For those of you who missed the introduction, we're in the midst of a search for Houston's best margarita. Now before we dive into the first 'rita review, we must say we were overwhelmed by the positive response and the numerous dining options that readers ranted about. We'll do our best to visit as many spots as our livers will let us, but if you'd like to assist in our margarita march through Houston by......

Houstonist is really looking forward to the Over The Rhine show tonight at the Mucky Duck. In an intimate setting like the Duck, their sopisticated art-pop sound will probably cause shivers down your spine. Did we miss something? Let us know. Here’s the full week line-up. Local bands are noted by an asterisk (*): Wednesday • Over The Rhine – folk/art-pop | 7 p.m. at Mucky Duck • *Whiskey Boat – Americana | 10......

Many people love The Bravery, and why not? Their blend of rock, pop, electronic and retro style new wave keeps you on your feet. But don't count Brandon Flowers of The Killers as a fan. When The Bravery released their debut album a few years ago, Brandon claimed that the New York City based band was capitalizing on The Killers sound. Hmm ... I think there are some 80's bands that may say the same......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Dwight Watch Local tech guru, Dwight Silverman is enjoying the sunny, dry desert of Las Vegas while he attends CES. You can keep up with him on Twitter and through his Flickr account. Houstonians Sue Microsoft Three local XBOX Gamers have sued Microsoft claiming breach of contract after not being able to connect to XBOX Live, inhibiting their ability for online play. Microsoft sold over 4......

For everyone from the suckers who went to the sports bars because they thought the game was only on the NFL Network, to the lucky souls who knew that the game was on Channel 20, the confused folks who mistook the Texans red-on-red uniforms for a horrible laundry error, and to Channel 20 itself (which no doubt got their highest ratings since they ceased to be a UPN affiliate), the Texans thumping of the Broncos......

It’s like Divas Las Vegas 2007 this week, but in a good way! Celine Dion, Alicia Keys, and the Queen of Soul all have new albums debuting on the charts. It took us a little longer than usual to warm up to Alicia Keys’ new single, “No One” from her latest album, As I Am. But now that we’ve heard it endlessly on the radio and on TV, and it’s formed its own repeat loop......

Better late than nevah - here's our roundup of feasting and imbibing in the very near future. See the bottom of the post for some Thanksgiving food ideas, we'll be continuing to update that, and no, we won't add Grandma Kroger to the list, or any other supermarket, for that matter. Well, maybe Central Market or perhaps Whole Foods, maybe. Great American Bake Sale -Dessert Gallery, Sugar Land Friday, November 16th – 6:00 p.m. until......

Houston! We’re going to be rounding up current food and wine events once a week, so you don’t have to. Previously, we posted these gastronomic opportunities, along with festivals and the like – having let that slip was criminal! Once again, Culinary Adventures comes your way!!! Tour de Donut – “The Sweetest Bike Ride in Texas”Sunday, November 4th – beginning at 8:00 a.m. Sun & Ski Sports @ Katy Mills Mall $25/participant in advance $35/participant......

The Texans travel to Jacksonville this weekend to face the resurgent Jaguars in a battle to see who will stand out as the more improved AFC team. The Texans got the season off to a hot start, but injuries and tough opponents bring them to this weekend with a 3-2 record. However, with the immenent return of Ahman Green and Jacoby Jones, the sporadically brilliant offense will get a much-needed upgradein the offensive options department.......

As part of HBO’s The Comedy Festival, a contest known as The Lucky 21 was created. The premise of the contest is to spotlight the upcoming comedians from around the country. Tomorrow night the Southwest Regional finals will take place for The Lucky 21 at the Houston Improv, after which you can vote for your favorite comedian. Think of it as seeing a reality TV show in person. Voting for the comedians begins on October......

If you're keeping up with us lately, you've probably noticed our keen affection for photography over the last few weeks. With last weekend's opening party of our current Photo Show exhibit at M2 Gallery, and today's DirtyFeet introspective, we can't seem to get enough of these snap happy shutterbugs. Today, we're coming to you from Sin City. Our mission: tailing Houston-based Music Photographer, Mark Austin (a.k.a. MCA Photo). Austin has graciously invited Houstonist along to......

Have we got your attention? Hope so, because this is some kinda big and important news! Yes, it IS bigger than the final settlement reached in the matter of Fed-X vs. That Bald Chick (the whole issue of "who's the better parent" makes us rush out for a BC Powder and a tequila shot, or three). Seriously, this Saturday marks the world premiere of "Tuna Does Vegas", starring Jaston Williams and Tony-Award winning Joe Sears,......

A reader e-mailed us because he was upset that we didn't have a shelterporn last week — more specifically because we missed the chance to feature the West Mansion, which was sold a few days ago to a real estate development firm that plans to preserve the historic house. And yes, we did drop the ball on that one, we suppose. But don't worry: Here's an even larger house for your consideration, and unlike......

Houston's annual pride festival and parade happens tomorrow and this year's theme is Lone Star Pride. Yeehaw! Everyone - gay, straight, or anything in between - is invited to come out and celebrate Houston's gay community with a festival and parade that attracts visitors from all over the region. Here's a rundown of what's going on: The festival kicks off at 2 p.m and lasts until about 8, with the parade beginning shortly thereafter. The......

Google recently announced two exciting new features. One is street view, a new feature of Google Maps, which allows you to see street-side views of locations in many major cities. Right now, the feature is available only in San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Miami, and Denver, and there are plenty of interesting things to be seen, aside from the feature being helpful if you're traveling to a new location. Google has also started incorporating......

Win them before you can buy them! Crap. Everything we come up with sounds like a bad radio line. So, to get to the point: It was announced today that The Killers will be coming to Houston (Reliant Arena) on September 15th. The tickets go on sale this Saturday. However, Houstonist was able to get our hands on a couple of pair of tickets. Being the nice guys and gals we are, we’re going to......

KHOU reports today on something that isn't exactly new, but is certainly new to us: In March, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange began offering contracts on hurricane futures — meaning individuals and companies can now bet on the probability of where and when a hurricane will hit. And it's not necessarily as bizarre as it sounds (assuming, of course, you have a pretty good idea of a hurricane's path). The CME started offering the hurricane futures......

So, did you hear about Andre Agassi being in town over the weekend and raising about $300,000 for Simms Elementary school in La Marque? It was part of an Oprah Winfrey-sponsored reality show, The Big Give, in which participants compete to find the most creative ways to taken given amounts of money and multiply them so they can be given away to help others — in Houston, Agassi was competing against Tony Hawk, who held......

If you haven't already made lunch plans, why not go ahead and have that triple cheeseburger, large order of fries and milkshake? And why not wash it down with a giant dessert? A celebration is in order, you see: Houston has slipped to No. 6 in the Men's Fitness annual ranking of America's fattest cities. Looks like Mayor White's Jazzercise really paid off. In this year's MF rankings, Las Vegas takes the coveted title of......

There's some news today on Metro's plan to expand its rapid-transit system: Two members of Congress from Houston have said they'll push for federal funding for more light rail, not the bus rapid transit lines Metro proposed for the northside, East End, southeast side and Uptown. The announcement from U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green, both Democrats, came at a Metro board meeting yesterday where the agency OK'd negotiating with a team headed......

Saturday: MFAH Mixed Media Series Once in a while, an event comes along that makes even us proud, art-loving citizens feel lucky. We are quickly learning to play with the big boys of the art world, and more and more often people are taking notice of the untapped energy in this city's metropolis. Last year's Starbucks Mixed Media Series at the Museum of Fine Arts was evidence that Houston is bursting at the seams......

On Sundays, Houstonist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in Houston. The opinions expressed below are entirely those of the author. Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. Dear Dilettante - A “new” Beatles album, the soundtrack for the latest freak show Cirque du Soleil has created for the discriminating palates of people visiting Las Vegas, was released a couple of weeks ago. This Friday is the 26th anniversary of......

OK, guys — we're sure this won't interest you one bit, but there's a porn convention in Houston this weekend. What? All right, all right, we'll go ahead and tell you about it because we know you're dedicated to keeping up with local events. The convention is Lone Star Pornutopia, which began Wednesday and runs through Saturday. It's a scaled-down version of an event held every January in Las Vegas (which includes the AVN Awards),......

Recently, we were reminiscing about the good ole days of Solid Gold: the lip sync performances and, of course, the Solid Gold dancers. The dancers would perform a dance for a snippet of every song in the Top 10 – we don’t think they could get away with this today. These clips of the Solid Gold dancers are from 1985 and 1986. At times (especially when dancing to Stevie Nicks and “St. Elmo’s Fire”),......

Could the days of overpriced seafood and waitresses dancing on the tables to the “Macarena” be coming to an end? Hopefully, but don’t hold your breath. Houston’s Landry’s Restaurants has just reached a deal to sell the majority of their Joe’s Crab Shack’s to a private equity group. A Landry’s spokesman explains that the company is going in a different direction and the Joe’s Crab Shack doesn’t fit their future plans. Oh, and business at......

Have you ever wondered what city had the highest average monthly calls? We knew you were thinking about it and just dying to find out, so halt your quest now Verizon Wireless has beat you to the punch. Verizon just released a study conducted on the fifty largest cities in the U.S., based on census numbers, to determine where people where making and receiving the most calls. And the top five are. . .......

If it weren't for our life as an -ist, we're not sure we'd ever leave our apartment. Fortunately, to fully -ist, one must seek out the new, the fresh, and the unknown. Brand new, or just new to us, that's what we're all about this week. Phillyist keeps it fresh by getting a new motto, learning to prioritize, and taking in an experimental indie rock show. Torontoist does their first post in franglais, gets ready......

Eric Cooper's trial for tampering with a government document, which begins this week, could end up just being about a man accused of signing his name to his ex-wife's car title without permission. But it could also open the door to a lot of grief for Cooper, the guy a variety of ex-wives and girlfriends say is a smooth-talking con man who built relationships on lies. Either way, we bet it'll be pretty interesting. If......

The Astrodome has been home to many things. It bore witness to the highs and lows of the Oilers and Astros. It has been credited with helping to change the face of men's college basketball and March Madness. People roped dogies, jumped over cars on motorcycles, cheered on Ronald Reagan and promised to kick things in on the floor of the Eighth Wonder of the World. More recently, it has sheltered evacuees during Hurricane Katrina......

The shot from flickr user and houstonist photo contributor dreamsrey. We dig this shot of the fountain in the Nordstrom wing of the Galleria, which is the work of WET Design, the same group that designed the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas. What's interesting about the Galleria fountain is that it's upside-down: Jets of water fall from the ceiling and land in the shallow stone basin at floor level, which makes for a......