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Restaurants
Zen Eats
Medicine Eatstation is a study in contrasts. The location is in the midst of the financial district in the Crocker Galleria, yet the restaurant floats tranquilly above the hustle and bustle. The interior is minimalist and stark, yet refined. While based on the food of Japanese Zen Buddhist monks, the "New-Shojin" restaurant features a sophisticated selection of sake. The food is meant to support "enlightenment" and eschews the use of garlic and onion, yet sometimes the flavors are intense and provocative. More
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Specialty
Chocolate Worth Celebrating
The end of the year is not just holiday season, but chocolate season. Whether you are party throwing or party going, chocolate is always in style. As the temperatures dip, chocolatiers and chocolate lovers alike have something to cheer about. While cacao beans are grown in tropical climates, chocolate confections thrive in cool weather, when the threat of melting diminishes. That is until the chocolate makes it into your mouth. Here are our top picks for chocolates to share and savor More
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Restaurants
What a Difference a (New) Chef Makes
While cozy, elegant PlumpJack Café has always had a solid reputation as a destination for dependably adult California cuisine, it's been rare within the last decade to hear tell of anything extraordinary going on within this Cow Hollow outpost of the Plumpjack hospitality empire. However, the food has risen to new heights under the guidance of chef James Syhabout, a Bay Area local who has worked in such esteemed establishments as the notoriously hypercreative El Bulli, The Fat Duck, Manresa and most recently Daniel Patterson's Coi. More
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Restaurants
A Few Rough Edges
Silks in the Mandarin Oriental, once obscured within a sea of hotel restaurants, seemed to garner an unprecedented level of buzz in 2006. After reading so many good reviews of the Asian-influenced haute cuisine, we hesitated to order the same things that had been raved about. We took a chance on the tasting menu ($95), so we could really give the chef a chance to show his stuff. From the moment we walked into the lovely Silk Road-themed dining room, there were subtle signals that the balance was off. More
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Restaurants
Savor Sardinia
La Ciccia is a neighborhood Italian place, but like most of the growing community of great little restaurants out at Church and 30th, it comes with a twist. The menu reflects only the cuisine of Sardinia. There is no Fettucine Alfredo, no Veal Parmigiana, no Insalata Caprese -- but trust us when we tell you -- you won't miss that standard fare. More
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Markets & Specialty Food
I Want Candy!
You’ll feel like a kid in The Candy Store, a clean and bright new candy shop, just off a busy section of Polk Street on Russian Hill. Owner Diane Campbell wasn’t allowed to eat candy when she was a kid, which only made her crave the stuff even more. Now her childhood obsession has become an adult profession. More
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Restaurants
A Cool Mediterranean Hot Spot
From the moment you walk in, you’ll notice that Nua is not the traditional family style Italian-American restaurant typical of North Beach. It’s a sophisticated, sleek yet comfortable, cozy restaurant and wine bar. The Nua website describes the restaurant as seasonal Mediterranean and that couldn’t be more true. Portions are less American and more petite and European-sized. More
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Restaurants
The Royal Treatment
Have you had dinner in a quiet restaurant lately? We haven’t either. But if you’re looking for somewhere to celebrate with a date or family and actually converse; you couldn’t pick a more tranquil spot than the recently renovated dining room at the Hotel Majestic on Cathedral Hill. Awash in cream tones and soft lighting, the booths and tables are set comfortably apart -- allowing diners to enjoy a leisurely meal in a peaceful environment. The staff is friendly and proud to be there, eager to share their favorite picks on chef Ian Begg's menu. More
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Beauty
For Bath and Body Beautiful
Freshening up Union Square and the 100-year-old Beaux Arts style Hammersmith Building is the newly opened Fresh boutique. Built in the year after the 1906 earthquake, the San Francisco historic landmark building is a pretty setting for a pretty store filled with pretty things to make one feel, well, you get the idea. More
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Restaurants
A South Bay Culinary Destination
Critics and food bloggers alike consistently choose peninsula restaurant Manresa as one of their favorites, and yet we couldn't help but a notice a relatively recent spate of negative diner reviews on the web. Was Manresa off its game? Were diners simply expecting too much? Was it too avant-garde? We decided to take matters into our own hands and find out. More
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