G
ambit readers have a lot of opinions — and we’ve got a lot of categories in our annual Best of New Orleans™ survey. Every summer, we ask for your input in categories from Best Banh Mi to Best Political Scandal, from Best Sportcaster to Best Place to Buy a Men’s Suit. This year, you really delivered (oh, did you ever) with almost 3,300 ballots cast online and on paper, and our staff spent hours compiling the results. Naturally, some of you had questions — so here are the Best Questions Regarding the Best of New Orleans® ballot: • Are the results real? Indeed they are all too real, which is why we’re walking around with glazed eyes and aching fingers at the end of each August. We don’t monkey with your choices, even when you (ahem) choose someone who no longer lives in the city as Best Local Author … or someone who’s no longer on the Jefferson Parish Council as Best Jeff Parish Councilmember. • Why do you make people fill out more than 50 percent of the ballot to be eligible? Because people have tried to stack the deck in the past by casting hundreds of ballots, but just filling in a few categories. This cuts down on attempted ballot-stacking. • Do people really try to cheat? Oh, mais oui. • What do you do to catch them? We’ve been doing this so long that we have our ways. • Why is [such-and-such] the winner of Best [So-and-So]? Are you people crazy? That’s what we wonder about you sometimes. Still, we love you. And now, with no further ado: Your Best of New Orleans® 2011.
Ave., 581-5812; www.cabaretlechatnoir.com)
Best Live Theater Venue
1 Becky Allen — Big, bawdy and funny are Becky Allen’s trademarks, no matter the show. Who else in town could go from starring in … And the Ball and All (perhaps her most iconic comic role) to taking on the role of Dr. Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show?
1 Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre (616 St. Peter St., 5222081; www.lepetittheatre. com) — Though Le Petit is currently restructuring (the plan is to reopen with a full season in late 2012), it remains first in the hearts of Gambit readers. Now all of you will be buying season tickets to keep the new Le Petit fiscally solvent. Right? Right??
By Kevin allman, Will Coviello, ClanCy DuBos, KanDaCe poWer graves, lauren laBorDe, Charles malDonaDo, ian mCnulty, missy WilKinson anD alex WooDWarD
2. Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts (1419 Basin St., 287-0351; www.mahaliajacksontheater.com) 3. Le Chat Noir (715 St. Charles
Best Local Theater Performer
2. Ricky Graham 3. Bryan Batt
Best Dance Club
1 Gold Mine Saloon (701 Dauphine St, 586-0745; www.goldminesaloon.net) This French Quarter dance destination is not for the faint of heart (or of liver). page 21
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > aUGUst 30 > 2011
Entertainment and Nightlife
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