Cover Story
‘Best of Austin’ 2009
The Landslide
Ogden Out
Senate Finance Committee chair confirms he will not run again
Passport to ‘Handmade Nation’
The Austin premiere of ‘Handmade Nation’ left audiences inspired
Four More Seats
GOP worries about redistricting motivating anti-DNC namecalling
Now Voyager Sail Thou Forth
Kate’s coast-bound to commemorate the Ike anniversary.
The Lineup
Recommended music for the week of Sept. 11-17
Snapshots From the U.S. Open
David Ferrer, Andy Roddick, and more
T-Pain’s Blueprint
Jay-Z’s latest, reviewed via app
This Week’s Waste of Time
A free game with romance and action without all the pesky facial features
Stay in School With the Totally Awesome AusChron Newscast!
On the totes-awesome agenda: Warehouse District preservation, city budget number crunching and Obama’s “indoctrination” speech
On the Baby Bus
Catching up to Asleep at the Wheel’s Elizabeth McQueen
One More Win Before Regionals
TXRG gets tested but not bested by Bay Area Derby road team
Dewhurst for Lieutenant Governor (Again)
Lite guv wants another run as senate president
Looney for Clooney
What can you have but “short comings” when you’re standing naked in front of George?
DPS Digs Dope in East Texas
DPS officers kick off month with two big pot busts
Ingalls Angles Education Board Bid
Former mayoral candidate Josiah Ingalls to run for SBOE seat
Katz for Lieutenant Governor
Kinky Friedman gets competition for most unlikely Democratic hopeful
Teens4Autism Rocks Out
Teens bands support autism awareness with concert
‘When I Was Your Age’
The full text to the Obama back-to-school speech
Not a Hate Crime, Definitely Not a Hate Crime
Things aren’t getting better for queers in Texas
Reduced Prices for Aztex’s Labor Day Finale
Aztex bid adieu to Nelson Field Monday
B.A.D. Girls go to Austin
San Fran flat trackers take on the Texecutioners Sunday
Riddle Me This
GOP rep shows the importance of education (the hard way)
Richards Gets One-Third of $1M Jackpot
Texas ex cements best season of career
Shallow End of Deep Eddy to Close
Low water flow causes wells feeding pool to dry up
The Voluntary Presidency?
AISD gets caught in the fight over televising Obama’s back-to-school speech
Will the Real Colt McCoy Please Stand Up
Here’s to another hopeful national championship year for UT
More Dem Candidates for Judge
Contenders begin jockeying for the March Democratic primary
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
Best Art Gallery
Okay Mountain is one of Austin’s most ambitious and experimental art galleries. Founded in 2006 by a group of artists, the gallery has since been on the cutting edge of local and national art scenes. In addition to exhibiting the likes of genderqueer video artist Ryan Trecartin (and very recently our own former art director…
Best Gay/Lesbian Hangout
“Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick. I wanna take a ride on your disco stick.” Thanks, Lady Gaga, for summing up what we love about Rain – the party atmosphere, the wicked music, and the hordes of beautiful potential make-out buddies. Oh, and the bartenders are as sweet as cherry pie! Many an…
Best Lunch Delivery
Hell yes, the Chicago-based chain delivers its freshly made clubs, subs, and other sammies of unusual succulence right to your front door, before a fit of munchies has you regarding your household pets with a Mondo Cane eye. And as if you couldn’t recognize them from taste alone – the tell-tale yum – you’ll know…
Best Summer Camp
Dear Mom, Monsters, myths, sculptures, dogs, meteorology, playing with food, music, reading, and green energy! Finally a summer camp that lets me be a kid and honors my intellect. This is everything school should be. Can I stay all year? Pleeeeease, Your smartypants kid P.S. Write back soon!
Best Shoe Selection
A no-brainer based on selection alone, showcasing the latest in high-quality footwear – eye-popping high-heels, height-of-elegance men’s dress shoes, and belle-of-the-ball party wear. The bar is set, however, not solely by sheer number of choices, but in a level of customer service that is rarely seen or surpassed.
Best Local Entertainment Website
Since its inception, Austinist has steadily built its readership along with its ever-expanding content. It’s earned its cred in digital accolades and is a firm favorite in this city’s lust for local haps and views. Keeping a unique voice delivering news, reviews, and personal columns in easily digestible blurbs ensures the staying power of one…
Best Annual Event
Forget prior years’ dusty heat waves, and just admit already that ACL, with its incredible lineups (MIA, Foo Fighters, Oasis, Calexico), stunning midset sunsets, and exquisitely tuned Austin vibe beats Coachella and Glastonbury – its only real festival rivals – hands down. Drink water, rock out, repeat yearly.
Best Swimming Pool
Texas’ oldest swimming pool never ages. The spring-fed, chlorine-free waters are a welcome relief in the summer, whether being enjoyed as a heat respite or for exercise along the steady lap lanes. A family-friendly, city-operated favorite, there’s something for everyone, whether you’re looking to read in the shade of big pecans or sunbathe in the…
Best Auto Service/Repair
Michael Yost and his crew of all-model experts may have moved from their old digs by I-35, but when they moved, they took something important with them: the amazing trust they have built up with their devoted fans. Ask anyone: They do just what’s needed – no more, no less – to keep your four-wheeled…
Best Tattoo Artist
Karen Slafter wins again. As an artist, she pushes herself beyond the boundaries of accepted standards and takes her tattoo art into another realm entirely. As The Austin Chronicle cover girl for 2007’s “Best of Austin” issue, she has more than 70% of her body covered in colored and black ink. Being a walking billboard…
Best Pee With a View, 1993
The boom is back. Deals are on. And power lunches at the tops of bank towers will soon be de rigueur. If you find yourself making a deal at Headliners with one of its members, complete the experience with a trip to the head where four urinals overlook the hills of West Austin. (Women, have…
Best Poetic Outlet
If it is a poetic itch you have, Ruta Maya can assist with the scratching. For many a year, the coffee shop on the hill has hosted poetry and music open mics every Tuesday evening and is proud to be the longest-running poetry open mic in Austin. Whether it’s the rantings of the crazed or…
Best Roll With the Development Punches
In 2004, when Chris Marsh left behind his job waiting tables at the popular Maudie’s Tex-Mex Cafe on Lake Austin Boulevard, it was bittersweet for his faithful customers – they were sad he was leaving the enchiladas behind, but excited about his new venture: opening a small Johnny Cash shrine/bar in the old Cut-Rite chainsaw…
Best Recycling Role Model
Eastside Cafe co-owner Dorsey Barger describes herself as a fanatic when it comes to recycling. She sees to it that her staff recycles or composts everything possible: food trimmings, used cooking oil, plastic containers, boxes, cans, bottles, even used office paper. She knows that convincing her fellow restaurateurs to invest more money in recycling programs…
Best Place to Teach Kids Restaurant Manners
Okay, admit it before we do – your kiddo desperately needs to learn fine-dining manners. A most amenable way to coach etiquette is to book a dressy “date” Downtown with your child at the Driskill Hotel’s 1886 Cafe & Bakery. Kids love the historic ambiance – just a bit fancy, with cloth napkins, a sparkling…
Best Future Dreamers
Thirty-one solar revolutions ago, a band of bold conventioneers dreamed of a fantastical future. Now that future is here, and ArmadilloCon remains one of the preeminent literary science-fiction conventions in the world. Giants of the medium have dropped by over the years, from William Gibson to Joe Haldeman, and it’s virtually a home away from…
Best Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe, or Place to Do It Outside, 1995
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. Let’s get lost. When we want to get lost, we go to Mayfield Park on a weekday afternoon. A blanket; a couple of cool, refreshing beverages; and a companion are all the supplies you need to enjoy the peacocks, ponds, and sun-dappled hiking trails. And if you wish…
Best Fiction Writer, 1995
It’s a tie between her novel and her bill. A Perfect Match was the title of Combs’ first steamy soft-porn novel, but it wasn’t her first stab at fiction. Claiming her “takings” bill wouldn’t harm Austin, other cities, or the state, Combs was victorious in both the House and Senate in winning for landowners the…
Most Diversified Portfolio
What would your life look like if you could focus your energy on your favorite things and then become an expert in all of them? With a résumé that reads like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel, MisoHungry Makes It With Moonshine blogger and veritable modern Renaissance woman Jennie Chen might know exactly what that…
Best-Kept Secret Mechanic
It’s just a little ol’ operation – a shed behind a nondescript building near the end of Manchaca Road – with one mechanic, Martin, who sometimes has a helper and sometimes doesn’t. If you’re in early enough, you’ll probably be out the same day, but sometimes inspections can sidetrack his schedule. Rain or shine, this…
Best Use of Space, 1997
Using the approximate space of an efficiency apartment, owner Hank has managed to pack in 75,000 varieties of beer and everything else you can possibly imagine, from pipe cleaners to water pistols to food products to toiletries. And the guys that work the counter are poetry in motion – the perfect mix of standoffish band…
The Places They Go
Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival 2009
Driving Safety
Council considers mandatory distances for drivers passing vulnerable road users and a ban on text-messaging behind the wheel
Best Clothing Designer
Chia Guillory’s constant innovation and instinct for what’s next must be why she’s taken this category four years running (if you missed her arm warmers last year, they should be at the top of your fall wish list). Though demand for this Austin Craft Mafia capo’s ubiquitous Chia hat is undiminished, these days Guillory’s appeal…
Best Jukebox
The eyeballing starts as soon as you walk in. Someone’s already there, you have to wait. But are they going to play your song? This is part of the thrilling wait at Casino el Camino. What are you supposed to do with a killer jukebox that houses songs from the Shangri-Las, T. Rex, Iggy Pop,…
Best Neighborhood Grocery
These days, it seems like our city charter mandates a natural foods grocery every 1.5 miles or so, but the world was not always thus. Sure, Wheatsville’s popcorn tofu has its own Facebook fan page now, but when the co-op opened in 1976, it was the lone beacon in a wilderness of newly minted weirdos,…
Best Teen Hangout
Most Central Texas upbringings are largely based on aquatic pastimes. In Wimberley, all the kids hang out at Blue Hole. In San Marcos, it’s Sewell Park. And in Austin, the ultimate place to be when underage and not in class is Barton Springs. Yes, they may see a boob or two. They may be inspired…
Best Small Record/CD Store
Dan Plunkett began building his musical street cred in the Eighties with N D magazine, a lens focused on experimental music and art. Almost three decades and countless record conventions later, End of an Ear proves fertile soil to fill gaps in any garden of musical knowledge. From metal to soul, Bollywood to country, 78s…
Best Local News Website
KXAN and KVUE are smart enough to know how to put together terrific news websites. Though distinctly different, each has an excellent staff of professionals, working hard to make the transition from live-on-air reports to having all the news at your fingertips. It’s the wave of the future, newsies, so congrats to both KXAN and…
Best Basketball Court
The game’s on the line halfway through football season in 2004. Vince Young takes a three-pointer. There’s a hard box out, knocking him to the ground, which leaves a split second to decide whether to help him up or run. The former is chosen and apologies are exchanged. The moral of the story? Be careful…
Best Tennis Court
Ask Austinites with love for the game, and they’ll tell you: Caswell for the win. Bangers like Andy Roddick have been known to put away a few here; just think what it can do for your game. Eight well-lit courts, all-level lessons for both kids and adults, and a pro shop that will restring your…
Best Barbershop
Birds Barbershop is the barbershop for Austin’s hipster elite. And we mean that in a good way. Cheap, hip cuts from folks you’re likely to bump in to at the bar later that evening, and they even serve you a complimentary beer while you wait. But don’t worry, customers without neck tattoos are given as…
Best Veterinarian
Sometimes a parrot can get a little hoarse, and even a dog needs a CAT scan every now and then, which is where Oak Springs comes in to save the day. OSVH’s state-of-the-art technology is wielded by a fierce group of medical and dental specialists, supported by a well-trained and caring staff of humans, who…
Best Public Potty
Is it an outhouse, or is it modern sculpture – perhaps by Richard Serra? For sure, it’s the most intriguing creation in which you’ll take a pee this year. An artful circle of 49 tall, rust-patina steel plates enclose a public restroom on the hike and bike trail – the first new one in 30…
Best Bar Name, 1997
“Honey, I’m at the Office. Yes, dear, I’ll be a little late.” Need we say more?
Best Soulful Smackdown
It’s a purr. It’s a punch. It’s a sigh. It’s a holla. Spoken word = spoken intention, spoken sparks, poetry come to life. So much chakra-shakin’ goodness and sweet sultry yumminess, it’s easy to forget when it’s a competition. Every Thursday night, South Flavas Entertainment presents this slam-style poetry gig at Pflugerville’s haven of hip-hop.…
Best Rotisserie Chicken
The slow-roasted rotisserie chickens sold from the familiar Country Grill trucks at our area farmers’ markets are not only tender and juicy, but are also natural, free-range birds raised on a local farm in Nixon, Texas. Country Grill’s chickens are fresh, never frozen, and rubbed with a special Bavarian spice mix, making them as delicious…
Best Princess Party
Princesses (especially the 5-year-old variety), expect every detail to be perfect. The Dance Discovery crew – in addition to being a group of fine children’s dance instructors – is up to the royal task, with costumes, storytime ballet, and cake. And you’ll be done well before your carriage turns back into a pumpkin.
Best Hip-Hop Blog
Since migrating back to Austin from Houston and setting up camp under AustinSurreal in early 2008, promoter Matt Sonzala has done his fair share of hustlin’ in the name of local and national hip-hop. Insightful commentary, photos, shout-outs, rants, hypes, and more all converge into a one-of-a-kind snapshot of the scene, framed by Sonzala’s unique…
Best Hike-and-Bike Trail Less Traveled
The greenbelt may get all the love, but North Austinites don’t mind: They’ve got a hidden gem in their own backyard. Well, as hidden as 300 acres can be. A former private farm, the Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park boasts the usual park amenities like a playground, a swimming pool, and softball fields, but what really…
Best Film Resource
If you had to put a face on Texas film’s indie spirit, you couldn’t do much better than Bryan Poyser, Austin Film Society’s director of artist services. Whether traveling the state spreading the word about the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund or writing and directing his own films (using local talent, natch), Bryan has become Texas…
Most Missed Iconic Hair Salon Dynasty
It’s the beginning of the end of an era. Deborah Carter and her dynasty of daughters Farah and Brooke shut the doors at the très popular SoCo landmark Pink Hair Salon & Gallery in July, 10 years after they redefined what South Congress was all about. Deborah was always a woman of immense intuition, and…
Cleverest Fundraising Campaign
Your neighbors will be green with envy when a flock of brilliantly colored, plastic pink flamingos lands in your yard and inhabits it for a week. Dozens of flamingos. For any occasion. Someone need some cheering up? During the spring months, all you have to do is make a donation to the Central Texas SPCA…
Most Dangerous Store for Graphic Design Addicts
Not dangerous in the sense of physical harm, but dangerous to your wallet’s integrity: This emporium of visual goodness is elegantly chockablock with limited-edition art-books, coffeetable compilations of graphic exotica and industrial design and wild-style street art, thick die-cut paper and intricate spot varnishing, lo-res skater zines, Dunnies, Munnies, and Kozik bunnies, and it boasts…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Sausage and mash, Franken Berry, crocodiles, and more
Kerr ‘Clarifies’ AFD Safe Driving Policy – Again
In response to criticism, the fire chief has further tweaked AFD’s safe driving policy
Extract
Mike Judge, the writer/director of Office Space, mines the workplace for more satiric comedy.
Best Bathroom
Although we admit the ladies’ room – with faux candlescapes, ice and rose petals in the sinks, and sumptuous art adorning the walls – is schmancier than the men’s, other restaurant rest stops have nothing on the water closets at Vivo. What’s that saying? “Don’t pee where you eat”? There’s an exception to every rule,…
Best Comedian/Comedy Troupe
Bald-headed Latin scholar John Erler and Joe “the Teacher” Parsons and their Pancake friends are so clever and merciless in their live parodying of big-screen classics and clunkers, so relentless in their popular comedy onslaughts at the Alamo Drafthouse, that Erler doesn’t even have to strip down to his tighty-whities to get the big laughs.…
Best Live Club/Party DJ
Sometimes you get lucky at a party and get a good DJ. Side conversations stop, and friends you’ve never before seen dance head out onto the floor. With his years of expertise, DJ Manny makes this happen every time. If you can’t have him following you to every important business meeting, you can at least…
Best Outdoor Dining
While there are scenic outdoor eating establishments all over Austin, the readers have spoken and declared that Shady Grove is the tops. Again. Along with its resident concert series, KGSR’s Unplugged, Shady Grove’s jukebox also wins raves. The comfort cuisine is great, the service is terrific, and the sprawling patio is the perfect setting for…
Best Texas Amusement Park
New Braunfels is best known for three things: Natural Bridge Caverns, the Gristmill, and Schlitterbahn Waterpark. The Comal River’s love child, which has won World’s Best Waterpark time and again and despite tough competition, comes out clearly in first yet again for 2009. Rides like the Master Blaster and the Der Bahn Speed Slides along…
Best Thrift Store
There are countless thrift stores in Austin, many of which do community outreach just like Goodwill. But with locations all over town and its position as the go-to spot for unloved clothing, furniture, and what-have-you, Goodwill’s selection can’t be beat. Honestly, you might want to head over there now before the Halloween options are picked…
Best Local Non-‘Chronicle’ Publication
Maybe it’s just that our sense of humor never left the dorm, but we concur totally. Let’s let the “largest student-produced humor publication in the U.S.” speak for itself: “Frost Bank Tower: Still the Tallest Building in Austin. Take That! Austin 360 Condos”; “If only I could find a dorm-dwelling guitarist to offer a record…
Best Bike Ride
Imagine how Lady Bird Lake might have turned out without Lady Bird. Originally a between-dam reservoir and cooling pond for the old Holly Street Power Plant, the lake sure wouldn’t have been ringed with one of Texas’ oldest urban hike and bike paths. And it sure wouldn’t be the recreational destination that it is today,…
Best Activist
With her tireless advocating against the right-wing agenda on creationism, sex-ed reform, reproductive rights, children’s health care, and domestic violence, one wonders if Kathy Miller sleeps. With the Herculean efforts she puts forth, it would seem she wouldn’t have time for such a mortal task. Luckily, the work she lives and breathes makes it easier…
Best Bicycle Repair
Since 2005, the Peddler on North Loop has built a loyal following of neighborhood patrons due to its speedy repair service and low labor costs. With an ever-expanding array of high-quality accessories and inventory of used and new bicycles – from KHS to Redline to Free Agent – it’s a good thing the shop’s moving…
Best Antiques/Collectibles
This place was South Congress before South Congress was SoCo. A longtime favorite vintage stop on the merits of atmosphere alone, the unique style of its 24 purveyors keeps locals obsessed. But they don’t just come to this curiosity shop for tchotchkes and shirts: The jewelry selection will haunt your wallet until you have to…
Best Re-Opened Li’l Lounge
As Austin as bongs and pingpong, the Continental Club is a haven for bikers, cougars, New Age greasers, and tourists alike, hosting many local performances and playing host to some of the most rip-roarin’ touring roots-rockers from across the planet. Those “in the know” are familiar with Continental’s upstairs nook, the Gallery, where such beloved…
Best Bloody Mary
Rio Rita’s all about multitasking – bar, coffee shop, eatery, hangout – so it’s no surprise its beast of a Bloody Mary basically doubles as a meal. Pickled okra and green beans, green olives, pepperoncinis, celery, hot sauce, horseradish … what to eat first? Oh yeah, and there’s tomato juice. And vodka. Good and good…
Friendliest Haunt for Weird Noise
Since first appearing in 2003 and floating into new digs at Salvage Vanguard Theater in 2007, Church of the Friendly Ghost has channeled a wealth of creative energy into Austin. Organizer Aaron Mace and associates are tireless champions of the outsider and outré: From bringing in international and national jazz and noise artists to providing…
Best Seasonal Taste of the Hill Country
You couldn’t ask for a mouthful of pure Texas Hill Country more evocative than Jam Sanischat’s Fredericksburg Peach and Mint Ice Cream. Made with cream, sour cream, Texas peaches, mint, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice, and frozen in a home ice-cream maker, every refreshing bite is a needed reminder of what we do love about…
Best Store Pet, 2002
Ya gotta love a record store that values its pet dog’s opinion as highly as it does the employee picks for good listening. Mafesto, the bulgy-eyed, moon-faced pug often found at the front desk, joins the illustrious list of our “Best of Austin” store pets if only because he’s so cute. Owner Jason Shields knows…
Best Place to Find Your True Gay Self
Inspired by the classic photo of Harvey Milk sitting atop a parade car carrying his “I’m From Woodmere, N.Y.” sign – illuminating the connection to gay life with Everytown, USA – I’m From Driftwood posts stories from across the globe. This veritable Gay 2.0, brilliantly applying the best in Google Maps technology, presents personal stories…
Best In & Out
The simple things in life are those that give the greatest pleasure: the changing of the seasons, a sincere smile, chocolate-dipped bananas … and indoor/outdoor swimming pools. Sheraton’s spacious and inviting basin of chlorinated greatness is shady and great for a lap or two. The change of scenery will keep the swimming adventure all the…
Best Loan Arrangers
Seems like people need PeopleFund, the civic-minded opportunity-creators (that’s Community Development Financial Institution, in economist-speak). Whether it’s providing cash for local entrepreneurs, backing affordable housing programs, or organizing the East Austin business summit and the PeopleTalk civic speaker program, this nonprofit loan outfit has become a real credit to the community.
Best Alternative to Indoor Heat Stroke
Serving Austin and the surrounding area for five years now, Logic Mechanical has become the go-to company for fast fixes for air conditioners on the brink of giving up the ghost and cranky old units that have moved on to the other side. Don’t want to find yourself in this heated predicament? Sign up for…
Most Entertaining Radio Commerical
Amid the tension surrounding KUT’s recent program changes that took beloved voices Paul Ray and Larry Monroe from their overnight spots (their flagship shows remain), listening to the station is still a pleasure. Its clever, seasonal, and regularly changed commercial spots for the vehicle donation program are refreshing and witty. Even Tom and Ray Magliozzi…
Swankiest Corner Store
It’s so chic you could die. But … how can a corner grocery be chic? By offering enough of everything to cater to almost anyone’s discriminating palate. It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking for potato chips, organic milk, or a bottle of Veuve, the Royal Blue Grocery’s two locations will surprise you with their selections.…
The Hightower Report
Corporations Co-opt Local Food; and All the Wine That’s Fit to Drink
Cool City: Getting Down With the Grid
Everybody’s excited about the Pecan Street Project – they’re just not sure what it is
The Final Destination
This new addition to the ongoing film series takes a terrific premise and turns it ho-hum.
Best Bed & Breakfast
Quaint it ain’t; this B&B isn’t your typical homey retreat. Instead, guests of this sleek and modernist boutique hotel are treated to tip-top design, delish foodstuffs, and some truly fantastic local art (by the likes of Margo Sawyer and Martha Gannon). It’s just one more sparkly jewel in South Congress’ crown.
Best Composer
Whether he’s leading the legendary Golden Arm Trio into the Alamo Drafthouse to score yet another silent film classic or working alongside Golden Hornet Project co-founder Peter Stopschinski to create an utterly unique musical experience that practically screams (albeit melodically) Austin, Reynolds is the very definition of a polymorphous and perverse purveyor of musical magic.…
Best Movie Theatre
When people say they like to keep Austin weird, we hope they are referring to places like the Alamo Drafthouse. It would be weird if no one had thought of this brilliant idea: Serve pizza and pub grub alongside adult bevvies (!) while screening the best in current (and past) cinema, as well as hosting…
Best Place to Take a First Date
Absolutely no contest here: Thanks to the Alamo, you can quickly discover your new guy/gal’s moviegoing habits, from which, as everyone knows, you can then extrapolate everything from your chances of getting it on that night (they love Mario Bava!) or not (they love Zack Carlson!) to whether or not he/she is a potential romantic…
Best Toys
Sure, you can take the kids, they’ll be spellbound for hours, but sneak over to Terra Toys by yourself to stimulate your own cerebellum or to find a silicone likeness. For those near campus, check out the smiles behind the aprons at Toy Joy. It’s overrun during the holidays for good reason, so we pace…
Best Vintage
If retro styling is your thing but the thrift stores just aren’t stocking what you’re buying, then this is your spot: wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling … uh … stuff, including everything from records to cowboy boots to flatware. Of course, there are enough tables, chairs, desks, and art to decorate an entire season of Mad Men…
Best Local TV News
Good reporting takes time, and Austin’s ABC affiliate knows to give its reporters what they need. Whether it’s letting Elise Hu spend all day on the Legislature floor or maintaining Angela Kocherga in their Mexico City bureau, there’s a lot more going on here than five-second sound bites to camera.
Best Bowling Alley
If you’ve never tried the enchiladas at the Dart Bowl Cafe, you simply haven’t lived yet. They’re a cheesy Tex-Mex treat of slathered-with-chili goodness – and they’re a great way to start or end an evening of knocking pins. This Austin institution has 32 lanes and some of the best quarter vending machine trinkets in…
Best City Official
It’s time to say farewell to the city’s head honcho of the last six years: the politician with the perfect name for elections (Will Wynn? Will win!). Even though he’s out in the private sector with LPB Energy Management, he’ll always be the buttoned-down mayor who jumped in the lake and modeled his manscape for…
Best Car Wash
Let the Genie do his magic on your automobile. Fill ‘er up, and get all the services that used to be standard practice at filling stations in the past. The washes are great, but it’s the interior and exterior detailing that makes your car want to cuddle up to you and say, “Thank you.”
Best Car Dealership
They famously promise to treat you like they would their own parents, whether in the service department or out on the lot. You’ll find new and used cars, great lease deals, weekly specials, and a website that lets you calculate your trade and get online credit approval before you even hit the door.
Best Yard Art, 1992
Chances are Ira Poole has probably had more people stop at his home wondering if he was selling cemetery memorials rather than asking for a tour of his mini lawn museum. It’s just too unbelievable that some guy would have: a 900-pound concrete sphinx sitting on a raised slab of Texas, a replica of the…
Best Budget Wine Selector
Steve’s Picks are perhaps the trademark feature of the H-E-B in the Hancock Center and are an easily visible and trusted standard of excellence that covers all wine varietals and budgets. Put simply, his palate is impeccable. Steve’s the perfect go-to source for a cheap date night, as most of his selections are less than…
Greatest Virtuoso of the Ivories
We suspect that the digits on Anton Nel’s hands are actually 10 tiny sorcerers, for when he sits down at the piano, they conjure music that enchants as potently as Prospero’s charms. Whether the piece is majestic Beethoven, sprightly Mozart, or tempestuous Schubert, the Butler School of Music professor of piano can hold an audience…
Best Sweets
The home of the legendary big-as-your-face eclair also boasts this town’s finest key lime and Toll House pies (in our humble opinions), was on the cupcake tip way before cupcakes were cool, and has the confidence in the majesty of its vegan goodies to put them right there, smack-dab next to the dairy-laden succulence of…
Best Summer Vacation for Girls
It was only a matter of time before our fair city got its own Girls Rock Camp, and we’re better for it. Since 2007, the camp – organized and run by a who’s who of local lady rockers, who also serve as volunteer mentors – has provided summer sessions for girls ages 10-18 who want…
Best Reason to Mix a Batch of Early Morning Martinis or Best Early Morning Hangover Remedy, 1995
Some of us never really hated our parents’ music. Some of us secretly reveled in those snappy, pappy tunes by the likes of Ferrente & Teicher, 101 Strings, Sergio Mendez & Brasil 66. Jay Robillard forces the smoking jacket out of the closet and serves up a swizzling mix of easy-going (not easy listening) tunes.…
Best International Sports Ambassadors
We’re more accustomed to a certain bicyclist in this role, but in 2009, two former Longhorn track and field athletes got to the top of the podium. At the world championships in Berlin, Sanya Richards (women’s 400 meters) and Trey Hardee (men’s decathlon) – both still Austinites – took gold.
Best Mayor of South Austin
Born in South Austin. Raised in South Austin. Works in South Austin. Lives in South Austin. What better qualifications for the new mayor of South Austin, a position that’s languished since the untimely passing of Danny Roy Young last year? Jovita’s Mayo Pardo devotes as much of his time to his family and community as…
Best Austin Punk Time Capsule
When a fire scorched Sweatbox Studio’s original Downtown location in 2006 – twice, no less – it was a sad day for Austin punk history. Engineers Bryan Nelson, Tim Kerr, Mike Mariconda, and Mike Vasquez recorded a parade of national and local punk and garage bands since opening in 1993, putting Texas’ fingerprints on it…
Best 12-Bar Vintage
Who better to share vintage trade with the world than a man who sings the blues? Sonny James knows vintage down deep in his marrow and channels it to Austin through the shifts and shirts of days gone by (some still with their original tags!) and a microphone collection well broken in by heartbreaking melodies…
Best Bus Route for a Pub Crawl
The No. 3 bus route – winding down Burnet Road, through Downtown, and on to South Lamar – has an absurd number of fine watering holes: Billy’s on Burnet, the Draught House, and Lala’s, to name a few. Cap Metro’s $1.50 24-hour pass will let you hit several of them. And since you would never,…
The Common Law
How Much Will I Owe If I Break My Lease?
MetroRail Watch
Capital Metro reported on Monday that it had discovered a problem with the “vital logic” in its system for switching from freight to passenger rail mode. Sounds like another delay to us. The arm goes all the way back down.
Halloween II
Rob Zombie’s sequel to his 2007 remake of the original Halloween features Michael Myers coming back to town to wrap up some family business.
Best Cheap Motel
Skip the superchains; the Heart of Texas Motel has class and all the creature comforts many corporate motels don’t offer. The Heart, which has weathered its fair share of hardships, including a highway expansion which forced then-owners Brenda and Jim Osbon to rebuild, is a favorite among frequent travelers to Austin. The winning formula: low…
Best Dance Company
Stephen Mills: Those two words say more about ballet in Austin than a thousand performances could. And if you know what those two words – Stephen Mills – can do, you’ll forget all about that fusty old ballet schlock you grew up on. The dancers themselves have a synergy with their choreographer palpable from the…
Best Neighborhood/Dive Bar
It’s Christmas in July! In August! In September! Hell, it’s all about Christmas cheer throughout the year at Lala’s, the Brentwood neighborhood dive that is bound to cheer you up and chill you out. The decor is strictly 1970s cocktail lounge, complemented by a jukebox that completes the trip back in time and accented with…
Best Sweets/Goodies
Diabetic coma notwithstanding, a week without Tiff’s is like a week without sunshine, happiness, unicorns, or love. Fortunately, all of that can be assuaged with a quick phone call or click of the keyboard. “Tiff’s? Send three dozen of your most deliriously delectable treats, stat!” Celebrating a birthday? Send Tiff’s. Having an office party? Send…
Best Video-Game Rental/Purchase
Owner David Kaelin started as the sole employee of this experiment in gaming nostalgia. And the experiment continues with three locations and a slew of knowledgeable employees. Still have that old Nintendo or TurboGrafx 16? Game Over has a selection that will give you a sore throat from saying, “I remember that game.” Its Classic…
Best Clothing
Celebrating its 39th year of buying, selling, and trading clothes, Buffalo Exchange is a favorite for bargain hunters and independent thinkers across the country. You could, for instance, bring in a sport coat that you’ve just never liked and trade it for something you love. And Buffalo Exchange, with such frequent turnover, always has something…
Best Locally Produced TV Show
Hands down the best place to catch a show, either live in the studio on UT’s campus or from the comfort of your home. For 35 seasons, Austin City Limits has produced the most important and engaging music program on television, consistently raising the bar with its genre-spanning artist selections and local spotlight. Don’t miss…
Best Day Trip – Wet
Drought be damned, Hamilton Pool perseveres. A winding trek through the Hill Country yields one of Central Texas’ sunken treasures, a natural pool and preserve with a stunning waterfall and hiking trail. Though the weekends can get a bit hairy, its limestone-cut beauty and tranquility are worth the wait, giving credence to the pool’s description…
Best City Program
They first appeared curbside last fall, barrel-chested and shiny blue, looking almost prideful – brutish, even – next to their puny trashcan brethren. They yawned at our rigid plastics Nos. 1-7 and dined on our corrugated cardboards with nary a burp. They defied us to find enough recyclable rubbish to fill their 90 gallons of…
Best Computer Repair
Whether the instrument of choice is a Mac or a PC, we’ve all been to the mountain, clutching our laptops to our chests in wallet-cringing, dark-screen hell. For reassuring, straight talk, Austin’s Mac users know to go directly to Whitney Tracy at Happy Mac. He’s been solving Apple’s problems since before he worked in its…
Best Comic-Book Store
A lot of local comic-book stores have gone the way of the dodo of late, but even when this city had more outlets of graphic-novel goodness than there were Skrulls in the woodwork, Austin Books & Comics loomed head, shoulders, and propeller beanie above its putative competitors. Year in, year out, dancing a user-friendly retail…
Best-Kept Secret That’s Going to Stay That Way, 1995
The neighbors would neigh at the thought of disclosing the locale of this strange plot, and we’d rather not clog their small, dead-end street with onlookers. This is not the 37th Street Christmas light show, after all; it’s a couple of piles of rocks in an empty lot. But since it screams “Austin” from the…
Best Chicken ‘Product’, 2002
Every Sunday, 4-8pm, you’ll find free live music, free monster chili dogs, and Dewey the Chicken holding court at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon. For a “poultry” two-dollar donation, you draw numbers at random and wait for Dewey to do her business on a numbered board. Whichever numbered square Dewey hits with her, um, “product” is…
Best 3am Grocery Shopping, 1997
When the late-night need arises for Dickies work pants, Bimbo brand toast, or an exotic, bizarrely shaped squash, Fiesta is the only choice. Add the glorious people-watching opportunities (because of Fiesta’s stock of international groceries intended for people actually from those countries) and the store’s weird-at-any-hour ambiance, and you have an extremely poignant wee-hours consumer…
Best Tasting Hostess
Antoinette could be your mother, your grandmother, your auntie, or your sister, and like all great ladies, she’s known by first name only. The Twin Liquors hostess has been helping customers get the very best out of their liquor for decades. Her commitment to social justice is inspiring: When no one would sell to the…
Best Teen Music Competition
Founded by the Cure’s former manager Robert Stephenson, Blastbeat USA seeks to educate young people about the music business as well as give them a place to play. The kids are taught how to form a record label and promote concerts and competitions, then invest profits back into the community. Implementing a program that works…
Best Rumor, 1995
Actually, this was our April Fools’ Day spoof for 1994; this year [in 1995], we just closed down for general lack of interest, remember? But it was probably a better premise, anyway, so we’re happy to get the belated recognition. (Advance warning: We’re already planning big changes for 1996 – a whole new era for…
Best New Bike Paths
Finally, the city added bike lanes on the crowded road through Zilker Park, giving cyclists a safe east-west route south of the river. For commuters and recreational riders alike, the lanes open a whole new dimension in getting from West Austin to Downtown.
Best Municipal Rocker
The demands of being a City Council aide are tough enough – with a scant seven council members for a city of almost 800,000, aides act as de facto council members themselves, sussing out the issues for each office. Despite the workload, Bobby Garza, family man and executive assistant to Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez,…
Best Comfort in Our Time of Need
Losing a loved one can be devastating. It is not only the loss itself, but the added stress and pressure for all involved. The planning and expense of a funeral can seem overwhelming, especially in this economy. Austin is home to several fine funeral homes, but if you are looking for a compassionate place that…
Best Art on the Spot
You don’t need to have wads of cash to get good art, and in this piece-of-crap economy who has the expendable money anyhow? Tucked away in dozens of highbrow art destinations across the nation (including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City and locally at Mercury Design Studio), Art-o-Mat repurposes retired retro-fab…
Best of Austin 2009
The Landslide Welcome to the 2009 ‘Best of Austin’ If you thought you’d open this issue and sidestep the lecture about the good old days, just stop reading now and slap this sucker down into the birdcage. The “good old days” are relative, of course. What’s good and old to me, for example, is positively…
Food-o-File
With summer drawing to a close and school picking back up, there’s good foodie news all around
Logical Error
The train has hit another speed bump. We can’t precisely say MetroRail has been “delayed” again – since Capital Metro no longer has an official start date for its new commuter train – but the transit agency’s executives reported Monday that they’ve uncovered yet another obstacle to getting the Red Line started. (It was originally…
World’s Greatest Dad
Bobcat Goldthwait directs Robin Williams in this comedy that harpoons pious sentimentality.
Best Historic Site
It’s been a long, hard 20 years for the biggest state capitol in the nation, but in many ways, these have been the most important. On Dec. 19, 1989, the State Preservation Board approved the first-ever master plan for the Capitol Complex, balancing the value of the original 1888 structure with the fact that it’s…
Best Emergent Local Filmmaker
He’s directed videos for metal gods the Sword, served as cinematographer on Kyle Henry’s remarkably disturbing Room, and co-directed the one-of-a-kind documentary Trinidad (go ahead, name another independent doc that travels to Colorado and unearths the sex-reassignment capital of the world, we dare you). As if that weren’t enough, Raval also did cinematography (with Kimberley…
Best New Club
The Second Sunday Sock Hop is always packed with sweaty shakin’ booties, the indoor area sports a couple of pool tables and some arcade games, and the spacious outdoor patio is a great place to share a drink with a friend. And best of all, it’s (well-behaved) dog-friendly! No wonder our readers love this laid-back…
Best-Kept Secret
Sold at the South Austin Trailer Park & Eatery, Love Puppies Brownies are rich enough to stand in for that taco you were eyeing at neighbor Torchy’s. These brownies are made “by local people who love puppies.” But don’t worry, puppies aren’t allowed in the kitchen.
All-Time Winner
He is our Tom Joad with a Leica: Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, he’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop roughing up a guy, he’ll be there. Wherever there’s injustice or people in need, he’ll be there, camera in hand, to get the picture that lets us see for ourselves the…
All-Time Winner
Franklin Delano Hendrix: Has an obvious ring to it, doesn’t it? Eric “Emo” Hartman had it too, back in May 1992 at the corner of Sixth Street and Red River. By the new millennium, Hendrix, the current owner of Austin’s vaunted Emo’s, wasn’t about to rebrand the newly acquired home of “alternative lounging” to a…
Best Music Station
Can we begin to extol KGSR’s virtues? After almost 20 years, they’ve landed Austin like a big-ass bass, hook, line, and sinker. It’s easy to take for granted the Austin-centric programming, but venture too far away, and you’ll find that most towns aren’t blessed with Patti Griffin, Roky Erickson, Hot Club of Cowtown, and the…
Best Day Trip – Dry
EEEEOOOOooUUuUAUUA! Is that the sweet sound of a land whale? Hardly. That’s the creaking and groaning of Enchanted Rock. That other pink granite dome, the state Capitol, has nothing on this natural, massive geological formation. Ditch gramps and any nature haters at the plethora of antique, Texana shops and delightful gourmand stops that make up…
Best Council Member
Community: It’s what he saved in his many years battling fires and what focuses his vision during his years thus far on Austin’s City Council. His leadership on diversity issues, including spearheading the Hispanic Quality of Life Initiative and his continued visibility as a firmly entrenched East Austinite make Mike Martinez a continued favorite of…
Best Dry Cleaner
When you take your clothes to EcoClean, you do something more than just laundry. Some folks don’t understand the harm in so many of our everyday routines (like dry cleaning). This nontoxic cleaner has made it possible to be conveniently proactive. And EcoClean hasn’t racked up so many “Best of Austin”s just because of its…
Best Computer Store
In this economy, the thrifty shopper can’t pass up the deals at Discount Electronics. Four locations and thousands of options, from refurbished laptops to baskets full of optical mice, add up to significant computing power for your buck. The friendly staff are knowledgeable and patient with customers, whether n00b or level 50 wizard.
Greenest Event Venue
We fell in love with this gracious 7-acre country estate long before third-generation Austin hospitality professionals Melanie and Mark McAfee began the arduous process of having their entire business certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture three years ago, making it the only third-party certified organic event facility in the state (and probably the…
Best Cross to Bear
When Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1971, not only did the world lose a musician who (after Elmore James) did for slide guitar what electricity did for blues, the Allman Brothers Band lost its boss. At that moment, li’l brother Gregg Allman assumed a mantle he never intended. Susan Antone is…
Best Cart of Vegan Luv
While the hipster influx of East Sixth brings with it some welcome new attention to the old avenue, the overarching affect teeters on the precious, not to mention the precariously gentrificarious. Cheer Up Charlie’s, however, a fabulous vegan food cart situated on a lot that you’d swear was someone’s backyard, is just so homespun, so…
Nuttiest Austinites
AustiNuts’ dry-roasted goodies can be found in many Austin-area groceries, but there’s nothing like visiting its original store on West Anderson to take in the glorious aroma and peruse the impressive array of bulk legumes, seeds, achenes, kernels, and just plain nuts, not to mention handy gift packs and shippable, themed gift baskets of every…
Best Temporary Infill
If there’s one thing scarier than Halloween, it’s empty storefronts where jobs used to be. So there’s no happier sight in the witching season than when the Halloween stores open the crypt doors every September, offering scads of selection for kids on the All Hallow’s hunt for the perfect costume. This year, there will be…
Best Saturday Night Date
Mac Blake and David Jara are indeed the best friends your radio ever had. The duo’s Saturday night KOOP call-in show, from 6 to 7pm, is the perfect stage for their back-and-forth zingers, a talent no doubt honed at their other job over at Master Pancake Theater. Sketches and stories, puns and prank callers, rants…
Best New Pocket of Green
A former Austin substation notorious for sparking during thunderstorms gets a makeover, and the North University Neighborhood gets a quirky new park. The transformation took place earlier this year, when a fantastical grotto wall, created by local sculptor Berthold Haas, replaced an existing wall. It’s still a work in progress, and while some are calling…
Best New Family-Friendly Government Offices
Behind the bureaucratic-sounding names of these newly minted Travis County offices is a decidedly down-home community of caring public servants. The offices provide legal representation for parents and children involved in Child Protective Services cases, a good-government endeavor that aims to strengthen its accountability to we the people while helping little and big folks in…
Best Garden-Friendly Water Saver
The water situation has been dire this summer. On the rare day it does rain, why not save some for later? The Austin Water Utility’s rain-barrel sales have been so successful, it has a hard time keeping them in stock, but if you see them advertised, run out and get some! They’re easy to install,…
Best Cowboy Regalia, 2000
With eager waitstaff who look like they’re on their lunch break from the rodeo, minus the dust, this is the place to go for Texas belt buckles, cowboy hats, and boots. Did we mention boots? Miles of them, each more two-steppable than the last. An urban cowboy’s (or cowgirl’s) dream.
19th Annual ‘Austin Chronicle’ Hot Sauce Contest
If you didn’t make it to the fest to sample salsas, take this list of winners to the grocery store
Proposed FY 2010 Budget: Highlights
• Overall revenue is expected to be $185 million – down $9.9 million from FY 2009. • Operating expenses are expected to be $165 million – down almost $4 million. • After capital expenses, contributions to area mobility projects, and railcar leases, the ending cash balance is expected to be $10.8 million (20.5 days of…
Humpday
Shelton’s winner of Sundance’s Special Jury Prize starts an interesting conversation about sexuality, but ultimately doesn’t add much to the dialogue.
Best Hotel
Having fulfilled the promise of its dazzling re-debut as edgy SoCo upstart (has it been almost a decade?!), Hotel San José has settled sweetly into its status as an enduring icon of Austin style and hospitality. The transformed motor court and creative community were always intertwined; now, with its courtyard events and open lounge hours,…
Best Museum
The Blanton is known as much for its ambitious program schedule, including the monthly art party B Scene, as it is for the world-class art collection adorning the walls. With curators taking risks in the museum’s project space – Lisi Raskin and Jim Drain are two recent exhilarating examples – and university scholars’ carefully studied…
Best Party of the Year
It’s that conflict of emotions that can drive even the smoothest club rat crazy: that familiar “I love you but I hate you” that gnaws at your insides when SXSW comes to an end. This annual partay is so on and so damn fun it hurts, leaving your indie radar and your liver in tears…
Best Afterschool Activity
Kids need physical and emotional space to grow and play, and busy parents may not be able to pick their bundles of boogers up from school every day. YMCA Austin’s afterschool care program gives kiddos a good dose of each, while helping parents stay on the job. Concentrating on keeping kids healthy (in all aspects…
Best Gardening Store
These winners keep Austin ready to grow at all times of the year, and between the two you can always find just the right plant or yard gnome. Natural Gardener offers a plethora of down-to-earth gardening alternatives for the greenest of thumbs, while Great Outdoors attracts Congress commuters with its jungle spread of flora domination…
All-Time Winner
Texas’ own 100-year-old H-E-B company conceived of Central Market and chose Austin as the location for the flagship store in 1994. We are eternally grateful. We can look back at the diversity of accolades heaped on Central Market by Chronicle readers and critics over the years and get a pretty good idea of what the…
Best Photographer
Timing is everything for this intrepid photographer, a frequent Chronicle contributor, who has an uncanny knack for showing us the irony in the mundane (a man on a stoop, a woman out for a jog) – the scenes most of us take in with nary a thought. His deep portfolio of photos ranges from funny…
Best Fitness Classes
Tried all the “Best of Austin” Food & Drink winners? You’ll want to stop by Yoga Yoga or 24 Hour Fitness to work it off, or, better yet, to get in fighting trim to start the tour. They’re two reasons why Austin is the fittest city in the state. Cool off in the 24 Hour…
Best Environmentalist
There are a thousand reasons why we called Brandi Clark one of our Green Crushes in 2008, and the same reasons are why she’s your enviro-hero for the third successive year. A one-woman movement, the Eli with a heart of green has touched most every eco-group in Central Texas and has even founded a few…
Best Florist
Locally owned and managed, Freytag’s has an impeccable reputation for sending out sinfully sensuous flowers, gift baskets that are brimming with beauty, plants that are bursting with life, dish gardens that add peace wherever they’re placed, bouncy balloons, and the freshest fruit. Coupled with 24-hour service and a 35-year history, Freytag’s knows how to please.
Best Convenience Store
The taps of beer at Whip In are framed by bold graphic depictions of Mohandas Gandhi, Barack Obama, and a Hindu goddess raising a wine glass and a frosty mug of beer. Where do we sign up? The homemade and delicious food, the snappy and friendly service, and the international decor make Whip-In much more…
Most Eco-Friendly Way to Do Your Doodie
Water is our most precious resource – so why do we flush so much of it down the toilet? Perhaps we’d do better to follow the example of environmental engineer Lauren Ross and carpenter David Bailey, who designed and built Austin’s first (legal) composting toilet. It uses no water and prevents chemical-laden effluent from entering…
Best Cure for a Restless Sunday
Getting a ready-to-party crowd to groove on Friday night is easy work for a DJ. Getting the same reaction on Sunday is a whole different challenge, but DJ C-Rich knows how to turn his tables to get heads nodding and bodies bouncing. Supa Soul Sound System spins soul, break beats, funk, old-school jams, neo-soul, new…
Best Catered Sunday Brunch at a Bar
The husband-and-wife cooking duo of Beau and Beth Been bring out the best on a Sunday morning – even yours after a night of drinking. A mere $13 covers the unlimited brunchy goodness. Serving up a different theme every Sunday at 11am at Nomad, the Beens deliver an amazing spread: bagels and lox, biscuits and…
Tastiest Riff on Nawlins, Vegan-Style
Actual resemblance to an authentic New Orleans po’boy is minimal – for one, prolonged exposure to Wheatsville’s vegan version isn’t likely to induce a heart attack – but we love WV’s popcorn tofu po’boy precisely for its antitraditionalist whimsy. The deli starts with the classic chewy French roll, then gets creative with perfectly seasoned and…
Best Way to Find Wi-Fi in Town
Local game developer Aspyr – once best known for programming PC games for release on Macs – has made a splash on other platforms from the iPhone to the Xbox. The most interesting of the bunch being Treasure World for the Nintendo DS in that it encourages exploration instead of sitting around. The game searches…
Best Show That Keeps on Keeping On
Indomitable. This filmed-in-Austin TV show, with its passionate fans and devoted critical support, has survived more than one rude attempt at cancellation. But the show keeps bouncing back better than ever, due to its captivating drama and stellar production values. Plus, the quality of the work provides a weekly testament to the spectacularly varied and…
Best Reason to Juice Up
We’re stretching the “BOA” conflict-of-interest rules a bit here, because Chronicle people were among the wizened founders of the ASL in 2008, when five teams recruited from local offbeat businesses (Waterloo Records, Emo’s, KOOP Radio, BookPeople, and the Chron) got together for a good-feeling, co-ed league. In one year the league has doubled in size…
Best On-Air Mayor of East Austin
As long as honorary mayoral roles are being assigned, Isidoro Lopez is an excellent candidate for East Austin. As host of the long-running local cable television program Fiesta Musical on Channel 16, Lopez specializes in in-depth interviews with movers and shakers from the Latino community. On his KOOP radio show of the same name, Lopez…
Best Hairy Godmother
God bless Joey Miller. With her scissors at the ready, hair that has no hope is hopeful, style long since lost is found, dull and dreary transform to volume and bounce, and the coifs and ‘dos of Austin’s beauties become worthy of their Lone Star legacies. The salon hums along in harmony under her direction,…
Best Homegrown Incense
Is your room stinky? Need a unique way to impress your date? Mista Boombastick has been peddling his homemade incense in Downtown Austin for at least 10 years. Look for him on Congress Avenue or Sixth Street on weekends in the early evening. Or text or e-mail him to find out where he is setting…
Arts Review
In this battle for Narnia, Aslan is taken down by a lack of vision and weak direction
Reefer Madness: The Great Capitol Hemp Heist
See what happens when you try to separate a hemp lobbyist from his inner woody hurd fibers?
Best Hotel/Motel Pool
There are few contenders in this category that could even begin to approach the height of service, let alone the luxury of the pool, at the Four Seasons. The white Italianate balustrade, top-of-the-line patio lounges, the refreshing list of temptations and libations, the flawless attendants who will bring you whatever you desire as you lazily…
Best Performance Space
Celebrating the Austin Symphony, Ballet Austin, and Austin Lyric Opera as resident companies, the Long Center has been an acoustic and visual treasure since its debut a mere year and a half ago. With the balcony view of Downtown’s reflection on Town Lake vying with every seat in both theatres as best-in-house, the roster of…
Best Place to Dance
Yes, it’s crowded, and yes, the line at the bar is often longer than the ones to (or in) the bathrooms, but dammit, man, this shit is off the fucking hook, yo. Seriously: Where else can you shuffle your indie/hipster Chucks to the cacophonous clamor of My Education or Many Birthdays on the back porch…
Best Birthday Cakes
Bon voyage. Adios. “So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye.” Vaya con Dios. Good day, and we love you, Lucy’s Cakes. Yes, we hate to be the bearer of bad tidings (Don’t shoot the messenger!), but this classic VIP of “Best of Austin” is calling it a day in the cake industry, at least here in…
Best Green Business
Eco-Wise bills itself as the “Earth-Friendly-Everything Store” – and it ain’t kidding! Looking for organic garden seeds? It’s got ’em! How about a tankless water heater? It’s got that too. It’s got bamboo flooring and kitchen utensils, recycled paper glasses and recycled glass countertops. It may not have the kitchen sink, but if it did,…
All-Time Winner
The Save Our Springs Alliance – previously the SOS Legal Defense Fund and, before that, the SOS Coalition – has been receiving “Best of Austin” awards almost as long as it’s been around, a fitting tribute to a homegrown organization that, since its inception, seems never to have taken a day off. SOS formed in…
Best Public-Access TV Show
Shasta and Arcie, last year’s “Best Of” cover girls, aren’t resting on their laurels. They continue to stick it to the man while their clothing sticks to them in all the right places. And while you are illuminated about the Illuminati or schooled about chem trails, you also learn to cook up something delicious. Nothing…
Best Gear/Sporting Goods
There’s no Lady Bird Lake without kayaks, no Mount Bonnell without boots, and no Barton Springs without swim trunks (Hippie Hollow, we hear, is another story). We love our outdoor activities around here, but we couldn’t do it without our tie-for-the-win friends at REI, if you make the hike to the Arboretum or Downtown, and…
Best Local Politics Blog
Too many political blogs play nice with elected officials just to say they were there, but the Burnt Orange boys aren’t here to make friends. The site may have outgrown its University of Texas roots, but its coverage of state and local politics has only become tougher and smarter while still staying unashamedly progressive.
Best Hair Salon
Roar owner Rory McNeill must have a wall of fame in his home to show off all of his awards, commendations, and photos with high-profile clients. He’s really been around, and yet seems to have never lost his boyish enthusiasm for designing fabulous hair and color. The swank East Fifth salon is a haven for…
Best Drugstore/Pharmacy
When you have a sinus infection paired with a raging case of pinkeye that makes it look like you’ve been in a fistfight for the past week, except with more oozing, you expect a fair amount of recoiling from the public. But walking into Peoples Rx, there’s only professional prescription advice without any apparent clamor…
Most Friendly Exit
Young whippersnappers may not recognize the strange flame-headed character on the sign that salutes all who leave Spider House Patio Bar & Cafe as Happy the Oil Drop Man, a corporate advertising gimmick belonging to none other than Esso (now known as ExxonMobil). His signature wave and catchphrase “Happy Motoring!” are friendly and nostalgic to…
Best Expansion of Screen Real Estate
Long the only place in town to satisfy our desires for big-screen nature fixes, the local IMAX venue has expanded its repertoire of late to include the presentation of selected Hollywood spectacles. Now when we’re lured by the call of the wild in addition to dolphins and canyon adventures, we can also discover tribes of…
Best Cherry Lemonade, 1999
Who isn’t impressed with dazzling innovations in liquid refreshment like banana-mango-lime-kiwi smoothies, high-carb blue-colored sports drinks, and honey-spirulina-orange-pineapple juice? But on a scorching afternoon with only a half-dollar in our pockets, we love to give our change to the nice lady at the cart in exchange for a plastic cup of ice. Then we can…
Best Baking Boot Camp
When it’s too hot and too dry for backyard mud pies, the little ones head over to the Cookie Lounge for hands-on training on how to mix, roll, and cut their own one-of-a-kind cookie creations. While everything bakes up and cools off, the little bakers craft their own take-home dessert boxes and decorate their baked…
Best Zoo Out East
The lobby of this small zoo off Highway 71 between Austin and Bastrop is wall-to-wall creep and crawl with every imaginable snake and other slithering thing populating the shack. Outside, the path takes you first to visit some domesticated pals. The piggies are good for a few snorts, but we sure wouldn’t want to be…
Best Tales of Jailhouse Blues
Next time someone tells you that the Texas courts are bastions of blind justice and the penal system works perfectly, tell ‘em to go read what Scott Henson wrote. The Innocence Project of Texas consultant and founder of Austin’s Sunshine Project for Police Accountability uses his blog to sing like a bird on everything from…
Best Secret Makeout Spot, 1997
We probably should not be telling you about this, but if you want to get a smooch on at the end of your date, this place is it. Good parking, lots of sky, and a great view of Downtown Austin. Lip-smacking good.
Best Pride Guiders
It’s a thankless job. Literally. No matter what you think – or what you think you know – about this past year’s Pride weekend and the unfortunate bit of circumstance that immediately followed it all, the event remains one of the best and most warmly received Prides in Austin history. And there are many reasons…
Best Ironic Parting Gift Rumor, 2001
Now, this is what we heard: When this online pharmacy site shut its doors and laid off the remaining employees, it had no money for severance pay … and instead gave everyone a T-shirt that said: “RX.COM: WE NEVER CLOSE.”
Best Local Hardware Store and More
You might as well live in Mayberry R.F.D. when you walk into this hardware store on Manchaca Road. Rural? Perhaps not in the way you might think. The array of products and services here almost rivals the big boxes – and, oh, the service. Caring and friendly, there’s even a handyman who can come to…
Arts Review
Fear not, this artistic examination of what worries us will reward your attention.
Page Two: Dreams for Sale
On magic, gremlins, and health care reform
Best Hotel/Motel Staff
There are few contenders in this category that could even begin to approach the height of service, let alone the luxury of the pool, at the Four Seasons. The white Italianate balustrade, top-of-the-line patio lounges, the refreshing list of temptations and libations, the flawless attendants who will bring you whatever you desire as you lazily…
Best Place to See Local Art
Now in its seventh year, EAST is the best way to experience Austin’s growing contemporary visual art scene. The intimate format – you pace your travels to the array of artist studios – denies the possibility of a cool and distant art experience. Instead, the art is often visceral and immediate. Did we mention it’s…
Best Scenester/Mover & Shaker
One is a professional party host, the other a professional party guest. One dresses like Michael Jackson as often as possible; the other has such impeccable fashion standards he puts us all to shame. (Even the cargo-pants arsonist – of Governor’s Mansion fame – is no match for Chronicle “After a Fashion” columnist Stephen Moser’s…
Best Bookstore
Mind-boggling selection coupled with innovative programs such as literary camps that re-create fantastical worlds and spectacular book launch parties have made BookPeople’s children’s section, BookKids, a template for independent bookstores nationwide. Such programming empowers kids to find both the challenges and solace in reading, and as Martha Stewart is wont to say: It’s a good…
Best Liquor Store
Hyde Park dwellers thanked Bacchus early and often when the new millennium welcomed Twin Liquors to the Hancock Center – and near a video rental store to boot! With some 55 sister outlets, its upgrade was unexpected, to say the least; employees of Twin Liquors’ new “flagship” headquarters next to Petco estimate the liquor barn’s…
All-Time Winner
Ann Richards was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth but is nevertheless best remembered for her stem-winding silver tongue. She built bridges with it, through sheer force of will, so it was fitting when Texas renamed Austin’s Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge in her honor. In between, Chronicle readers became a litmus…
Best Radio Music Deejay
On one hand, he says a lot of the things we think about saying, and on the other hand, he says the things we wouldn’t dream of. So Austin has a prurient interest in tuning in to his morning show every day, and we sometimes even wish he hadn’t taken us where he did ……
Best Golf
Since 1934 Austinites have been playing through on this 141-acre, 6,000-yard public golf course on the southern edge of the Tarrytown neighborhood. Sixty-seven thousand rounds of golf are played here every year, and the course was the first integrated golf course in the South. One of the oldest amateur tournaments, the Firecracker Open is still…
Best Local Politics Blogger
When Wells Dunbar signed on a few years ago, it was with the understanding that he would help the Chronicle navigate hipster cyberspace, from his own special perspective. As our readers have recognized, he’s doing that and more, not only with his on-the-spot City Hall reporting but his creation (with producer Michael Bartnett) of City…
Best Landscape Services
Staring longingly at your neighbor’s perky garden while grimly hand-watering your crunchy brown lawn? With the aid of Fertile Ground Gardens, you too can have organic, drought-resistant landscapes. Whether you need just a few tips or a complete yard makeover, Julie Donie and her crew lay out – not lead you up – the garden…
Best DVD Rental/Purchase
Do you think Vulcan gets tired of all these “Best of Austin” awards? Surely in back of one of the stores is a supply room stacked to the rafters with plaques, banners, and ribbons from the readers of The Austin Chronicle. Know why? Vulcan is simply the best.
Best Case of Inmates Running the Asylum
We can’t say every department on the 40 Acres should give itself over to the students for a week every two years, but man, does it work for the Department of Theatre & Dance. Its biennial David Mark Cohen New Works Festival – in which upward of 30 student-generated pieces of drama, dance, design, and…
Best Free Bagpipe Music
When the marketing guys dubbed Austin the “live music capital of the world,” they probably weren’t thinking about the Capitol City Highlanders, but these skirted fellows are in fact deeply entrenched in the local music scene, with a sound so big, jubilant, and mournful at the same time, it’s like a caber toss right through…
Best Chick
Let’s be honest: We know ThunderCloud didn’t invent the meatless chicken product that anchors the Nada Chicken Parmesan, but daaaaaaaamn is it ridiculously good! The vegetarian meat product is so thoroughly convincing we swear there’s at least a little chicken fat in it. Magical. We’re so thrilled that it is now on the menu and…
Best Brats on the Track
Like any good sport, women’s Roller Derby has its own peewee league. These junior skaters are the teen and preteen future of Austin’s tracks. Its Big Sister Program brings together skaters from both the flat track TXRG and the banked track TXRD to guide the next generation of wheeled wonders around the curves and up…
Most Socially Responsible Hip-Hop Crew
The many members of the Cipher are working to create social change in the community via the power of music – hip-hop, to be specific. The mixed-gender crew of youngsters is dedicated and serious enough to have just delivered its first CD, From Soldiers to Warriors. Inspired by the New York Hip Hop Project and…
Best Televised Tweeters
Twitter offers endless opportunities for info, elucidation, and, yes, embarrassment. But three local TV journalists have embraced the format wholeheartedly: city-beat reporters Matt Flener and Reagan Hackleman and Lege watchdog Elise Hu. KXAN’s Flener can be found on Twitter teasing stories and sussing out interviews; News 8’s Hackleman expertly balances his personal and professional Tweets;…
Best Slider
A couple of summers ago, Jared was a 12-year-old at Canyon Vista Middle School, when his mom took him, more or less on a whim, to an open tryout that USA Luge was holding in the 100-degree heat near Fort Worth. He went fast enough to get noticed (because he didn’t want to scuff up…
Best Proof You Can Fight City Hall
Instantly recognizable by his gray ponytail, Jack Kirfman is a ubiquitous presence around City Hall. As political action coordinator for the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Kirfman has worked tirelessly for years on behalf of civilian city employees, fighting cuts and preserving services. Plus, he also finds time…
Best Name for a Urologist, 1998
Don’t be fooled by the name. He knows what he is doing. Need we say more?
Best Local Shoppers
Attention, shoppers! Shifting 10% of your spending to local stores would add 3,000 jobs to the Austin economy, and it’s as easy now as when your great-great grammy bought a pelt at the trading post. The Austin Independent Business Alliance has made their IBIZ shopping districts the place to stock up (just look for the…
Soccer Watch
The Austin Aztex play their last home game of 2009 this Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, 6pm at Nelson Field, hosting the first-place Portland Timbers, who are riding an eye-popping 24-game unbeaten streak. With the Aztex finally rounding into their best form of the season, it’s a great chance to give the 2009 team a…
Best Motel
Long before the stretch of South Congress between Riverside and Oltorf was reincarnated as the revitalized and très funky SoCo we know and love today, there was the Austin Motel. Predating pretty much every other surviving business in the area – Earnest and Jennie Eck Stewart opened for business in 1938 – this most prized…
Best Theatre Director
The Mistress of the Vortex has staged so many original phantasmagorias over the years – Dark Goddess! The X&Y Trilogy! Vampyress! – and provided theatregoers with diverse visions of myth and magic like some Neil Gaiman tarantula-venom fever dream. Now, following this year’s spring production of her ambitious and watery Oceana, the intrepid director is…
Best Wine Selection
You should always store your wine in a cool, dark place. But that’s also exactly where you should store your winos: that way they’ll stay the freshest. And vino vino has more than accomplished this with its inviting and sophisticated interior – dim lights, hardwood floors, and wine bottles lining the walls – and highly…
Best Clothing
It’s hard to imagine anyone who goes through clothes faster than a baby does. Clothes, toys, cribs, bedding, and every other possible accessory seem to become outdated as quickly as last week’s arugula. They pile up at an exasperating pace while you’re spending a fortune keeping up with baby’s new needs. Stop. Just stop. Gather…
Best Local Bookstore
On the verge of its 40th year, BookPeople is still on a campaign to win over the hearts and minds of Austinites. Whether you’re buying the latest issue of McSweeney’s or picking up a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to punk your high school English teacher, BookPeople is Austin’s independent behemoth. In a…
All-Time Winner
So your bike is broken. Gears out of whack? Brakes not doing their job as well as they should? Perhaps you had an unwelcome interaction with a car. Whatever happened, you’re likely in a foul mood – your biker’s high severely harshed. You do not need attitude right now. We’re talking to you, snobby bike…
Best Radio Talk/News Host
It hardly seems like shit stirring when it is dealt in such melodious Queen’s English, but the whip-whackin’, talk-smackin’, Jason-crackin’ half of the 101X morning team can dish it as well as take it. Seems a theme for this miss, as her previous gig – the meat between Mix’s JB and Sandy sandwich, and won…
Best Local Team
Is there anyone more passionate about the Longhorns than Austin is? Yes – the rest of the UT alumni all over the world and slavishly devoted fans in places we’ve never dreamed of. Everything’s big in Texas, and our burnt orange obsession proves it, season after season.
Best News Story
Just how far to the right will some Republicans go to pick up a few conservative votes? Our own Governor Good Hair became known nationwide as the Secessionist Kid after he rambled about states’ rights around the world’s most impolite tea party guests. As he back-pedaled from his civil war-style posturing, reactionary forces in his…
Best Laundromat
Whether it’s your saddle blanket or your duvet cover, locally owned and operated Wash Day Laundry provides a squeaky clean environment in which to get your clothes (or saddle blankets) immaculate. With an abundance of state of the art machines and its sleek new no-coin card system, there’s hardly a wait. But if washing your…
Best Furnishings: Home
Sleek. Chic. Four Hands and IKEA provide you with everything needed to make your space home- and garden-tour worthy. Whether it’s a Moroccan table or a Chinese armoire, Four Hands’ wholesale suppliers can get it from every end of the Earth and into your pad. And boy, does IKEA have choices! “I want that rug…
Best Comedy Tribute to the Deeply Geekified
It would be enough for this supergroup of improvisers to perform a longform narrative set in a World of Warcraft-like MMORPG, but that they simultaneously portrayed the quotidian meatspace lives behind the weirdling avatars questing across the Salvage Vanguard stage every weekend for six weeks … ah, what’s a good portmanteau for amazing and hilarious?…
Best Karaoke
It’s the end of the night, and all you want to do is belt Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” into a microphone. We understand, and so does the solid crew at Ego’s Bar. Yeah, it’s in a parking garage. Yeah, it’s small. These oddities are more than appreciated by the lighthearted crowd, often consisting…
Best Drowning Flautas
As if the flauta itself isn’t already the perfect blend of crispy, crunchy, gooey, and yummy, the fine folks at the Screaming Goat drench the darned things in a piping hot, screamingly good, brothy red sauce. The style is called “ahogada” (drowned), and its version is fit for goatherds and kings alike. What could be…
Best Children’s Book Author, 1999
Reputed author of the Wayside School and Marvin Redpost series of children’s books, this Austin writer has fans – young and not so young – across the globe. His book Holes won the prestigious Newbery Medal in 1999. The story that struck gold for Sachar is about a boy wrongly convicted of a crime and…
Best Austinite to Shake Up Hollywood, 1997
One day, he was a little kid our Editor Louis Black used to see running around collectors’ conventions (“with better comics than the adults”), then he’s suddenly got Quentin Tarantino calling him “the Wolf Blitzer of the Internet.” Who is Harry J. Knowles, and how does he get directors like Joel Schumacher so pissed? Just…
Best TV Reporter With Teeth
Investigative reporters are going the way of the Edward R. Murrows of television. But longtime Austin TV reporter Nanci Wilson, newly arrived at the local NBC affiliate, flashes more than a friendly smile when she arrives on a public official’s doorstep. Open records laws are her specialty. Armed with her own portable copier, she can…
Best Soccer Player
Johnson’s been the top scorer for the Aztex all season long, and in a year when the team has struggled to find goals, he’s been out there hustling every game and providing leadership and a steadying influence on and off the field. At 24, with a background that includes Manchester United and English national youth…
Best School Savers
TEA Commissioner Robert Scott said to close it, but the parents, teachers, and students of Pearce Middle School rallied around their beloved neighborhood school. Sure, there were leaders, including Austin Independent School District trustee Cheryl Bradley, Michael Lofton of the African American Men and Boys Conference, and Allen Weeks of the St. John Neighborhood Association,…
Best Neurological Care
Laserlike precision. If these words alone could describe one’s neurological surgical skill, it would be more than enough. But Dr. Peterson far surpasses dexterous excellency. Detection, informative analysis, presurgery consultation, and post-surgery care – all of these are taken to task with patient comfort at the core of it all. It’s your brain and your…
Best Locally Made Organic Night’s Sleep
Finding the perfect mattress is a task that can completely consume those in need of sleeping arrangements – so much so that all they can think about are sleep numbers, fillers, and foams. All the Sturm und Drang makes sense as we spend at least one-third of our lives in bed. For more than 25…
Day Trips
The best day trips are the ones in the planning stages. Here are a few gems to consider.
Oops!
In last week’s “What Part of ‘No’ Don’t You Understand?,” two quotes were misattributed. The quote attributed to Tracy Witte was actually spoken by an unidentified Robertson Hill resident, while the quote immediately preceding it, which begins “We’re not interested in creating a medical corridor,” should have been attributed to Witte.
Best New Building (Past Five Years)
Remember Palmer Auditorium? That green hulking mass of a dome was reborn at the beginning of 2008 as the Long Center for the Performing Arts, and Austin is all the better for it! After almost a decade of planning and financial calibration, the completed center looks architecturally toward the future while retaining elements of its…
Best Visual Artist
This award is bittersweet for us because Pangallo has recently moved to New York City. (New York City?!) Such is the way of big fish in small ponds. She swears she’ll be back, though, and here’s hoping. The appeal of Pangallo’s aesthetic is wide. Her visual art encompasses live, video, and photographic performances, gaining her…
Best 24-Hour/Late
Since opening its doors in 1979 as an egg-and-pancake joint, the Omelettry West on Lake Austin Boulevard, this icon of Austin eating has grown into a nationally recognized hot spot for good food and local flair. Open 24/8, the Mag (which opened a second location on South Congress in 1988) can feed even the hungriest…
Best DVD Selection
Somewhere near you, a kid is crying out for pre-Kurosawa cinematic sustenance. Sure, cineaste that you are, you could spin Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia on the DVD babysitter, but ask yourself this: Do you really want 10-year-olds on soda jags mainlining Peckinpah and Oates’ existential nihilism when they’d much rather be catching…
Best Local Hardware Store
How could you not love Breed & Co.? There’s something in there for everyone. Need a pull chain for your ceiling fan? It will have plenty, and the little pulls that go at the end of the chain, too. Staff will give you advice on your vegetable garden and has the perfect dinnerware on which…
Best Austin Homage
One step inside the Barbara Jordan Terminal of ABIA, and you know you aren’t in Kansas. You aren’t in New York. And this sure isn’t Orlando. From the first lilting twang of Texas tunes to the distinct aroma of smoked treats straight out of the barbecue pit, your senses tell you: You are entering a…
Best Sportscaster
Twenty years of the “Best of Austin,” and now 20 years of Mike Barnes as KVUE’s voice of UT football. Yup, he’s been covering the Longhorns since Mack Brown was still a Tarheel. While the view from the stands may have changed, Mike’s still the guy who loves a tailgate and a game.
Best Place to Camp
The perfect summer day trip, Inks Lake State Park is in Burnet County, about 90 minutes from Austin, and boasts the mighty Devil’s Waterhole. Surrounded by pink granite, the constant-level lake allows for canoeing and has its own tour on the weekends, along with plenty of scenic hiking trails and a golf course. The primitive…
Best Nonprofit/Activist Group
Movement en masse is the best way to achieve results. Thankfully we have the TFN to take charge, block, tackle, and lead the way when it comes to holding the advance of the mainstream agenda on a steady course through the far-right and -left offense. This nonpartisan, grassroots organization is unstoppable in keeping classrooms, government,…
Best Movers
Heavenly care is exactly what you need, especially when it comes to helping the elderly adjust to newer, down-sized housing. And Heavenly Care Moving knows just how to make that transition as smooth as possible. But that’s only one of its particular specialties. Founding the company in 2004, owner Benny Latino knows how to provide…
Best Drive-by Strangeness Phenomenon, 2000
Whether you think it’s an eyesore or art, this statue of a bubblegum-pink primate with clown lips, a porno-style arched back, and a disturbingly human-looking ass is nothing if not strange. The fact that it sits isolated on the corner with no further explanation (we think it’s supposed to promote the nearby bingo parlor) only…
Best Creative Takeover of a Downtown Performance Venue
After a decade of providing Austin with a Downtown epicenter of improv comedy, the beloved Hideout Theatre was about to bar its storied doors for good. Sorrow loomed. But, no! Up jumps Parallelogramophonograph’s Kareem Badr and Roy Janik and Jessica Arjet of Flying Theater Machine, forming a fierce triumvirate of entrepreneurial wherewithal to assume the…
Best New Internet Radio Hostess
She simmers. She sparkles. She coos the words into the microphone, and radioland takes a step back in time to the early 2000s when trance and electronica ruled Austin. Jen “Miss Kitty” Garrison has been and is the continuing force behind promoting dance music and the club scene here in Austin. Returning to us via…
Best Eastside Juiciness
Don’t let the nondescript trailer fool you. Inside this Eastside wheeled wonder, a cornucopia of fresh fruit stands ready to be whizzed into the juiciest blended beverages, made-to-order smoothies, fresh fruit salads, milkshakes, and the hands-down, very best agua de sandia (sweetened watermelon juice) in all of Austin. Owned by two sisters – La Doñas…
Best Driving Lesson, 2001
Nothing like a moral with your pizza. Now we’re not going to belabor the actual news story of the truck that smashed right through the glass wall that is the entrance to our beloved Conans on 29th. That driver must be humiliated enough (if she or he even survived …). But we will say that…
Best Barely Legal
Would you believe that Study Breaks, that ubiquitous paean to college life covering West Campus, the St. Ed’s corridor, San Marcos, and beyond, has just turned 21?! Yup, the drink special king has graduated to adulthood! Shhh, don’t tell, but SB is one of our guiltiest pleasures: totally devoid of pretense (Hey, you recent glut…
Best Way to Explore the Domain Without Going Broke
Be honest with yourself. Apart from a lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, even mere window-shopping at the Domain for more than 30 seconds can drain the wallet. Luckily, local sound experimentalist Alex Keller brought together a handful of audio artists to give you a totally free reason to explore the New Urbanism capitalist dream(nightmare?)scape. Download…
Best Trainers to Pump You Up!
Okay weight watchers, fat fighters, health nuts, triathlon trainers, and body builders, the trainers at Anytime Fitness have got game. Because it’s a small gym (no sweaty smell or overblown pictures of Lance Armstrong talking about his ass), the trainers at Anytime Fitness are given the freedom and ability to train as they please. There’s…
Best Undead Lobbying
It can be hard to get a bill noticed in the Legislature. Heralding the end of analog TV broadcasts and the growing mounds of ancient TV sets, Texas Campaign for the Environment took a page from the national Take Back My TV campaign by summoning the living dead. Dressed as zombies, they groaned their support…
Best Place to Find a Shag
When it comes to wrangling home improvement bargains, we’re hardly pushovers. But the Carpet Stop knows how to treat a lady, or gentleman, with a taste for quality flooring. While the ridiculously reasonable prices would have been enough, the service puts us over the moon: Salespeople help you determine what you really need, order it…
Best New Artsploitation Venue/Gallery
Failure is not an option. Failure T-shirts and slyboots streetwise Krink bomber markers, however, are, with locally grown hip-hop and neu-wave artworks, John Gomi’s exploding plastic inevitably cool Kozik-y thingamawhatsits, and owner Marc Zuazua’s Downtown-hepcat cool as well. Both the tiniest and coolest new music and art venue to come up from the gutter since,…
Gay Place
The Gay Place Blog, along with all the Chronicle blogs, gets all fancy
Happy Anniversary to Us
As you may know, this issue, our 20th “Best of Austin” issue and also our 28th anniversary issue, is dated on the actual anniversary of our very first issue, dated Sept. 4, 1981. Due to the vagaries of the calendar, this is a relatively rare occurence – in fact, this is only our third true…
Best Public Art
It began on Nov. 20, 2006, with 35 10-foot-tall fiberglass Gibson guitars, as well as 30 standard-sized showcase guitars. For the next year, the 10-foot giants would garnish Austin’s popular streets, parks, restaurants, and landmarks. On Oct. 17, 2007, all of the celebrity-sponsored or -decorated guitars went up for bid, pumping $589,000 into the music,…
Best Bar Ambience
Until we ventured into the back of Casino, we didn’t realize Aztecs had biergartens. Or that the incongruous was so congruous as to totally rock that aesthetic alongside what could be realistically called a “goth” bar, sans attendant caterwauling. A goth bar with no goth music! Yay! House Wine, on the other, very different hand,…
Best Cheap Date
Cheap does not equal boring at P. Terry’s. Value-added, homegrown awesomeness comes free with its all-natural Angus beef combo meals and under-two-bucks shakes. The folks behind the scenes don’t scrimp on quality, so when you’re treating your sweetie, you’re doing it with hormone- and antibiotic-free beef, fresh-cut fries, and an original-recipe veggie burger that can’t…
Best Haircut
Considered by Elle magazine to be among the Top 100 salons in the country, the barbers at Birds can laugh at being the only barbers on that vaunted list of stylists. Perhaps it’s been Birds’ phenomenal growth, or maybe it’s the very reasonable prices, but Birds has landed all over the city and isn’t about…
Best Music Gear
Cables, mixers, monitors, guitars, tuners, pedals, amps …. One doesn’t become the live music capital of the world by songwriting chops and nightclubs alone. The knowledgeable folks at Guitar Center keep us stocked for all our collective musical endeavors – from the putzing to the professional – and they’ll be around ’til the fat lady…
Best Bobcat B&B
For a town as storybook charming as San Marcos, it’s a shock how few independent hotels and bed & breakfasts there are. If you (or for you students: your parents) spend a lot of time in Bobcat country, check out, or more precisely, check in to the Crystal River Inn, the closest B&B to Texas…
Best Sportswriter
Considering our lack of professional teams, Austin sure does like to talk sports. And one writer in particular does just that very well: Cedric Golden. With his no-nonsense style and careful coverage – of everything from the Longhorns to the recent Testosterone Festival – he’s clearly on his A-game. We may sass the denizens of…
Best Place to Skate
With birthday parties for big and little ones, Texas Rollergirls meets, skate lessons and sales, and weekly gatherings of middle schoolers, Austin’s largest skating rink has something for everyone. While Playland covers fun, the Veloway in Southwest Austin offers something for the more serious skating set. Rollerbladers (and bikers) have been enjoying the 3.1-mile paved…
Best Scandal
In the case of 72-year-old Kathryn Winkfein, who was shot with a Taser by Precinct 3 Deputy Constable Christopher Bieze in May for – the nerve! – refusing to sign a ticket for speeding (60 mph in a 45 mph zone), the scandalous behavior is clear. She’s 72! You’re a big grown man – a…
Best Pedicure/Manicure
Mani/pedi! Oh, how that hybrid brings happy to mind! Nails of America offers up big-screen TVs, comfy massage pedicure chairs, a bright and spacious work area, and a large staff of experienced, welcoming technicians at a surprisingly affordable price. Pure Nails embraces the environmental approach to natural nail beauty with a platinum standard hygiene regime.…
Best Improvement to the Avenue
The block between Gibson and Elizabeth streets now has a brand-new sidewalk! SoCo pedestrians no longer have to risk getting sideswiped by Congress Avenue traffic as they shimmy past parked cars or breaking a heel walking billy goat-style on what was for years a treacherous, uneven bank on the east side of that block. After…
Best Fashion Fantasist, 2000
An accomplished designer with an extensive understanding of fashion and fantasy, Bonnell takes what could be ordinary theatrical wear and transforms it into haute couture costumes of high style and soaring imagination. Her wizard’s touch has graced such Zachary Scott Theatre Center productions as Tommy, The Santaland Diaries, and Schoolhouse Rock, but no show shows…
Best of the Fests
With a lot of ambition and heart, Pachanga Fest ’08 showed a lot of promise to annually showcase Latino musicians in a fun festival setting. In ’09, however, Pachanga Fest truly lived up to its potential with a dazzling array of acts that included the edgy Mexican Institute of Sound, the all-female Mariachi Las Alteñas,…
Best Farmers’ Market Maestra
Regular shoppers at the two Austin Farmers’ Market locations may not know market director Suzanne Santos by name, but they surely recognize the omnipresent woman with the straw hat festooned with Central Texas fruits and vegetables. As a longtime employee of the Sustainable Food Center, Santos has guided the market from its humble beginnings in…
Best Evidence the Grrrl Torch Has Been Passed
As if the brilliance of its name, half a line from a Runaways song, weren’t enough, I’m the Fox’s nutty, button-pushing logo lets us know just how deeply it gets that delicious blend of righteousness and absurdism that makes being a feminist so freakin’ fun. Teen founders Zoe Graham and Nadia Ezaboe met last year…
Best Battle in the War on Drugs, 1992
Was it a community service or their respect for the public’s need to know … where to buy drugs? In a news story on the drug problem here in Austin, the Austin American-Statesman published a map of the locations where drug purchases could be made. Sure, the multitude of locations may have made a point,…
Best Wise Old(ish) Man of the Capitol
Harvey Kronberg always jokes that the reason he owns Quorum Report is so he’d finally have a job no one could fire him from. Truth is, there are good reasons why many lawmakers and activists check this Capitol insider’s well-informed online dirt sheet before they read their own e-mails. In a time when it seems…
Best Wilderness Expedition
Canoeing on the pretty and still unspoiled Lower Colorado River between Austin and Bastrop is a great family expedition – especially the easy five-mile run between Little Webberville Park and Big Webberville Park. Salt-of-the-earth outfitter Cook’s Canoes rents canoes for 2-3 people for $40 a day and kayaks for $30 a day. The price includes…
Best Unsung East Austin Visionary, 1998
As president of Austin’s oldest college for the past 10 years, Joseph T. McMillan has unshakable faith in HT’s bright future, not to mention a humble attitude which drives him to serve the needs of Eastside. His afterschool learning programs have helped hundreds of kids stay off the streets and make college a realization. His…
Best Slogan, 1992
Proof positive that there is such a thing as truth in advertising.
Best Place to Find Hidden Treasures, 2005
Whether you’re furnishing your home or business office or movie set, TOPS is a must for those on a budget or into recycling. Featuring an ever-changing stock from area office, store, and hotel close-outs and auctions, TOPS is the place to find a preowned Herman Miller chair or Steelcase file cabinet at half the price…
A New Lease on Life for Pearce? Not Exactly.
Pearce has been repurposed – but for what purpose?
Point Austin: It’s Not About Sharon Keller
Sharon Keller, Todd Willingham, and unjustifiable homicide
Best Sign
Long before the stretch of South Congress between Riverside and Oltorf was reincarnated as the revitalized and très funky SoCo we know and love today, there was the Austin Motel. Predating pretty much every other surviving business in the area – Earnest and Jennie Eck Stewart opened for business in 1938 – this most prized…
Best Bar Staff
A dance floor filled with sharks (of either the piscine or mammalian variety) won’t keep Austinites coming back; it’s the hosts, the standout bartenders who remember your previous order, who channel their creativity and expertise into experimenting with infusions that make your night more interesting (habanero garlic vodka makes a mean Bloody Mary). With this…
Best Farmers’ Market
Local and slow foodies love the Austin Farmers’ Market, and their devotion is understandable. The depth and breadth of the produce, meat, and cheese grown locally is mind-boggling. In a world where we are so far removed from our food (Where does it come from? What pesticides were used in its growth?), it’s a valuable…
Best Party Place
Have you ever seen an unhappy child bouncing in an inflatable castle? We thought not. That may be why Pump It Up takes this category. Inflatable forts are its forte! The helpful and friendly staff work to create the party of your kid’s dreams. Pizza, goodie bags, and inflatables out the wazoo. Hallelujah! The best…
Best Naughty Business
Female-owned, female-operated, and serving everybody, the staff at Forbidden Fruit can put you totally at ease when assisting you with your erotic purchases. Any experience here is far from a Times Square scenario involving dimly lit hallways and greasy paper bags; the staff’s mission is to help create erotic self-awareness and improve intimate communication in…
Best Journalist
Although we give our readers their “BOA” freedom, we confess to having favorite reader choices – especially when you choose one of our Chronicle own. This year it’s a two-for-one, a tie between Jordan Smith and Wells Dunbar for Austin’s Best Journalist. We might say that distinction has been our own secret, but in fact…
Best Talk/News Station
Two weeks ago, KUT celebrated its 51st anniversary of broadcast, and if there were any lingering questions over how vital Central Texas’ public radio station continues to be, one only has to look to the ongoing controversy over recent programming changes for the answer: Yes, people still care. A lot. KUT, a charter member of…
Best Place to Tube
Butt in cold water and beer or juice box in hand – this is tubing, and this is what makes tourists and travelers who’ve never experienced a good ass-soak cringe with envy. Next time you and your out-of-towner are in New Braunfels – coincidentally home to one of the nation’s highest rated water parks –…
Best State Legislator
Though a relative newcomer to the Legislature, the soph senator quickly established himself as a go-to guy on, well, just about everything. Long a popular public figure in Austin, the former mayor exudes that rare brand of energy reserved for those with genuine political talent. Rest assured, the Lege won’t be his last stop on…
Best Printer/Copies
Ah, the convenience of Kinko’s. It has rescued us from countless late-night photocopying emergencies and inspired us to flights of collating and paper-cutting fancy. And in those times when our DIY spirit couldn’t keep pace with our imagination, the savvy folks behind the counter have been there to do the printing for us, whether we…
Best in Sass
Tired of those pale, male Confederate generals taking pride of place on the University of Texas’ campus? We are too, and luckily some UT students agreed and took it upon themselves to try to fund a statue of one of UT’s most illustrious professors – the inimitable Barbara Jordan. Hands on hips, jaw squarely forward,…
Best Literary Salon 2.0
Forget the wine-and-cheese reading series of yore: Amelia Gray and Stacy Muszynski’s Five Things Austin is the hip kid in town, a scrappy, freewheeling multimedia show that pairs Austin’s leading lights in literature, music, and photography with a new generation of young pups just starting to feel the Beat – and all for a buck.…
Best Place to Discover Latino Music
From such old-school promoters as Jerry Avila on Primetime Tejano and Isidoro Lopez on KOOP Radio’s Fiesta Musical and the Premios Texas awards hosted by Austin’s Univisión affiliate to longtime Horizontes host Michael Crockett on KUT, to Johnny Ramirez’s Indie Live Austin, to Paul Saucido over on ME TV (and beyond), to youngblood promoters like…
Best Locavore Chef/Butcher
Although several Austin chefs support the emerging farm-to-table movement to one degree or another, no chef we’ve ever met takes cooking entirely from the Central Texas terroir quite as seriously as Jesse Griffiths, chef/owner of Dai Due Supper Club & Butcher Shop. Griffiths’ mission to cultivate “a more conscious food culture” is reflected in his…
Best Free Haircut
The best free haircut? Comes with free back-to-school supplies, of course. For the second year in a row, Ramont Mittchell and the crew of Supreme Clientele collected donations from various vendors to offer local kids a high-stylin’ and totally outfitted first day of school. We wonder if Ghostface chipped in.
Best Best
Back in about 2005, longtime Chronicle contributor (and “Best of Austin” Best Author winner, 2006) Spike Gillespie created the Office of Good Deeds to help kick the ass of general complacency and apathy. One of the goodnesses of her locally-based-but-also-globally-dispersed office is the annual Kick Ass Awards honoring the relatively unsung cultural and political heroes…
Most Dedication to Austin Music So Early in the Morning, 2006
The unsung music-promoting heroes in Austin are Joe Bickett and Katherine Kisiel on Fox Morning News from 5 to 9am. They run the gamut of musicians, from touring bands passing through to emerging new bands, from local legends like Ray Wylie Hubbard to music-related personalities such as Pamela Des Barres. Particularly around South by Southwest…
Best Advice, 1995
On her way out of office, Richards marked a Bible passage for the newly inaugurated Gov. George W. Bush: “Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
Best Way to Keep Guns Off Campus
Sometimes the easiest thing to do with a tragedy is to walk away. But when it looked like the gun lobby was going to get its way with House Bill 1893, which threatened to bring concealed guns into university buildings, UT grad student John Woods, a Virginia Tech alum who lost friends in the 2007…
Best Spa Retreat When You Can’t Afford One
When you need serenity or a stress detox, a day pass to the Crossings is a terrific deal. Arrive early and stay late, for just $35 Monday through Thursday and $55 Friday through Sunday. Way cheaper than a shrink session! Nestled in the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve overlooking Lake Travis, with native-landscaped grounds and handsome architecture,…
Best Place to Find King/Prince of the Monsters
Owner Jim “Prince” Hughes has been imagineering the kaiju eiga mindsets of punk rockers, Japanese monster fans, and tin toy collectors for nearly three decades, and Atomic City remains the single coolest store in the state of Texas, bar none. Aisles upon aisles crammed with movie memorabilia, animé ephemera, Brit-punk T’s, and shockingly brilliant gear…
What About Reagan?
While Pearce Middle School is in administrative limbo, Reagan High School is working on a simple understanding. If staff and students can’t get the school to “academically acceptable” status this year, the campus will probably close. That’s frustrating for Principal Anabel Garza, because they came so close last academic year. She explained, “The big news…
City Hall Hustle: Discount Government
That beeping you hear is the rollback rate, backing up
Best Window Display
Like some mad, glorious, shock-couture hybridization between Edith Head and Peter Lorre, Blackmail’s window displays are twice as noir as Alan Ladd on a Veronica Lake bender and three times as much fun as The Postman Always Rings Twice. Blame the inherent “come hither and fork over the greenbacks” mise-en-scène for your diminished bankroll, you…
Best Beer Selection
With more than 80 beers on tap and more than 30 bottled selections, it’s no surprise the Ginger Man has been serving the beer-lovers of Austin for more than 15 years. Formerly situated on Fourth Street between Lavaca and Guadalupe, the pub has found new digs right around the corner, on Lavaca between Third and…
Best Food Event
Salsa isn’t America’s favorite condiment just because it’s fun to say (sorry, Seinfeld, we have to disagree) – at least not here in Austin. Salsa is serious business, much like Texans and their barbecue pits or the many local taco trucks and their connoisseurs. The possible combinations of tomato, jalapeño, cilantro, onion, habanero, chiles, mango,…
Best Restaurant
With an extensive menu for the young ones, it’s no wonder Phil’s Icehouse wins the Best Restaurant in the Kids section. The fact that it’s right up next to Amy’s Ice Creams might help, too. The outdoor playscape is irresistible, and the cowboy motif has enchanted children for centuries. Oh, and the food? Mmmmmm.
Best New Local Business
Recently rhizomed here from Houston headquarters, Domy Books’ open doors unlocked a vault filled with visual brilliance – both high-end graphic design and street-level couture – presented by art aficionados so friendly and helpful that you might never use the word “hipster” as a diss again. House Pizzeria’s thin-crust pies are so attractively rustic-looking you…
Best Local Author/Poet
A former Air Force brat, now a nationally recognized novelist and all-around good-time gal, Bird has been calling Austin home since the Seventies. For this woman of so many words, we only need a few: acerbic, sardonic, and sharp as a tack. How perfect is that?
Best TV Anchor
TV personalities come and go, but Maggio’s been a steady anchor for Austin since the mid-Eighties – a monumental feat in the fickle TV news business. The reason for her staying power? She’s pure Austin, man, and Austin loves Maggio.
Best Pool/Billiards
We were never bored because we were never being boring, and you don’t have to be bored either. From foosball, darts, shuffleboard, air hockey, and even video games at Buffalo Billiards to pinball machines and never-ending rows of pool tables at the Grand, there’s plenty of friendly competition to be had. The Grand’s regulars, old…
Best Texas Lege Moment
When Rep. Betty Brown, R-Athens, told Ramey Ko of the Organization of Chinese Americans that “you and your citizens” should adopt more English-sounding names to make life easier for election officials, it made them both instantly famous: Brown for inadvertently revealing some ugly assumptions about race, Ko for his cool and reasoned response. The chub…
Best Shoe Repair
Clocking in more than a century of shoe healing in Texas, this hospital is not only versed in emergency care but also serves up preventative medicine for all of your heels, boots, shoes, bags, and leather goods. It doesn’t just stop at cowhide – earning its cred in cowboy country, it also has specialists in…
Best Music to a Saint’s Ear
Patron saint of both coffee and comfort via Jo’s and South Congress manor Hotel San José, Liz Lambert paid an even greater homage to this town’s native spirits in opening the Hotel Saint Cecilia last December, just a whiff from the spot where Willie’s own Opera House used to bust the seams. Sacred Cecilia, music’s…
Best Master of Gesture
A wave of an arm like a willow bending. The cupping of hands as if scooping up water. The gentle laying of a palm against a cheek. With many dancers, the motion of the legs is what captures your eye, but when Sharon Marroquin takes the stage, it’s her upper limbs that mesmerize. This gifted…
Best Place to See the Past at Work
Ever wonder what a computer built by Michael Dell in his garage looked like? Wonder no more; at the Goodwill Computer Museum, you can see stuff like this – and much, much more. It wasn’t long after the folks at Goodwill Industries of Central Texas began taking donations of electronics in 1997 that they discovered…
Best New Place to Get Porked
Housed in the former Starlite cafe building (next door to what was the original Alamo Drafthouse), Frank’s lip-smacking-good menu of artisan sausage and neo-funktastic hot doggery is the closest most of us will ever get to hog heaven. Libation tip of your lifetime: the Red Headed Stranger, Frank’s version of a Bloody Mary. It’s the…
Best Friend to Fluffy Dreams
Ricki Vincent may look like the tattooed troll under the bridge, but the man pulling the strings at Geppetto Dreams has lived up to his promise to make the world a cooler place one puppet at a time. The sad news is that a funding shortage is dropping the curtain forever in September, but his…
Best Disembodied Voice With the Snarkiest Radio Cohorts
The sonorous, stentorian tones of Heath Riddles could easily be mistaken as those of a classical music disc jockey or perhaps even a man of God. But on KOOP’s OutCast, Heath takes on seriously weighty matters and makes sure we know everything we can about the subject being covered. Thank God for Stephen Rice, who…
Best Alternative Country Club
Disc golfers need a little pampering, too. Deep in the heart of Dripping Springs lie two 18-hole courses, one in the hills and one in the meadow (or the “Parkshire,” as it is called), and this gorgeous Hill Country haven also offers mountain biking and paintball, to boot. Let the serenity of the trees counterbalance…
Best Answer to Jail Overcrowding
Getting out of jail is one thing, but staying out of jail – now that’s the ticket. Enter jail diversion programs, including ATCMHMR’s blessed approach to managing crisis situations that could, in some cases, land someone in the tank. A fairly new member of the MHMR portfolio is the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team – sort…
Best Way to Keep the Conversation Going
Since building an $8 million community center in East Austin two years ago, the folks at Southwest Key have been awfully busy – teaching GED and computer skills courses, offering cultural arts programs, housing the Boys and Girls Club, and serving up tacos out of its on-site restaurant, Cafe del Sol, among other things. (And…
Best Thing on Wheels, 1996
The affable Fritz Blaw is the man behind the moniker, speedily hanging culture in the form of gig fliers, public service posters, and theatre handbills along a legal route all across town. Quite the boon to bands and bards, Motorblade Postering Service does the work so you don’t have to. Though he’s not always on…
Best Pride Riders
We spent the better part of last year collecting crap to throw, dedicating the entirety of our myriad Mardi Gras adventures to brokering deals with Louisianans and Galvestonians for bags of beads in bulk. We even discovered a supersecret source for unicorns in pink purses. But when our plans for a massive float build to…
The New Council
Changes to citizen communications and zoning hearings spark controversy
Res Publica
Citizens calendar, Sept. 3-10
All-Time Winner
The Paramount is the grande dame of Austin theatres, the crown jewel of Austin’s Downtown arts panoply. For nearly 100 years, the palatial theatre has stood in the heart of Austin’s Downtown. Renovations in recent decades have kicked the dust from its jambs and put a shine on its patina (though some resilient ghosts may…
Best Beer/Wine Prices
It’s difficult not to leave with a few handles and some choice staff picks from Spec’s. The Houston-based liquor and wine supplier has ridiculous wholesale prices and insightful, personable service, not to mention an incredible selection and a variety of gourmet cheeses and coffees. Spec’s is the reason why drinking in is the new going…
Best Intimate Dining
The effects not noticed but noted – the quietly efficient staff, unassuming menus, minimalist decor – make dining at wink almost reverent in its romantic appeal. Each bite on your plate is designed to be slowly savored, as is each raised goblet of wine. This bliss transfers from food to mood, making date night here…
Best Shoes
The short person in your life won’t mind this back-to-school errand, since the great assortment of toys, puzzles, games, watches, and backpacks will make you forget why you came. Snap out of it, and find every conceivable New Balance style, Mary Janes from Nina, and Crocs in every color and wee size.
Best Pet Store
No newbie to “Best of Austin,” Bark ‘n Purr Pet Center is one of the many facets of our pet-friendly city that represent progress and care when it comes to business. This pet store is proud to pimp its hefty selection of organic, super-high-quality pet foods, munchies, and supplements and even raw dog food. With…
Best Local Blog
Since its inception, Austinist has steadily built its readership along with its ever-expanding content. It’s earned its cred in digital accolades and is a firm favorite in this city’s lust for local haps and views. Keeping a unique voice delivering news, reviews, and personal columns in easily digestible blurbs ensures the staying power of one…
Best TV Reporter
Has there ever been a year that KVUE’s Quita Culpepper didn’t win best TV reporter in town? Yeah, okay, there was – seven years ago. What is it about her that we love so very much? Is it her sassy, no-nonsense style? The fact that her enthusiasm for her job shines through her reports and…
Best Scenic View
A rite of passage for any new River City romance, Mount Bonnell is Austin’s tunnel of love. That couple’s cute mop top sizing up your Chihuahua as you and your new squeeze cuddle while dreaming of the riverfront mansions far below loves the view as much as you do, and little do they know it,…
Best Unsung Behind-the-Scenester
If you just know him as one of the pugnacious bloggers of Burnt Orange Report, you don’t know Matt. A campaign volunteer veteran turned pro with his new firm GNI Strategies, he’s worked the front lines and built strategies for progressive candidates and noble causes. Political opponents beware: If Matt’s smoking a cigar, your guy…
Best Spa
Experience sheer heaven with the luxurious treatments found at both of Milk + Honey’s locations. Whether in the chic Second Street District or at the Hill Country Galleria, your tired ol’ bag o’ bones can always find top-notch aestheticians, massage therapists who can get to the root of your ailment, and nail techs to adorn…
Best New Hotel Complex
Important business features such as over 40,000 square feet of meeting space and underground parking, hip tech gadgetry like “smart lecterns” and walls of hi-def LCDs to make the geeks swoon, and proximity to the university and the state Capitol make this new face on the south end of campus a sure bet, but that’s…
Best Museum Refreshment
Sure, most museum stores are full of overpriced souvenirs meant to help patrons remember their museum experience. But it was a stroke of giddy genius when the Mexic-Arte masterminds installed the paleta case just inside the door of its Congress Avenue museum. Coconut, brown rice, melon, mango, piña – the flavors are delicious and just…
Best Place to Spend That Dollar
Make that dolla holla! The beautiful bartender with her rhinestone implants and perfect smile never stops moving on dollar beer nights, nor do her cocktail companions. The saloon’s three-day-long special turns the beginning-of-the-week frown upside-down and transforms the formerly vacant gas station into a huge, sexy crowd that nearly spills onto Lamar. The privileged feeling…
Best Outdoor Seating
The new owners of this iconic coffeehouse added three new decks last year that stair-step up the side of the cliff overlooking Barton Springs Road. The tree-shaded space adds to the back-porch feel, whether you’re having coffee with a friend, drinking a beer while listening to live music in the evenings, or just reading your…
Best Gentrification Protest, 2005
The Young Scholars for Justice is a group of high school students, led by PODER (People in Defense of Earth and Her Resources). The scholars researched Eastside gentrification, and what they learned inspired action. In spring of 2004, they filmed a movie about the history and politics of land use on the Eastside, painted acrylic…
Best Earth-Wise Landscaping Advice
Want a decent-looking yard but care about water conservation and protecting the watershed too? Check out the city’s Grow Green website. It offers loads of helpful info on practicing earth-wise landscape design, installation, and maintenance in your own backyard. Get help with landscape problems and learn about drought-tolerant plants and mulched areas that can replace…
Best Architectural Orgasm, 1997
Will somebody please fix the LBJ fountain? An entire generation of temporary Austinites (UT kids) stands to miss the frothy majesty of our city’s only water-based tribute to our nation’s 36th president. And we old timers miss the 120,000 gallons of water pumped at a rate of 75-80 psi. The tension is killing us.
Best Comeback
“Pat Said Ha!” should be the tagline for this political consultant’s recovery from a massive stroke suffered in July 2008. The doctors told Pat’s family she would likely spend the rest of her days in a nursing home. But thanks to intensive “boot camp” therapy at Austin Speech Labs and support from family and friends,…
Hardest Working Vato in the Music Biz
Remember last year when ME Television started to go down in flames and laid off everyone? Well, ME TV is still around (barely), and when it started to get its act together, the first thing it did was rehire VJ Paul Saucido. Even if ME TV goes away, Saucido will survive. VJ job? He don’t…
Best Way for Women to Find Women
What did Austin dykes do before Diane “Kitty” Murray started calling for women to gather at area restaurants and coffeehouses to meet and mingle? They cried. A lot. This was never more evident than when Kitty, who started Foodies, the now legendary women-seeking-women group, five years ago, took some time off to focus on home…
Best Thing Since Strut
Neiman Marcus’ last whuuut? This resale shop is Strut’s newest baby, offering killer kicks for $5-10. Gasp! The saucy, girly items that didn’t quite make the cut at Strut’s multiple locations go to Hush Hush, right next door to Strut’s South Lamar location. Clothes, jewelry, and shoes, all for supercheap and all well worth the…
Both Roads and Transit
Central Austin roads are at capacity, and we need to find better ways to move
Headlines
• The National Weather Service released data showing that this August was the hottest on record for Austin, with an average temperature of 89.1 degrees. • Monday is Labor Day, signaling both the end of the summer (we can only hope) and … what was that other thing? Oh yeah, the accomplishments of workers and…
Best Actor/Actress
Of course the winner of Austin’s regional Air Guitar Championship and the Alamo Drafthouse’s Air Sex World Championship can convincingly go through the motions of whatever you’ve got. But, as we’ve seen with Simone’s work with the ColdTowne improv troupe, when he’s performing with his dog (Robin Goodfellow) as “Buddy Daddy,” and when his self-authored…
Best Cocktails/Cocktail Menu
Cocktails at this cozy Eastside gem evoke smoky, bygone eras (Old Fashioned, Grasshopper) with flair (the absinthe-infused Sazerac), but the Knight also tips its hat to inventive in-house concoctions like the June Rose: seedless grapes, bitters, basil, and Hendrick’s gin. And a bartender who knows that if a drink is made right, you get the…
Best Local Food Company
Greenling traces its humble beginnings back to a round of discussions over beers on a South Congress First Thursday in March 2005. No question an organic grocery delivery business was needed, but was it viable? The answer: Oh hell yes! In the scant few years that Greenling has been delivering boxes of organic, not to…
Best Sports/Rec Program
“It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how you play the game.” Living by those words is what has pushed both these institutions past mere gym status and straight to the top of your love list. YMCA is teaming up with Austin’s Active Life to help kids understand what it means to be healthy,…
Best Record/CD Store
Waterloo Records & Video is more than an independent music retailer; it’s a modern mecca of music – the Amoeba of the South – that’s inextricably woven into the legacy and notoriety of our local music scene. That much is evident not just in the depth of the store’s selection – CDs, vinyl, box sets,…
Best Local Blogger
A perennial favorite of politically minded critics and readers, Eileen Smith, In the Pink blogger and TexasMonthly.com editor, covers local and national news with barbed-wire zest tempered by self-deprecating humor, endearing her to the snarkiest fans of politics and pop culture.
Best Weatherperson
No fair-weather friend he: KXAN’s Spencer is enshrined in the local community like no other. He brings a visible, weather-nerd excitement to even the most mundane forecast, and we count on him during real “weather events” (remember those?). Throw in his beaming demeanor and tonnage of volunteer work, and you get a tornado of goodness.
Best Swimming Hole
It’s midmorning on a toasty Friday in August, and Barton Springs Pool is filled to the gills with regulars and newcomers splashing about or lounging on the hillside. A glistening duck rides the waves near the diving board. Across the way, some teenagers take turns jumping in, climbing out, and jumping in again. A middle-aged…
Best Appliance/TV Repair
Crest the slight North Loop slope headed toward Burnet Road and the Mr. Wizard’s Electronics sign nestles among the greenery on your left like a pygmy palm in its breezy flourish. Inside, more Southwestern Chandler-esque: a repair shop timelessness pausing the clock among modern modes of media delivery. May 1 marked three decades troubleshooting for…
Best Tailor
Year after year, readers tell us they wouldn’t take their ill-fitting finery anywhere else. Ace has been marking up Austinites with little pieces of chalk seven days a week since 1967 and now has four locations around town to show for it.
Best Ode to the (Namesake of the) Road on Which It Resides
Right outside the Terrazas Branch Library she looms. The César E. Chávez Memorial Project – awarded by the city of Austin Art in Public Places program to Connie Arismendi and Laura Garanzuay – is a literal nighttime beacon as brilliant as its potential to inspire hope. Like a (no disrespect intended) bat signal to justice,…
Best Nonprofit Upstart
In a town where theatre troupes are a dime a dozen, Da! stands out not only for its integration of intensive disciplines such as the Vakhtangov tradition, the Feldenkrais Method, and Suzuki in its creations of new works (many of which have grown from Frontera Fest entries) and adaptations of folk classics (Heron & Crane)…
Best Place to Zone Out on a Friend
For the times when you want to be around people but don’t really want to engage with any of them, Bender Bar is a ray of 24-frames-per-second sunshine, screening hand-picked movies behind the bar. When you just really want a beer and some good sliders (and not to assess your comrade’s issues or validate complaints…
Best Outdoor Seating, 2004
Never mind the yerba maté, the bigass weekend waffles, and Italian sodas. Never mind the comfy couch, the wi-fi, and low lights. That’s all inside, within the embrace of one of Austin’s most beloved and intimate coffeehouses. Outside is the cafe’s life-mate, the compatible counterpart: Under a canopy of crape myrtles, various flora, and thatch,…
Best Place to Prepare Yourself for the Future
For more than 30 years, American YouthWorks has been helping Austin’s at-risk youth prepare for adulthood and strive for success. In that time the organization – which provides life-skills training, counseling, and health care, among other services – has served nearly 20,000 Travis County kids. AYW boasts three award-winning job training programs: Casa Verde Builders,…
Best Fumble Recovery, 1998
After constant, ridiculously harsh criticism of Pacifica Network News from a more-left-than-thou faction at KOOP radio, the venerable pacifist network finally severed its ties with KOOP, depriving Austin of Pacifica for several months. Thankfully, KAZI came to the rescue, and the best daily news program in the nation rides again in Central Texas, Monday-Wednesday and…
Best Coach You’ve Never Heard Of
Reese assumed the role of men’s swimming and diving head coach for the Longhorns in 1978 and since then has led the University of Texas to nine NCAA titles and has been named NCAA Coach of the Year eight times! In addition to these exceptional accomplishments, he has served as men’s head coach for America’s…
Best Cool Down With a Cold One
Baby, it’s hot, hot, hot outside. And what better way to cool off than with a cold beer? There’s no better way than sipping on the coldest beer in Austin. And for that, you have to head to Rabbit’s Lounge. Owned by former Austin High QB Rosaleo “Rabbit” Gonzalez Duran, this East Sixth Street beer…
Most Approachable City Department Director
City parks are for the people, and so is new Parks and Recreation Department Director Sara Hensley. She’s personally out meeting with park users and nature lovers all around town, tackling tough challenges head-on, telling the truth, raising the bar, advocating for better funding, and ultimately rebuilding citizen trust through candid outreach and responsiveness. While…
Best Way to Get Your Stuff From Here to There
Generally speaking, moving sucks. It’s exhausting, time-consuming, and expensive. (And in Austin, it’s also often a very sweaty job.) But, it turns out, it doesn’t have to be any of those things: With local, family-owned and -operated Mustang Movers, moving actually might be – ahem – fun. They’re friendly, responsive, and most importantly, really affordable.…
Best Top Shop for the Top-Heavy Gal
Wanna stand taller and lose 10 pounds with the snap of a bra strap? We know, we know: It sounds like the stuff of crackpot TV offers, but that’s just what the lovely ladies at Petticoat Fair can do for you and yours with their free, discreet, and downright chummy fittings. After 35 years, they’re…
Luv Doc Recommends: Out of Bounds Comedy Festival Headliners
Sweet. Three-day weekend! Of course, that’s assuming you have a regular job with a set schedule, benefits, and all that. Otherwise, a three-day weekend just means you’re pulling extra shifts to accommodate all those state and corporate drones looking to get their swerve and grub on. You wouldn’t mind it much if they were big…
19th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival Contest Winners
Individual Category Red Sauce 1st Place: Twyla Wick 2nd Place: Michael Hutchinson 3rd Place: Robert Heady Green Sauce 1st Place: Karen Kessel 2nd Place: Gary Peifer 3rd Place: Brett Appolito Special Variety 1st Place: Burt Friedman 2nd Place: Jim Hoppers 3rd Place: Carol Castillo Restaurant Category Red Sauce 1st Place: Torchy’s Tacos 2nd Place: La…
