The San Francisco Treat

San Francisco offers a plethora of excitement, culinary adventure and thriving nightlife. Go to a Giants game, if you are there during baseball season. Try Sunday Dim Sum in Chinatown. You won't find it anywhere better, except maybe in China. Make your way to Suite One8One for a sophisticated nightclub experience. And of course, walk over the Golden Gate.

Quick Tips:

The song says, "If you are going to San Francisco, make sure to wear a flower in your hair." What it should say is if you are coming to San Francisco, don't forget to pack a windbreaker or warm sweater. Even in the summer, the fog rolls through.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking, muni, trains, and of course trolley cars.

Boulevard is this girl’s favorite "nice" restaurant. Nice is an understatement, really. This place is beautifully appointed, well staffed, and absolutely delicious. The food is never disappointing... always inventive and new.

It is pretty pricey, and will definitely bite you in the wallet, so budgeters beware. But if you are in San Francisco and are prepared to spend some money on a nice evening, then go for it. Boulevard makes for a romantic evening, too, with a view of the water and piers. Be sure to make a reservation, and never skip dessert - handcrafted and sinfully yummy, each one is a work of art.

The Tadich is a San Francisco staple and has been in business for as long as I can remember, and as long as my father can remember. He has always worked near it, so we have always gone there for lunches and after-work dinners. The huge choice of fish is always fresh, prepared the way you want (broiled, grilled, fried etc.) and comes with savory potatoes and a fresh veggie. This old SF restaurant is a real "local" place and feels like San Francisco should, formal, old-world and warm. Sit at the round bar, or get a table, the service is impeccable at either. Enjoy.

My friend told me about her favorite sushi in the city the other day, and it just happens to share the name of my favorite sushi place in Santa Cruz, so I thought I would give it a whirl, and I am so glad I did!

Godzilla is a little hole-in-the-wall sushi restaurant in the middle of SF, that I have passed a million times and never noticed. The decor is nothing to rave about, the ambiance is lacking, but the food makes up for that and then some.

We ordered edamame and miso soups to start. The edamame were salted and lemony, and the soup was a perfect way to begin. Not too watery and not too thick, it was a good primer. We ordered six rolls (a few are on the smaller side). The standout rolls were Godzilla's jazzed-up version of a spicy tuna roll and the "Pink Dragon" roll. The spicy tuna consisted of fresh tuna chopped and combined with a spicy mayonnaise-type sauce, and then stuffed into the roll with lettuce and cooling cucumber. It was so tasty! The Pink Dragon was basically a California roll (crab, avocado, and cucumber) delicately covered in fresh salmon. The fish was so fresh, and the tastes complimented each other perfectly. Another roll to try is the "Tinky Winky", which is scallops, salmon, shiso leaf, cucumber, and sprouts. Mmmm, just thinking about it makes me want to go back for lunch as I write this!

The service was very good, and the bill only came to $30 for two people, which isn't bad for fresh, top-of-the-line sushi like Godzilla offers.

Check it out! You might just find your new favorite San Francisco sushi.

Mas Sake is a different kinda sushi bar. This is evident from the standout red paint and circular building that houses it. This restaurant is one of the most popular night spots for city folk and boasts some of the most creative sushi.

As the name states, mas sake is exactly what they want you to do. They look at you in shock if you don't order a large sake and a large Sapporo from the get-go.

We went on a Friday night for a birthday celebration. It was packed inside, with barely enough room to move around. Our table (which we had a reservation for) was half in a walkway, and the girl sitting on that side kept getting bumped by waiters and passersby. Unfortunately, they couldn't move us, although we asked twice.

The menu is extensive and filled with rolls, the likes of which I had never seen before. Concoctions stuffed with jalapeno or bacon were some of the things I read about. As you might have guessed, with a name like Mas Sake, there is a Mexican twist to the rolls. Many contain peppers and other Mexican-style ingredients like Tabasco. We ordered about 12 rolls for the table and just went at it. Because the restaurant is very dark and very loud, we just ate without even being able to tell what was in our rolls. It was good though, that's for sure. Some rolls we ordered were the Ecstasy Roll • maguro, albacore, avocado, jalapeno, sirracha and green onion, tempura style. We also tried the U.S.A. Roll • Unagi, Shrimp tempura and Avocado topped with eel sauce. Daringly, I ordered the The Evil Eye: salmon, avocado, sirracha, and jalapeno, tempura-style. It was GREAT. Strangely enough, they also serve tacos at Mas Sake.

I would like Mas Sake better at like 5PM on a Wednesday, just because the music is pounding on the weekends and the place is packed. They even bring in a DJ for the weekends. The boys in our party call Mas Sake the "Hooters" of the sushi world, because the waitresses tend to be scantily clad.

Overall, it was a lot of fun, but while I was full and satisfied when I left, my ears were ringing when we left and I wasn't quite sure what I had just eaten.

Check out www.massake.com for a complete menu.

I could write a review of this family-style Italian Eatery chain in one word – yum - but I will embellish a bit for you. Buca di Beppo is a crazy, eclectic, unreal type of Italian food, where you better go with an appetite and some friends. Nothing is served individually. The only choice is small (three to four servings) or large (six servings). Everything on the menu is this way and priced for four or six. You can go with a date, but you will have a whole lot of food leftover. The Italian fare is home-style, without lots of fancy garnishing, but it's good and wholesome and reminds you of momma's kitchen.

A very popular spot for birthday parties and social events, make sure to call ahead a reserve a table. The "Pope's table," a round table that seats 15 or so, is booked MONTHS in advance but is well worth the extra effort. People have called a year in advance to book their party at the Pope's.

The walls of Buca are covered (I mean, every square inch) in "Italian" memorabilia from the ‘30s and on. Stranger things include an old-fashioned bra, an old box of laundry detergent, and a picture of Audrey Hepburn looking quite perturbed at a woman wearing a revealing blouse. It would take someone hours to look at everything this makeshift "museum" houses, but not to worry, while in the bathroom, there is plenty of entertainment on the walls.

We went with a group of 10 and had the most fun. We started with cocktails (there is a full bar and a healthy wine list) and had a large order of bruscetta and a large order of garlic cheese bread. Yum, yum, yum. Both were priced moderately around $8 and served us all. We ordered a large Caesar salad, which was enough for everyone to have a very small salad. For our entrées we ordered baked ravioli, spaghetti with meatballs, and chicken marsala. Oh my lord, was it a lot of food. But everything was yummy, well seasoned, and cooked perfectly. The bill came to about $20 per person, with only 9 out of 10 paying, and this included our cocktails and some leftovers. So, all in all, it was a rather cheap night.

For a full menu and more info, check out http://www.bucadibeppo.com.

If you are in San Francisco, and it's baseball season, you've gotta catch a Giants game. One of the most beautiful stadiums, SBC Park is set right on the water with views of the bay, the Bay Bridge and the Oakland Hills. There is not a bad seat in the house, and tickets are always available on game day. Five hundred bleacher seats are available to buy at the park, or you can try to get tickets on Craigslist.com or on the actual Giants website. If the sun is shining (or even if it isn't), SBC is always a day filled with fun and excitement. And it is always great to watch Barry hit one out, even if the Giants aren't your home team.

Suite One8one is posh, overpriced and snobby. But that's exactly what makes it so much fun. Not usually like that, my friends and I like to head to One8one every once and awhile to pretend. This double-decker club pumps hip-hop and house all night long (at 2AM the club doesn't turn into a pumpkin, it turns into an after-hours place serving Red Bull and water).

The candlelit vibe is sexy and crowded and always packed with beautiful people. There is a VIP scene and a huge wooden bed complete with mattress and pillows that you can hang out, jump or dance on. Prepare to be sweaty, because it is HOT in there. Grab your Louis Vuitton wear and call in your favors. If you know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, it might be a good time to call them, because the lines outside can get pretty long.

City Tavern is a great place in the "Marina" and "Union" districts to see and be seen. Always a night starter, this is the place we go to get the night's first few cocktails or beers.

It's always packed full of hot people who are looking way too cool. A great spot to people watch is a coveted seat at the bar. The bartenders are cute and funny, and they are always down to have a shot with us... if we pay, of course!

This is a strictly "drink and talk LOUDY" bar, because although they play music (good music!), there is nowhere to dance or even move on a Friday or Saturday night.

This bar, otherwise known by many as "that's my favorite bar", is always a crowd-pleaser! And hey, no cover charge... that's hard to beat in SF.

"...where everybody knows your name" are exactly the words to describe R Bar. Bartenders from a few local hotspot Union bars went in together and opened their own hip bar in the Tenderloin and called it "R" bar, a play on Our Bar. They might as well have Norm at the bar, Sam behind it, and Shelley Long serving drinks, because it really is a modern-day "Cheers". They do know our names. They might not know yours, but they will after a few visits, I assure you.

This bar has got it all: good music, a long mahogany bar with four bartenders at all time, a dance floor, and even kung fu classics playing on two screens during the evenings. It has become a very hip place to see and be seen on the weekends, but happy hours are more relaxed and less trendy, which is always nice.

Check it out if you are looking for "your" bar. As they say, whatever is R's is yours, too!