Best Indoor Venue
READERS’ PICK: If it’s national touring bands you want, you’ll find ’em here, from Ashanti to FugaZi. The layout is great–the classic theater style, with plenty o’ room to mosh up front, hobnob in the lobby, or rest your dead ass in the balcony or main-level seating. They’re in the process of renovation and improvement,…
Best Burger
READERS’ PICK: Our constituents must really like to have it their way. Because for this category, going straight to the top of the chart with a bullet is a national chain where you basically pay to do what you’d do at home: build your own burger. B-SIDE: When Jimmy Buffet sang his tribute to cheeseburgers…
Best Tourist Attraction
READERS’ PICK: “All day I faced the barren waste / without a drop of water”: If the thousands of animal denizens of Tucson’s internationally renowned Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum joined up to choose a theme song, “Cool Water” might well be it. After all, a desert is, in the words of desert rat and Arizona-Sonora Desert…
Best Cheap Date
STAFF PICK: So you’re broke, but you’ve scored a Thursday-night date with the girl or guy of your dreams. Show off your artsy side by taking your little honey to Cinema La Placita, where you can watch a classic film all snuggled up on a blanket under constellations and a rustling palm tree. Hell, you…
Best Kids’ Clothing Store
READERS’ PICK: Yo, here’s a little story I gots to tell / About my kids’ clothes that weren’t looking so well / I done had it with all those new-clothes price tags / And after a year, their clothes look just like rags / So I loaded up the car with their outgrown skids /…
Lawyers, Guns and Money
Well before he became an erudite media and commercial lawyer, Phil Higdon spun hits as a high-school disc jockey in Kansas. Beatles, Beach Boys and The Supremes. Now Higdon stops the spin–government spin. Mary Wilson could be the Weekly, the Daily Star or another media diva getting “Nothing But Heartache” from the keep-secrets-secret powers at…
Best Casual Dining
READERS’ PICK: Buddy Holly would certainly have sung “Rave On” about the food at Buddy’s Grill. The menu offers items ranging from steak to shrimp to smoked barbecued chicken breasts and much more. On a recent visit we sampled the lahvosh starter, which proved to be more than a salad and less than a pizza,…
Best Mexican Fast Food/Drive-Thru
READERS’ PICK: In a town lousy with eateries selling take-out chow from south of the border–nearly all of them open 24-7, too–these four locations won the hearts of local Sonoran food fanatics who just can’t get enough. We even know one Tucson ex-pat who is known to end e-mails with the proclamation “Eat a Nico’s…
Best Comic Book Store
STAFF PICK: Comic shops come and comic shops go, but Tom Struck’s Fantasy Comics seems like it’s here to stay–although it’s certainly moved around a bunch over the last two decades. (These days, it’s located next to one of our favorite dives, the Home Den, so we can drink a pitcher while we catch up…
Best Local Brew
READERS’ PICK: Like Elvis, Nimbus Couzin has left the building. But the brewery that bears his name is bigger than ever, available on tap in lots of local taverns and in bottles at our finer liquor establishments. The Palo Verde Pale Ale remains a big seller, but the Rillito Red captured our hearts the first…
Best of Tucson™ 2002
All the greatest stars, all the greatest hits–in one great package! It’s the Tucson Weekly’s annual Best of Tucson™, and this year it’s one big juke joint! In our poll last May, you called the tunes. The town is full of Top 10 contenders, and you decided which would hit the charts with a bullet.…
Best Movie Theater
READERS’ PICK: Even if they have to drive around behind the mall, Tucson moviegoers obviously like to take it to the limit with the deluxe accouterments at this midtown movie palace: 20 screens, stadium seating, rocking chairs, love seats and a chi-chi concession stand. And, for better or worse, there’s also Fandango, although it’s not…
Best Barbecue
READERS’ PICK: This tiny restaurant is always a favorite because of its old-fashioned good food. We know that Tucsonans like their food hot, but Rod’s KC has gone about as far they can go with their hot links. The gracious hosts will ask if you want to try a bite before you order one. Do…
Best Spectacle for Charity
READERS’ PICK: ‘S wonderful, ‘s marvelous that you should care for me. The Susan G. Komen Foundation has 75,000 volunteers and 116 affiliates across the United States. In 2001 it distributed $22 million in nationwide grants. The Komen Race for the Cure engages thousands of people from Southern Arizona in a celebration of care, hope,…
Best Joke That’s Not Really That Funny
STAFF PICK: They say that you can ride your bike / On Broadway / They say there’s always room for you / On the side / But when you’re cycling down that street / You’ve only got a couple feet / Between you and the SUVs / Goin’ 50 in the slow lane.
Best Catered-To Kids Restaurant
READERS’ PICK: According to the Los Angeles Times, a recent memo from a McDonald’s executive claimed that parents take their children to McDonald’s because they “want the kids to love them. … It makes them feel like a good parent.” And what better way to show your love for your children than to have them…
Best Place to Cool Your Heels
READERS’ PICK: Hot town, summer in the city. We were ready. When readers selected Mount Lemmon as the place to go to cool down, The Lemmon was about to begin another season of embracing Valley visitors seeking respite from our summertime desert bakery. That was before the Bullock fire. Some 30,000 charred acres later, the…
Best Upscale Dining
READERS’ PICK: If you’re looking for a classic-rock statement of nouvelle Southwestern cuisine, this is it. The food here never goes out of style or lacks for taste. Owner Janos Wilder and his band of gypsies did better than simply surviving the trek from downtown to the foothills, they’ve thrived. So has the food. Special…
Best Combo Plates
READERS’ PICK: Just like Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwins or Webber and Rice, Rosa’s combination plates are a blend of perfection. You’ll be humming a happy musical tune after sampling one of the 19 delicious choices on the menu. From the simple two shredded beef tacos, beef tamale and rice for $7 to carne asada…
Best Video Store
READERS’ PICK: At Casa Video you can choose from over 40,000 movie soundtracks. You’d expect the Hollywood blockbusters, but you can also find soundtracks from documentaries, musicals, faraway lands and times past. Best of all, you get the movie that goes with the soundtrack for no extra charge. The staff is knowledgeable without being pretentious.…
Swing It
It took the Irish-American Rosemary Clooney to popularize an Armenian folk song, “Come on-a My House,” but we’re not in any one of Armen Dirtadian’s houses–Randolph, El Rio, The Raven or The Gallery. We’re not at the Gaslight Theatre. We’re not at Mickey Greco’s. Rather than any one of those stages for Armen Dirtadian’s talent,…
Best Outdoor Venue
READERS’ PICK: Legend has it that while Lou Reed spent his lesser known years in Tucson, waiting for his man with 25 dollars in his hand, he waited at the DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center while enjoying Shakespeare on the lawn. Sure, the bench seats accommodate 100, but Lou knew his grass-stained Levi’s were more rock…
Best Barbecue Sign
STAFF PICK: Is he black or is he white? Is he gay or is he straight? Controversy, indeed. In addition to delicious ribs and roast beef, Jack’s Barbecue boasts perhaps the most perplexing sign in Tucson, if not the Southwest proper. By day, the character on the store’s main sign (presumably Jack) is distinctly Anglo.…
Best Annual Festival
READERS’ PICK: There is dancing in the streets at the Fourth Avenue Street Fair, come rain or come shine. And with two events a year it only makes the fair twice as nice. Whether you have wheels or your daddy took your T-Bird away is of no importance; the six-block area is closed to traffic…
Best Place to Feel the Railroad Rumble
STAFF PICK: Sometimes it’s the sounds that beckon you to live somewhere. Those freights are alluring, especially their mournful wail on the Friends of Dean Martinez debut CD. “Westbound #11” is a simple soundtrack of trains singing, tucked between “Armory Park” and “Swamp Cooler”–appropriate song titles for such a twang of once-local guitars and accordion…
Best Playground
READERS’ PICK: If Jimi Hendrix had had a more satisfying childhood, and eased up on the psychotropics, he may have written about the play towers of Reid Park’s playgrounds, instead of the watchtower in his mind. Oh, Jimi, you would have loved the way you can go from one play tower to the other and…
Best Urban Landscaping
READERS’ PICK: Standing on a corner in Tucson, Arizona … the name means “Desert Corner” in O’odham, and once upon a time the little patch of desert that is Tohono Chul Park stood in a quiet, unexplored nook of Tucson’s northwest side. Now surrounded by the asphalt jungle, the park–a dense forest of saguaros, cholla,…
Best Outdoor Seating
READERS’ PICK: Cloistered by the age of eight, the 12th-century monastic ecoutrice Hildegard von Bingen has blessed us with her ethereal spirituals. Imagine her heavenly voice floating over you as you enjoy breakfast. An angel choir could usher in your meal–whether a Sunday ritual or a midweek foray. Apt theme music indeed for such a…
Best Salsa
READERS’ PICK: As the name suggests, La Salsa prides itself on, well, its salsa. And justifiably–its selections of salsa are always fresh and varied. The sweet mango salsa is a mellow ballad for the palate, while the fiery habanero salsa will have your taste buds doing the tango. The “Deliciosa” is the Britney Spears of…
Best Men’s Fashions
READER’S PICK: This eastside haberdashery (once in the UA area) has been a favorite of Tucson’s sharp-dressed men, whether dressing up or dressing down, for a couple of decades at least. Don’t expect Wal-Mart prices, but style and quality rule. Extra credit for a great opening act: Roscoe, a lovable Bull Mastiff, greets patrons at…
Best Beer on Tap
READERS’ PICK: Our readers must be seeing double from all that Palo Verde Pale Ale: Nimbus wins again! And it’s no surprise, for the reasons we’ve elucidated above.
Best Billboard
READERS’ PICK: Modern-rock radio station KFMA-FM, which knows a thing or two about edginess, proved its nü metal with this parody of those supercilious billboards that purport to be transmitting messages from a Judeo-Christian higher power. At least, it made us think a little, as opposed to those sexist KLPX ‘boards that simply depict a…
Best Friday Night Fish Fry
STAFF PICK: It may be as anachronistic as Gregorian chant performed by a choir of medieval monks, but the Friday night fish fry is still a custom in some parts of this country. Tucson has several places that serve up a hearty meal at a low price on the last workday of the week; our…
Best Park
READERS’ PICK: If you don’t know how to do it, Rufus Thomas can show you how to walk the dog. Or you might just decide to take your canine and frolic at Reid Park. Reid Park has it all: a dog park converted from a baseball field opposite the entrance to the zoo, a rose…
Best Photocopy Joint
STAFF PICK: As Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell sang “You’re All I Need to Get By,” we too sing to the Copier Brothers: With sweet toner black, we took one look at facts, and it was plainly seen, 8.5 is all I need. With folder open wide, I threw in double side, discarded my rejects…
Best Birthday Party Place
READERS’ PICK: Could it get any easier? Your kid’s party at Peter Piper Pizza includes invitations, game tokens, decorated reserved tables, more than enough pizza (one big one for every four little ‘uns), and, best of all, someone to clean up after the kiddos. Which is quite a job, since the free soda refills lead…
Best Public Garden
READERS’ PICK: Sure, it’s good to touch the green, green grass of home, but we desert rats have learned to make do just fine with stony soil and spiky cacti. For us, TBG is a wondrous oasis, a home away from home, and a just plain cool place to hang out. Occupying five acres nestled…
Best Waiter
STAFF PICK: It’s a strange thing. People who love eating at the Dish talk about two things–the onion butter and Bill the waiter. He is that good. (So is the onion butter.) His voice is mellifluous and low, like Elvis’, and all throughout your meal he manages to be completely attentive yet never annoying. Like…
Best Vegetarian Dining
READERS’ PICK: You’ll find no cheeseburger in this paradise–this Buffet is strictly meat-free. Govinda’s restaurant offers a wide selection of vegetarian foods prepared, as a friend of ours reverently put it, with love. Their selections vary, but the buffet always features a great salad bar and a selection of different soups. The produce used is…
Best Women’s Fashions
READERS’ PICK: If your tastes run to a sophisticated combination of neo-hippy styles (but which eschew the gauzy Stevie Nicks white-witch look) and postmodern consciousness, this red storefront on North Fourth Avenue is the place for girls who just want to have fun. Creative fabric and texture choices will transport you to exotic locales. Check…
Best Sports Bar
READERS’ PICK: Johnny Hartman may have been willing to lead a lush life in some small dive, but he would have missed Monday night football, not to mention March Madness. That’s a hell of a way to punish yourself over a dame. Drowning yourself in booze is one thing, but depriving yourself the elegance of…
Best Book by a Local Author
READERS’ PICK: Think the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” set between hard covers: Barbara Kingsolver is no longer a poor girl, but she still sings in a rock ‘n’ roll band (the all-lit-star Rock Bottom Remainders), and she still lets a righteous fire burn in her soul. Small Wonder is a book of occasions, not…
Best Late-Night Eats
READERS’ PICK: Despite the fact that there really is no competition on the late-night-grub-front downtown, Grill strives as though there were a Denny’s on every corner. You want it fried and comforting? You got it. A touch of nouvelle cuisine? It can be had. Drinks? Grill has a full liquor license. Music? Last time we…
Best Urban Ambience
READERS’ PICK: You know that VW commercial where every sidewalk denizen and storekeeper is in step with a syncopated rhythm that only the passengers hear and see? Fourth Avenue’s sidewalks pulse a similar visual soundtrack, but without the percussive windshield wipers keeping time. Watch and listen: Street kids curb-sit with their pit bull pups; suburban…
Best Place to Rent by the Hour
STAFF PICK: Had the Sugar Hill Gang been from Tucson, “Rapper’s Delight” would have surely celebrated the virtues, or vices, that one might explore at the No-Tel Motel. The lyrics to “Rapper’s Delight” may have read something similar to the following: “Everybody go, ‘No-Tel Motel, watcha gonna do today’ (say what?) / ‘Cause I’m ‘a…
Best Fun for the Whole Family
READERS’ PICK: It’s been years since we’ve seen the TV spot, but we still can’t get Golf ‘n’ Stuff’s old theme song out of our head: “Golf ‘n’ Stuff, can’t get enough!” Our readers can’t get enough of Tucson’s premier miniature golf course, with its two 18-hole courses, bumper boats, batting cages and a castle…
Best Bike Riding
READERS’ PICK: When you’re in the mood to get rolling … rolling … rolling down the river, the Rillito Linear Park is the place to do it. Recently expanded to stretch from I-10 all the way to Craycroft Road, the ride offers bikers a nearly uninterrupted run across the valley. The path drops beneath the…
Best Chinese
READERS’ PICK: At Mandarin Grill, you may start out moaning hot, hot, hot, but soon you’ll be crooning more, more, more. These comfortable neighborhood locations offer plenty of nicely spiced, tasty chow for carnivores and vegetarians alike. Say, say, say how you want it and you’ll get plenty of your favorite Northern Chinese dishes for…
Best Veggie Burger
READERS’ PICK: Are you ready for a good veggie burger? Well, walk right in to the Oasis Vegetarian Eatery. Vegetarians know you can’t always get what you want when eating out. How sweet it is to have eight veggie burger selections to chose from! Besides the Famous Oasis Burger, there’s the Hemp 4 Victory Burger,…
Best Resale Clothing
READERS’ PICK: For what it’s worth, you better stop and look what’s goin’ down at Buffalo Exchange. Since the rent is always due, you can trade your old clothes for cash or credit. Not only will you find a great assortment of used and vintage clothing at the Buff, there’s plenty of interesting stuff at…
Best Gay/Lesbian Bar
READERS’ PICK: There’s one thing transcendent of sexuality on which we can all agree: The Village People knew what they were talking about. So to paraphrase their song “YMCA,” we recommend you stop by IBT’s when you feel the whole world is jive. Because whether you’re a young man or young woman, there’s no need…
King of the Blues
“People usually seem surprised I’m not depressed,” says Charles Bowden, standing in his flower- and bird-filled mid-town back yard. The house is in the same neighborhood where his family lived when they moved here from Chicago in 1957. Depressed? The author of the So-AZ-apocalyptic collage/memoir Blues for Cannibals, and other works of purgation and black-as-midnight…
Best Place to Feed a Mixed Group
STAFF PICK: No, by “mixed” we don’t mean race or ethnicity or politics or even scotch and bourbon drinkers. We mean meat eaters and vegetarians. Besides great and friendly atmosphere, Delectable’s is one of the few places in town that has a long enough menu of great chow to satisfy both, from steak to hummus.…
Best Confluence of Musical Genres
STAFF PICK: When Dolly Parton covered Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” we had to laugh because it reminded us of the strange marriage of musical genres here. By day (and most nights), this place is a hangout for students in the South UA neighborhood: Pool cues clatter, patrons drink and chatter, an open laptop threatens…
Best Sports Team
READERS’ PICK: The year before, it had been another one bites the dust as a powerful Cat team steamrolled the opposition en route to a national championship showdown with Duke. The 2001-02 season was supposed to be a rare one of rebuilding, but all the young dudes–Frye, Stoudamire, Latimore, et al.–stepped up in a huge…
Unfinished Symphony
Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings” and 3,800–give or take a few hundred. Those, respectively, are the piece of music most closely associated with Tucson Junior Strings and the number of kids, ages 8 to 18, that music director Dennis Bourret estimates have passed through the 35-year-old youth orchestra. To come up with the figure, he and…
Best Recreation Area in Southern Arizona
READERS’ PICK: When Coronado brought his group of Spanish explorers to Southern Arizona nearly 500 years ago, they were in search of gold. Local residents do the same each summer, seeking relief from the triple-digit temperatures on the valley floor. Mount Lemmon used to be one answer–head for the high country and beat the heat.…
Best Diner
READERS’ PICK: Readers love this downtown delight; check out “Best Late-Night Eats” in the Chow section.
Best Vegetarian Take-Out
READERS’ PICK: Ain’t no way you’ll leave the Oasis with an empty bag. No longer a self-serve deli, the Oasis still offers plenty of great take-out food. Vegetarians usually don’t have to think a lot when viewing most menus. Not true here. With more than 70 items, this is a menu a vegetarian can cherish…
Best Antiques/Kitsch/Collectibles
READERS’ PICK: Toys, and much more, are in the Attic at Annabell’s. Maybe your living room needs a 4-foot Art-Nouveau brass nude? A suit of armor? A mummy sarcophagus? Perhaps you just need a classically-styled dresser, bed or armoire to strike the right note? Annabell’s Attic has a huge selection of antique, contemporary and replica…
Best Upscale Bar Ambience
READERS’ PICK (TIE): A sibling of the acclaimed Janos restaurant on the grounds of the Westin La Paloma, J Bar has an upscale casual atmosphere and a jazzy and improvisational Latin grill menu. J Bar is one of those places to take special dates or parents visiting from out of town, or to celebrate an…
Best Fine Art Gallery
READERS’ PICK: Play it cool, boys, just play it cool. Etherton, dean of contemporary art galleries in Tucson, has always struck us as a jazzy place. At the top of the stairs there’s that big, New Yorky loftlike space; you can just picture jazz musicians smokily improvising on their horns. Proprietor Terry Etherton fills it,…
Best Local Grocery
READERS’ PICK: If Arlo Guthrie came to town he would head for this popular family-run store. Several years ago the small Rincon Market turned itself into a modern-day food emporium offering everything needed for our busy lives. If you’re busy, choose from their carefully prepared ready-to-eat deli counter and food bars. The slightly sweet chicken…
Best Sandwich
READERS’ PICK: Beyond Bread’s playlist of sandwiches features the standard numbers (turkey, tuna, roast beef) plus some new hits (baba ganoush, southwest turkey salad) all served on freshly made bread. The only complaint we had when we went there recently was that our “Avi’s Avo” sandwich was so big that we had to take half…
Best Contemporary Architecture
READERS’ PICK: It’s taken Tucsonans some time to warm up to this massive courthouse, which opened at a prime downtown corner in spring 2000. Nowadays, though, its innovative glass walkway between two towers has become a bridge over the troubled waters of Tucson’s architectural discontent. A recent book called its “use of smaller volumes to…
Best Local Athlete
READERS’ PICK: When this stunning athlete takes the mound and faces down an opposing batter, it’s like a Marvin Gaye triple play. Strike one! How sweet it is. Strike two! What’s goin’ on? Strike three! Mercy, mercy me. With the tidal wave of positive media attention, record-setting individual performances, national championships, personal accolades, and the…
Best Local TV Newscast
READERS’ PICK: When it comes time for a bubble-headed bleached blonde to give us dirty laundry with a gleam in her eyes, our readers give a slight edge to KGUN-9 News. The gang at Channel 9 says they’re on your side–and they even have a Viewer’s Bill of Rights to prove it. We just hope…
Best Hike
READERS’ PICK: Why don’t we do it in the road? Many intrepid hikers among us will question the value of an outdoor experience that doesn’t require you to set foot off of asphalt, but that doesn’t bother the thousands of locals who habitually tramp up and down the old three-mile-plus road snaking through this lush…
Best Greek
READERS’ PICK: When you savor the fish that Athens on Fourth Avenue serves, you’ll swear that Andreas Delfakis is from the ancient port of Piraeus, Porto Rafti, Patras, or an island, say, Egina or Tinos. Instead Delfakis is from land-locked Daras, a quirky, secessionist and frozen-in-time village in tranquil Arkadia, not far from the heart…
Best Vegan Selections
READERS’ PICK: You don’t need to take a long, strange trip out of town for good vegan food. You’ll find it in town at the Casbah. Even if your Mama tried, she couldn’t make the goodies you’ll find here. The Casbah offers delicious, organic food that will have your tastebuds asking for more. Sink your…
Best Art/Artisan Jewelry
READERS’ PICK: Beads, beads, the musical garb: If you have an itch to drape yourself in enough glass and stone baubles to wake the dead (Grateful, that is) or maybe just want to sling a subtle string to let your freak flag fly just a little bit in the poisonous breezes of Amerika, then the…
Best Gimmick/Theme at a Bar
READERS’ PICK: Has anybody here seen my old friend John? Can you tell me where he’s gone? Well, you won’t find the assassinated president, but you will certainly find numerous representations of his toothsome image at the Shelter Cocktail Lounge. Imagine, for a moment, if Joey Heatherton (or Nancy Sinatra) had stolen into your parents’…
Best Museum
READERS’ PICK: Did you ever have to make up your mind? Pick up with one and leave the other behind? It’s not often easy, and it’s not often kind, but we gotta overrule the readers in this category this year. Y’all picked the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a commendable, admirable, wonderful place, a true golden oldie…
Best Supermarket
READERS’ PICK: Frank Sinatra should’ve sung about Trader Joe’s in the same way he unabashedly crooned for the Big Apple. OK, it’s a national chain, but it started in little South Pasadena and in the last decade has grown to more than 134 stores in a suburb near you. But the one (or in Tucson’s…
Best Take-Out
READERS’ PICK: Make the phone call, then listen to one of your favorite LPs before picking up your pizza. Brooklyn doesn’t rush its product and that’s good. The hand-tossed, stone-fired, bigger-than-the-record-you-just-put-on-your-turntable pizza is #1 with a bullet. Choose from more than 20 fresh toppings; the combinations are almost endless. (Chicken, spinach and onion is one…
Best Piece of Tucson History
READERS’ PICK: Mix the mystical Native flute of R. Carlos Nakai with the somber Gregorian chanting of monks, and you have the musical equivalent to San Xavier. Built in 1783 by Tucson’s beloved Father Kino, the mission embodies the mix of Native culture, Mexican heritage and European influence that formed the religious and cultural bedrock…
Best Local High-School Athlete
READERS’ PICK: She’s like the wind. She rises unexpectedly on the volleyball court, she blows by people on the basketball court and she pitches a softball with the force of a tornado. The junior-to-be had an incredible season last year. First she led the FW volleyball team into the playoffs; then she completely outplayed Salpointe’s…
Best Radio Station for News
READERS’ PICK: Besides having the jazz, KUAZ’s got the news on the hour from NPR with local updates from baritone Lee Allen and tenor Robert Rappaport. Bob Edwards chimes in with Morning Edition, providing vocals on the national scene. Then cut to jazz riffs and the hourly cavatina of KUAZ headlines, and you have an…
Best Golf Hole
STAFF PICK: Hum the theme from Caddyshack, Kenny Loggins’ “I’m Alright.” Skip Bushwood, which here is the entire town of Oro Valley (you’ll be spared a speeding ticket) and head to a pub-link, Tucson’s famous Randolph North. The par 3 15 will, as the great Tucson amateur Armen Dirtadian says, “get your attention.” With the…
Best Indian
READERS’ PICK: When you say “I want it that way” at Gandhi, you get it larger than life. Dishes are customized to your comfort level of spiciness. The menu offers a masala of regional styles from the sub-continent. It’s an excellent introduction to this flavorful cuisine for the beginner. More than that, our readers agree…
Best Baristas
READERS’ PICK: There’s a reason this chain is so popular: Even mainstream hits can be catchy now and then. The friendly, knowledgeable and well-trained espresso-machine jockeys know their way around lattes, mochas and Frappuccinos. With outlets in even Albertson’s supermarkets and Barnes & Noble bookstores, Starbucks will hit you with its best shot (of espresso).
Best Home Furnishings
READERS’ PICK: Our house is a very very very fine house. The good gnomes at AHF aren’t of much help in providing the two cats for the yard, but a post-9/11 cocooner could do far worse than outfit the rest of a dream house with goods from this massive two-story emporium, which has just about…
Best Lowbrow Bar Ambiance
READERS’ PICK: Can a bar be all things to all barflies? If you’re talking about the Buffet Bar, well, yes. The hardcore drinkers and up-all-night partiers appreciate the 6 a.m. opening time (although stumbling out at 11 a.m. or so into the blinding Tucson sun is instant penance). The forlorn appreciate proprietor Peggy’s comforting presence…
Best Mural
READERS’ PICK: This long, long winding road is only the better for the handiwork of Third Hand Art, a collaboration of a trio of artists who came out of Bicas: Kim Young, Pasqualina Azzarello and Christine Devine. Eric Cooper contributed the metalwork flowers. To accommodate every little wish of the crafty Tucson Mall developers years…
Best Caterer
READERS’ PICK: You’re throwing a garden party or singing the wedding-bell blues. Just this once, shake off your inner Elvis, stow the cocktail weenies and jars of teeny-tiny sweet pickles, and bring on the pros: Ron Wassell and crew, who’ve made a highly evolved art form of pretty food that’s good to eat–a little cilantro-…
Best Pizza
READERS’ PICK: When the big pizza guy’s at the door from Magpies, that’s amore! Every pizza place lets you choose toppings, but few pizza joints give you the options that Magpies does. Sure, they’ve got your usual meats and veggies, but you can also choose from an impressive list of toppings that includes fresh yellow…
Best Vanished Landmark
STAFF PICK: Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Every year the wrecking ball, either literal or metaphorical, takes away another sui generis Tucson landmark rising defiantly above the burgeoning fast food outlets, strip malls and stucco housing developments that increasingly define the city’s homogeneous character. This year’s model: the student union at the University of Arizona, declared “unsafe” by university…
Best Bowling
STAFF PICK: Golden Pin Lanes, 1010 W. Miracle Mile. Bowling at this address is reason enough. This is the home of Tucson’s best, including Pro Bowling Hall of Famer Pete Tountas. Pleasant and professional staff, good food from Jimmy Karabelas and knock-out graphics on lane monitors make this a fun escape. Plenty of other promotions…
Best Country Station
READERS’ PICK: This Tucson station is shameless when they say we’re from the country and we like it that way. Though they’ve dropped a few points in the Arbitron ratings as they’ve retooled their morning show with newcomer Kris replacing longtime favorite Mary as Max’s on-air partner, they’re still the best place on the dial…
Best Backpacking Trail
READERS’ PICK: I can see for miles and miles and miles. Eventually this non-motorized continuous long-distance walkway will extend from the Coronado National Memorial on the U.S./Mexico border to the BLM Strip District on the Utah border. At the moment, 600 of the nearly 800 miles are signed and open for business. Both amateur hikers…
Best Italian
READERS’ PICK: When you think of a great Italian tenor, Enrique Caruso immediately comes to mind. Similarly, when you think of a great Italian restaurant, you think of Caruso’s. It’s not only a restaurant; it’s practically a Tucson institution. It features all the classics–spaghetti, ravioli, linguini, pizza. It also has a number of shrimp and…
Best House-Blend Coffee
READERS’ PICK: What dance goes with coffee? Well, if you have a cup of Raging Sage’s ever-so-strong, fresh-roasted house blend, maybe the pogo. Two cups, maybe a reel. Three cups, maybe the jerk. Whatever your step, it’s a rich, delicious, cost-effective way to tune yourself up for the day ahead, far and away the best…
Best All-Purpose Gift Shop
READERS’ PICK: “We Are the World” ought to be the theme song at this amazing little store, in which can be found bangles, baubles, gee-gaws and gimcracks–from rain sticks to toys to hand-made stationery–from countries around the world. If you shop at the UNICEF store, you can be politically correct while retaining your good taste.
Best Nightclub
READERS’ PICK: In last year’s BOT competition, you voted Club Congress your favorite indoor live venue, even though it hadn’t hosted live music for months leading up to balloting. This time around, even though the Congo has brought back live music with a vengeance, you’ve selected it as your favorite nightclub. While we’ve never professed…
Best Public Art
READERS’ PICK: It’s the same old song, but with a different meaning every time we drive through this perfect piece of public art. No longer a youngster–hey, readers, it went up in 1999–this oldie but goodie was artist Stephen Farley’s first major public art project. He had the ingenious idea of blowing up black-and-white photographs–taken…
Best Specialty Shop
READERS’ PICK: Elegant without being pretentious, The Rum Runner offers Tucson’s best selection of gourmet and specialty items. It features a wide variety of wines, liquors, beers, imported cheeses, infused oils and flavored vinegars, fancy condiments, exotic spices, breads, crackers, and wine and bar accessories. The staff is knowledgeable and can help you pick the…
Best Cannoli
STAFF PICK: O cannoli mio! This ricotta-filled tube of heaven would surely bring tears to Luciano Pavarotti’s eyes. Maybe it’s the vanilla-infused ricotta, maybe the crunchy sweetness of the pastry shell, or maybe it’s amore, but when the exquisite richness dances across one’s taste buds they will scream “Tu m’appartiens!” (Translation for all you TUSD…
Best Local News Item
READERS’ PICK: Smilin’ Bob Walkup put forward a plan to raise the sales tax to pay for road construction–and he got run down even worse than those who had tried it a decade earlier. We had plenty of reasons to say no, from the extensive spending on the edge of town to the small slice…
Best Public Servant
READERS’ PICK: See “The Most Happy Fella.” B-SIDE: Dan Eckstrom, the South Tucson Democrat. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles may have sung, “I Second That Emotion,” but it’s Eckstrom who can make motions and, when necessary, commotion. He has rescued countless Board of Supervisors meetings from the abyss with quick moves and courage. Eckstrom is…
Best Pop Music Station
READERS’ PICK: Remember the days of yore and the songs of yesteryear? Ever wonder what happened to Journey, Rick Springfield and Sheila E.? Well, friend, they are all alive and well at good old Mix FM. That’s right. Wanna hear “Who’s Crying Now?” They got it. Or how about “Jesse’s Girl”? Got that, too. All…
Best Campground with Amenities
READERS’ PICK: You can’t always get what you want. Sometimes you can’t even get there to look for what you want. Like in the foreseeable future as this island in the desert recovers from the fiery assault it endured earlier this year. The old adage says if you love something, you set it free and…
Best Sushi
READERS’ PICK: When anybody mentions another sushi restaurant, our response is: “But have you been to Sushi-Ten?” Even our Japanese friends give unqualified shout-outs to this place’s delicious rolls and sashimi as the closest to authentic in Tucson. Everything about this place sticks in your head like the latest infectious Top 40 melody. Just try…
Best Hangout
READERS’ PICK: You’d think with a name like “Epic” this café would have a gigantic ego, like a ’70s rock group whose stage entrance is clouded in a puff of smoke as they descend from the ceiling, and whose alleged “coolness” transcends any singing ability. But this little neighborhood café is cool. Sit long enough…
Best Plant Nursery
READERS’ PICK (TIE): If you wish to tiptoe through your own tulips next spring, you need two important items other than a ukulele. The first: excellent tulip bulbs. The second: excellent advice about how to prepare the bulbs for planting. This is what distinguishes the best garden nurseries from all the rest. The two favorites…
Best Cocktail Menu
READERS’ PICK (TIE): Put the lime in the coconut and drink them both together. Add some rum and you’ve got a classic Kon Tiki drink special. A tropical paradise in the middle of Tucson, Kon Tiki has thatched huts, Tiki idols, a salt-water aquarium, parrots and enormous Scorpions–the drink, not the band or the venomous…
Best Arts Patron
READERS’ PICK: My guy, my guy, talking about my guy: Arts groups are in love with this guy. Luria, longtime patron of the arts in Tucson and all over Arizona, won the Governor’s Art Award in the individual category. A chef and co-owner, with his wife, Donna Nordin, of Café Terra Cotta, Luria has done…
Best Newcomer
STAFF PICK: “When the moon hits your knee / Like a big salami / That’s amore.” Straight-from-Italy salami, cappacolla, mortadella and other good sandwich stuffings are just some of the things you’ll find at Viro’s, an Italian café so authentic in every detail that it wouldn’t be the least bit out of place in Genoa…
Best Seafood Market
STAFF PICK: When the B-52s come to Tucson and want to fill their VW van up with rock lobster, they go to the 17th Street Farmers’ Market. You won’t find fresher fish in town. Now, the squeamish might bring up the fact that we live in the desert, and relative freshness may not be all…
Best Local Activist/Advocacy Group
READERS’ PICK: I am woman, hear me roar! The League of Women Voters, yin to the yang of political consultants and backroom operators, can be counted on to do its part in voter education by organizing debates that let the public know who the candidates are. And they very rarely order the cops to haul…
Best Attempt at a Snow Job
STAFF PICK: Walkup and his big-business buddies tried to strong-arm the voters in May to raise the sales tax to pay for transportation projects. The city government went so far as to spend $1 million trying to persuade us to support this turkey. Even though hizzoner lamely argued they just wanted to “educate” people about…
Best Rock Music Station
READERS’ PICK: You had better do what you are told; you better listen to the radio! And you’d better listen to KXCI, the best station in the known universe. On the air since 1983, KXCI plays the most eclectic, eccentric, electrifyin’ rock ‘n’ roll you can imagine (and even some that you can’t): world beat,…
Best Wilderness Campground
READERS’ PICK: Up, up and away! If the Eagles hadn’t squandered time standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, they could have spent it here in the company of a zillion other birds. This is a lofty plateau (5,000 feet) rising from surrounding flatland that offers running water, trees, a view of the Santa Rita…
Best Middle Eastern
READERS’ PICK: You’ll be livin’ la vida loca Tucson-style at this storefront on Speedway. Try the generous selection of meat and veggie choices in a combination plate, or just go for the value falafel sandwich meal with drink and dessert. B-SIDE: Sinbad’s, 810 E. University Blvd. When you want to rock the Casbah, Sinbad’s is…
Best Local Roaster
READERS’ PICK: “I started a roast / which started the whole world perking.” Apologies to the Bee Gees, although we doubt any one of them could take more than a sip of the stout blend that is the Raging Sage’s house brew. The Raging Sage, having roasted 23.8 tons of coffee beans in its short…
Best Outdoor Recreation Store
READERS’ PICK: Over a century ago, the first public rendition of our original state song, “Hail to Arizona, the Sun-Kissed Land'” was heard in Phoenix. And while it’s only been here 30 years, Summit Hut (purveyor of outdoor equipment and expertise) has been here long enough to earn the accolade of tops in its field.…
Best Tucson Cocktail
STAFF PICK: This complex, all too drinkable concoction was created especially for the hotel by the utterly talented Nate, who gave a cowboy edge to this old-fashioned cocktail by replacing the brandy with whisky. It seems a little bit sweet at first, but can truly kick some ass, kind of like Loretta Lynn. The fresh…
Best Local Visual Artist
READERS’ PICK: Both these sterling painters are serious, productive and talented, and about as different, say, as Mozart from Beethoven. UA prof Rogers, painter of glowing gardens of earthly delights, is the Mozart figure. Nicely displayed last winter at the Tucson Museum of Art, her paintings are big and elegant. They’re filled with flowers and…
Best Delicatessen
READERS’ PICK: If you know that kasha is not the author of “The Metamorphosis” and can tell a knish from a kugel, you’re gonna love Feig’s. It’s a dill-pickle-scented oasis in a desert largely devoid of Semitic soul food. More Jewish than klezmer music, the Dreidel song and Barbra Streisand in Yentl put together, Feig’s…
Best Ice Cream
STAFF PICK: Another Tucson tradition. Great burgers (seven variations), hot dogs (four types) and sandwiches (35 choices). But ice cream is what it’s really all about. Always more than 31 flavors, from pickle and jalapeño to great fresh fruit non-sherbet like mango and peach. And Austin’s has the best three-scoop milkshake probably west of the…
Best Auto Work
STAFF PICK: Old Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen said it best: “Son, you’re gonna drive me to drinking if you don’t stop driving that Hot Rod Lincoln.” You’re driving on a Saturday morning and notice the glowing AMP light in your uncle’s 1965 Buick, which you’ve sworn to baby. What is it? Has…
Best Mischief-Maker
READERS’ PICK: Although former County Supervisor Ed Moore turned him–literally and figuratively–into a clown during a 1992 campaign for the Board of Supervisors, John Kromko proved he’s still a wily political operator earlier this year, when he led the team that knocked down the city’s million-buck-plus pitch for a hazardous transportation plan. It was a…
Best Radio Personality
READERS’ PICK: So, you’ve just discovered early British punk, but you don’t know where to turn after buying Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols and The Clash. Or, you’re digging German prog rock, but after Can and Neu!, what else is there? Your safest, cheapest and most educational option in these matters is…
Healer
Leonard Ditmanson is the doctor son of a doctor/missionary who was the son of a missionary and the son of a daughter of a missionary. He was born in Taiwan where his parents operated a medical clinic that they started out of their home and grew into a 1,000-bed hospital. Ditmanson, who in April returned…
Best Seafood
READERS’ PICK: You need to eat something that’s been swimming in the ocean? You come here. This groovy joint offers everything from oysters to cabrilla, mahi-mahi to delicious shrimp cakes, consistently pleasing audiences with great service, a friendly atmosphere, jazz and blues on Mondays and meticulous attention to dissipating cigarette smoke from the bar area.…
Best Tea Service
READER’S PICK: Rock the Casbah? Definitely. The Casbah Tea House offers two environments in which to relax and enjoy fine tea. The café/bakery fronting Fourth Avenue has traditional tables and chairs. The patio in the back offers an even more traditional environment, a tent with plush cushions and carpets. Sail away, dream on, relax and…
Best Porn Shop
STAFF PICK: Sure, Adult Expectations has all that designer slut-wear for exotic dancers. And Fascinations targets the upscale, suburban vibe (no pun intended). But this venerable Tucson smut pavilion has the requisite bottom-line appeal with just about everything you need to live out your Kid Rock-meets-Pamela Anderson fantasies: VHS and DVD rentals of recent and…
Sonata for Many Hands
Margaret Avery Moon, founder and director of Desert Institute of the Healing Arts, is a woman who knows what she wants to do and does it. She came to Tucson in 1981 from Northern California because she wanted to start a massage school, Sonoma was too pricey and she’d read in a Kiplinger Report that…
Best Local Performing Artist
READERS’ PICK: Although pyrotechnics no longer seem to be the special effect of choice at rock concerts–even Ozzy is family-friendly now–extreme fiery entertainment always can be found in the performances of Flam Chen, under the direction of longtime Tucson artist Nadia Hagen. This troupe is burning up the charts with its flame-centric gigs in the…
Best Desserts Under $5
READERS’ PICK: I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream–and Santa Barbara Ice Creamery is the screamiest, dreamiest, creamiest ice cream in town! All the standards, plus unique blends from exotic locales, low-fat options, shakes and smoothies, all served by a friendly staff. After you grab a scoop or two, head over next…
Best House-Made Ice Cream
STAFF PICK: Lemongrass white chocolate, strawberry balsamic, honey saffron–these are just a few of the unique flavors Doug Levy has created in the past year. Feast always has a single flavor of one-of-a-kind ice cream, in half pint or pint size, to enjoy after your dine-in meal or to take home. Some of us have…
Best Shoe Shine/Shoe Repair
STAFF PICK: Were your boots made for walking? Ya gotta keep ’em clean and shined if you’re working for a living downtown. Hop up on a chair in the mayor’s office–that is, El Alcalde de La Placita, Raul Rodriguez, who has been helping lawyers, judges, politicians and even a few scruffy reporters put their best…
Best Response to Terrorism
READERS’ PICK: After terrorist attacks opened a heart-wrenching wound in America on September 11, 2001, the nation found many different ways to work its way through the grief. Kudos to the men and women dressed in the red, white and blue who came out to Tucson Electric Park one fall morning to form a human…
Best Print News
READERS’ PICK: Some readers are still doing Strauss’ Morning Papers Waltz, judging from the Arizona Daily Star’s dance card, while the Tucson Citizen remains a wallflower. According to most of our voters, though, the Tucson Weekly is the belle of the ball. That’s true even though–or mainly because–unlike the competition, it doesn’t sneak out to…
Best Breakfast
READERS’ PICK: The Blue Willow’s great breakfast menu is a medley of healthful fare and sinfully yummy treats. They bake their pastries, muffins and desserts in-house daily and offer espresso drinks and standard breakfast fare like omelets, pancakes and eggs and toast. They also have some originals, such as the Blue Willow Special featuring tortillas…
Best Steakhouse
READERS’ PICK: Great atmosphere at a historic landmark–strains of “Rawhide” are liable to enter your brain as you amble into the converted ranch house–is but one reason this place rocks. They know how to grill slabs of beef here, plain and simple, and the crowd of waiting diners usually gathered outside attests that fact. But…
Best Bulk Tea Selection
READERS’ PICK: The soundtrack to the flick Pi features a compilation of hypnotic techno tunes. Like the drums and whispery voices, the Food Conspiracy’s panoply of bulk teas entrances and mystifies. Open the wide-necked jars. Inhale the stunning aromas of loose English Breakfast or Earl Grey or Darjeeling–oolongs that hit you with a caffeinated wallop…
Best Sporting Goods
READERS’ PICK: Ta-da-da-tat-da-da-tat-da-da, Ta-da-da-tat-da-da-tat-da-da. Admit it: You can’t help humming the Rocky theme song when you suit up for that weekend-warrior round of golf or pickup roundball game. You’ll find every bit of gear you need at the Sports Authority, a massive box store stuffed to the rafters with canoes, sports bras, whiffleballs, oxygen tanks,…
Best Dance Production
READERS’ PICK: It’s too bad Tchaikovsky didn’t write any lyrics to his divine Nutcracker score, because then we could sing you the virtues of this production. We can try humming it, with visions of dancing candies in our heads–DOOH dooh dooh dooh DOOH dooh dooh. Can you hear it? Oh, well, never mind. Suffice it…
Best Desserts Over $5
READERS’ PICK: Sometime a scoop just isn’t enough. For those occasions, Santa Barbara Ice Creamery takes the cake–literally. Owner Jo Jensen can combine any of the delicious flavors in the freezers. You’ll want to party every day.
Best Tortillas
READERS’ PICK: What’s love got to do with it? Everything, if you’re making tortillas by hand. The rich, lightly charred flour tortillas at Tania’s are just one of the many good things about this longtime neighborhood favorite. There are also the homemade soups, menudo by the gallon and great prices, especially on the bulk “cold…
Best Day Spa
READERS’ PICK: I’ve got two tickets to paradise and it’s on Speedway. Gadabout’s day spa packages offer two to six-and-a-half hours of pampering. Try the Stress Buster massage followed by a rejuvenating body spa. Specify your massage, presto or largo, as gentle as Tori Amos’ piano touch, or as extreme as Pete Townsend’s guitar playing.…
The Most Happy Fella
Let’s face the music: Mayor Bob Walkup is pitch-perfect for his role. “If Hollywood was casting a mayor, you couldn’t do better than Bob Walkup, because he is the epitome of what you expect in your mayor,” says City Councilwoman Kathleen Dunbar. “He’s always courteous, tries to do the right thing, tries to bring people…
Best Radio Talk-Show Host
READERS’ PICK: What do you do when you tire of spinning the Top 40, or the Classic Rock, or whatever the hell the new corporate overlords are ordering you to play? Why, you give up the DJ biz and become a radio talk-show host. That’s what Mike Rapp has done, moving from irreverent platter chatter…
Best Brunch
STAFF PICK: The Good Egg is so much more than eggs. LP-sized pancakes made with the mix-ins of your choice (even Craisins or trail mix). Cinnamon French toast as thick as four CDs stacked together in their cases. Sound like music for your mouth? Scrumptious licks like these, amiable service and a family-friendly atmosphere make…
Best Thai
READERS’ PICK: This tiny storefront across Grant Road from Bookman’s is often crowded with eager customers, but don’t walk away. You’ll be rewarded by some of the tastiest Thai delights in town. Folks can’t help falling in love with the Pad Thai, Yum Nuah and Gang Panang. Seating is limited, so many opt for takeout.…
Best Bookstore
READERS’ PICK: The two locations of this national chain are not cluttered or claustrophobic: plush chairs into which you can dump yourself; intimate, quiet corners; and a Starbucks to get your nerves jangling like The Byrds’ guitars. Cruising teen-agers on weekend nights make the place feel a little like a sock hop, but we’re glad…
Best Rock Star Wannabe Store
STAFF PICK: So you wanna be a rock and roll star, goth star, porn star? Start by dressing the part. Hydra can make you the center of attention in any room. How would I look in leather pants? A leather halter top? Giant KISS-style boots? Need an outfit for The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Hydra’s…
Best Theatrical Production
READERS’ PICK: Fourteen years after its Broadway premiere, Phantom finally brought its music of the night to Tucson for a four-week April run, thanks to UApresents. Its thousand-pound chandelier and 36-member cast couldn’t fail to thrill the locals, but, expensive spectacle aside, it turned out to be an authentically good show. READERS’ POLL RUNNER-UP: Proof.…
Best Custom Cakes
READERS’ PICK: You say it’s your birthday? You won’t cry at your party if Nadine’s supplies the cake. Fresh, and made with quality ingredients, Nadine’s cakes are the perfect way to celebrate a gold record or another Grammy. Nadine’s can put a picture of you or your favorite band, or even write the lyrics to…
Best Fried Chicken
READERS’ PICK: Carole King likes fried chicken; we know because we asked her once. We’re not sure whether Lucky Wishbone had anything to do with her Tapestry album, but you never know. Even though there are five locations in town, when you’re hungry for their chicken fingers and killer fries, they all seem so far…
Best Health Club
STAFF PICK: Let’s get physical–and there’s no better place to do it than the Racquet Club, a longtime Tucson institution that remains wonderfully humble. Tucked up against the bank of the Rillito River at the north end of Country Club Road, the club boasts the standard stair-masters, treadmills and weights, as well as a rather…
Best-Run Youth Sports
READERS’ PICK: As Ruff Ryders say, “Roll out! Roll out!” And when it comes to soccer, that’s about all a youth sports coach has to do with a ball for the kids to start playing. This simplicity is the beauty of the sport (and also its major drawback as kids get older), but when it…
Best Non-Daily Publication
READERS’ PICK: You think we’re going to sing our praises all over again? See “Best Print News,” previously. B-SIDE: Bear Essential News. The kids are alright. The Bear Essential News, a monthly newspaper for kids, has been around for 20 years now. Editor and publisher Stephen Gin should be lauded for his tireless efforts to…
Best Lunch Under $7
READERS’ PICK: The casual atmosphere at this restaurant combines with the street-funk of North Fourth Avenue. Mouth-watering sandwiches and a clever pun of a name add up to a cutting-edge hit for the ’90s and beyond.
Best Mexican Restaurant in Tucson
READERS’ PICK: Café Poca Cosa isn’t the most traditional Mexican restaurant in town, but our readers agree that it’s the best. The menu varies daily, depending on what’s fresh and the culinary whims of owner/chef Suzana Davila. Every little thing she does is magic! Her original recipes put a new spin on conventional Mexican cuisine,…
Best Used Books
READERS’ PICK: Talk about a Tucson institution! Bookman’s offers a huge selection, including books, music, magazines, software, video and more in stores as big as warehouses but appointed like funky nightclubs. This year, a third location on East Speedway was added, and we can’t say enough about its music-listening stations, a way-cool fountain, countless stacks…
Best Cigars
STAFF PICK: Who can forget the Platter’s legendary take: “So I smile and say when a lovely flame dies, smoke gets in your eyes”? Pepe keeps wowing them with his knowledge and service at Anthony’s Cigar Emporium, 7866 N. Oracle Road. Enjoy your Bahia Gold, Ashton VSG, Padron Anniversario here with friends. Huge leather sofas,…
Best Classical Music Performance
READERS’ PICK: Voters were vague about which TSO performance was best, but one did mention the special concert with guitarist Christopher Parkening in February. That was a good one, but the orchestra, under independent-minded music director George Hanson, provided several evenings of symphonic rapture. And not just Rapture, a newish piece by Christopher Rouse, but…
Best Fresh-Baked Bread
READERS’ PICK: Multifarious ingredients evolve into a seemingly simple, yet intelligent and inventive performance. Substitute “taste” for “performance,” and there’s little difference between the scrumptious bread at this local bakery/cafe and the music of the pomo Kronos Quartet. There’s always a theme. Like the foursome’s recent combination of modern riffs with traditional Mexican music, themes…
Got to Be Real
Brien Roussel, proprietor of Backfire, Tucson’s snazziest chiropractic cabaret and landslide write-in winner of Best Chiropractor, is describing the T-shirt he’s designing for his business, which was a year old on September 10. At the kitchen counter, (non-business) partner Ron Wassell is incising mango quarters with a design of perfect cubes, as per the standard…
Best Workout
STAFF PICK: The Village People had it right when they sang the praises of the YMCA. Forget those trendy, spendy meet markets filled with cheese- and beef-cake that you see advertised during Friends reruns. Membership is ultra-reasonable and the emphasis is on getting fit in a family-oriented environment at any Tucson-area branch. All the Ys…
Best Toy Store
READERS’ PICK: Since it opened years ago downtown, Yikes has been a place where people can say, “I Like It Like That.” Whether it’s for a monster mash or a S-S-Saturday night party, Yikes has toys for every occasion, ranging from a computer goddess figurine or a doofus devil wig to a tiny brain that…
Best Local Web Site
READERS’ PICK: Time after time, folks check out DoTucson.com, our local corner of virtual reality. With restaurant listings, events, ticket giveaways and even classified ads, this is where our readers prefer to look all through the night for local content. Will DoTucson.com be the place where girls just wanna have fun next year? It’s hard…
Best Lunch Over $7
READERS’ PICK: There’s no finer afternoon delight than lunch at Poca Cosa. Although in the $8-12 range, a Poca Cosa lunch is actually a bargain since it’s essentially the same as the dinner menu at about half the price. The place is dark and noisy, even at noon, so don’t plan on conducting much business.…
Best Mexican Restaurant in South Tucson
READERS’ PICK: “Samba Pa Ti'” sang Carlos Santana. The Lopez matriarch, after a long life filled with hard work and grace, has passed. Guests at her South Tucson landmark “nest” are comforted by her spirit and the lessons she handed down to her son, Chickie, grandson Jimmy and the rest of the Mi Nidito familia.…
Best Retail Music Store
READERS’ PICK: Zia’s got everything a good record store should have–CDs, vinyl, video and DVD. And lots of “rock accessory”-type trinkets that you’d usually find only at Spencer’s–cock rings and such. OK, so they don’t have cock rings. But they should get them. It used to be harder to find some releases there, but these…
Best Bike Shop
READERS’ PICK: Thankfully, Ordinary Bike Shop is the last bastion of “just right” on Tucson’s bike scene. It’s the kind of personable, friendly shop that’s decidedly not corporate while ably avoiding the Les-Misérables-meets-Mad-Max feel of underground bikesters and their haunts (which are cool in their own right, don’t get us wrong; but Ordinary is more…
Soundbites
Benefit for Justin Treschner… Atmosphere… Alice Cooper… Disco Biscuits… Fruit… And more!
Descry the Beloved Country
The UA Museum of Art explores the imagery of post-apartheid South Africa.
Straight Outta Brooklyn
Get a taste of the new rock scene, while you still can.
Spinster Cycle
It’s never too late for the right kind of love at Invisible Theatre.
Ho Power
In this new comic, our superhero turns tricks and saves the planet
Ado Indeed
ATC puts Shakespeare in a place worth being, and seeing.
City Week
Sabino Canyon Day… Read a book… Tucson songwriters showcased… And more!
My Big Fat Israeli Wedding
“Late Marriage” is a bleak satire that’s true to real life.
Mailbag
Howls of outrage and squeals of delight from our astonished fans.
The Skinny
A doctor to Napolitano’s rescue… Stinking up Barrio Hollywood… Supervisors pay taxes, too… And more!
Time for Rincon City?
Dividing Tucson into two burgs might solve some of our problems.
Sad State
Arizona’s tax system is full of inequities, but reform looks unlikely.
Born Leashed
Notes from the underhound.
Bushwhacked
The Brazilian bikini wax gets rid of a woman’s undergrowth.
Stinkhole
What you learn after it hits the fan.
B.O.T.
A note from the editor.
Cheap Thrills
Fun things to do that won’t cost a fortune.
