As American as Apple Pie and Embarrassment
Atmosphere is poised to write new rules for the rap game.
Best Theatrical Production
The 2002-2003 season featured many shows that were more profound, many scripts that were richer in character and situation, many actors who were more nuanced, and even a few ingénues who could sing on pitch without a whiny edge. But did the season offer anything that was more sheer fun–and we’re talking guilty pleasures here–than…
Best Supermarket (Exact Location)
Let’s hope this is the future of supermarket shopping. The newest Bashas’ is a homegrown blend that recognizes its customers’ busy lifestyles by balancing freshly prepared foods and canned goods. It’s a cross between your traditional neighborhood grocery and the more eclectic selection of a Wild Oats/Trader Joe’s. The south side of the facility features…
Best Spectacle for Charity
The Angel Ball is Tucson’s most prominent single charity event (so we’re told), the ultimate “see or be seen” scene. Even at $300 a ticket, this gala show sells out quickly. So why would folks like us want to hang with a fancy-pants crowd like this? There are more than 15 million reasons. That’s how…
Best Mischief Maker
Once portrayed as a political clown for not being able to get anything done, Kromko’s list of accomplishments since is extremely impressive, much more so than most politicians. His involvement with transportation issues over the years shows that he and the voters think alike. Three times, he has successfully led the opposition to raising the…
Best Tucson Restaurant
Taco Bell be damned! Everything about this atmospheric downtown restaurant screams “unique Mexican flavor,” thanks to the supreme talents of its owner and chef, Suzana Dávila. The colorful dining room and impeccable presentation are cause enough for excitement–but wait until you taste the food! Servers, dressed in minimalist attire, bring a chalkboard to your table…
Best Soup
Harry and Irene Katerelos are from the Ionian island of Kefalonia, but they have been serving some of the best–and certainly the most plentiful–Italian food in Tucson for more than 25 years. We’ve raved about it all before, but you must get to Dolce Vita for the soups. Minestrone is always available. The second soup…
Best Commercial Jewelry
Our readers love Marshall’s for lots of great reasons. They’ve got a great selection of one-of-a-kind jewelry, a friendly, no-pressure staff, and, of course, the signature Heart Star Diamond, which is cut in such a way as to add size and brilliance. But we can’t help wondering how much that radio jingle adds to Marshall’s’…
Best Foreign Candy
Kids love candy. While English cuisine might suck, Brits sure can make some yummy sweets. Import shops like The Tudor Rose Tea Room carry a jolly good selection of candies to satisfy the most ravenous sweet tooth. Sampling a Cadbury Crunchie Bar or some fizzy Refreshers might make you wish they sold them more readily…
Best Courageous Commentary on the War in Iraq
Over several weeks this spring, Greeley’s periodic columns in the Arizona Daily Star really hit home. Calling the Iraqi invasion a “silly and dangerous war,” the Catholic priest didn’t pull any punches. He blasted Republicans for claiming God was on our side in the fight and claimed the war had corrupted them. He thought many…
Best Horseback Riding with a Date
If you have the urge to briefly get away with a date and bone-up on your circus horsemanship, this is the place to overnight or weekend and just ride. Daily equestrian adventures into the desert are part of the room package at this four-star guest ranch resort (you must book at least one night to…
Best Place for Adults to Indulge Their Inner Child
There’s something about toys that makes adults both excited and ashamed. One of us has a sister who regularly picks up Hello Kitty stationery for a 4-year-old–who can’t write yet. Why the excuses? It’s time to throw aside the shame and exclaim to the world, “I love toys, and I’m an adult!” The best place…
Best Selection of Off-Beat Alcohol
There are some people happy to drink the same thing night after night (“I’ll have another Bud Light, thanks”), and then there are some of us who thirst, quite literally, for adventure. If you’re excited by the prospect of finding the newest, quirkiest or most off-beat liquor in town, then Plaza Liquors is the place…
The Best Year-Round
A few things to appreciate about Tucson.
Border Songs
Former Tucson resident Ani Cordero’s band is stylistically multilingual.
Best Outdoor Venue
In case you hadn’t noticed, casinos aren’t just for gambling anymore. The Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheater, part of the newly expanded and revamped Casino Del Sol, has injected a healthy dose of entertainment options into the Old Pueblo since it was built in October 2001. Before its existence, mid-sized touring acts–those too big for the…
Best Caterer
Feast, 4122 E. Speedway Blvd. When it’s time to peel off your clown suit and jump into a tuxedo, Feast is Tucson’s choice for that swanky catered event. Fresh ingredients, tasteful presentation and the yummy balance of flavors found on Feast’s large and varied catering menu makes it a standout for party fare. How about…
Best Park
The city of Tucson’s flagship urban park, 131-acre Gene C. Reid Park, remains the favorite of folks from all walks of life. And hey, it’s a park where dogs are welcome. The lighted and fenced one-acre site located across from the Reid Park Zoo entrance features a large open area, potable water and a pooper-scooper…
Best High School Athlete
In this era of specialization, where the two-sport athlete is increasingly rare, we give you Erin Parsons. After being named to all-conference, all-city and all-state basketball teams last year as a sophomore, Ms. Parsons, a 6-foot-1 center, has college scouts drooling. Like most high-school ballers, Parsons participates in summer leagues and camps during June. But,…
Best South Tucson Restaurant
Where did President Bill Clinton eat when he came to town? At Mi Nidito, of course. Someone on his staff was from Tucson and steered him right, so now there’s a booth and a mammoth combination plate named in his honor. Clinton’s visit put the presidential seal of approval on what was already local opinion:…
Best Non-Traditional Mexican food
With a curious, macabre lucha libre theme, Martin’s establishes itself as a sideshow sort of Mexican joint. The prices are more than reasonable, and the food is unique, delicious and made fresh (which means there might be a little wait, but it’s well worth it). Order at the counter and have a seat on the…
Best Home Furnishings
Definitely upscale, classy and elegant, Copenhagen is the place to buy tasteful, well-crafted furnishings when you are ready to move up (way up) from your Aunt Sadie’s leftover pieces. Featuring modern Scandinavian, you’ll find lots of wood, glass and metal in clean, uncluttered styles and designs. Besides bedroom, dining and living room furniture, Copenhagen also…
Best Place to Get a Kid Free Attention
Have a child who thinks he/she/it should be in the center ring of the circus called life all the time? If you do, put a cheap tie (the more stomach-churningly ugly, the better) on the precocious lad/laddie/whatever and take’ em to Pinnacle Peak. You see, this Old West-themed joint has a “no ties” rule, and…
Best Political Cartoonist
Full disclosure: Inside Tucson Business is owned by the same folks who own The Weekly, and we share office space with ITB. Also, Hargis is a Weekly contributor, doing the occasional illustration and his weekly comic, “Yonder,” for us. But this is an accolade that Hargis truly deserves. Using his own unique style–funny and slightly…
Best Way to Scare a Tucson Newcomer
They’re big, they’re scary as hell and they seemingly show no fear of human beings. So what if palo verde beetles are basically harmless? Many a Tucson newcomer has nearly soiled his or her britches the first time one of these gargantuan insects came straight toward them. It’s the weird noise they make and the…
Best Retail Therapy
Sometimes, life’s little problems can only be soothed by spending ridiculous amounts of money on incredibly adorable clothes. Yes, my princess, W Boutique has those clothes–a hearty supply of unique, retro, sexy little numbers, some Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dresses and cunningly embroidered linen suits–outfits cute enough to wear on Sex and the City, if…
Best $20 Wine Tasting
It’s Sunday afternoon, and the mister sits glued to DirecTV watching 89 channels of sporting events. What are you gonna do? Leave! Take your best friend and go to Feast for the last Sunday of the month wine-tasting event. In a town that’s a circus with expensive wine-tasting events, Feast features an affordable wine tasting–foronly…
The Best of Gender
Women should all look forward to the day that men are no more.
Soundbites
TAKE COVER: Calling all local bands! The sixth annual Great Cover-Up is approaching, and we need your help to make it the biggest and bestest one yet. (Full disclosure: The event is primarily organized by Curtis McCrary, a Weekly contributor whose main gig is at Club Congress, and myself, but neither of us make a…
Best Indoor Venue
This historic downtown theater has been around long enough now that it’s difficult to remember what local nightlife was like without it. With musical artists as diverse as Bright Eyes, Dwight Yoakam, Arturo Sandoval, Leftover Salmon, Ani Difranco, Richard Thompson, Mystikal, and the Donnas–as well as comedy and variety acts–making appearances in the last year…
Best Specialty Shop
The more you shop at Trader Joe’s, the less you want to put up with supermarkets. Trader Joe’s wide selection of reasonably priced foodstuffs (many unavailable elsewhere) can’t be beat. Fresh produce, cooking oils, vinegars, coffees, teas, wines, cereals, breads, dozens of delicious gourmet-quality sauces for a variety of ethnic dishes, frozen foods (including wild…
Best Urban Ambiance
Established as the community’s first urban shopping area, Fourth Avenue has been Tucson’s big top, the place to see and be seen for almost a century. And for many years, it has been the city’s official anti-mall, a welcome relief from the corporate blandness of modern America. An introduction to Fourth Avenue might start with…
Best Local High School Basketball Rivalry
When these two teams get together on the hardwood, the intensity is off the charts, and the mutual dislike is palpable. It’s CDO, the snobby public school, against Salpointe, the snobby private school, in a rivalry that dates back decades and has produced dozens of nail-biting finishes, sent many players on to Division 1 college…
Best Mexican Fast Food/Drive-Thru
If there is one thing that Tucson is not lacking, it’s quality Mexican restaurants. They’re everywhere. But we all have those frenzied, zoo-like days when time is tighter than the Spandex on the bearded lady–and those are days when Losbetos can be a godsend. Located all around the Old Pueblo, Losbetos provides good, inexpensive Mexican…
Best Hidden Fine Dining
In the seemingly featureless expanse of strip malls that houses most Tucson establishments, this place is especially hard to find. This diamond in the rough is not IN a strip mall–it’s behind one. The Dish serves outstanding food: fresh, snappy and inventive without being clichéd or inaccessible. The extensive wine selection benefits from the restaurant’s…
Best All-Purpose Gift Shop
For years, we’ve shopped at Yikes! because it offers those perfect gifts for the clown in all of us–things which suit our fancy such as rubber cockroaches, fake vomit, incredibly expanding human body parts or a Jell-O mold in the shape of a brain. But the store offers much more than just prank gifts. It…
Best Local Newscast
KVOA has dominated the local news scene for years now. Competitors have tried every trick in the book: pretty anchors, urgent camera angles, a helicopter and even improved reporting, all to no avail. Perhaps the secret is that the KVOA news staff has the highest proportion of Tucson natives/UA graduates in its employ than any…
Radio Ringmaster
There’s a guy on my block He lives for rock He plays records day and night And when he feels down He puts some rock ‘n’ roll on And it makes him feel all right. –“A Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy,” The Kinks, 1978 Kidd Squidd leans toward the mic as the chords of Link Wray’s…
Best Breakfast
So, what are you in the mood for this morning? The standard eggs, potatoes and toast? Perhaps an omelet–prepared with egg whites for those looking to lose a few unsightly pounds? Or maybe fresh fruit and a crepe? The Blue Willow has it all, and more. Best of all, most of it is available all…
Best Place to Stock Up for the Coming End Times
What a fun, strange little shop. Southwest Bee Supply has everything a person would ever need for keeping bees and harvesting honey–like those bee-proof suits with the big veiled hats and boxes for bees to make their hives in. They also stock a wide array of candle-making paraphernalia and beer-making supplies–stuff that’s going to come…
Best Mojito
Forget the margarita. As taste-makers embrace Nuevo Latino cuisine and libations, the mojito (moe-hee-toe) sweeps the planet with the greatest of ease, the daring exotic drink on the flying trapeze. Rum is classically Cuban, so take a long sip and let the lively combination sensation massage your mouth. It’s like a liquid Ricky Ricardo in…
Tucson Winners
A note from the editor.
Adaptation
One play stands out among the three productions that opened here last week.
Best Movie Theater
If you support keeping alive the real lost art of movie making while others go to the multiplexes and drown in mainstream cinematic dribble, then you already know of The Loft’s large downstairs theater and smaller upstairs venue. This is the theater to see classic, foreign and independent films, documentaries and zippy animation festivals. An…
Best Delicatessen
Yum: outstanding pastrami, corned beef and hard salami sandwiches on rye that is always right. A half sand with matzo ball soup is a real bargain. The potato and macaroni salads are outstanding, as are the sides. Plenty of Dr. Brown’s sodas. Don’t fret if you’ve forgot The New York Times; they got them next…
Best Pizza
A friend of ours spent a month in Italy this past summer, and when she got home, the first thing she wanted was a bottle of soda pop and some real pizza. Apparently, the Italians haven’t quite mastered the knack for making that favorite of all Italian-American dishes, pizza. Over there, everything is on a…
Best Coach
OK, so you’ve made it to the national championship game for the umpteenth time, but your pitcher–the two-time national Player of the Year and your best player ever–has used up her eligibility; your second-best pitcher has transferred to a school in Florida; and your All-American first-baseman has left school. What do you do? Well, in…
Best Combo Plates
At the circus, there are often three rings of entertainment to watch. At Rosa’s, there are 19 combination plates to choose from. These range from the simple (two beef tacos, tamale and rice) to the fancy (carne asada plate with rice, beans, salsa and guacamole). One of our longtime favorites is No. 6, which starts…
Best Salad
The ideal salad should be a dynamic combination of food groups commingling on the plate with salad dressing that isn’t an afterthought–or worse–from a bottle. Order the grilled mesquite honey barbecue chicken salad, and let the flavor Ferris wheel begin. The freshest of baby field greens (vegetables) are an apt audience for bite-sized chunks of…
Best Plant Nursery
Nurseries are lovable enterprises, and Tucson is lucky enough to have some terrific ones. Each has its particular strengths and a distinct atmosphere–the nursery connoisseur will certainly want to visit all four of the winners in this category. For selection, horticultural enthusiasm and panache, though, nobody rivals Mesquite Valley. What do they have? Everything. From…
Best Radio Station for News
When KUAZ morphed from mostly jazz to its current daytime line-up of first-class news feature programs earlier this year, news junkies around Southern Arizona rejoiced. The station has always aired Morning Edition and All Things Considered, but with the addition of The World (co-produced by the BBC), Here and Now and Talk of the Nation,…
Kids, Parents, Artists
It is possible in South Tucson to enjoy the finest regional cuisine and then stroll down on South Fourth Avenue among beautiful tile mosaics featuring the city’s embracing cultures. These pieces–outside Rigo’s and adorning the paseo at Mi Nidito–are more than monuments to those icons featured. They are also shrines also to the young artists…
Best Chinese
P. F. Chang’s China Bistro stands so far above the rest of the local Chinese restaurant scene that it’s hard not to love it, despite it being a chain. At least Chang’s is an Arizona native, having started in Scottsdale in 1993, before spreading nationwide. The concept is a mix of traditional formal dining and…
Best Junkyard
Need a part for your car? Dealer prices can set you back a paycheck or two, but a used part often suffices without forcing you into bankruptcy. The folks at Aviation are a competent crew who will be able to immediately tell you if they’ve got the part you need in stock. (Their computerized database…
Best-Named Drink
Blondes may have more fun, but redheads get under your skin–and we’re not talking about a rash. The memory of a red shines brightly, capturing the imagination and refusing to let go. So much can be said for this cute cousin of that lusty, clowning Bloody Mary mama–the Lady in Red is more refined and…
Mailbag
Howls of outrage and squeals of delight from our astonished fans.
Dance Break
Rennie Harris brings the hip-hop street idiom beyond explosive gymnastics into shapely choreography.
Best Billboard
Blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds, the Catalinas rising from the desert floor, blooming prickly pear, neon signs flickering on at dusk, storefronts with piñatas hanging in front, a ribbon of asphalt winding to the horizon–now isn’t that better? With all this, do we really need a sign to tell us that God loves…
Best Desserts
Beyond Bread serves up a constantly changing and completely captivating selection. There are towering chocolate mousse torts, delicate multi-layer tiramisu, fruit bars (with lemon, raspberry and other assorted flavors) and fresh fruit torts with your daily supply of vitamin C. Many of the desserts look like works of art with fine filigrees of caramel, leafs…
Best Fresh-Baked Bread
Beyond Bread has more than lived up to its name (see Best Sandwich and Best Dessert). But let’s face it: If the core product wasn’t great, we wouldn’t care about the beyond part (well, maybe a little, but not so much). At both locations, a phalanx of fresh-faced servers handle the multitudes with an apostolic…
Best Tucson Sound
Traffic noise and jets overhead send shivers through us. The sweet music of the train engine, though, is as comforting as that of a calliope. Especially late on a still night, when the pressures of the day toss around in our minds, the soothing sound of a faraway locomotive reminds us of a gentler, slower…
Best Salsa
Salsa is reportedly the No. 1 condiment in America, and after tasting it at Rosa’s, you’ll know why. It is a perfect introduction to the entree items, and can also be bought in pints to take home. But just like a trapeze flyer needs someone to catch them, salsa needs chips on which to be…
Best Food Substitution for Sex
Goodbye, cruel world. We’re off to join the circus. Real life sucks, and we’ve misplaced our Prozac. When meditation fails, the only prudent solution is to feed the hungry heart with comfort food. As a parade of foodstuffs marches through our minds, clarity unfolds: Grab the car keys and head to Austin’s for a bowl…
Best Sporting Goods
A sporting goods superstore, The Sports Authority has everything from bikes to tents, from softball socks to basketball nets. It’s a large store, surprising bright and airy, pleasantly uncluttered and boasting a helpful and knowledgeable staff. They’ve got soccer shoes for the kids, camping equipment for the entire family and a huge selection of tennis…
Best Country Music Station
Post-Sept. 11, it seems that country music is increasingly about either getting even or getting drunk. KiiM Country has been appropriately patriotic, but has not taken to wearing spurs that go “jingo, jingo, jingo.” Witness their tardiness in dropping the Dixie Chicks from the playlist, only to quietly sneak them back in. Like an ACLU-card-carrying…
Best Place to Cool Your Heels
Mount Lemmon is the usual ringmaster of regional cool-your-heels comfort zones. It won honors in last year’s competition even as flames from the Bullock fire took out 30,000 acres of timber and grassland. Now that the Aspen fire has squeezed the Lemmon even further, with well more than 100,000 acres damaged or destroyed in the…
Best Diner
The Grill has been Tucson’s after-show, after-bar, after-noon-and-you-want-breakfast place to be since it was revamped eight years ago. Seasoned Grill patrons can swap stories about their favorite servers, food mishaps and changes over the years–remember when the neon chicken was an actual chicken, not a roasted one? When the painting over the entrance to the…
Best-Tasting Local Brew
Nimbus continues to boost the popularity of its fine beers–labeled with its signature performing monkey. Our favorite is the Brown Ale, which is as mellow and flavorful a beer as can be poured. The label shows the monkey posing as a Roman God, naked as the day he was born, adorned only in a halo…
Twenty Years Later
Have county actions since the 1983 flood made Pima County safer?
Hot Dogs
Dancers play puppies and illustrate the laws of physics at Funhouse Movement Theatre.
Best Book by a Local Author
As a repeat performance from last year (it was released in paperback since the last Best of Tucson), Small Wonder triumphs again as a local favorite. Kingsolver works the wire with beautiful language and a strong voice in her collection of essays. Many of the pieces were written in response to the events of Sept.…
Best Custom Cakes
Custom cakes are special cakes. They must be made with the best possible ingredients, designed for important events and presented with a practical usefulness. Ilsa delivers the goods and the service. She puts cut lines in the icing so each guest is assured of a slice. Her cakes have a complexity of flavors. Eating the…
Best Burger
Just like the circus, Fuddrucker’s offers a fun, family, nostalgic atmosphere. Oh, and the food’s good, too–much better than you can get under the big top. Fresh ground beef, prepared daily in their own meat market, is cooked to perfection to lock in all the natural juices and full flavor of the beef, complemented with…
Best Fledgling Merchant Association
We love the plucky gang in the Campbell Avenue Merchants Association, who first banded together to help defeat last year’s transportation proposition. This crew has hung together to promote the Campbell corridor as a collection of independent shops that offers just about anything the discerning consumer needs. Just look at the line-up: Readers have Bookman’s…
Best Dining
The Oasis Restaurant is to Grateful Dead fans what the Glory Years Bar is to Green Bay Packers cheeseheads. (Did we mention that nearby Milwaukee is home to the International Clown Hall of Fame?) Oasis is now firmly ensconced in a delightfully funky former Mexican restaurant across the street from the Tucson Police headquarters. Oasis…
Best New Greek Joint
Jim and Maria Sklias delighted a loyal neighborhood following with Italian and Greek food at Donato’s on Prince Road at Campbell Avenue. Now, they have taken their show to the UA area. Caution! The chicken souvlaki is addictive. Students, professors and staff fill this cute spot during lunch, so get there early.
Best Outdoor Recreation Store
You gotta love a place with a sense of humor. Bozo the Clown must work here preparing outdoor bumper stickers. “Sahuaro you today?” reads one of the generic variety, while another advises: “I’m not sleepin’… I’m just Sonoran.” There are also stickers according to outdoor activity, like, “Knot now. I’m going climbing.” Circus owner P.T.…
Best Pop Music Station
Baby Boomers will remember the days when there were lots of pop music stations on the air, and all of them, trusting their audiences to be open-minded, played a wide range of music. You could hear the Stones, followed by Marvin Gaye, followed by Led Zeppelin, then Carole King, then Creedence Clearwater Revival. But this…
Best Urban Landscaping
For those among the 30,000-plus students and several thousand faculty and staff–if they can take a bookworm break or stop gawking at coeds long enough to look around this place they call home away from home–the UA campus is educational eye candy from an environmental point of view. Red brick buildings, some traditional, some modernistic,…
Best Greek
Andreas Delfakis has presided over Athens on Fourth Avenue–a showplace for his unparalleled skill with food and wood–for a decade with meals that are as varied and outstanding as they are simple. We owe it all to a dog. Delfakis was traveling through Colorado on a dark and snowy night more than 30 years ago.…
Best Tasting Beer on Tap
We heard a rumor going around Tucson that trained bears from a Russian circus were spotted serving up brews at local bars. We have never seen them, but we know Nimbus beers are served on tap at local bars and at the Nimbus Brewery in the industrial area of East 44th Street. Another favorite is…
War of the Global-Phobics
Activists from Tucson joined protests at 2003 World Trade Organization Ministerial in Cancun, Mexico.
Healthy Greek Dining
Mix a nutritional guidebook and a Greek cookbook, and the results are something to stew about.
Best Small Gallery for Art Openings
This is Tucson’s most exciting small gallery. Art opening parties feature carefully collected works set to a theme, such as last year’s show in honor of Frida Kahlo that coincided with the premiere of the movie about her. There was also a terrific political art show last winter. Gallery owner Sherry Teachnor, an attorney and…
Best Barbecue
First of all, you can’t miss the place because of the great neon sign. Is Jack there? They say he moved on to Texas but left his motto behind: “Good Food For Hungry People.” That’s lots of good food. The portions are ample. If you get two people together, you’re going to get an argument…
Best Melding of Meat Products
Take a hot dog, containing God knows what in terms of meat, and then wrap the thing in bacon. Mmm. Top it off with tomatoes, grilled onions, diced onions, tomatoes, cold beans, jalapeño sauce, mustard and mayonnaise. Then, chow down, baby. This Lucky Dog is a taste treat, and a bargain for only $2.25–far yummier…
Best Small Research Library
So, grandmother once whispered that your great-great aunt Beryl ran off with P.T. Barnum’s sword swallower when the circus came through Cleveland in 1903, and you always hoped it was true. If you want to find out the facts, go to the library that devotes itself to the extraordinary history of every individual who ever…
Best Veggie Burger
The search for a perfect veggie burger is an oxymoronic journey, a kind of karmic backflip. Reformed carnivores still sometimes want meat, thus the quest for the best-disguised plant materials. The seeds of success for the quixotic meat-like Oasis burger, according to Executive Chef Robert Oser, is seed itself: hemp and sunflower seeds, to be…
Best Reasons to Drive to Phoenix
In-n-Out Burger, Various locations; not in Tucson Fatburger, Various locations; not in Tucson Someone please call the offices of Grijalva, Kolbe, Kyl and McCain, and get them to do an investigation on why the hell there is not an In-n-Out or a Fatburger in Tucson. This is a crime of epic proportions! This means when…
Best Bike Shop
Nine years after arriving on Fourth Avenue as a used, low-end bike seller, this small and sometimes cramped shop has one thing today that stands out: a staff that cares and loves bikes. Today, it carries a variety of new bicycles and accessories, but happily, you won’t see the gaily clad, polyester-uniformed speed-racer clown brigade…
Best Rock Music Station
This ain’t your daddy’s rock station: This is new rock, baby! So put away your records and turn the FM dial to 92.1 KFMA. From Radiohead to Evanescence to Staind, KFMA’s colorful cast of disc jockeys serve up the latest in rock for your listening pleasure. As if this combustive mix of tunes wasn’t enough,…
Best Public Garden
What’s not to like about this place? For one thing, it’s conveniently located in the central city near Grant Road and Alvernon Way. For another, it’s open daily (except four major holidays each year). And it’s still affordable with even further discounts available to seniors and freebie tickets for kids under 12. You won’t find…
Best Indian
Sometimes, Gandhi is a three-ring circus, with its extended family staff moving purposefully among the tables of the cozy dining room, filling glasses, taking orders, delivering food and occasionally herding small children back to the reception area. It’s all part of the warm, informal atmosphere, where you feel more like a family guest invited for…
Best Sports Bar
Long, long before there was a shiny, upscale sports bar in every strip mall, there was Famous Sam’s. It had, and still has, everything you could want: TVs perpetually showing bodies in motion; a perfect pastrami and cheese sandwich; truly memorable fries; many choices on tap; fast, skinny waitresses in tight jeans; and that comfy…
Pol Jump
Ramon Valadez has the inside track to replace Pima County Supervisor Dan Eckstrom.
Buckets o’ Yummy
Kokobana’s “Mexican” food is delicious, even if it’s a bit less than authentic.
Best Patron of the Arts
Tucson’s favorite Belgian-born radiologist just celebrated his 25th anniversary as president (or, as he says, dictator for life) of the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. Jean-Paul Bierny is not the moneybags figurehead you too often find on arts boards; sure, he writes checks liberally, but he also works hard to keep his organization not just…
Best Sandwich
We suspect that Beyond Bread could open in a circus tent and still be crowded at lunch. Now in their newly expanded digs across the street from their original store on Campbell Avenue in a renovated former Nevada Bob’s, plus a second store on the eastside on Speedway Boulevard, they are just as crowded as…
Taping The Circus
It started off as a harmless weekend of screenings, a panel on the sacred prostitute, workshops focusing on things such as breath orgasm and fisting, and post-discussion parties with sex worker activists, filmmakers, performers and artists in the adult entertainment industry. Let’s just say the subject matter of the Sex Workers Arts Festival last November…
Best Arts Freak Show
Artist Paul Edwards intended his sculptures “Splash” and “Pipe With Flow 30” to evoke liquid rock and fit in with the predominantly brown and tan outdoor décor along Mountain Avenue between Speedway Boulevard and Grant Road. But a majority of neighbors complained that the public art project looked more like sculpted sewage (or CAP water,…
Best Vegan Selections
Dining out can be tough for all vegetarians. A trip to a place like, say, Pinnacle Peak can be a downright depressing experience for a non-meat-eater. But for a vegan, who avoids all animal products, including dairy and eggs, finding something even edible at many restaurants can be almost impossible. Well, then, thank goodness for…
Best Used Books
From the supermarket-sized edifices and strip-mall exteriors, you wouldn’t expect much. But all three stores provide a feast of words–from romance novels to the haute cuisine of literature and philosophy to the environmental studies section to rugged tomes on war history. Need to plan a wedding? Bookman’s has years’ worth of bridal magazines. Want to…
Best Place for Fire Eaters
Anthony’s Cigar Emporium, 7866 N. Oracle Road and 4811 E. Grant Road, are tops in Tucson for premium cigar sales, lockers and accessories. Why? Pepe McCormick started with store founder Anthony Martino and remains to anchor operations for the new owners. He shuttles between stores when he isn’t visiting growers and makers in Honduras, the…
Best Radio Personality
For many early risers, 92.1 KFMA’s The Frank Show is like 15 cups of coffee blended into one–without the caffeine headache. Plus, the buzz lasts nearly five hours; from 5:30 to 10 a.m., Frank’s signature blend of shock humor has, according to the show’s theme song, made his radio program “world famous.” Tucsonans have no…
Best Bike Riding
With the completion of almost a dozen small bridges crossing washes and tributaries, this mini-highway surpassed the Santa Cruz River Park trail as the “best” a few years back. Sharing the road with joggers and Rollerbladers, bikers have access to drinking fountains, restrooms, benches in shaded areas and even picnic tables and grills on the…
Best Italian
Caruso’s, 434 N. Fourth Ave. The food at Caruso’s is perfectly fine. But what keeps bringing people back over and over again is Caruso’s charm, great service, consistency and an outdoor patio that’s a dining delight. When you put all that together with the competently prepared food, then it becomes apparent why year after year,…
Best Gay/Lesbian Bar
Simply put, IBT’s–or It’s ‘Bout Time–is Tucson’s gayest circus every night of the week. From drag shows to karaoke, there’s never a dull moment when the doors to this colorful club fling open. But it’s the weekends that really shine. Past a certain hour on any Friday or Saturday night, readers know they’ll find the…
The Online Muckraker’s Guide
Internet public access is an investigator’s free-for-all.
Noshing Around
Food Network Eats Tucson on $40 a Day Tune in when Rachel Ray, host of $40 a Day, eats breakfast at the Cup Café in the historic Hotel Congress, lunch at Café Poca Cosa and a dinner of mussels and dessert at The Dish. The show is scheduled to air starting on Sept. 24. Check…
Best Home-Grown Theatrical Production
It’s been an excellent year for Tucson theater, and any number of productions could vie for “best.” But Elaine Romero’s Barrio Hollywood at Borderlands Theater was the effort that showcased outstanding Tucson talent in every department, starting with the script. This tale of love and death on the Santa Cruz is Romero’s strongest play to…
Best Take-Out
Ringmaster-chef Doug Levy, a veteran of The Dish and Boccata, finally pitched his own tent a few years ago and gave his little food circus the only logical name: Feast Tasteful Takeout. You don’t have to take the food home with you, because a few tables are tucked into the front room, along with racks…
Best Contemporary Architecture
Big deal–some guy puts his head in a lion’s mouth. You, Tucsonans, are beckoned to march your entire body through a poisonous snake! After fetching first-time guests from Tucson International Airport, point out the glow of the rattler’s red eyes. Take a quiet, late-night walk with friends who’ve never experienced the bridge, and be prepared…
Southside Delight
The year was 1947. World War II was a recent memory. Veterans gathered at local bars and told war stories. Beer was 25 cents a bottle. Tony Preciado remembers it well. Preciado, a 78-year-old Naval veteran, served 30 months oversees and fought in four engagements in the South Pacific. In 1947, he was a 22-year-old…
Best Barristas
While most coffee houses teem with teens and mass merchandising, Raging Sage caters to the discriminating coffee intelligencia who prefer quiet conversation, a quality brew and exquisite pastries that never compromise flavor or taste. Peer inside the glass case and marvel at a revolving menu of supernatural brownies made with real chocolate, morning glory muffins,…
Best New Bookstore
At Barnes & Noble, you’ll find literature from A to Z, on topics ranging from the zoo to the circus. Want to know about elephants and tigers or motorcycles and magic? Look no further; it’s all here as far as the eye can see. Scavenge the shelves for mysteries and reference books, poetry and fiction–enjoy…
Best Auto Repair
Joe Montano and Scott LaRose continue to impress. Why? They are friendly, honest and hard-working. These are guys who don’t cuss or lift their nose when you don’t pull up in a gleaming Mercedes, Jag or Lexus. They are eager to help those who need it–like the man who needed some alternator work done on…
Best Radio Talk Show (Host)
Broadcasting from New York City, Amy Goodman isn’t exactly local. But her show, Democracy Now!, airs weekdays at 3 p.m. on KXCI 91.3, so perhaps that makes her local enough. Geography aside, Goodman’s award-winning reporting remains untamed by the whips of “patriotism” that seem to have much of mainstream media jumping through hoops. Her voice…
Best Rec Area in Southern Arizona
Sabino Canyon has been bringing in the clowns for eons. From high school kegger fun-seekers to college-age semi-professional partiers studying Snap-a-Tab 1A who have taken the art of mountainside imbibing to a science, the canyon continues to suffer its share of fools looking for a place to cut loose. It also welcomes the more sedate…
Best Middle Eastern
Some cuisines attack your taste buds with the subtlety of a flame being swallowed by a fire-eater. But Middle Eastern cooking is a delicate balancing of flavors and spices. The food at Ali Baba captures that perfectly. The tasty garlic dip, the expertly prepared chicken or the multi-course vegetarian plate all combine to carry you…
Best Gimmick/Theme at a Bar
The ’60s memorabilia in this cocktail lounge isn’t any sideshow; its the decor. From a ruby-red-lipped JFK to lava lamps to velvet paintings and a portrait of the Beatles, this establishment has that time stopped. Despite what others say, for our money, those who came of age during the ’60s were the “Best Generation.” Their…
Best of Tucson™ 2003
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up to Best of Tucson™ 17! Tucson’s cast of thousands—that’s you, the Tucson Weekly’s readers—voted in April, May and June in more than 130 categories. The results presented here, with great fanfare, are as accurate as ever. Hundreds of ballots were submitted, and due to diligent watching…
The Skinny
BOND BOMBS: The Tucson City Council, following the advice of City Manager Jim Keene, is trying to make life difficult for county officials who are laying the groundwork for an open-space (and possibly more) bond election next May. Keene thinks the council should demand that half the open-space dollars be spent within the city of…
Best Fine Art Gallery
Never mind the greatest show on Earth. Terry Etherton runs the greatest gallery in Tucson. Year after year, he swings with the greatest of ease into the top position in local arts, effortlessly assembling exhibitions that mix cutting-edge and historic photographs with contemporary paintings and mixed media. Last season’s performers included photographers Brett Weston, Mark…
Best Theatrical Bargain
Say “student production,” and you’re likely to think of the human equivalent of cute little dogs running around on their hind legs, admirable simply because they can do it. But say “Arizona Repertory Theatre,” and you should imagine intrepid lion tamers poking their heads into the maw of the beast called Theater, and emerging with…
Best Tortillas
St. Mary’s is one of those nondescript-looking local venues that winds up being cited in national guides to authentic dining. This converted residence does a steady business with tasty breakfast burritos in the morning and affordable combination plates the rest of the day and evening. The handmade tortillas are fresh, moist and chewy. Part of…
Best Local Activist/Advocacy Group
You know them as the crew on the corner of Speedway Boulevard and Euclid Avenue. Every Friday at 5 p.m., while most passing motorists seek the nearest happy hour, these Women (and several men) in Black brave exhaust fumes, inclement weather and wayward buses to take a stand for peace. Affiliated with the international Women…
Best Toy Store
For adults, Toys “R” Us can be an alarming place. It’s a bit too bright–that damn Barbie aisle can make people go blind–and insanely chaotic, especially during the yearly holiday toy crazes. (Although it can be somewhat amusing to watch two soccer moms flight over something as silly as a Tickle Me Elmo.) And no…
Best House-Blend Coffee
The Neiman Marcus of coffee houses is downright serious about its house blend. Never (or at least so far) has there been a featured coffee of the day or a flavored coffee; there are syrup shots for the latter. Take an exhilarating combination of South American, African and Asian beans; each continent’s beans are roasted…
Best Retail Music Store
Sure, Tucson has its share of mom-and-pop specialty stores and national chain behemoths, but for your one-stop music fixes, you’ve once again chosen regional chain Zia as your favorite. With three locations scattered throughout the city–eastside, westside and central–it’s a convenient joint to hit up for that song you just heard on the radio, as…
Best Clothing Store
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the greatest clothing store for kids. Shopping here isn’t the tightrope walk you’ll find at the mall. Instead, it’s a fun-filled excursion your kids will love. They can pick out all the latest hip styles without even a frown. Have the kids outgrown last year’s clothes? No…
Best Print News
Yes, the Tucson Weekly takes shots at the Star on a fairly frequent basis. It’s nothing personal against the folks at Tucson Newspapers, Inc.; it’s our job, as an alternative to the mainstream, to cover the center-ring media. If we don’t, nobody else will. In any case, the Star does have some good things going…
Best Hike
Hohokam Indians used to traipse around Sabino Canyon, using well-worn paths as corridors to higher elevations, where they gathered acorns and berries, harvested cactus fruits and agave hearts and hunted rabbits and deer. They built check dams to catch rainwater to nourish their crops of corn, squash, beans and cotton. And on the canyon floor,…
Best Nouvelle Cuisine
“Nouvelle” cuisine may sound a bit pompous, but it’s a French term meaning new cooking by making the food more approachable. In the early ’70s, French cooking took a left turn, moving away from the classically rich, heavy style to fresher, lighter food served in smaller portions. Pastiche bills itself as an American eatery with…
Best Upscale Bar Ambiance
The crossroads of River Road and Avenue Campbell frame all things reflecting Tucson’s wealth on the move. Deeply tanned women with perfect blonde highlights scan the movers and shakers and real-estate makers while sipping Grey Goose vodka martinis in the clubby bar setting of polished mahogany wood, plush vinyl studded seating and a larger-than-life ’40s…
Police Dispatch
It’s a Bird. It’s a Plane. No, It’s a Bloody Tampon. North Swan Road and East Sunrise Drive, Sept. 2, 1:45 p.m. According to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report, two apartment-complex tenants got into a fight after one of the tenants confronted the woman who lives above her–because she allegedly throws bloody tampons out…
Best Art Museum
Talking Birds, Plumed Serpents and Painted Women may sound like a barker’s spiel about characters under the big top, but it’s really the title given to artworks that cavorted in the TMA last winter. Herded into the galleries by now-ex-curator Joanne Stuhr, the cavalcade of ceramic creatures from Chihuahua’s 1200 A.D. Casas Grandes culture formed…
Best Director
How can so many spot-on productions be directed by someone who is resolutely invisible? Once the curtain rises, Samantha Wyer disappears; you’re never aware of a director’s heavy hand, or some deep “concept” that migrates from play to play whether it fits or not. Nor do you sit there watching thespians delivering lines; you see…
Best Tres Leches Cake
Le Cave’s Bakery, 1219 S. Sixth Ave. What do you do if the most beautiful of the trapeze artists is having a birthday, and you have invited the entire flying mob to your house for the party? Go to Le Cave’s Bakery on Sixth Avenue, famous for doughnuts, and get the tres leches cake. It…
Best Sports Team
We know–they didn’t even make it to the Final Four, but when fans compile lists of their favorite Olson-era teams, this one will be right up near the top with the Steve Kerr and Sean Elliott squads. Unlike the mercenaries who made it to the national title game a couple years ago and then bolted…
Best-Run Youth Sports
It’s great that the YMCA offers lots of different sports for little kids to sample, but the best thing about the “Y” is the emphasis on sportsmanship. It is an absolute delight to watch two basketball teams of tykes line up facing each other and match up to see who’s supposed to be guarding whom.…
Best Café Hangout
Every neighborhood should have a cafe as comfortable as this. The brightly painted rooms invite you in for a cup of joe–or chai. Or you can sit outside and watch the parade on Fourth Avenue and University Boulevard. Inside are three rings of gentle souls organized around excellent food and drinks. In one ring are…
Best Video Store
Whether you’re looking for Big-Top Pee Wee or Tod Browning’s unforgettable Freaks, you’ll find it at Casa Video, along with just about anything else you’re looking for. It’s three rings of comedies, thrillers, drama, foreign flicks, cult hits and obscure documentaries, and there’s even an discreet room for those who might enjoy a bit of…
Best Catered-to-Kids Restaurant
Chuck E. Cheese is absolutely made for kids. The rides, the games, the toys and the noise: It may be sensory overload for parents, but for kids, it’s just right. Moderately priced pizza (because, let’s face it, no pizza should be expensive), lots of soda and tons of fun. The folks at Chuck E. Cheese…
Best Non-Daily Publication
On the Best of Tucson ballots, several voters made snide comments in this category, implying that it was silly for us to include it, because–duh!–we’d win it, hands-down. Well, we take such comments as compliments. After all, there are a plethora of other local non-daily publications in this fair city of ours. So, for folks…
Best Backpacking Trail
What better way to climb from the hellish heat of the Tucson Basin to 6,000 feet in the beautiful Santa Catalina Mountains than on a trail that offers you a cooling jump in the drink right when you need it? Starting from Catalina State Park, the first mile and a half is sandy and low-grade.…
Best Seafood
It’s 10 on Friday night and you’re hungry, but you don’t want to wolf down your food while the staff stands around yawning. And you think you might like something of a briny nature. Well, you want Kingfisher, a little corner of New Orleans sensibility planted among the lumberyards and automotive shops on East Grant…
Best Lowbrow Bar Ambiance
There’s a reason it smells a little like vomit inside The Buffet. It’s because, well, we’ve seen patrons actually vomit in there. We’ve seen patrons lean over and fall asleep upon other patrons. We’ve seen folks counting out their last bit of change for a beer, and we’ve seen the bartender gently eject the too-drunk…
Art Director
Tucson Q&A with David Hoyt Johnson.
Best Mural
Ah, walking. Remember walking? Steven Farley’s murals on the Broadway underpass remind us of this pleasure every time we drive past them. These larger-than-life tile reproductions of Tucsonans walking downtown, back in the 1940s, continue to astonish with their presence and style, not to mention their nostalgic vision of street life in Tucson. They’ve been…
Best Classical Music Performance
As so often happens, many of our readers selected the Tucson Symphony for classical-music honors, but couldn’t agree on a single performance (or didn’t even try to choose one). So let’s praise the October 2002 concerts with percussionist Evelyn Glennie, in which the Scottish guest soloist combined athleticism and poetry in the superb, acrobatic recent…
Best Drive-In Meal With Entertainment
Drive right up, ladies and gentlemen, to the red-and-white striped counter with the flashing lights. Get the best chili dogs in Tucson–well-trained french fries are a good act themselves. They come with their skins on and appear in a white paper sack. Even the small sack is enough for two, and the two of you…
Best Local News Issue
Send in the clowns! This political circus got its start, like so many memorable political debates, when some fun-lovin’ FM radio morning show pranksters, cranked on patriotism by the launch of the Iraq attack, began planning their own assault on A Mountain with red, white and blue paint. Tucson City Council members Fred Ronstadt and…
Best Casual Dining
Oh, we love B-Line. We love that they’re there for us on Sundays (so we forgive the Monday closure) and we love that they stay open in those hours between breakfast, lunch and dinner. We love that they have a small but excellent selection of beer on tap. And we adore the simplicity of the…
Best Outdoor Seating (Cafés)
In terms of merely getting a cup of coffee and sitting outdoors, there are much easier places to do this than at than Blue Willow. At Raging Sage, you don’t have to meander through a gift shop. At Starbucks, there usually isn’t a problem finding a parking space. But this is how cool the outdoor…
Best Men’s Fashions (Locally Owned)
Over the past 40 years, Franklin’s has been a right of passage for young men in Tucson. It’s the perfect place to demonstrate that you’re moving up in the world from one of the zanies to the big boss man. Whether you’re there for a casually elegant silk golf shirt, leather-thatch Italian loafers, precisely-proportioned shirts…
Best Playground
The 131-acre Gene C. Reid Park has four playgrounds scattered around this green oasis. Though you’ll see the park occasionally littered with the torn dust-covers of Harry Potter books, there are no clowns, children behaving badly, bearded ladies or Catholic priests hanging out here. And it’s a great location to keep the little monsters happy…
Best Local Web Site
Whatever one may think of the Arizona Star as a daily newspaper, the other side of their news empire has been upgraded to particularly epic proportions. Azstarnet.com, much like tucsonweekly.com, recently went through design changes that make it more graphically pleasing and easier to use. It also gives Web surfers more options and special “issues”…
Best Campground With Amenities
For years, “Rosey” has entertained nature lovers, anglers, campers and those seeking to escape Valley heat–to the point where summertime weekends looked like the clown car at the circus with its never-ending stream of occupants. “This lake attracts some 50,000 visitors a year,” according to Steve Romero of the Forest Service’s Santa Catalina Ranger District.…
Best Steakhouse
El Corral steakhouse has been a Tucson favorite for years. It is always packed with the family circuses of parents, grandparents and children, because it delivers excellent food, friendly service and modest prices. Prime rib is the house specialty, served in several sizes with some serious horseradish sauce. An excellent children’s menu is not the…
Best Nightclub
What makes Club Congress more than just a club is the fact that it actually is more than just a club. Housed in the historic Hotel Congress, it’s a restaurant and a live music venue as well, which makes Club Congress the most versatile space for travelers, eaters, drinkers and dancers this side of the…
Paradise Found
“Lost in Translation” plays homage to the May-December romance with tact and sensitivity.
Best Public Art
Simon Donovan is a stud worthy of headlining Tucson’s center ring any day. Let’s face it: Many of us dislike snakes. OK, that’s being polite–we HATE them. They’re slithery; they bite people; and one of ’em wreaked big-time havoc in the Old Testament. (In fairness to the snake, they were here in Southeastern Arizona before…
Best Artist
No stranger to the art of the nightmare, this season Cajero delivered his wildest exhibition yet. Diana, goddess of the hunt, sprang to violent life in a Cajero installation at Muse. A giant figure in blackened papier-mâché and charred corrugated cardboard, his twisted Diana consorted with a pentangle of baying hounds, five of the most…
Best Beef-Flavored Religious Experience
As you’re undoubtedly well aware, the Church of the Subgenius teaches that we are all born with original slack, which a conspiracy of normals strives to steal away from us. Thankfully, J.R. “Bob” Dobbs is here to show us the way to re-claiming that slack on the road to salvation. While we can’t go into…
Best UA Athlete
A former high school Mr. Basketball in Indiana, Gardner arrived in Tucson amid much hoopla (pun sorta intended), and he exceeded just about everybody’s expectations. He immediately became the point guard, the toughest position on the floor, and led two totally different ‘Cat teams (2001, 2003) to No. 1 rankings. Although neither team won the…
Best Outdoor Seating
There are few better Tucson experiences than that of dining under the sun at Blue Willow. Imagine it: You’re sipping a cup of tea while reading the newspaper, waiting for your delicious piece of quiche to arrive. The morning weather provides the perfect temperature as the sound of a running fountain gurgles in the background,…
Best Café Food
Where can you go to eat vegan strawberry scones and drink iced coffee served by a lady with the most beautiful blue hair or a really gorgeous tattooed lady? The Epic Café, of course. Even though we’re not vegans, we love these scones. There are breakfasts for people who eat organic food, lunches for the…
Best Women’s Fashions (Locally Owned)
There are no oversized checked pants, gigantic neckties or floppy shoes at this hip store on Fourth Avenue, as Zoe doesn’t clown around. Designed for serious, fashion-conscious shoppers, the store offers a cosmopolitan flair in the heart of the Old Pueblo. Offering hip designs and fashions for those missing the big city, Zoe doesn’t disappoint.…
Best Birthday Party Place
In any other circumstance, the pairing of children and pizza with a giant rodent would have parents screaming and health inspectors having heart palpitations. But in the case of Chuck E. Cheese’s, it’s all good. Chuck, the spokesrat, is on hand to welcome birthday-celebrating kids to a plethora of games, prizes and cake. It’s hard,…
Best Television Reporting on Something Besides Car Crashes, Sports and Weather
When you want some real in-depth news and features about our community, forget about the clowns on the commercial stations and flip over to KUAT’s Arizona Illustrated. Five nights a week at 6:30 p.m., ringmaster Bill Buckmaster and his talented crew of correspondents strive to bring us real news about our communities, favoring in-depth conversations…
Best Wilderness Campground
Major portions of the mountain have been reduced from the best summertime show on Earth to a mere sideshow with perfunctory performances–but after all, the show must go on. The Bullock Fire of 2002 singed, damaged or totally destroyed 30,500 acres. The Aspen Fire of 2003 did the same to nearly three times that amount…
Best Sushi
The worst thing about this place is that it’s so small–kind of like those cars that they to pack clowns into–so that means long waits on the weekends. But we sushi-eating clowns still wait, because we know the food will be worth it. Sushi Ten is known for its huge slices of fish and enormous…
Best Cocktail Menu
Aloha! Mix a jigger of Disneyland’s enchanted tiki room with equal parts cigarette-smoke-infested dive and schmaltzy Tiki gods for the best-known cocktail menu south of Mount Lemmon. During the past 40 years, Kon Tiki’s reputation evolved as that special place to legally celebrate a 21st birthday. The fish-bowl-sized scorpion reigns as the most popular, but…
Gothic Overload
The vamps and werewolves of “Underworld” will put you to sleep for a century or two.
Best Local Visual Artist
Mat Bevel Institute perches on the edge of downtown. Inside is a panoply of moving objects–gizmo-laden sculptures with clackety gears, lights bleeping on and off, colors galore. It’s a manifestation of the strange circus of Mat Bevel’s mind. His sculptures are made from things people throw away–an Earth beach ball becomes the Ironic Lung sucking…
Best Nixon Impersonation in a Dance Performance
Picture dancer-choreographer Thom Lewis in a Southern preacher’s white shirt, skinny black tie and black pants. Then listen for the gravelly voice of Tom Waits. Add comical knee-padded gyrations, and you’ve got Lewis’ “Speaking in Tongues,” a dynamite solo in the FUNHOUSE movement theater Southern Cross concert last spring. The greatest moment came when Lewis…
Best Way to Give Yourself an Aneurysm at the Grocery Store
There used to be a day when service was a priority. Now, the rule in retail is rapidly becoming: Do it yourself, blobbo. Yes, we’re ranting about those self check-out stations popping up at Fry’s and other grocery stores. They magically appeared at the Fry’s at Pantano Road and Speedway Boulevard, and we decided to…
Best Day Spa
Are you starting to feel like the bearded lady? Raise your hand if you believe the bullshit that “beauty comes from within.” If that were true, there would be no makeup, plastic surgery, spas or People magazine. Time to go to Gadabout Salon, where you can be pounded, pummelled, waxed, tweezed, fresh squeezed, buffed, puffed,…
Best Lunch Over $7
Many people confront two choices when lunchtime rolls around: There’s the greasy fast food/vending machine route for a quick bite to eat that’s usually dripping in fat (and who knows what else), or alternately, a person can shell out a few extra bucks and get something more substantial. That’s where Café Poca Cosa comes in.…
Best Local Roaster
Get the buzz: It’s a family affair at Raging Sage, where daughter Shelby positions herself as the chief roaster and bean buyer. Her resume includes roasting stints in Whitefish, Mont., Austin, Texas, and Moscow. Since December 1998, a hefty 35.7 tons of coffee beans have been roasted in 10-pound batches. You do the math. Proper…
Best Resale Clothing
Can you improve your wardrobe on the cheap while being environmentally conscious at the same time? Seems like a tall order, but Buffalo Exchange has it covered. Bring in your old clothes; get cash or trade credit in exchange; and fill up your newly vacated closet space with some of the hippest, swankiest duds in…
Best Fun for the Whole Family
A little oasis of family fun in the midst of the desert, Funtasticks has a wide range of amusements for kids and adults alike. Situated on five acres of land near Tucson Mall, it’s got old standbys like miniature golf, batting cages, go-carts, bumper boats and a mammoth gaming room where quarters slip through the…
Best On-Air Political Circus
This one’s a tie between radio talk-show hosts John C. Scott and Emil Franzi, The Weekly’s former automatic-weapons editor. Fortunately, you can hear ’em both without even changing the dial from KTKT 990-AM. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays, John C. Scott takes the mic, bringing us politicos, pundits and putzes in between pitches…
Best Way to Drop a Line
The Urban Fishing Program officially celebrates its 20th birthday this year, a spin-off of an earlier “Fishing in the City” program. “If people can’t get to the fish, we’ll bring the fish to the people,” says Game and Fish Program Manager Eric Swanson. You’ve still got to catch your own, but Swanson and company will…
Best Thai
As soon as you walk in Char’s, you can smell the sweet, spicy aroma that differentiates Thai cooking from Chinese. Char’s unpretentious, modest dining room is OK, but the real tip is the kitchen, where they blend subtle Siamese ingredients as fast and skillfully as a three-card monte table. Many of the dishes can be…
Best Bar for a Quiet Adult Evening
Are there some nights when you would do anything to avoid the circus of local bars? Then head on over to midtown to the old and still mighty elegant Arizona Inn. You can sit quietly in a comfortable chair or couch and order a mojito for yourself–and maybe a sidecar for your best buddy. Little…
City Week
Whirling Dervishes; Fabulous, Darling; Groovy Acoustics; Warehoused Art; and Filmic Fuss.
Best Local Performing Artist
No matter the stage, Lisa Otey is comfortable on it–in a Madrid jazz club, at a Dutch music festival, teaching a master class, appearing in local bars, concert halls and hotel ballrooms, and invariably, accompanying the comedic melodramas at the venerable Gaslight Theatre. Despite the ironic cover photo of her 2001 album Hard Workin’ Woman…
Best Friend to Local Arts
We said it in 1995’s Best of Tucson, and we’ll say it again: Joanne Stuhr, the conscientious, committed curator who was recently booted from the Tucson Museum of Art, deserves the title of Joanne of Art, restorer of the TMA. In her tenure of 13-plus years, Stuhr was the best thing the museum had going.…
Best Tourist Attraction
Some folks enjoy a circus because they can see a multitude of animals and not be afraid they will be eaten. A better way to safely interact with all the hungry animals, reptiles, spiders and plants of our desert with prickly attitudes is to drive over Gates Pass to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It’s hard…
Best Piece of Tucson History
Step right up to the best show on (this part of the) Earth: the Catholic conquest of converts in the Pimería Alta! It’s all right here under the big top–the big white top of the mission church of San Xavier del Bac. The bright, white, frontier-Baroque church rose from the desert scrub in 1797 (except…
Best Lunch Under $7
Baggin’s, Various locations Beyond Bread, 6260 E. Speedway Blvd., 3026 N. Campbell Ave. Bison Witches, 326 N. Fourth Ave. Guilin, 3250 E. Speedway Blvd. When life seems like a three-ring circus and balancing your checkbook is more worrisome than dangling from the high wire without a net, one of life’s little pleasures is being able…
Best Tea Service
You won’t find any cotton candy, peanuts or pink lemonade at the Tohono Chul Park Tea Room, but you’re in for a treat nonetheless. Serving afternoon tea each day except on major holidays, Tohono Chul’s Tea Room is a favorite spot for locals and visitors to the big top of Tucson. Housed in a Spanish…
Best Antiques/Kitsch/Collectibles
If you find yourself in need of a fainting couch, a gigantic armoire or a tiny, needlepoint ottoman, Annabell’s Attic has aisles and aisles of lovely old loot to browse through. More like a series of living rooms than an attic, there’s plenty here to satisfy your longing for antique armchairs and lamps and China…
Best ZooBots
Reid Park Zoo, 22nd Street and Country Club Road Tucson Botanical Gardens, 2150 N. Alvernon Way No, they’re not related to Transformers, even though the kids who sign up for ZooBot Adventures–a joint program by the Reid Park Zoo and Tucson Botanical Gardens–are more than meets the eye. Every summer, young ones interested in the…
Best New Local News Concept
Considering the local freak show of TV newscasts trolling for awards at any cost, WB Channel 58 may be on to something. The idea of presenting the “late” news at 9 p.m. has merit in a town that tends to sack out early. What’s equally unique is the source of their news: KOLD Channel 13,…
Best Place to Commune With Wildlife
Although it’s located a bit south of town, Tucsonans still like to claim this lake as one of their own–simply because we don’t have that many bodies of water in town, and this is a nice one. It’s Southern Arizona’s largest watering hole, at 265 surface acres when full, which it has not been recently…
Best Upscale Dining
You’ll never confuse the cuisine at Anthony’s with such midway fare as cotton candy and hot dogs. Crawl into a canon and shoot yourself way over to the other end of the culinary scale to find Anthony’s menu. It’s Continental, meaning a mixture of classic French and Italian (Chateaubriand, veal scallopine) with the occasional haute-Southwestern…
Best Non-Threatening First Date Bar
It’s just dark enough for comfort, but light enough to keep it from feeling sleazy. You’ll find a full bar, good beer on tap and excellent waitresses. But there’s also an improbably wholesome quality to this windowless Speedway saloon that keeps things “safe.” Maybe it’s the all-American kid-friendly menu, or the constant feed of sports…
Pick
D.I.Y. Revolution.
Best Dance Production
The longest-running Nutcracker in town, Ballet Tucson’s is Tucson’s best. Sumptuously staged at the UA’s Centennial Hall, this elegant traditional rendering has painted Victorian backdrops and falling snow. Glistening guest artists this year came from the highest ranks of the ballet world. John Gardner, a former principal at American Ballet Theater and a dancer with…
Best Local Grocer
A friend who lives in the Sam Hughes neighborhood mentioned that through her Tucson Weekly personals ad, she met 14 guys. She met them all under the clock in front of the Rincon Market, then went inside to have coffee or a meal. Since 1926, Rincon Market has been the divine watering hole and mainstay…
Best Annual Festival
Ah, the roar of the popcorn, the smell of the crowd! It’s no wonder Tucson Weekly readers love the traveling circus that comes to Tucson twice a year. This is fun, fun, fun! You’ll see acrobats doing their stunts and stilt-walkers stumbling about high above the crowd. You’ll amaze to jugglers tossing balls in the…
Best Public Servant
Personable and optimistic, Mayor Robert E. Walkup’s ability to appear an honest, “regular guy” at a time when everybody thinks politicians are lying weasels gives him the vote. Far from being the typical stoic, bureaucracy-riddled circus-act hack we love to hate, Walkup is less a politician then he is a citizen–probably because he is a…
Best Late-Night Eats
A rare place to go downtown past the witching hour to feed your bones, Grill specializes in the kind of comfort food one usually craves in the wee hours of the morning. Maybe it’s a bowl of Cap’n Crunch that sobers you up, or maybe it’s fried ravioli. Chicken sandwich? Side of bacon? Cinnamon French…
Best Bulk Tea Selection
While many are still not comfortable around tie-died, sandal-wearing vegans, this place continues to draw shoppers of all persuasions, simply because the Food Conspiracy knows how to bring bulk food to market–especially tea. To some, tea is a kind of comfort food, but for us tea worshipers, it’s a way of life. And we’re not…
Best Art/Artisan Jewelry
There’s jewelry, and then there’s jewelry. There’s the little Made in China cross with the diamond chip you get from Sears, and then there’s the heavy, smooth silver-and-turquoise crucifix made by the craftsmen at Carlos Diaz. Beautiful, simple designs in the classic Mexican silverworking tradition are the house specialty; gold and high-quality Indian jewelry are…
Best Anime Screening Society
OK, so anime isn’t just for kids. Yet millions of screaming Pokémon fans all over the world speak volumes about amine’s love affair with the young generation. The Tucson Animation Screening Society, or TASS, is one of the oldest and largest groups in America dedicated to Japanimation. It holds regular screenings of all kinds of…
Best Local Book Publisher
Created by the local company Treasure Chest Books in 1999, Rio Nuevo Publishers specializes in Southwestern books, including Native American, nature, outdoors, travel, Hispanic heritage, history and Western lore. Five of their 40 titles were included in the Tucson/Pima Public Library’s 2002 Southwest Books of the Year Master List, with two earning “Top Pick” status.…
Best Big Puddle
Since Best of Tucson this year follows a circus theme, Arivaca Lake should fall in the category of livestock judging, as the once-mighty “Hawg Pen”–once considered a dead lake south of town–continues to roar back to life. Arivaca, a 90-surface-acre bowl of water with big bass (“big” being relative, but in this case, they range…
Best Underbelly Work
No one knows the undercarriage of your car like James Freund, the maestro of the master cylinder and exalted examiner of exhaust systems. There’s no need to rush James or his cat, who lounges in front. Let him enjoy his sandwich and his Wall Street Journal along with a little bit of a cigar; you’ll…
Best Place to Drink In the Atmosphere
The Meet Rack is bar apocrypha in Tucson. A good friend called me the other day. “OK, there’s this bar,” he said. “Apparently, there’s this sex room you can take tours of, and you can get branded by the owner if you want drink discounts, and … well … is this place really real?” he…
