Best dance club
1. Stereo
2. Sona
3. Kokino's, 737 (tie)
4. Gallery
5. Unity
Honourable mentions: DiSalvio's * Jingxi * Thursday's * Groove Society * Funkytown * Dôme * not Sona * old Madhatter * Jai * Tokyo * Sky * Salsathèque * Foufs * Nitebox.
Best live venue
1. Spectrum
2. Cabaret
3. Metropolis
4. Club Soda, Molson Centre (tie)
5. Jailhouse
Honourable mentions: Foufounes Électriques * Café Campus * Club 281 * Hotel 2 Tango * Jello * Wax Lounge * Medley * Théâtre St-Denis * Le Swimming * Rialto.
Best watering hole
1. Peel Pub
2. Bifteck
3. Cock 'n' Bull
4. Madhatter
5. Bily Kun
Honourable mentions: Else's * O'Blitz * Ye Olde Orchard Pub * Typhoon * Gert's * McKibbins * La Cervoise * Bar des Pins * Copacabana.
Best bartender
1. Mathieu (Sona and Jai), Mia (Cafeteria) (tie)
2. Mark Crawford
3. Jacques Samson
4. Tommy (Jello)
Honourable mentions: anyone at Shed Café * Betty * blonde chick at Unity * Darryl Gillespie at the Old Dublin * everyone at Else's * Melanie at Jingxi * Joaquin * Kathleen (Bifteck) * Kevin (Winnie's) * Marie-Chantale Paquette (Quality Inn on Côte-de-Liesse) * mutant at Fouf * Matthew (Hard Rock Café) * Pete (Jello) * Nancy Ross (Bifteck) * Neil (Groove Society) * Randall (Nantha's) * that dreadlocked guy at Miami * Tiala * Tony (Open Da Night) * Una (McKibbin's) * Wayne (Cheers).
Best pool hall
1. Sharx
2. Le Swimming
3. Bacci
4. Skratch
5. Sherlock's
Honourable mentions: Somerled * Jilly's * Fats * Iguana Pool * Q-Stix.
Best happy hour
1. Peel Pub
2. 3 Amigos
3. Thursday's
4. Carlos & Pepes
5. Cheers, Sherlock's (tie)
Honourable mentions: 737 * Else's * Hôtel de la Montagne * Vol de Nuit * Jello * Winnie's * anywhere cheap * Bily Kun * Crossroads * Bifteck * Mövenpick * Sky * Weinstein & Gavino's * Copacabana.
Best gay bar
1. Sky
2. Unity
3. K.O.X.
4. Home
Honourable mentions: West Side * Le Drugstore.
Best lesbian bar
1. Sisters
2. Sky
3. Unity
4. Dietrich's
Honourable mentions: Chez Parée * Hell's Kitchen * Home * Klytz * Meow Mix * Chez Lori & Sylvia * Mississippi * wish I were there.
Best pickup spot
1. Thursday's
2. Sir Winston's
3. Crescent street
4. Ste-Catherine & St-Laurent
5. Bifteck
Honourable mentions: Unity * 737 * Bily Kun * anthropology dept of U de M * any gym * Berri metro * bus stop at 3:15 a.m. * CBC cafeteria * Euro Deli * Tour IBM * gay books section of Chapters or L'Androgyne * Internet chat rooms * lobby at Hôtel de la Montagne * massage depot * my bedroom * Montreal Museum of Fine Arts * Raphael Motel on Upper Lachine Road * Westmount park.
Best rave/party
1. Black & Blue
2. Sona
3. Bal en Blanc
4. Swirl 2
5. Cream, Divers/Cité (tie)
Honourable mentions: Canada Day * David Morales at Stereo * Transformer 98 * I dunno, pass the E.
Best jazz bar
1. Biddle's
2. Upstairs
3. Jello
4. Air du Temps
5. Wax Lounge
Honourable mentions: Café Sarajevo * Blue Note Lounge * Ours Qui Fume * Le Swimming * Jazzons.
Best lounge
1. Luba Lounge
2. Wax Lounge
3. Jello
4. Typhoon
5. Sofa
Honourable mentions: Tokyo * Dorval airport * Allegra * Delta Hotel lobby * lobby bar at Sheraton.
Best drink
1. Beer
2. Sex on the Beach
3. Martini
4. Amaretto Sour
5. Margarita
6. Crantini, Bloody Caesar
7. Cosmopolitan, Long Island Iced Tea
With an overwhelming monosyllabic response, readers voted "beer" as the toast of the town, pushing it up from third place last year. Sex on the Beach is still a favourite in our northern clime (peach schnapps, tequila, triple sec, cranberry and pineapple juice) along with the ever-popular lounge favourite, the Martini (gin or vodka with vermouth).
Two delicious drinks make their debut on the list this year, both of which are well worth a taste. An Amaretto Sour is made of three parts Amaretto and two parts lemon juice. Shake on ice, then strain into a cocktail glass. Liquid Cocaine is a shot of Jagermiester and Goldschlager (the clear stuff with the gold flecks in it). "It tastes like those cinnamon hearts you'd get as a kid on Valentine's Day, with a herbal edge to it--it's a bit of a rush," according to Laura, the bartender at Upstairs.
Honourable mentions: apple juice and maple syrup * Baby Duck * Blue Lagoon * Boomerang * Killer Kool-aid * Brown Cow * Chi chi * Hunter S. Thompson * Juicy Pussy * Liquid Cocaine * milk * Mountain Dew (the alcoholic kind) * New Colt 45 * Paralyzer * Red Devil Shot * Snakebite * boy friends.
Best hangover remedy
1. More alcohol
2. Sleep
3. Water
4. Sex
5. Tylenol/Midol/Aspirin/Excedrin
6. Pot
Honourable mentions: one glass of soya drink & 2 litres of water * 1/2 avacado * an all-day orgy * banana & milk * bran muffins laced with cascara * prunes and ex lax * carrot/apple/ginger juice * chicken soup * chocolate milk * chop a toe off and you'll forget that hangover * cold cuts & cheese before bed * corn nuts * death * dripping hot wax * garlic soup * Gatorade * getting a whipping in an S&M dungeon * greasy stuff * knowing it was a good-looking girl that you took home * Kraft French dressing * Orangina * puking * purging * Red Eye * Tabasco * wake up to the 300-lb, tattooed, mustachioed slob you picked up the night before while you are still drunk * watching Teletubbies.
Best bowling alley
1. Rose Bowl
2. Paré Lanes
3. Laurentian Lanes
4. Boulevard Lanes
5. Bowl-a-rama
Whether it's due to the success of The Big Lebowski and Kingpin or its open acceptance of the beer belly, the sport of bowling has entered the big league in Montreal. It seems a lot of readers spend their nights trying to get their balls out of the gutter, with Rose Bowl winning by a long-shot as the top alley in town.
Honourable mentions: Bowl-o-drome * Champion Lanes * Cosmic Bowling * Salon de Quilles International.
Best strip club
1. 281, Wanda's (tie)
2. Chez Parée
3. Cabaret des Amazones
4. Super Sexe
5. Campus
Honourable mentions: Bifteck * Cleopatra * local police station * my house * Solid Gold * Teasers * women's spa at YWCA * Sasha's bedroom.