November 2012 Issue

Where to Stay Now, 2012

The Ten Best New (or Improved!) Texas Hotels

Where to Stay Now

The Ten Best New (or Improved!) Texas Hotels

Travaasa Austin, Austin

A mere fifteen minutes after being buzzed into this secluded wellness resort about thirty miles northwest of downtown, I was floating in an infinity-edge pool with a margarita in hand. As I looked out over the wooded hills surrounding scenic (if drought-depleted) Lake Travis, I struck up a conversation with

JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa, San Antonio

Situated on a six-hundred-acre spread thirty minutes north of downtown, this 1,002-room resort has half a dozen restaurants, a six-acre water park, a 36-hole golf course, and a 26,000-square-foot spa, as well as its own Starbucks and FedEx shipping center. It’s larger than many Texas towns, not to mention every

The Inn at Dos Brisas, Washington

This secluded country escape roughly halfway between Austin and Houston should have a warning posted at its entrance: “Caution: Guests may become incurably spoiled. Stay at your own risk.” Once inside its gates, you’ll wend your way along a narrow road through acres of bucolic farmland, passing organic gardens, pastures

Hotel Zaza, Houston

Every square inch of this 315-room hotel in the Museum District exudes the look-at-me personality of a Kardashian sister. Formerly the famed Warwick Hotel (which opened in the twenties), the twelve-story building was transformed into the glitzy ZaZa in 2007 (a sister property of the same name opened in Dallas

Hotel Galvez, Galveston

Opened in 1911 as a triumphant symbol of Galveston’s rebirth after the devastating 1900 hurricane, the coast’s premier beachfront hotel unveiled an $11 million face-lift last year on the occasion of its hundredth anniversary. So while you’ll find much-needed upgrades throughout, the Queen of the Gulf still radiates the same

Rancho Loma Restaurant + Rest, Talpa

The first thing I noticed as I pulled into this middle-of-nowhere retreat an hour south of Abilene was that I had no cell service (though Sprint customers should have better luck). The second thing I noticed was the achingly pastoral scene surrounding me: an organic garden verdant with heirloom tomatoes

Riven Rock Ranch

The most strenuous task you’ll have to accomplish during your stay at this 210-acre working ranch may be uncorking the bottle of Texas wine that’s been set out for your arrival. Unless you consider strolling through a garden or floating the Guadalupe River (bring your own tube) to be unnecessarily

The Joule, Dallas

Housed in a twenties-era downtown high-rise, this boutique hotel boasts the only underwater bird’s-eye view of the city. That’s right: if you’re daring enough to swim to the glassed-in edge of the Joule’s heated rooftop pool, which juts out a dramatic eight feet beyond the building’s facade, you can peer

El Cosmico, Marfa

The first time I drove by hotelier Liz Lambert’s high-desert “kibbutz,” which sits on a large, flat plot of dusty land just off U.S. 67, I mistook it for a trailer park. Which it basically is, except instead of dumpy double-wides, it’s strewn with seven sleekly restored vintage trailers, from

Hotel Saint Cecilia, Austin

Is that Mick Jagger taking an evening swim? It’s hard to tell in the glow of the neon “SOUL” sign that illuminates the tree-lined pool at this coolly decadent boutique hotel, but spotting rock royalty here is about as surprising as encountering a lion while on safari in the Serengeti.

The Innocent Man, Part One

The National Magazine Award–winning story about Michael Morton, a man who came home from work one day in 1986 to find that his wife had been brutally murdered. What happened next was one of the most profound miscarriages of justice in Texas history.

My Name Is Cásares

And the story of how I started spelling it that way (with the accent) begins with a kidnapping.

The Texanist: What’s the Etiquette of Political Yard Signs?

What’s the etiquette of political yard signs? Illustration by Jack UnruhQ: My housemate and I have very different political leanings, but we’ve never let this get in the way of our friendship. We have an agree-to-disagree policy. Then, without any discussion, she put a yard

Isle of Fight

The battle over public housing in Galveston.

Lisa Cain, Medical School Professor 

Cain, whose official job title is associate professor of neuroscience and cell biology, is a Mississippi native who moved to Texas in 1992. She runs the medical school enrichment courses at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and teaches the core-curriculum course gross anatomy. When she’s not in her lab

Con, Baby, Con

What Joseph Blimline's oil and gas Ponzi scheme tells us about financial regulation.

Wes Is More

In Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson lovingly embraces his fantastical streak.

Six Degrees of Will Johnson

A new album from the Centro-Matic front man—and indie rock's one-man social network.

School of Rock

Drive time at the popular Mesquite ISD radio station. 

The Mexican Free-Tailed Bat

Juanita, a Mexican free-tailed bat, tells us a little about herself.

The Cold Eye of Larry McMurtry

Catching up with our leading unsentimentalist.

5 Things You’ll Be Talking About in November

1. Dear Houston,  Back in February, Jeremy Lin was the king of my hometown, and the Knicks were vowing to do whatever it took to keep him around a long, long time. And then, boom, five months later he was headed to the Rockets. The Knicks? They never even made

Drain of Thought

Why are there so few Texan philosophers?

It’s Fine Bayou

Patrolling the placid waters, historic B&Bs, and treasure-filled antiques shops of Jefferson.

Venison Backstrap

A recipe for when the hunters get home. 

November’s must-attend concerts, shows, and festivals.

Cast Iron

Rugged, refined, and heavy as hell.

Swine Time

Going whole hog at Austin's Salty Sow. 

Venison Backstrap

A recipe for when the hunters get home. 

Another Tale of Wrongful Conviction?

Richard LaFuente, who was convicted of murder in 1986, has steadfastly proclaimed his innocence for more than twenty years. Now he has some unlikely support in one person—the victim's own sister.

The Paul Sadler Interview

As the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate prepares for his final debate against Ted Cruz, he discusses why he thinks he can win, the state of the Democratic party, and what the word "troll" really means.

Roasted Beets With Goat Cheese and Pistachio Vinaigrette

From the Salty Sow, in Austin.

Reign of Thought

Contrary to our self-mythology, ideas—and the people who wrote them down—have always been central to Texas history.

The Drop Everything List

Cryptopalooza, the Rothko Chapel Poem, Norah Jones, and the Chocolate & Wine Festival . . .

The Drop Everything List

A Victorian sèance in Galveston, the Spurs v. the Thunder, Roky Erickson, and the Texas Custom Bicycle Show . . .

Jacqueline Kelly Returns to the Willows

The Austin-based writer's love of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows inspired her to write a sequel to the 1908 classic.

The Artist’s Transformation

How Trenton Doyle Hancock is reinventing his work.

The Drop Everything List

Dobie Dichos, Marfa Architecture and Design Symposium, the World Championship Wild Hog Cook-Off, and Farm Fest . . .

Why Mack Brown Won’t Lose His Job

Because DeLoss Dodds, the University of Texas's athletic director, has a long memory.

Election Plight

In which Joshua Treviño and Harold Cook swap emails (and opinions) about the 2012 election, political trends, and what happens next in Texas.

The Drop Everything List

Tesla v. Edison, the East Texas Pipe Organ Festival, Nick Curran's posthumous CD release party, and the Ferrari Festival . . .

The Drop Everything List

Lyle Lovett, a trip to the King Ranch, and a talk about "ancient Rome’s equivalent of a celebrity sex tape" . . .

One Man’s Mission to Help Heal Soldiers

Darden Smith finds that music therapy can help soldiers with PTSD.