Best Soul Glow 2006 | Hal Samples | Best of Dallas® 2020 | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Dallas | Dallas Observer
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Best Soul Glow

Hal Samples

A good portrait is hard to come by. Olan Mills and its smoky, swirly backdrops just don't cut it. No, environmental portraiture and a more natural expression is so the way to go. A person hanging out in normal surroundings will interact with the camera, not act for it. Conversely, a bride seated on a swing set, or someplace more casual and less stressful than a studio setting, will relax. These are techniques used by a good photographer. But Hal Samples is a great photographer. Though known mostly for gallery showings, Samples also shoots commissioned portraiture. But "commissioned" doesn't mean "less artful." What makes Samples so successful is his ability to expose the inner beauty, the spirit and the soul of his subjects. A combination of childlike enthusiasm and natural charisma exudes from the man, putting subjects--from small children to stuffy businessmen--instantly at ease. It is said that certain indigenous peoples believed a camera could steal one's soul. In this case, Hal Samples doesn't steal your soul with his camera; he coaxes it out of hiding and shows you what it looks like.

Best Bar Food

The Old Monk

A night out at the bar. You've been knockin' back a Stella or 10 with your gang, maybe playing a little game of "Who Would You Rather?" (Ugh, Barbara Walters.) You're starting to get a little hungry. But you're smart, and you didn't drive to the bar, which means no trip to Jack in the Box for some grease pocket tacos. Better hope you're at the Old Monk, 'cause the Knox-Henderson staple kills every other burger-and-fries-servin' drinking establishment in town when it comes to bar food. Two words: cheese plate. Floppy, frozen french fries don't stand a chance against the Five Counties cheddar, tasty deli meats and tiny little gherkins on the Old Monk plate. If you want heftier fare, the Guinness beef stew will tide you over till you wake up from that hangover tomorrow around noon. And the sandwiches? Oh yes, the sandwiches are big enough for two jonesin' drinkers to feel plenty satisfied. After you've felt the love of the Old Monk, you'll never look at a 2 a.m. hamburger quite the same way. Or ever again.

Best Place to Be Alone
in a Crowd

State Fair of Texas

Come on, do you really want anyone you know to see you gobbling down that third Fletcher's Corny Dog? That's just one of many reasons to wander the vast fairgrounds unaccompanied. It's so much more fun to hit the State Fair on your own than to have to constantly be negotiating: New cars or Polynesian dancers? The cover band at the Chevy Stage or a stroll over to the midway to lose a few dollars whacking moles with a mallet? If you're doing it on your own, you can improvise. Go ahead and try a deep-fried Oreo, then stop in and watch dogs chase Frisbees. Pet the sheep in the livestock pens and feel a catch in your throat as the farm kids cry when they have to auction their prize hogs off to the sausage makers. And if you've never ridden the Texas Star Ferris wheel, well, you never know who you might meet up there in the sky if you're flying solo. Corny, but doggone it, it's so great a place to explore, it's worth walking around the whole place one more time to see what you've missed

Best Gay Bar

Sue Ellen's

This longtime staple and only bar geared toward the ladies on the Cedar Springs strip ranks right up there with old faves JR's and Station 4. What sets this apart from the others is its friendly, welcoming style to anyone who walks through the door. Gay or straight, a good time is hard to miss with DJs spinning radio-friendly tunes for the dance floor or the huge outdoor patio that plays host to live bands throughout the week. While the boys know how to dance, the girls know how to rock. And if one band isn't enough, their occasional mini music fests, Breastfest and GirlJam, are daylong outings worth the time. Kudos to Sue Ellen's for offering a live music scene, albeit a small one, to the Oak Lawn area.

Best Jukebox

The Lakewood Landing

Lauren Drewes Daniels
Smoky dive kinda mood? You need Etta James. Worn-in C&W? George Jones and Willie Nelson. Burger and board games? Maybe some Pretenders or even Iggy Pop (hey, it's motivating). Barstool hook-up, football halftime or de-stressing happy hour. The sweet, sweet golden juke at the Landing has any mood covered. Hell, in our opinion, any machine with "Stop the Wedding," "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and the ubiquitous feel-good of "Solsbury Hill" runs the gamut of anything we could possibly be feeling. That, in a bar that always makes us feel at home, makes for one helluva perfect destination.

Best Coffeehouse

Standard & Pours Coffee

Go ahead, you buttoned-down, 9-to-5, bourgeois automatons, buy your coffee from The Man at Starbucks. Dig it: We free-spirited alternative types will use our java dollars to stick it to the man at Standard & Pours, a cool, locally owned shop in the basement at Southside on Lamar lofts. There, we can dream of a proletarian nirvana whilst perusing the pages of...The Wall Street Journal? OK, so maybe you won't find a copy of the commie-friendly People's Weekly World there. But your hard-earned dollars will help a small business in its legal battle with financial services giant Standard & Poor's, which sued the shop recently over alleged trademark infringement. You can take your stand while sitting on comfy couches, grooving to the occasional live music performance, sipping a silky-smooth house blend of joe and munching on a variety of delicious baked treats. Hey, even a revolutionary likes brownies--even the hashless kind. Besides, you can check on how your 401-K is doing while you strategize against The System.

Best Live Music Venue (Tie)

Sons of Hermann Hall and Dan's Silverleaf

The best music venues not only host shows but transform them, elevating a band or an artist to the top of their game with great sound and atmosphere. Sons of Hermann Hall and its kindred spirit in little D, Dan's Silverleaf, are two such venues. Both cater to roots-loving audiences, with frequent shows by country and folk luminaries such as Slaid Cleaves, Billy Joe Shaver and Ramblin' Jack Elliott, but recent memorable rock shows at both Sons (Constantines, Oakley Hall) and Dan's (Centro-matic's marathon 10th anniversary set) serve as a reminder of why we're always so excited when our favorite rock bands grace either stage. It seems we're not alone, either, as audiences at both venues are similarly enthusiastic, always ready and willing to shut up and actually listen to music--a lesson that chatty crowds at clubs such as Gypsy Tea Room and the Cavern would be wise to learn. Both joints also come complete with a set of colorful, musical and decidedly Texan regulars, a fact that only makes them stand out more from a crowd of local venues that simply can't compare.

Best Wild Game

Poker Night at The Lodge

If you're skeptical of all the hype surrounding professional poker these days, you're not alone. Watching other people play cards on television is about as exciting as watching them balance their checkbooks. Indeed, the whole concept of the poker face is to be as boring as humanly possible. But actually playing the game is a different story. When you're desperate to try to figure out what's going on behind those blank faces around the table, things are a lot more interesting. Now take that excitement out of your buddy's basement and relocate it to perhaps the poshest strip club in Dallas, the ever-popular Lodge. The Sunday tourneys are hosted by poker blogger Dan Michalski, but it's not him your eyes will wander to once you've folded.

Best Place to Pick Up a Doctor

Elbow Room

Temporally and geographically, Dallas is not so close to the 1849 California mining rush, it being 2006 and Texas and all. But if it's gold-digging that needs doing, Dallas is definitely the "can do" city. Weekends see hundreds of poor, helpless, Gucci-unadorned boob jobs bobbing about Medici, Sense and the whole of Addison looking for a thick-wallet-wielding beau. But the best place in town to earn an M.D. (without, you know, enrolling in classes) ain't some fancy watering hole. If it's a well-to-do man in scrubs you need, the Elbow Room provides in abundance, since it's practically attached to Baylor hospital. Happy hour finds the Elbow Room rife with scrub-clad docs and nurses ordering liver-quenching brewskies. Strike up a conversation over a mutual love for drunken dart-playing or inebriated shuffleboard. Soon, you'll be picking out curtains with the surgeon of your dreams.

Best Reason to Still Go to Deep Ellum

Darkside Lounge

Deep Ellum: You stopped going because of the bar fights. And the teeny-bopper dance clubs. And the shady parking. But you started going again because of the Darkside Lounge. Wait, you haven't been to the Darkside Lounge? Guess that means you haven't been out to some of the best local shows, drinking some of the cheapest local brews and hanging out with some of the coolest local people. But that's OK. It's early yet, especially in the rejuvenation of Deep Ellum. Thanks to the Darkside Lounge, though, the neighborhood's regaining a little bit of that long-lost coolness. At Darkside, you'll find cushy Vegas-style booths for canoodling, a pool table for schmoozing and a good-sized stage for local band viewing. In fact, the Darkside Lounge's killer weekend musical lineups will probably be what brings you out the first time, but it's this venue's neighborhood bar-meets-scenester-lounge sensibility that'll keep you coming back.

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