Table of Contents

December 2007

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Features

Meat Your Maker

From city to country, fancy to down-home, the state’s 38 best steakhouses. Plus: the Japanese beef that everyone should be eating, our favorite butcher shops, and how to grill a ribeye that even your father-in-law will love.

Big Red

John Cornyn won a U.S. Senate seat in 2002 by pledging allegiance to George W. Bush and riding a Republican wave to victory. But neither the president nor the wave is as strong six years later, and Cornyn’s bid for reelection may not be either.

The Last Resort

After telecommunications tycoon Steve Smith bought the Big Bend town of Lajitas on a whim for $4.25 million, he spent perhaps $100 million more developing what was going to be a five-star, world-class getaway. The desert, however, had other ideas.

That Championship Season

Long before the BCS, long before anyone thought to publish insider newsletters for boosters, the Aggies were the best college football team in the nation—for the first and only time. The long-gone glory days remembered.

Everyone’s Poop

Sewerage is the cornerstone of civilization, the sine qua non of urban life, and the best possible window into how we live, what we eat, and who we are.

The Best Public Schools

A ranking of 859 elementary, middle, and high schools that really make the grade.

Columns

Letter From Houston

Reversal of Fortune

How Houston’s rich got to be the same as you and me—that is, boring.

Behind the Lines

No Niño Left Behind

What part of “demography is destiny” does Texas not get?

Letter from San Antonio

Boom With A View

There’s no stopping the skyrocketing growth of San Antonio—until recently the Land That Time Forgot—and there’s no going back.

Sarah Bird

Craigslust

Suburban mom seeks motorcycle jacket.

Reporter

Topic A

Motion to Dismiss

Sharon Keller must go!

The Horse’s Mouth

Fruitcake

Bob McNutt’s sticky truths about fruitcake.

The Cheap Seats

College Try

Does it matter if college athletes graduate?

The Working Life

Chris Klassen

Deejay

Minister of Health

GI Woe

The esophagus explained.

Hollywood, TX

Crude Truth

Paul Thomas Anderson drills a dry hole.

Street Smarts

Victory Park, Dallas

A Quickie Guide

Texas Monthly Talks

Kay Bailey Hutchison

Previews+Reviews

Books

The best new books from Texas.

Previews+Reviews

Music

The best new music from Texas.

The Filter

Pat's Pick

Dallas Fish Market

Dallas

The Filter: Dining

New and Noteworthy

Jordan's Pick

Dickens on The Strand

Galveston

The Filter: Events

Out of Sight

Houston

Miscellaneous

Roar of the Crowd

Alpine Mystery Slights

Web Extra

Aaron Allston

The Round Rock author and former video game designer has just penned his ninth Star Wars serialization, Legacy of the Force: Fury.

Editor’s Letter

Meat the Press

Web Extra

Barry Walker

The curator of The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston discusses the museum’s recent acquisitions, from Jasper Johns to Philip Guston.