A Full List of All the 2022 Best of Winners!!

September 29, 2022

Every July we host our BEST OF competition online, and this year’s voting was another huge success. With well over 100,000 votes cast, EXPLORE’s BEST OF has fast become the area’s premier and most coveted BEST OF contest.

To backtrack and perhaps explain a bit of history, we should admit that the BEST OF contest sort of started out as a bit of a “joke”. We were definitely serious with our intention to create the best voting system in the area, but the whole idea came about in a staff meeting where we reviewed a local newspaper’s BEST OF that had “Best Hamburger” going to Dairy Queen. Nothing against Dairy Queen, but I’m sure we’d all agree that there’s some seriously fine hamburgers being produced locally. So upon a little investigation, we discovered that some local publications that have also done a BEST OF contest have required voters to purchase a copy of the paper, hand-fill out the ballot and drop it off to the paper itself.

Living in 2022, we figured we could do a little better.

So 4 years ago we launched our fully online, IP-tracked (so you could only vote once) BEST OF contest. When we did so, the website crashed in 15 minutes due to the traffic. We beefed up the site, voting resumed and social media exploded with businesses and their customers encouraging one another to vote for their favorites. It was great to see the celebration of local small businesses! Ultimately, we eclipsed over 60,000 votes in year 1 and we considered it a tremendous success.

Each year since, the voting participation has increased and this year we are pleased to report that we were close to 200,000 votes!!As you go through the magazine, we have chosen a collection of these businesses to allow them a little space to tell you a little more about their business and to thank everyone for the support. As we always say here at EXPLORE, please SHOP LOCAL. As you’ll see, these business owners are working tirelessly to make their dreams work, and we are quite proud to provide an opportunity for the local supporting public here in Kendall County show some love to their favorite small businesses and their owners. We thank all of you for the support for this year and can’t wait for next year’s contest!

WINNERS!

Best Alternative Medicine – Annie’s Apothecary

Best Antique Store – John’s Road Antiques

Best Arbor Care – Burkett Arbor Care

Best Art Gallery – Texas Treasures Fine Art

Best Asian Food – N’s Thai Food

Best Assisted Living Facility – Menger Springs/Morningside Senior Living

Best Auto Care – Ritchie Automotive

Best Bakery – Bear Moon

Best Bar – Cibolo Creek Brewing

Best BBQ – Klein’s Smokehaus

Best Breakfast – Little Gretel

Best Breakfast Tacos – Mary’s Tacos

Best Burger – Cibolo Creek Brewing

Best Candles – Lillian Jaxx Candles

Best Caterer – Socially Cured

Best Chiropractor – Boerne Wellness

Best Coffee Shop – Black Rifle Coffee Co.

Best Craft Brewery – Kinematic Brewing Co.

Best Date Night Activity – Assemble Cocktail Workshop

Best Daycare – Lil Explorers School of Boerne

Best Dentist – Wade Hundley, DDS

Best Electrician – NH Electric

Best Family Photographer – Cooley Portraits

Best Family Practice Physician – Boerne Family Medicine (Ben Stahl)

Best Florist – The Flower Shop

Best Full-Service Jeweler – Morrell Jewelry

Best Furniture Store – Boerne Farmhouse

Best Gift Shop – Handmade on Main

Best Golf Cart Service & Sales – Omni Golf Carts

Best Golf Course – Tapatio Springs Hill Country Resort

Best Gym – Planet Fitness

Best Gymnastics – Boerne Gymnastic

Best Hair Salon – Tres Bella Salon

Best Home health Care – Visiting Angels

Best Hotel – The Bevy Hotel

Best Ice Cream/Yogurt – Parker’s Ice Cream

Best Investment Company – Edward Jones

Best Italian Food – Bella Sera

Best Kid’s Party Place – Arrows Active Playpark

Best Kids Camps – Gina Marie’s Art Studio

Best Landscaping Company – Hill Country Scapes & Design

Best Light Lunch – Epicure

Best Live Music Venue – Dog & Pony

Best Margarita – El Rio

Best Massage Therapy – Massage Matters

Best Medical Aesthetic Spa – No One Voted!

Best Men’s Clothing – Billy’s Western Wear

Best Mexican Food – Compadres Hill Country Cocina

Best Mortgage Lender – Lisa Blake VanDyk Mortgage

Best Nail Salon – Boerne Nails & Spa

Best Non-Profit – Day 1 Bags

Best Optical Provider – Dietz McLean Optical

Best Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Office – Kendall Implant and Oral Surgery

Best Orthodontist – Ferris Orthodontics

Best Park – Cibolo Nature Center

Best Pet Groomer – Boerne Grooming

Best Pie – Bumdoodler’s

Best Pizza – Z’s Wood Fired Pizza

Best Plumber – Hill Country Plumbing Inc.

Best Private School – St. Helena’s Episcopal School

Best Realtor – Tiffany Gil

Best Roofing Contractor – Kendall County Roofing

Best RV Service/Sales – Explorer RV Supercenter

Best Sandwich – Bumdoodler’s

Best Septic Company – RW Septic

Best Sign Company – Circle H Signs

Best Skilled Nursing/Rehab – Cibolo Creek Nursing

Best Skin Care – Simply Serene

Best Title Company – Kendall County Abstract

Best Travel Agency – Boerne Travel

Best Veterinary Clinic – Herbst Veterinary Clinic

Best Wedding Venue – Kendall Pointe

Best Well Water Company – H.W. Schwope & Sons Water Well Drilling

Best Wine List – Thirty Eight & Vine

Best Wine Tour Operator – Boerne Wine Tours

Best Women’s Clothing – Under the Fig Tree

Best Yard Greeting Company – Card My Yard Boerne

Best Yoga Studio – Agave Wellness Studio