooth. The tiny shop, located next to the U.S.…
Best Place To Develop Creativity
In an educational environment defined by shrinking fine arts budgets and a system that places little to no focus on the exploration of creativity and self-expression, all praise goes to operations like Austin Bat Cave. This little nonprofit holds regular creative writing classes at local middle and high schools, teaches songwriting with local artists (we’re…
Best Texas Archive of Survival
Oral history is the people’s history: a view of a time through the voices of the humble, individual humans who lived it. Outside of the mainstream media matrix of power, wealth, and privilege, history is taking place every day, and oral history is its record. The Texas After Violence Project is an exemplary narrative and…
Best Local Bookstore
All you tech heads can go bang your digital drum elsewhere: We’ll be curled up with a good book at BookPeople, where the printed page is still king. This essential Austin spot has everything you require in a big bookstore – a vast and eclectic selection, book clubs to satisfy every niche, and an unnervingly…
Best New Condo Tower
Like a fabled ivory tower, Spring is located in yet still removed from Downtown. Tall and narrow, not eating up too much skyline, a building like Spring is a rarity in the U.S. It is what is called a “point tower,” with one central elevator core. Virtually a world unto its own, Spring is a…
Best Emblematic Hangout or Don Draper Bowl-a-rama
Every generation of Austinites has an emblematic local hangout that defines the heyday of their carefree youth in River City, such as Barton Springs Pool, the Armadillo World Headquarters, Liberty Lunch, etc. Judging from the crowds that have packed the HighBall since it opened last fall, Tim and Karrie League’s ultra hip and quirky pleasure…
Best 2010 Aztex Comeback Player
Watson’s career has been up and down a few times, but he really seems to have found a happy home with the Aztex this season. A first-round MLS draft pick after just two years at the University of North Carolina, he had three years in the big leagues before being cut and landing here in…
Best Dude Who Paid His Dues
Since 1999, the president of Education Austin has been the champion of teachers’ rights and the bane of trustees in the Austin Independent School District. Now he’s off to become the secretary-treasurer of the Texas affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. Monday night board meetings won’t be the same without him, but the Legislature…
Best Aesthetician – Wax
Maximum FX aesthetician Tess has amazing abilities. She can somehow make you feel comfortable even when your bare bum and legs are over your head, midwax. She can clear a forest faster than a tornado can a trailer park, all while keeping up the convo about love lives, pets, and the daily grind in general.…
Most Amazing Use of the Human Foot
Austin Ashiatsu will change the way you think about massage. The therapist, balancing above you on bars, uses her incredibly sensitive feet to palpate your muscles, and the feeling is almost indescribably strange and fantastic. Feet are bigger and stronger than hands, and the added use of gravity – you are actually being walked on…
Best-Grown Homegrown
So it’s not the Tiffany’s of plant sellers, but who needs all that fancy stuff when you just want cheap plants? No glamorous greenhouses and no artfully arranged hanging baskets, this green queen is just a trailer out past Mustang Ridge on the side of the road, surrounded by dozens of (primarily) native plants that…
Lots of Winners at the Hot Sauce Festival
The 20th annual Hot Sauce Festival judges crowned old and new winners alike
Panel Targets Roots of Wrongful Convictions
Recommendations on improving witness identification and evidence testing head to the Lege
The American
George Clooney stars in this thoughtful thriller from the director of Control, the biopic about Joy Division’s Ian Curtis.
Best Trailer
No, that giant pink cupcake you’re seeing as you walk down South Congress is not a heat mirage; it’s just Hey Cupcake! These cupcake masters opened one of Austin’s first food trailers and operate out of a sleek vintage Airstream with a large pink-and-yellow sprinkled cupcake on top – an architectural feat of candy-land goodness.
Best Beer Selection
An Austin beer-lover’s landmark for variety, this Downtown pub has been serving up frosty mugfuls for more than 15 years. It offers nearly 100 bottled varieties (more than half international brews) and almost as many draft selections – a beer snob’s paradise. Check out weekly specials like Texas Tuesday or Sunday Spaten Specials.
Best 24-Hour/Late
Why does Kerbey Lane’s 24-hour-diner goodness epitomize Austin? Is it the way that West Lake moms and drunken UT undergrads come together at Kerbey to enjoy pancakes, burgers, home fries, and everything in between? The laid-back, interestingly tattooed staff, always happy to oblige special requests? Or maybe it’s just the famed queso that is the…
Best Bookstore
If you want to instill a lifelong love of the literary in a youngster, you’ve got a friend in Texas’ largest independent bookstore. Here, kids get not just a room of their own but a whole store within the store, one with its own savvy, youth-attuned staff; play area and storytime stage for the prereading…
Best Local Blog
It’s the local creation and the regional office. The homegrown Republic of Austin is a DIY mash-up of single-take music videos and debates about art cars vs. hoarder-mobiles, while Austinist has adapted the Gothamist hipster-culture model to life on the banks of Lady Bird Lake.
Best TV Reporter
Was there a time before Quita Culpepper? More to the point, was there a time before Culpepper won our readers’ hearts as the best TV reporter in town? We think not – at least not in the last eight years. Culpepper first hit the “Best of” list in 1999 and, after a three-year hiatus, won…
Best Place To Tube
The Comal River gives New Braunfels what Barton Springs offers Austin – a relaxing, affordable respite from the summer heat. While overshadowed commercially by the Guadalupe, the Comal actually makes for a better day trip, especially for tubing, as it’s considerably shorter, has a sweet tube chute, and is only a stone’s throw away from…
Best Green Program
Stuff your recyclables into a blue cart and roll it to the curb. Stuff yourself into a little blue-and-white car and roll it from the curb. Both the city of Austin’s easy-breezy single-stream program for residential recycling and Car2Go’s expanding fleet of rent-by-the-minute smart-for-two cars encourage the transition toward reducing our carbon footprint, not only…
Best Laundromat
How do you remove pesky bloodstains from your clothing? We didn’t know until we read Wash Day Laundry’s blog, which also told us how to remove chocolate, grease, meat juice/gravy (ew/yum), pencil lead, and the ever-present “unknown stain.” “Pshaw!,” you say, “I can find that information in the latest issue of Good Housekeeping.” Sure, but…
Best Potato Cake
Somehow filling yet refreshing at the same time, this staple snack of Maharashtra, India, is made with love and consistency by New India Cuisine owner Annu Shinde to guarantee that each perfectly crispy, turmeric-yellow bite, cooled with your choice of mint or tamarind-date sauce, will be just as mind-blowing as the last. We highly suggest…
Best Place To Make Merry With Your Artsy Kiddos
Anyone who’s ever covered the kitchen table with oilcloth and made a big, huge mess or tried to make an art studio in a backyard shed will thrill to discover the Art Pad. Located in an old stone house with hardwood floors and near the bakeries, boutiques, and thrift havens of the North Burnet strip,…
Best Theatre Boost and Discounts
This Greater Austin Creative Alliance blog offers reviews of local theatre productions, events, and specialty shows. The blog and the site itself are a great introduction for newbies and a resource for veterans on different stages and troupes (prominent and underground alike), promoting increased awareness of and stronger participation in local theatre. While the blog…
Best Local Hardware Store
Home improvements are the name of the game here, whether your needs are actual nuts and bolts or fine china and garden supplies. Breed & Co.’s eclectic mix has pleased generations.
Best New Roof Over Our Heads
Architects are fond of the principle, “First we shape our buildings, then our buildings shape us.” That’s as true of public places as it is of homesteads, and when we don’t have welcoming places to come together, the spirit of community frays around the edges – of households, neighborhoods, and cities. The folks who founded…
Best First Date Bar
Finally mustered up the courage to talk to that friend of a friend (possibly even of a friend) but unsure of what to do after you get the all-important phone number? Suggest a date at the Tigress. It won’t have the potential for long-form dinner awkwardness, and you’ll be able to hear your date talk.…
Best 2010 Aztex Newcomer
We could have put a lot of names here: bulldog midfielder Lance Watson, stalwart defenders Jay Needham and Leonard Griffin (Max’s older brother), Kenyan attacking midfielder Lawrence Olum, and others have had great years in the Aztex’s rise from last place in 2009 to the best record in the league this year. But we’ll go…
Best Green Voters
In March, University of Texas-Austin students approved a $5 tuition increase to finance sustainability efforts on campus. In doing so, they joined university students around the state – including those at Texas A&M, UT-El Paso, UT-San Antonio, and the University of North Texas – who also voted this year to establish campus green funds. Their…
Best All-Faiths Knot Tyer
Father Scott Johnson has married many, many couples in many, many ways: religious, spiritual, some, all, and/or none of the above. He officiates with Austin flavor and will tailor your wedding to a “T.” It takes a man of deep faith to administer to all faiths, and when it comes to “I do,” there’s something…
Most Fabulous Floral Arrangements
Sumptuous calla lilies become tutu chandeliers for the ballet fete! Lavish orchids for the Hispana Leadership Summit gala! Bamboo and ginger for the Austin Bar Association’s gala! If you’re going to do flowers, you might as well do fabulous flowers, right? Mandarin Flower Co. has made a big splash on the local charity circuit. Working…
Most Distinctive Jewelry Store
While the 2nd Street District is still a bit of a fledgling concept, Beyond Tradition weathers the changes like a pro, having recently added a new men’s clothing and accessories collection. But with jewelry collections from Tracy Tenpenny, Catherine Nicole, Cynthia Bloom, and others, Beyond Tradition is truly just that. Kappie Bliss (how’s that for…
Event Menu
Take a bite out of these fun foodie happenings
Track to the Future
Tilke GmbH unveils design for F1 track
Machete
Robert Rodriguez fulfills his early promise with this Mexploitation action film that also catapults Danny Trejo into full-fledged superhero status.
Best Window Display
A tie? Between Gail Chovan’s original pinnacle of monochromatic couture and taste (hint: Blackmail) and the international chain of elegant, upscale furnishings; decor; and odor-enhancing ointments (take a guess) and the wonders of come-hither design they work in their respective shops’ windows? We reckon the tie must be at least three layers of black lace…
Best Beer/Wine Prices
When the almighty selection can be measured in yards, there’s goodness in the graciousness of the powers that be that decree the dollars make cents at Spec’s. It’s got weekly specials as well as frequent-shopper and cash discounts that make hosting a little happier. All the featured local Texas selections and expert advice? That’s just…
Best Cheap Date
There’s Tex-Mex, and then there’s Austin, Tex-Mex, and it’s the latter this tasty taco joint has perfected. These tortilla titans have a sense of humor (see menu items like the Dirty Sanchez and the Trailer Park); show your date you’ve got one, too, by ordering your tacos “trashy.” He’ll get your drift.
Best Clothing
How is Baby Bugaloo stocked with the hip and trendy wee-sized clothes that can make any Austin baby outshine the latest celeb spawn? It’s all in the eye of buyer Kinnison Bryan. This boutique is a must for stocking up on baby shower gifts, and the kiddie events and atmosphere have made it a neighborhood…
Best Local Blogger
Founder of the popular Republic of Austin, Chris Apollo Lynn is outgoing and always on the town. An Internet-age Kerouac (though we can’t shake how much he looks like the lovechild of Hugh Grant and Rufus Wainwright), Lynn has a cultural point of view that promotes responsible living, and he does a great job synthesizing…
Best Weatherperson
The formality and candor of KXAN’s chief weather guru and 12-time “Best of Austin” winner Jim Spencer makes the weather sound like dish. Waving a hand at the map in beautifully cut suits, in sleeves even during full meteorology crisis, he always looks perfectly put together, and he still has all the answers.
Best Pool/Billiards
Now this is a pool hall. The tables seem to stretch in rows for miles to the back of the room, where a comfortingly dive-y bar waits for your order. If you get a cramp from practicing the alignment of your shots, there are pinball games and TVs to keep you busy while you rest.…
Best Gubernatorial Moment
What’s the saying – “That dog don’t hunt”? When Governor Good Hair claimed he’d gone all Rambo (and we mean Rambo III, not First Blood) on a coyote while out for a run, we all had just one question: Who needs a laser-sighted pistol when they’re jogging?
Best Movers
Moving can be stressful, but having a positively fabulous experience is neither mythical nor elusive. Unicorn Moving makes the job almost joyful with its movers’ level of professionalism and absolute dedication to making your relocation, be it residential or commercial, smooth and pain-free. (And dare we say, happy?) Word-of-mouth works wonders, and its reviews are…
Best Sauce for a Po’boy
This sassy and classy upscale urban club in Lincoln Village serves up some serious cuisine. Just order the po’boy. It’s one of the yummiest in town. Tender, lightly battered whole shrimp or hunks of catfish, hearty, chewy roll, spring greens, juicy tomato, and … hold up! What’s this? They call it MoJoe, and it packs…
Best Place To Meet Young Swingers
With a gorgeous, decades-old stone swimming pool and an adjacent creek both fed by chilly spring water, how could this privately owned rural swimming hole and campground possibly be more perfect? Well, by attaching a rope to that big ol’ tree hanging over the creek so your kids can explore their inner Tarzan.
Best Way To Find Yourself
Life is a game, the saying goes, but Gowalla knows where all the pieces are. It’s called location-based social networking, in which your phone automatically checks in at real-world sites. Tracking your friends is helpful, but discounts and prizes from vendors you visit are even better. Launched at South by Southwest 2009, Austin-based Gowalla returned…
Best Music Gear
Some would say that the selection of musical goods of all kinds is what is most impressive about this retail music giant, but we think more impressive are the dozens of musicians (both professional and amateur) you can find futzing, tooling, and riffing around the store. Smoke on the waaaaaater!
Best Place To Hide in Plain Sight
Ever wanted to have the Lady Bird Lake Trail all to yourself? Well, there’s at least one way to feel like the lakeside is there for you and you alone: Just east of Lamar Beach sits a large gazebo draped in the spring with wisteria. Dedicated in 1970 by Women in Construction, the pavilion was…
Best Free Course in Film Appreciation
Sure, movies are a feast for the eyes, but don’t forget the ears. Brian Satterwhite sure doesn’t. A respected film composer in his own right (including the score for Austin comedy Artois the Goat), Satterwhite hosts KMFA’s weekly program Film Score Focus, hitting just the right note with new and classic sounds, from spaghetti Westerns…
Best Day Trip
Every Texas “roads scholar” knows Blanco: There are four restaurants, including one that makes fresh doughnuts in the morning and pies in the afternoon. Only an hour west of Austin, the town also has a state park with a waterfall, several bed & breakfasts, a microbrewery, weekend markets on the courthouse square, art galleries, antique…
Best Neighborhood Dream Deferred Realized
After 50-plus years in rented storefronts, this neighborhood favorite has finally landed a brand-new forever home – this one tucked into a corner lot at South Fifth and West Mary. Many of you will remember this spot as the old South Austin Post Office, from which some bricks were salvaged and reused in the eco-friendly…
Best Cat Whisperer
Michelle Oliveri talks to cats – and listens to them, too. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in Austin who better understands and explains feline behavior, which can be – err – quirky at times. There’s good reason for Oliveri’s expertise. Not only does this vet tech work at Austin Vet Care at Central Park,…
Most Luxurious Ground Transport
The fabulous Mercedes Mobilejet is nothing if not a first-class airline cabin – with an attendant, no less – able to get you door-to-door from Austin to your destination in Houston or Dallas in the same amount of time it would take you to catch a flight, travel, deplane, and travel some more to your…
Most Spectral Feet
Whether reliving the glory days of seventh-grade basketball tourneys of yore or enhancing the already overwhelming pheromone spritz of the babe-magnet you are, your choice to do so in Pride Socks speaks volumes. How better to express such fashion-forward thinking than with a warm wink to the past? How better to rock one’s inner unicorn…
Day Trips
A look back at the first 1,000 ‘Day Trips’
Oops!
In last week’s “Cap Metro to Suburbanites: Get Off the Bus,” News, a photo caption made it appear that forcing bus riders onto MetroRail’s Red Line is official agency policy. Instead, the caption should have read: “Critics of Capital Metro allege that the transit agency is cutting express buses to force passengers onto the MetroRail…
Going the Distance
Drew Barrymore and Justin Long explore the difficulties of long-distance relationships in this rom-com.
Best Actor/Actress
The thespians who share this year’s acting honor are used to sharing the stage with each other, having trod the boards together in Angels in America, House of Several Stories, The Laramie Project, and, over numerous yuletides, The Santaland Diaries. Most recently, they served up a one-two punch in Zach Theatre’s production of The Drowsy…
Best Cocktail Menu
It’s like some opium-fueled steampunk dream, the interior of this posh eatery and bar that incorporates the industrial and fine-art metalwork of owner Mickie Spencer and features a few big works by mad-scientist sculptor Steve Brudniak. Such a setting’s an oddly compelling fit for the locally sourced weekly menus of Executive Chef Sonya Cote, the…
Best Farmers’ Market
Although it recently relocated to the Barton Creek Square back lot, this market has provided the connection between Texas farmers and South Austinites for almost 13 years. From High Country Bison and Caskey Orchards peaches to kettle corn, kombucha, and jewelry, this Austin institution offers something for everyone.
Best Club for Teen Performers
A dedicated South Congress knoll, Ruta Maya fairly sprawls. From Roky Erickson and homegrown hoot nights (e.g. Zeppelin, the Summer of Love, and the Rolling Stones) to the kiddie corner and family-friendly living room, Ruta Maya’s built quite the clubhouse for musical teens. And here comes tomorrow’s teen: one blond tot at a recent Flying…
Best Local Entertainment Website
What’s going on tonight? That phrase can strike fear in the hearts of even the most connected city dwellers, but it’s Do512’s business. From music, film, art, and comedy to the best happy hours, Do512 knows what Austinites want to do: drink, mingle, get cultured, and get weird, though not necessarily in that order.
Best Annual Event
South by Southwest: When else can you hear 30 different languages spoken on Sixth Street, all telling you to check out their bands, films, or Web 3.0 projects? SXSW brings the best of the best to three conferences – Music, Film, and Interactive – and Austinites bask in the reflected glory.
Best Scenic View
Once known as Antoinette’s Leap, Mount Bonnell has been considered the most romantic spot in Austin for many years for its sweeping views of the Colorado River and Lake Austin, as well as the almost homey atmosphere of the lookout. Try a workout on the mossy stone steps, and reward yourself at the top.
Best Local Politics Blog
It’s been quite a while since anyone at BOR was a student. In fact, the hard-hitting politics blog has been going long enough to produce its own alumni-turned-campaign pros, yet they continue to find enough new writers who share their raw glee in proving conservatives wrong to keep the local progressive fight strong on the…
Best Pedicure/Manicure
The new and the seasoned come head-to-head in the mani/pedi/personal care category. Halina is an Austin institution, offering Old World-style treatment that generations of Austin women have come to adore. But the youngbloods over at Embellish, eager to offer quality services at affordable prices while still offering all that a “day of beauty” should entail,…
Best Secret Recipe
Just take a seat at one of Pacha’s homey wooden tables surrounded by Andean art, and it will come as no surprise that this coffeehouse is the keeper of a major secret: the Pacha Latte. Delightfully cozy when warm and refreshingly perfect when cold, this latte has it all. It’s sweet and richly subtle, and…
Best Post-Swim Culture
No matter how brilliant the script or talented the cast, the thought of watching theatre outdoors in the Texas summer – especially with hot, grouchy children – can seem daunting. Fortunately, the perfect foil for triple-digit weather is just across the parking lot – chill your chilluns’ cores in the icy waters of Barton Springs,…
Best Way To Get Thee to a Nunnery
From the haunting chants of Medieval monks and nuns sung a cappella to the flirty madrigals of the Renaissance and measured intensity of Baroque dance music, Ancient Voices brings church to us on Sundays. At 9am and 4pm, this show transports Austin through early Europe’s extraordinary tapestries of sound. Peace and a sense of the…
Best Naughty Business
Lube runs out faster than you’d think. You need a large bottle with a pump. And as a consumer browsing either the Fifth Street or North Loop romance emporium, you don’t want to feel like you’ve been pumped. You need some TLC with a shot of Austin cool, tattooed and pierced maybe but never rough.…
Best Place To Table-Dance at a Family Reunion
Relational Aesthetics is that nebulous, highly intellectual, international art movement that makes art out of meals, chance meetings, and art world elite glad-handing. Relational Aesthetics has come to Austin, sans obtuseness. Commissioned by Austin’s Art in Public Places, Open Room Austin by R&R Studios (Miami artist team Rosario Marquardt and Roberto Behar), is a large…
Best New Gay Destination
For having such a thriving gay scene, Austin has surprisingly few designated gay destinations. Now we have one more. M Two offers a relaxed loungelike atmosphere for food, cocktails, and camaraderie. And it’s pleasantly affordable, too. The brainchild of Joe Reynolds (M Bar, Hollywood), M Two’s menu features innovative, light American fare – such as…
Best Downtown Place To Feel the Spirit
St. David’s offers a labyrinth to walk in the heart of Downtown, a perfect getaway meditation garden that’s shielded from onlookers by tall walls. A labyrinth is a kind of symmetrical maze, and this one takes about 20 minutes to walk at a casual pace, but those 20 minutes represent the search for peace that…
Best New Positive Community Space
The welcoming air of this Eastside cultural hub sets the scene – whether that scene is a Capoeira Angola class, drum circle, open mic, film screening, or hip-hop throwdown. The center’s young leaders and members clearly desire to unite and empower the local black community while promoting cultural diversity. Events like the Black August festival,…
Best Eco Makeover
W3LL People constitutes the perfect eco-friendly makeover haven with fresh facial care on one wall and Shirley Pinkson’s “eco-luxe” organic makeup line on the other. Choose from mango- or cucumber-scented sunscreen (paraben-free, of course) or grab a moisturizing lip gloss with corn labels and wind-powered stickers. Packed full of antioxidants, every piece of makeup nourishes…
Most Reasonable Altered States
The suit was perfect. The sleeves were not. They were way too long and needed to be shortened. This was no simple hem. The jacket was lined and featured snazzy decorative buttons. The event where the jacket was to be worn loomed. All of this information was given to a number of local tailors, and…
Best of Austin 2010
One turn might mean the closing of an Austin landmark. Another flip of the card might mean the establishment of a new public service. Up one hand; down the next. No matter how much we shuffle or how much we try to stack, the cards don’t lie. Let’s hope that it’s not all left up…
Gay Place
So many queer (events), so little time
Page Three: Counting Backward
Life is what happens to you
Mao’s Last Dancer
In this film based on a true story, a Chinese ballet dancer defects to the U.S. when he falls in love with a Houston dancer while on tour.
Best Affordable Motel
In addition to offering hostel basics and friendly service on a rolling knoll along the shore of Lady Bird Lake, Hostelling International – Austin awards travel scholarships to those globetrotting with a purpose. This local outpost of the international nonprofit also does its best to green up your travels by using solar power and encouraging…
Best Art Gallery
Just as the collective of visual artists that runs this funky Eastside space continues to develop its national profile – its Corner Store installation winning the 2009 Pulse Prize at the Miami art fair last winter, its Benefit Plate installation at Chelsea gallery Freight + Volume earning a favorable review in The New York Times…
Best Drag Performer
They may have you wondering, “Is she or isn’t she?” Well, you, dear readers, selected these two performers as the “Best of Austin,” so you might as well know. The answer is: “Yes. They are.” Are what? Faaabulous. Each takes a radically different approach to performing in drag, and both can entertain the grumpiest of…
Best Food Event
When it comes to hot ways to partake in this city’s many food events, two beloved perennials come to mind: The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival features hot items in the most literal sense, and AIDS Services of Austin’s Dining for Life program is the local restaurant community’s piquant way to boost the nonprofit’s coffers…
Best DVD Selection
Sony’s PlayStation3 streams Netflix – dozens and dozens of films and TV series to choose from. Multiply that by Library of Congress numbers and titles, and you’ve got the Godzilla and King Kong of homegrown visionary outlets in Vulcan Video and I Luv Video – south, central, and campus, two stores apiece. I Luv is…
Best Local News Website
Missed last night’s big story? Catch a replay on KXAN’s website. Essentially what a news portal should look like in 2010, KXAN’s page features video of most of its stories, offers blogs and photo galleries, and, of course, includes a comprehensive weather page.
Best Annual Festival
That first year, 2002, the Arc Angels crowned Zilker Park’s inaugural music marathon like a picnic in, well, Zilker Park. Dark as pitch, there was plenty of room to spread out a blanket in front of the main stage, looking at the stars while repeating, “There’s no place like home.” Last year, Pearl Jam roiled…
Best Secret Romantic Hideaway
Of course couples are lured to the ambience of this overlook: From the Pennybacker spans and gentle lap of the water below to the relaxing hum of traffic, how could they not? The headlamps of passing vehicles become sweeping spotlights. The red glow from nearby radio antennae and dots of passing brake lights paint twinkling…
Best News Story
According to IfItWereMyHome.com, had the BP oil spill happened here – Austin as ground zero – it would have spread north up to Temple and Killeen, south to San Antonio, east to Brenham, and, with an ominous stretching finger, west of Sonora all the way to Iraan. The explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon well on…
Best Pet Groomer
It’s been said that Austin has 122 acres of parks for every 1,000 pets. That’s a lot of dirt and grass and who knows what else for your dog to roll around in, and as you don’t necessarily want it all in your bathtub or on your couch, that’s where Dirty Dog comes in. Just…
Best Stuffed Hamburger
What sets Bam’s apart is that the ingredients have been stuffed inside the burgers. The kitchen staff starts with hickory-smoked, 100% pure beef patties, then fills them with the freshest ingredients around, and the flavors just explode. Like it kinda spicy? Try the Hatch Chile Burger with cheddar cheese, bacon, and, of course, Hatch chiles.…
Best Swings
Overnight, magically, a place is transformed. A red wooden seat and a pair of ropes appear without warning, and the soaring thrill of swinging swoops up, uniting folks in playfulness. Bring the kids; bring Grandma! The Red Swing Project is the vision of a University of Texas grad who prefers to be known only as…
Most Artful Motivator
Erin Hanson’s dreamy photography has a distinctly vintage vibe, with an eye for dilapidated buildings, sneaky signage, portraits practically swirling with dust motes of a bygone era. No surprise, then, that her side project, the Recovering Lazyholic, packs just as much retro punch. “The Prescription Is Doing,” goes her slogan, and her minimalist “1 Minute…
Best New Local Business
The readers have spoken. And, as is typical of Austinites, you’ve chosen two radically different businesses to tie for Best New Local Business. Ministering to the body and soul, both Live Oak Pharmacy and Stag have distinct views on what the community wants and needs. And due to their extraordinary efforts, inventories, and great tastes,…
Best Respite on the 40 Acres
When their unofficial campus gathering space of the 1980s and ’90s was shut down, black UT students demonstrated and protested publicly. Out of this contested history, the Malcolm X Lounge emerged. Dedicated to providing resources for black students as well as a place to relax and commune, the lounge may be the most radical room…
Best New Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection
“You got wrestling in my music venue!” “You got your hipster cred in my wrestling ring!” The preeminent pro-wrestling promotion in Central Texas found the perfect tag-team partner when it moved out of the gym and suplexed its way into Red River’s buzz club for all things alt and noise as its regular Austin venue.…
Best Intro to Your Putter
If you’ve had a hankering to learn the game but aren’t sure how to get a foot on the green, check into the Buck Mayers Golf Academy on the pastoral grounds of the Grey Rock Golf Club. Veteran golfers Mayers and his partner and wife, Tina, offer both individual and group instruction, focusing on technique,…
Best Paper Prestidigitators
In this day and age, who has time for glue, staples, and other adhesives? The folks at Origami Austin teach you to sculpt using paper and only paper. At the helm is bicycle warrior and chronic Chronicle letter-to-the-editor writer Amy Babich. Check the group’s website for the location and times of the monthly meetings, get…
Best Hope for the Kitties
Austin, we have a problem: cats. And, specifically, feral cats – homeless cats that live in our alleys and yards that have had little, if any, positive human interaction. There’s no real way to know how many of these felines actually live in the ATX, but, by anecdotal wisdom, experts say the number could surpass…
Best Classic Film Fantasy Fodder
Second Run was initially conceived by two sisters who relocated to Austin from Chicago to show movies in a retro theatre setting. They changed course and opened a vintage consignment boutique instead, an innovative and enticing little spot to shop for classic Broadway and Hollywood style. Filled top to bottom with clothing and memorabilia that…
Point Austin: Water, Water (Plant) Everywhere
The arguments over WTP4 have petrified
We Are Family
This Bollywood film is a Hindi adaptation of the Julia Roberts movie Stepmom.
Best Bathroom
Standing regal since 1886, this classy (undeniably Texan) hotel provides inspiring atmosphere not only in the bedrooms but also in the only places more private – the bathrooms. In the blend of dark and light marble, arches, pillars, and elegant drapery, you will find a welcome break from the Sixth Street excitement.
Best Clothing Designer
If New York City transplant Linda Asaf’s gray-and-white alençon lace bikini with its silk chiffon cover-up screams bridal, it should. Known for her exquisite cut and use of lace, Asaf is fluent in both vintage bridal looks and contemporary gowns. Turn the corner and find Chia Guillory, a longtime readers’ favorite best known for her…
Best Jukebox
By no means is this jukebox like the Waffle House ones of yore, with songs lauding the burgers and fries and wings, though that would be wholly justified. No, this jukebox has for years held a rotating playlist of rock and punk rock classics old and new, with quirky gems like Johnny Cash and Serge…
Best Intimate Dining
North Lamar’s Wink serves as the definition of intimate. You’re going to be in very close quarters while dining, but after a few glasses of wine you’ll hardly notice, and the delectable menu is a nice diversion too. Over on the Eastside, the French-inspired Justine’s has a bit more legroom and later hours, and the…
Best Haircut
Now we’re not saying we’re won over just because when we bring our kids in for a haircut, we can also get beer. But anywhere with stylists who can handle the mutton chops of our teen wolf with as much panache and professionalism as they have for a short back and sides and keep the…
Best Local Non-‘Chronicle’ Publication
When looking for the future of journalism, look no further than UT’s beloved Texas Student Media. The Daily Texan is proof college students actually know what’s going on in the world. UT’s award-winning student newspaper has been keeping students informed and breaking local stories since 1900. However, when things get too serious, the Texas Travesty,…
Best Austin Holiday
Hipper than hip and hippie-er than hippies, Eeyore’s Birthday came to be in 1963, long before many regular Chronicle readers were even born. Heralded for its drum circles (once described by a critic as having all the rhythm of tennis shoes in a clothes dryer), face paint, body paint, outlandish costumery or lack thereof, and…
Best Swimming Hole
There have been photography exhibits about it, books bound in its honor, and people have moved here after taking one swim in it. Barton Springs isn’t just a swimming hole; it’s a state of mind, a body of water with magnetic pull, and summers in Austin wouldn’t be the same without it. Dive, lap, or…
Best Scandal
When Joseph Stack flew a plane into a crowded office block on February 18, 2010, killing Vernon Hunter and leaving behind a deranged anti-government manifesto, most people would have expected some statewide soul-searching. But not Gov. Rick Perry. Guess when you abandon the Governor’s Mansion for a $10,000-a-month villa in the hills, that stuff don’t…
Best Printer/Copies
Design, copy, print, pack, ship, and repeat. Design, copy, print, pack, ship, and repeat. FedEx Office helps make the process fun, creative, and easy.
Best Tippler Teach-ins
This 12-week intensive course offers an in-depth study of the history and practice of cocktail mixology – everything from the knowledge of individual spirits to classic cocktail recipes. To graduate, students must fill in a cocktail passport at various locations around the city, pass a 100-question written test, and successfully make three cocktails (out of…
Best Way To Overcome Arachnophobia
The pointy legs and often-furry bodies stick in our nightmares. Why not walk in their eight shoes for a while? You can thank local video-game developer David Kalina and Tiger Style for the chance via your iPhone and iPad. They didn’t make the spider cute and lovable but rather let the eight-legged protagonist be what…
Best Antiques/Collectibles
Walking into Uncommon Objects can be a sensory overload, like wandering around the garage of a wealthy, eccentric, functional hoarder. Therein lies the South Congress antiques store’s charm. There is some order within the ephemera, and its vintage wares and eye candy appeal to those who are odd at heart or more art-minded. Whether you’re…
Best Pet Store
What else can be said about this Readers Poll favorite, in business for 55 years? We could talk about the great selection of superpremium dog and cat foods (dude, they’ll even give you samples to take home to your beloved-but-persnickety eater), the emphasis on natural and pesticide-free pest control products, the toys and outfits and…
Best Tall Drink of Water
The Austin skyline’s changing rapidly, but who’d have thought the water tower at 51st Street would be joining its ranks? The tower, part of Austin Water’s reclaimed-water effort, is an unlikely landmark, but when flying into Austin-Bergstrom at night, its ring of red lights at the top is one of the city’s first visible icons.…
Best Reason To Shake Whatcha Momma Gave Ya
A hint of sin, a flash of flesh, a whiff of perfume, and a sly wink under the spotlight: Since 2007, the Texas Burlesque Festival has played host to dazzling debutantes, vivacious veterans, and pulchritudinous performers of all strip(e)s and put Austin’s tantalizing troupes and seductive soloists on a national stage. Just keep yer pasties…
Best Jump in the River
Huck Finn would never have run away from a spot like the one Kimery Duda calls her office. An enormous bald cypress greets you, then the rest of the world disappears as you glide out onto Lady Bird Lake on a stand-up paddle board. Perfect for those at all levels of water aptitude, stand-up paddling…
Best Reason To Scrap Your Lawn Mower
Want to make the switch to an electric lawn mower but can’t quite afford it? Thanks to Scott Johnson of the Central Texas Electric Lawnmower Program, families all around Austin are trading in their old gas-guzzlers for electric models to share with their neighbors. All it takes is five families each to pitch in just…
Best Place To Recover
Spruce’s Lizzie Nguyen and Amanda Brown hit the ground running less than a year ago, bringing high style and recycling culture together to recover and restore vintage furniture of all eras, right in their on-site upholstery workshop on Lamar. The secret of their success lies in their unusual and gorgeous fabrics, high-quality restoration, and, most…
Best Decorative Vision
Enjoy classic (but not canonized) modern design, astonishing works by local artists, and zany postmodern joie de vivre? And you haven’t plunged in to the many pleasures of IF+D, you say? Then, friend, you have a great big hole in your life that you need to fill with a trip Downtown, pronto. The daughter of…
Ladies, You’re Topps
Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls opens aGLIFF 23
Round Rock Express
Last homestand as Astros’ AAA affiliate
Best Bed & Breakfast
Austin Folk House built a solid fan base for surprisingly affordable and cozy central accommodations and raved-over breakfasts, garnering “Best of Austin” win No. 5. The Kimber Modern swings the gamut toward the übermodern, where spoil-yourself luxury and sleek architecture collide to create a premier boutique destination. The common denominator in both locations? Austin’s finest…
Best Comedian or Comedy Troupe
Pop-culture savants John Erler and Joe Parsons (and their many talented guests) are the Alamo Drafthouse’s lords of misrule, doing to classic big-screen turkeys or contemporary Hollywood bombast what the Ginsu is famous for doing to hapless foodstuffs, slicing and dicing cinematic spectacles with wit and wackiness that’s sorta kinda like the old MST3K done…
Best LGBTQ Hangout
What more can we say about Rain? That we dance until there’s more water outside our body than liquor inside it? That this one time we saw a drag queen laid out like Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra on the patio daybeds and our only wish was to be in her inner coterie? We can dream!…
Best Local Farm
Calendar-makers argue over whether Sunday or Monday marks the start of the week, but ours begins Saturday mornings at this Eastside gem, where fresh greens, henhouse eggs, Larry’s legendary smoke-dried tomatoes, and more nourish our tummy and our soul. Think “nommm” meets ommmmmmmm.
Best Party Place
The bipolar soul of Austin cheers for our tied winners in the Party Place category. West Lake Beach provides the chill kicked-back fiesta by the water, with water volleyball, swimming, picnic tables, barbecue pits, and a horseshoe pit. When it gets too hot to even think about going outside, Main Event is a party madhouse…
Best Local TV News
Tyler Sieswerda, Terri Gruca, Olga Campos, Quita Culpepper, Melissa Gale, Mark Murray, Mike Barnes – these are household names in Austin television for a reason. KVUE takes the “Best of Austin” win yet again, and it’s no wonder why: reliability, trustworthiness, and honesty. We’re honored to congratulate them once more.
Best Basketball Court
For most guys, finding a reliable pickup basketball game is akin to a lady’s search for a little black dress. Luckily, there’s almost always some competition to be found at the Enfield court, thanks to its central location and ample shade. It sure beats the traffic of MoPac.
Best Swimming Pool
What’s not to love about Deep Eddy? It has history (built in 1915, it’s Texas’ oldest man-made swimming pool), aesthetics (gorgeous, WPA-built and recently refurbished bathhouse), appeal to all ages (lap lanes on one end, shallow and kid-safe on the other), and cold, nonchlorinated water (from a well almost as chilly as Barton Springs).
Best Unsung Behind-the-Scenester
Lee Leffingwell’s office is a well of “BOA” talent, with readers giving Communications Director Curtis and Policy Director Everhart the nod. While both carry impressive résumés – Curtis has worked for Will Wynn’s office and at other local agencies, and Everhart is a local campaign wunderkind – their vitality, youth, and connectedness give us a…
Best Shoe Repair
The olfactory wall of leather that hits you when you enter one of the many Austin Shoe Hospital locations is, in our humble opinion, a little piece of heaven. We’ve replaced heel caps and soles many times over, and still, it has been cheaper to repair than to buy new, which means that those Helmut…
Best Unexpected (and Affordable!) Cupcake
While so much of our beloved slacker mecca insists that pouring some cake mix into a fluted piece of paper is worth that dig into your pocket for this month’s last Abe Lincoln, Tamale House has your back through this nutty cupcake trend. In the spirit of its beloved 85¢ taco come these hand-decorated delights…
Best Way To Reappropriate ‘Nerd’
We all know nerd is the new cool. How else can you explain Michael Cera’s career? Kids between the ages of 9 and 14 form teams under the tutelage of smarty-pant volunteers and set out to create Lego robots the likes of which you likely haven’t seen thanks to our good friends science and engineering.…
Best Car Dealership
What is it about Hondas? Of all the car dealerships in Austin, you chose two Honda dealers as being the best. Both Howdy Honda and First Texas Honda have satisfied thousands of customers and offer new cars, used cars, sales, leasing, and expert service. Retaining their resale value better than most cars, Hondas are surprisingly…
Best Record/CD Store
The Austin music scene has changed a lot in the last 28 years, but Waterloo Records has been peddling the best (and, thank goodness, some of the worst) of it all since 1982. One of our perennial winners, Waterloo has consistently impressed Austin with its large selection of CDs and vinyl records from national and…
Best Use of a Puffy Water Slide
You’ve just been on an hour-and-a-half ride through East Austin in the middle of summer. You’re sweaty, stinky, and surrounded by fellow bicyclists in a similar predicament. What’s the solution? Well, how about a giant inflatable water slide set amid East Fifth’s Scoot Inn & Biergarten that looks part bouncing tent, part water park, and…
Coolest Local Drink Trend
When considering this award, we realized there wasn’t one specific place deserving of recognition but rather a select group of restaurant bars and cocktail lounges staffed by innovative mixologists turning out spectacular libations. Some of these talented folks have represented Austin in national and international bartender competitions and are part of the ever-growing Austin delegation…
Best New Sports Franchise/Sports Arena
Central Texas hockey fans lamenting the loss of the Austin Ice Bats must thank their lucky stars (pun intended) for the Texas Stars. With the top-notch talent of the Dallas Stars affiliates taking their inaugural campaign all the way to the league finals, the only thing rivaling the quality of play on the ice would…
Best Salt of the Earth
Back in the day (and occasionally still), activists liked to talk about “organizing the working class.” The WDP doesn’t just talk about it – it is it. The project formed initially on the simple proposition that a day’s work deserves a day’s pay – and began successfully pressuring irresponsible contractors to indeed pay their employees.…
Best Professional Art Bridge
A radically new approach in master’s level art studies, the Art Department has expanded to Austin and hired many local professional artists as teachers. Founders Jason Manley and John English have a history establishing new concepts in the teaching and commerce of art. TAD also has “pods” located in San Francisco; Kansas City, Mo.; and…
Best Kept Deth Secret
What’s that you say? It’s too hot to be goth this year? Nonsense! Strappy, buckley fetishwear; steampunk gear; and dark-designed, industrial-grade haute couture never go out of style (and pleather/vinyl catsuits or variations thereon get oh-so-much-sexier the sweatier one becomes). Owners Cassandra Davis and Mary Milton have been outfitting Austin’s night creatures and merciful sisters…
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The Adults in the Room
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AE’s uncertain future means wobbly program budgets
Best Downtown View
Both inviting and breathtaking, the second-story view from the Long Center is top-notch. The open-air access to Downtown lights only adds to its charm. Patrons may enjoy the view during intermission or playfully pose for photographs with the city view over their shoulders. It’s easy to see why so many Long Center visitors rightfully dub…
Best Composer
You’ve herded up 136 groundhogs and have them barking in key. Now you need the perfect musical matte, arrangement, strings – the whole nine yards. Call Graham Reynolds. Austin’s DIY Philip Glass rose from the Clinton era crunk of the local indie music scene as the drummer/pianist of his Golden Arm Trio and crossed over…
Best Live Club or Party DJ
Fresh from winning the 2010 Southern Entertainment Awards Club DJ of the Year, DJ Hella Yella is keeping hip-hop tight on the ones and twos around Austin at joints like Club Fuze and Red 7, spinning his way into your hip’s swivel and bounce. Last year’s winner, Toddy B whose annual Labor Day bash at…
Best Local Food Blog
We love to dial up this popular food blog on Tasty Tuesdays, a weekly feature showcasing local favorites which lately has kept us in the burgeoning loop of food-trailer mania. You’ll also find Jodi Bart’s charming anecdotal “Tasty Bits” posts, recipes, and restaurant reviews, so you won’t have to dread the dinnertime question, “What do…
Best Restaurant
They say the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Actually, these days it seems like the cradled rule the world. The cradled (aka children) have spoken, and the icehouses have it. Gone from the list are Chuck E. Cheese’s and McDonald’s playscapes, replaced by true Austin originals, Waterloo Ice House (an Austin institution…
Best Locally Produced TV Show
No less than the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum enshrined public television’s locally produced music beacon this summer with its Austin City Limits exhibit – a sound and vision of American roots and rock from the last four decades. The show is already in the thick of its 36th season’s taping schedule,…
Best Bike Ride
“Crunch!” That’s your fat tire introducing itself to the gravel. “On your left!” That’s the babe in the crossover overtaking you. “Huff huff huff – swoosh swoosh swoosh!” That’s you pedaling your damnedest to catch up, all the while taking in one of the sweetest views of our town from the Trail at Lady Bird…
Best Tennis Court
Singles or doubles, this is the place to get your racket action on. Tennis hounds love a court without cracks, and the courts at SATC are above par. Add that to friendly desk folks, classes and clinics, a repair center in case your act needs restringing, and well-lit outdoor courts, and you’ve got the best…
Best Appliance/TV Repair
In 30 years of business, Mr. and Mrs. Wizard, owners Mark and Allison Duffel, may have saved more modes of media delivery than the Smithsonian. The waiting list for a repair consultation alone can be up to six weeks, but on our most recent visit, the ear-to-ear fulfillment from a 1920s typewriter enthusiast rang louder…
Best Spa
We missed this longtime winner last year. (Where did you go? A spa?) Welcome back! Here it is, our readers’ pick for 2010, present tense. Its reputation as the No. 1 destination spa in the world is likewise not in the past tense. This year, after a gorgeous update of its 40 guest rooms, it…
Best Unexpected Chocolate Chip Cookies
It’s always worth a stumble over to the small gift shop on the grounds of Austin’s venerable Eastside Cafe. Why not knock out some shopping for some adorable corn-cob holders in the shape of wiener dogs or some pads for your knees for “gardening” while cautiously holding back the drool, awaiting your artichoke manicotti or…
Best ‘Best of’ Nutty Name Check
Since when was an Austin Chronicle “BOA” banner a sign from God herself? Since the Austin American-Statesman told us so. Thanks, guys! In what we are refusing to call an error but a divine act of providence, last year we added some sparkle to the otherwise straightforward Austinuts moniker. AustiNuts is better. Waaay better. And…
Best Comic-Book Store
This is where the hippest of the geeks and the geekiest of the hip go to get their print-issue superhero fix, because 1) it’s got the biggest, newest stock of those wonderwares and their graphic alternatives (and all the ephemera surrounding them); 2) it’s like walking into a living museum of the brighter side of…
Best Shoe Selection
There’s a very good reason Nordstrom takes the prize again and again in this category. The variety of selection is truly vast, and Nordstrom’s service is legendary. Men, women, children – from sporty to haute couture and every in-season must-have betwixt the two, we suspect Nordstrom’s foot patrol has many miles yet to reign.
Best Art Fundraiser
The Women & Their Work gallery attracts deeply talented and accomplished women (and the men who worship them) from all over Austin. Despite dazzling and incredibly successful exhibitions, panels, tours, and other fundraisers, this annual Spring Gala offers a bit of an edge. Held at the homes of its board members and supporters (all of…
Most Glam Gay Party
The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival waved its magic wand, and the mezzanine at the Driskill Hotel became the Austin version of the Vanity Fair Oscars Party. Emceed by the inimitable Rebecca Havemeyer and Mocha Jean Herrup, the red carpet was awash with the gorgeous glitterati of Austin in jeweled gowns, furs, tailcoats,…
Best Nonfat M&M
There’s one constant in the Austin fitness community: Whenever you mention CrossFit, people know you’re serious. With the combination of Olympic weightlifting, cardio intensive sessions, kettlebell drills, and so much more, CrossFit prepares your body for anything. Two guys still manage to maintain a healthy, nonthreatening approach to this hardcore workout: Mike and Mike in…
Best Short-Haul Solidarity
Representing one of the most precarious of local occupations, TDAA is a fledgling attempt to give the four-wheel cowpokes a voice at work, at City Hall, and on the streets. Although the mythology of hacking is steeped in urban romanticism, the reality is hardscrabble for small reward, and it may take years before the Austin…
Best Reason To Keep Your Mind in the Gutter
Thanks to a new city volunteer program, critters like this one (see picture) are appearing curbside all around town as a reminder that what goes down the storm drain ends up choking the waterways that Austin’s creatures call home. The city will provide the metal markers (in both English and Spanish), as well as maps,…
Best Local Luxury Item We Can Dream About
By the time Helm boots get onto the feet of Austin shoppers, they’ve already traveled the world. While the boots are conceived in Austin by Progress Coffeemeister Joshua Bingaman, the boots are handmade in Istanbul with leather from Holland, Italy, Malaysia, and France. Although the boots are on the pricier side, the price tag’s justified…
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Best Historic Site
Making improvements on our state’s symbol of political power? How is that possible? Every visitor to our city gets a tour and is awed by the oversized door hinges, the elaborate chandeliers, the dizzying rotunda, and the eerie George W. Bush portrait. The current face-lift can’t hurt, but we think you’re beautiful however you are.
Best Dancer or Dance Company
No strangers to pages of adoration from Chronicle staff, perennial winners Ballet Austin along with new-to-the-Readers-Poll indie upstarts Little Stolen Moments may pause from their plié-ing and prancing to catch respective breaths and revel! Not only are they critics’ darlings, but the readers love them – they really, really love them. And it’s no wonder:…
Best Local Cocktail
In Austin, we like to tipple dry. As in desert dry. As in tequila dry. As in: Shake, don’t stir and with tequila, not gin, please. While the beloved margarita may be a more ubiquitous Austin libation, it’s her not-so-distant “martini” cousin that has whetted our readers’ boozy appetites in this first-time category. Like the…
Best Local Food Company
Consistently good delivery service and beautiful organic produce have kept Greenling a readers’ favorite four years running. Don’t be overwhelmed by the selection; the Quick Shop Baskets will get you started. Top picks are the Local Box, overflowing with seasonal organic produce, and the Longhorn Box for maximum brain power with snack-ready veggies and fruit,…
Best Shoes
When we were little, we hated shoe shopping with a passion that was otherwise reserved for our brother on long family car trips. Until our parents started taking us to Sandy’s Shoes, we were devil-children lost in an eternal wilderness of kiddie FootLockers and the like. Our beloved Sandy’s may have moved to a new,…
Best Music Station
Our readers have a favorite radio frequency, and it’s home to local singer-songwriters, talk radio, and even metal (AC/DC, Rush, UFO). Larry Monroe scholars out the first, morning man John Aielli inhabits all modes of the second, and last month’s superb Armadillo soundtrack took care of the last (“In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida,” yo). Jay Trachtenberg holds down the…
Best Bowling Alley
Retro is cool, but it’s even cooler when it’s retro because it never changed. In business since 1970, this is your father’s and maybe even your grandma’s bowling alley, complete with a bar and restaurant serving up greasy goodness (try the chicken-fried steak, the enchilada dinner, or the scrumptious breakfast).
Best 501(c)(3)
We love them. They love us. In terms of outreach, ASA has become one of Austin’s most beloved community-oriented nonprofits. ASA does very serious work providing housing and care for HIV-positive Central Texans, and the staff works hard to make sure that its fundraising is fun. Founded in 1987, ASA is the region’s oldest and…
Best Auto Service/Repair
Basking in its first appearance at the top of our readers’ automotive-repair charts, Gene Johnson’s has the friendly service, reasonable prices, and honest work that any superlative shop would. What sets it apart is its decades-long relationships with its neighbors, be it the oil-change joint next door, the convenient full-service gas pump option, or the…
Best Tailor
We’re told there was a time when ready-made clothing was unheard of. Everything was made to fit … you. Now, in these off-the-rack times, it’s the reverse: You’re supposed to fit the mold. Of course, nobody actually fits the mold, and that’s where Ace comes in. With simple sartorial solutions to your most desperate wardrobe…
Best Vegetarian Meal for Less Than $2.50
You know it happens. You’re hungry, Downtown, and only have a couple of bucks left in your pocket. You don’t want a hot dog or a burger cuz you don’t want to contribute to global warming, deforestation, or factory farming, but you need a solid meal to help you bounce the night away. Nuevo León…
Best … Urp, Grrush, Uhhhh, Pfffffttt
Pssssst. Hey. Heeeeeyyyyyyeee. Is it drunk and you’re late? I mean, are you drunk? Need someone to talk to? Call 481-BONE, and ladies of the night Jodi and Emily will be there for you, sugar tits. This brassy, besotted duo’s taken a love of the bottle and the gift of gab from the bar stool…
Best Computer Store
You don’t have to be a computer nerd to dork out at Discount Electronics. There’s just something about the place that makes you want to really get to know your motherboard. But, of course, inspiration can only get you so far, and when your motherboard’s really giving you the silent treatment, the computer whisperers at…
Best Small Record/CD Store
With iTunes and illegal downloading having laid to waste many retail outlets, it’s left to the niche store to carry on the torch for the beloved mom-and-pop record shops that had served as community centers for music lovers for decades. Proprietors Blake Carlisle and Dan Plunkett incorporate equal parts friendliness and musical knowledge (especially when…
Best Couple of Clowns in the City
The husband-and-wife team of Ben Schave and Caitlin Reilly are like a living piece of vaudeville in the midst of Twitter times, plying their baggy-pants trade – stilt-walking, juggling, fire-eating, and (above all) slapstick comedy – with the clown college-educated professional poise that’s earned them multiple awards and fans all over the globe. As their…
Most Luxurious Movie Theatre
It’s like an ultra-spacious first-class cabin on the swankest airplane to destination: Luxury. There’s a cocktail lounge to relax in before being escorted to your incredibly comfortable, fully reclining seat with a small lighted table and offered complete food and drink service at the touch of a button from professional, attentive servers. A full-size screen…
Best Place To Cleanse Your Crown Chakra Under a Waterfall
Austin’s own hidden natural treasure is just 15 minutes east of Downtown. McKinney Falls State Park offers great swimming in natural waters, a lunar landscape where the Tonkawa tribes once lived, and two waterfalls that bring the flows of Onion Creek and Williamson Creek pounding down around you. (Lamentably, the park is suffering from budget…
Best Shoulders
Austin brims with labor-of-love stories, but sometimes one of them reaches out and clutches the heart, hitting it like 1,700 volts of an emotional defibrillator. Susan and Don Cox lost their beloved daughter Christi to a drunken driver back in 1985. Instead of internalizing their devastation, they founded For the Love of Christi, a free…
Best Sisterly Support in Motherhood
Mocha Moms started out as a way to encourage stay-at-home moms to share resources, knowledge, and support. As this chapter of dynamic and talented women grew, the ranks opened to include all moms, stay-at-home or not, for weekend outings and holiday events. And while Mocha Moms exists primarily for support, outreach, and involvement, some of…
Best Nutty CenTex Natives
As much a Texas staple as grackles, cowboy boots, and Willie Nelson’s rolling papers, pecans make the perfect gift and road-trip munchie. North America’s only naturally occurring nut, the humble pecan has kept humans and squirrels alike nourished for centuries. Some might even argue the sweet-tooth-sating pecan pie to be as American as, well, apple…
Luv Doc Recommends: ‘Hammy and the Kids’
Just think: If you were in Canada right now, you would be chill. Give it some thought. Canada is only one border crossing away, and, unlike Americans, Canadians are much more respectful to their southern neighbors. In fact, in a lot of places along the U.S.-Canadian border, there’s not much of a border at all…
20th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival Contest Winners
Individual Category Red Sauce 1st Place: Matt Hudson 2nd Place: Steven Rivera 3rd Place: Matt Hudson Honorable Mention: Marcus Sillers, Kristin Lobstein, Bud Spaar, John Robinson, Kala Uprety, Cheryl Sipowski, Scott Nettles, J. B. Larrimer, Patty Tomasco, Kevin Whitton, Deborah Vogt, David Bernard, Amy Zeinner, Laura Martinez, Sonya Miller, Carmen Joseph Hasse Green Sauce 1st…
