Couture Central

Many tourists travel to the beautiful city of Los Angeles to walk down Hollywood Boulevard to see the stars down the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and to search for their idols. Below you will find a list of sure places you can go and you are guaranteed to bump into someone famous.

• The Ivy – This is one of the top hang outs for the paparazzi, so it must mean something!
• The Coffee Bean – Another hang out of the paps, its located near many of the celebs Malibu homes in a cute trendy neighborhood.
• Mr Chow – Anybody whose anybody eats at Mr Chow!
• Ken Paves Salon – Many famous female stars get their styled by Ken.
• Beverly Hills Hotel – countless celebs stay at this hotel, if you rent a room here, its just a matter of who you will see!
• Melrose Ave. -Celebs and their stylists love the trendy style and vibe of shops on this street.
• Robertson Blvd.- Celebs love to shop at the boutiques on Robertson Blvd.
• Newsroom Cafe – Celebs such as Jeremy Piven, Lindsay Lohan, and Dustin Hoffman have been spotted at this cafe.
• Beverly Center and The Grove – Many celeb sightings happen at the mall, after all celebs have to shop just like the rest of us!
• Koi – is a favorite restaurant of many locals and celebs alike. This is another paparazzi hangout.
• Les Deux – is the playground for all A-listers. If you wait outside you may get a glimpse of some stars on their way in.

San Francisco is a city known for beauty, being tourist friendly, fine dinning, shopping and theater. If you are ever looking for premier restaurants in San Francisco, check out this list

• Ame Restaurant Customers at this restaurant will be treated with tastes of and France and Italy. Experience innovative dishes such as Duck Ravioli, Giblet Confit, and Spaghetti Carbonara. At Ame, you will experience a quiet and elegant dinning experience.
• Les Amis Restaurant presents its customers with an intimate dinning experience. Since Les Amis means “friends” in French, the dinning staff provides sincere service. If you’re interested in a truly unique dinning experience, try the chef’s five-course-tasting menu. The first course features Sweet Garlic Soup with Smocked Haddock and Poached Quail Egg. The entire menu is full of innovative creations to suit the taste of all pallets.
• Bacar Restaurant features Northern California Cuisine. This unique restaurant offers customers an opportunity to explore new menu items. Bacar offers fresh seasonal items on their daily tasting menu. People who dine at Bacar have the opportunity to enjoy a fun and casual dinning experience full of great food and live music.
• Bar Crudo is was rated one of the top 100 restaurants by the San Francisco Chronicle. This restaurant calls itself a “modern raw bar”. Their menu features raw, cooked, and chilled seafood along with a wonderful selection of local beers and wine. This restaurant hosts different events celebrating different beers, in February they had a 5-course-Cajun meal paired with 5 “extreme beers”. If you enjoy good seafood and beer, consider dining at Bar Crudo.
• Bix Restaurant is an upscale trendy supper club with wonderful live music. For starters, you can enjoy Truffle Cheese and Sweet Onion “Croques” and Mini Lamb Burgers with Cucumber, Dill and Harissa. Great innovations on the main course menu include: American Kobe “Bavette” Steak with Pommes Puree Roasted Cipollini Onions and Natural Jus, Grilled Rack of Lamb with a Piquillo Pepper Flan Fresh Garbanzo Bean Puree and Tapenade, Truffled Pecorino Cheese Burger served on Buttered Rye with French Fries. Next time you want to splurge and dine at a trendy upscale restaurant give Bix a try.

There is a great article at Travel Blizzard regarding several chocolate festivals accross the United States and Canada. The list of chocolate festivals include Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival in California, St. Stephen Chocolate Festival in New Brunswick, Chocolate Lovers Festival in Virginia, and Burlington ChocolateFest in Wisconsin.

You can read more here. Write in if you know of any other chocolate festival!

I am already thinking of the New Year’s Eve partying, and there is no better way to party than with a bottle of fine champagne. Here is a list of my favorite premium holiday bubbly.

• Roederer Cristal
• Krug
• Dom Pérignon
• Taittinger Comtes de Champagne
• Bollinger La Grande Anne

Los Angeles Magazine recently compiled a list of the best “eats ‘n drinks” in the Los Angeles area. Below you will find a few I selected from the list, which I like to call the “best of the best of L.A.” Enjoy, and feel free to add your favorites!

• Best Chiles Rellenos:Romero’s
  516 S. Western Ave. Los Angeles (216) 480-8438
• Best Champagne Selection: Wine Expo
  2933 Santa Monica Blvd. (310) 828-4428
• Best Raw Food Restaurants: Cru
  1521 Griffith Park Blvd. Silver Lake (323) 667-1551
• Best Cajun Food (Jambalaya): Harold and Belle’s
  2920 West Jefferson Blvd. Los Angeles (323) 735-9023
• Best Milk Shake: Fosselman’s
  1824W. Main St. Alhambra, (626) 682-6533
• Best Peruvian Restaurants: Mozza
  1360 Vine St. Hollywood (323) 871-9600
• Fish-and-Chips: Ford’s Filling Station
  9531 Culver City (321) 202-1470

If you’re visiting San Francisco on business or you would like to take friends out for a special occasion, you must try Aqua Restaurant. Aqua is known for their fresh seafood blended with exotic flavors. The menu is full of creative dishes, to suite every palette. If you’re feeling adventurous, experience the seasonal tasting menu. Chef Laurent Manrique prepares a 7 course meal which takes you across the globe. The dinner tasting menu begins with
Smoked Sturgeon & Caviar Bombe, this dish is truly unique because it features a fusion of bitter and sweet flavors that melt in your mouth. The second course on the tasting menu is Tuna & Foie Gras Mosaic, the flavor of the tuna is preserved and accented with the flavors of the foie gras in the center of the tuna. The third course featured Yellowfin Tuna, served cold, it brings out the natural flavors of the tuna. The fourth course featured Parmesan-Black Pepper Souffle with Dungeness Crab, Sea Urchin, and Chive Butter. The souffle is a menu favorite because it blends the flavors of the crab, sea urchin, and chive butter;this course is definitely the heaviest. The fourth course featured Maine Scallops seasoned with tandoori sauce and spices, the sauce and the spices were a great match for the scallops. The fifth course featured Monkfish accented with Ramps, Porcini Mushrooms & Sweetbread Fondue. The blend of the sweet bread fondue and the porcini mushrooms really accented the flavor of the monkfish. The last course featured Milk Chocolate Mousse Bar Ginger Infused Milk Chocolate Mousse, Caramelized Bananas, Flourless Cake, if you’re a chocolate-lover this will be the highlight of the menu; for those of you that are not chocolate-lovers its a wonderful way to harmonize all of the previous courses. This is a restaurant with excellent food, and top-rate service.

Here is a list of some of America’s favorite bars, courtesy of Esquire Magazine. Feel free to recommend your favorite bar in the comment section. This is a continuation from a previous post.

Jimbo’s (Miami, Florida)
Bulldog NE (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
The Little Cowboy Bar and Museum (Fromberg, Montana)
John D. McGurk’s (St Louis, Missouri)
The Homy Inn (Omaha, Nebraska)
McGovern’s Tavern (Newark, New Jersey)
Library Lounge (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)
Shooting Star Saloon (Huntsville, Utah)
Skinny Legs (St John, U.S. Virgin Islands)
Three Needs (Burlington, Vermont)
The Red Key (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Silva’s Saloon (Bernalillo, New Mexico)
Bermelmans in the Carlyle Hotel (New York City)
Little Branch (New York City)
Thomas Street Tavern (Charlotte, North Carolina)
Monte’s Downtown (Fargo, North Dakota)
Andyman’s Treehouse (Columbus, Ohio)
The Library Bar & Grill (Norman, Oklahoma)
Sam Bond’s Garage (Eugene, Oregon)
Ice House (Yankton, South Dakota)
The Coffee Pot (Roanoke, Virginia)
Friendly Lounge (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Taboo Tavern (Rincon, Puerto Rico)
The Upstairs Bar at City Grocery (Oxford, Mississippi)
La Tuna (San Antonio, Texas)

If you’re searching for “Seattle’s Best”, consider some of these restaurants that have recently been the “most booked” on Open Table.

- Purple Cafe and Wine Bar

This restaurant’s sophisticated atmosphere is perfect for the food and wine taster. The Purple Cafe & Wine Bar serves delightful appetizers, that can be paired with wine. The menu is truly unique, combining a Mediterranean style with flavors of the Northwest. Some unique menu items featured include: stuffed dates and coppa, tombo tuna tartar with green papaya salad, quail and huckleberries. The Purple Cafe and Wine Bar features a global wine collection to compliment every taste.

- Palisade

If you are looking for a truly unique and inspirational waterfront dinning experience, you must try Palisade Restaurant. This restaurant offers worldwide cuisine, and specializes in seafood. Palisade is equipped with a full topical bar, with many unique drinks such as: Lilikoi Mojito, Sunset Colada, Tropical Itch, Pomegranate Cosmo, and Lavender Cosmo. At this restaurant you can find dishes with made with classic seafood as well as innovative dishes such as: Macadamia Nut Chicken and Passion Fruit Duck Breast.

- Ray’s Boathouse
This waterfront restaurant is a favorite among locals and tourists. Ray’s Boathouse only features the best quality of local seafood with clean flavors and unique textures. You can enjoy crispy calamari, clams, smoked salmon, and mussels while enjoying the beautiful view of Puget Sound.

- Cafe Juanita

Cafe Juanita specializes in organic Northern Italian Cuisine. This restaurant was named one of Seattle’s top ten restaurants by Seattle Magazine in 2006, they also received 3 out of 4 stars from the Zagat survey. The executive chef enjoys changing the menu often and creating eclectic mixes of meats and seafoods. You can enjoy creative appetizers such as: foie Gras with local nectarine and candied ginger, wild gulf prawns with avocado, breadcrumbs and heirloom cherry tomatoes, and octopus salad with fingerlings, chickpea and capers. Some premier entrees include: chicken with cavalo nero, grilled peach, lobster mushrooms and huckleberries, and rabbit braised in arneis with ligurian chickpea crepe, pancetta and porcini. If you are looking for innovative, delicious, and organic world-class cuisine, Cafe Juanita promises only the best!

The San Francisco Bay Guardian, a free local city paper, recently posted their 33rd annual Best of the Bay issue. Here are some of my personal favorite best place to get a bite to eat from the best of the bay.

• Best Subterranean Sushi
  Ryoko Sushi
  619 Taylor, SF
• Best Salvadoran Chile Rellenos
  Cuco’s Restaurant
  488 Haight, SF
• Best Luxury Seafood Palace
  Aqua
  252 California, SF
• Best Hot Dog Renaissance
  Underdog
  1634 Irving, SF
• Best Hole-in-the-wall Gourmet Crepes
  Higher Grounds Coffee House
  691 Chenery, SF

Here’s a list of some of the best bars in America courtesy of Esquire Magazine. Esquire has amassed a large collection of the best bars across the whole continental United States.

-Lou’s Pub & Package (Birmingham, Alabama)
-Midtown Billiards (Little Rock, Arkansas)
-Brennan’s Pub (Marina Del Rey, California)
-Bourbon & Branch (San Francisco, California)
-The Sportsman (Sonora, California)
-The Bars at the Hotel Congress (Tucson, California)
-The Minturn Saloon (Minturn, Colorado)
-The Tap Room at the Griswold Inn (Essex, Connecticut)
-Hawk ‘n’ Dove (Washington, D.C.)
-Dead Presidents Pub & Eatery (Wilmington, Delaware)
-The Claremont Lounge (Atlanta, Georgia)
-Lewers Lounge at the Halekulani Hotel (Honolulu, Hawaii)
-Pengilly’s Saloon (Boise, Idaho)
-The California Clipper (Chicago, Illinois)
- Replay Lounge (Lawrence, Kansas)
-The Chart Room (New Orleans, Louisiana)
- The Old Seelbach Bar (Louisville, Kentucky)
-Rosie’s (Portland, Maine)
-The Brewer’s Art (Baltimore, Maryland)
-La Tuna (San Antonio, Texas)
-Miller’s Bar (Dearborn, Michigan)
-Little Branch (New York, New York)

Feel free to post your favorite bar!