Boise Weekly
September 27, 2006


Read the article on the Boise Weekly Website


2006 Arts & Entertainment Readers' Picks

Best Art Gallery

Flying M Coffeehouse

Hang 'em high, hang 'em proud, you've been honored once again as Boise's favorite place to take a gander at art. Sure, we've got galleries all over downtown that are actually listed as such in the phone book (does anyone still use those things?), but we love the java and the comfy couches and family room feel that is Flying M. It's not many places that can wear so many hats so well--cafe, gift shop, art stop, carbo-loading dock. Mmyess, I'll have some coffee with my culture, thank you very much.

500 W. Idaho St., 345-4320

Second Place: The Gallery At Hyde Park

Third Place: Visual Arts Collective

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2006 Arts & Entertainment Editors' Picks

Best Place to See a Play, an Art Installation and a Concert ... All in the Same Week

Visual Arts Collective

Do you know what isn't the best of anything? Sentences that begin with "people these days ..." But we're going to go ahead and say it anyway. People these days seem to value multitasking pretty highly. Maybe we're busy, maybe too many video games broke our attention spans, but for some reason, if something's stated function is not a singular but a plural, we like it better. Cell phones are mp3 players, cameras, date books and, yeah, telephones. Our cars are rolling dining rooms. And if anyone in the BW editorial cave ever leaves his or her desk to eat lunch, it's a notable occasion.

Visual Arts Collective, still a young art gallery since opening in a former Napa Auto warehouse in the Linen District in September 2005, has taken the idea of a multi-use space and made it cooler than we ever could. Because the space is a former warehouse, VaC is able to find innovative ways to divide, define and reshape its space according to the needs of the event. They've exhibited projects from local artists and groups like Boise Naval Base, Projekt Locqa and BW's own Open Studios reception, but they also play host to various fundraisers, poetry slams, lectures and functions, musical performances ranging from Juxtapercussion to A Taste of Opera Idaho, in addition to serving as the performance home of theater group Spontaneous Productions and playing host to East Indian Follies' last run of contemporary Indian plays. Right now, they're hosting their own event: "Small," their anniversary show. Aw. Happy birthday, VaC!

1419 W. Grove St., 424-8297, www.visualartscollective.com

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2006 Dining Editors' Choice

Best Food We Can't Believe We Actually Ordered in a Restaurant

Mac 'n' Cheese with dogs

Some of us know the difference between filet mignon and Chateaubriand. Some of us are simple folk who think putting hearts of palm on our salad at Sizzler counts as haute cuisine. But we were all surprised to see mac and cheese with cut up weenies as a menu option. OK, it was on the Donnie Mac's Trailer Park Cuisine menu, so maybe we weren't that surprised to see it. We were surprised, however, that we ordered it and loved it. We were crazy for something that we would usually only make and eat in the privacy of our own homes. The next time you're at Donnie Mac's and you hear a patron proudly and loudly say, "Why, thanks for asking. I would like the mac and cheese with little pieces of hot dog in it and I'm not ashamed to say so," it's probably one of us.

1515 W. Grove St., 384-9008