MATT DRISCOLL: WE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH ROOM FOR THEM ALL >>>

As the hip and with-it cat you are, I’m sure you’ve already checked out the Weekly Volcano’s Best of Tacoma 2009 issue. It hit the streets yesterday, and â€" pretty much â€" it’s like the coolest reading material ever. Or at least I think it is. I suppose you can be the judge of that.

In our zeal to unearth and shine a spotlight on all that kicks ass in Tacoma, we did our best to leave no stone unturned. However, this exhaustive process resulted in a surplus of 2009 Best of Tacoma Weekly Volcano writers’ picks. There simply wasn’t enough room to get them all in the paper, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to let them die.

Thanks to the endless space of the Internet, they live on below.

Enjoy.

Best Bar For Conversation
The Crown Bar
The Crown Bar is constantly alive with the comfortable buzz of talking and laughter. Bartender Dino holds court over the bar seats â€" discussing San Francisco, opera, science â€" the dude knows things. In the dining space, two, four and six tops are full of hands up in the air, clinking glasses and pounding fists.  That said, it’s still the ideal place to talk with old friends or strike up conversations with new ones. The local art on the wall and windows with a generous view of Sixth Avenue are great conversation starters. And there’s always a table by the fire if you’d like to talk about more … uh, intimate things with a “friend” over beer or dinner, which is served late. â€" Jake de Paul
[The Crown Bar, 2705 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.4177]

Best Hot Dog And Beer
The Red Hot
What’s left to say about The Red Hot (that we don’t say every freakin’ day on this blog)? The best spot for the biggest variety of ultimate mystery meat presentations â€" damn straight. The best place to drink pitchers of unheard of beer on a boring Sunday afternoon. Not a question for debate. The best place to watch the game and get clipped by a piercing â€" true dat. Everyone knows all of this. If you want to be an urban legend, you’ll have to visit The Red Hot. Because if you haven’t been, you’re nobody. Well, nobody special, anyway. â€" JDP
[The Red Hot, 2914 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.779.0229]

Best Coffee
Satellite Coffee
This year’s Best of Tacoma issue is bittersweet â€" for, amidst the celebration of all the good things Tacoma has to offer, we can’t help but be forced to remember the good things Tacoma lost over the last year. The Helm. Little Holland. And, of course, Black Water Café â€" which was pretty much thee place to get coffee for Tacoma’s emerging hip â€" and those just looking for a really satisfying cup of Joe. But don’t cry for me Argentinean coffee farmers getting raped by greedy, international coffee conglomerates, luckily in Tacoma there’s still Satellite Coffee. Whether above Supernova in its original, tiny, Stadium District outpost (that now has a deck, yo!), or now at Masa, Satellite’s shot pulling experts whip Portland’s Stumptown beans into pure coffee heaven. Seriously. If you haven’t experienced it yet you don’t know what you’re missing. â€" Matt Driscoll
[Satellite Coffee, 817 Division Ave., Tacoma, 253.428.8288]
[Satellite Coffee at Masa, 2811 Sixth Ave., Tacoma]

Best Bacon
Pacific Grill
Bacon, sweet bacon â€" the smoky, salty, fatty pork meat that makes my world go round. It's the centerpiece of breakfast, the stuffing for my lunchtime sandwich, the base of my dinner's soup and subsequently, the reason this baby has got so much so-called back. Pacific Grill’s lip-smacking Nueske's apple-smoked pig strips are the best. Another one of my favorites, the always crispy bacon at The Spar in Old Town, nipped at Pacific Grill’s tender heels â€" but came up just short. Puget Sound Pizza scored well, too. I smell a bacon crawl! â€" Suzy Stump
[Pacific Grill, 1502 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.722.1490]

Best Head Shop
The Green Room
We all know Tacoma is full of glass artists â€" but we may not fully realize just how full of glass artists Tacoma is until we delve into the world of hand blown pipes â€" for tobacco, of course. Tacoma may be relatively small, but the selection of smoking accessories we produce is staggering. If you’re looking for the best, reasonably priced selection of said glass smoking accessories, or vaporizers or double bubble bongs the size of Muggsy Bogues â€" for tobacco, of course â€" check out the Green Room on Sixth Avenue. There’s a reason we’ve named it Best Head Shop two years running â€" and it’s not just because the store has become like my own personal Cheers. That’s only part of the reason. â€" MD
[The Green Room, 6413 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.566.6436]