Mid-week brunch at The Blue Fig, Mission, SF.

I can't seem to find the site for Teaze, but their tea infuser is amazing! I was blown away! You really have to see one in action to get the full effect--it's a bit difficult to explain, but if you can, try one! I want to buy one and managed to find one on eBay!

Jesse's sweet waffle. Mmmmm.

Savory waffle. MMMMM! I loved this! It's essentially a salad on top of a waffle. It kind of reminded of this amazing pizetta I had at Fly Bar awhile back. It was a pizza topped with salad, which I love! I actually preferred this to the sweet waffle, which says a lot. ;)

I had been wanting to try The Blue Fig for a long time and it finally worked out. It's a cute little cafe--nothing fancy, but good people and great prices. It's strange though because they don't have hours. They stay open until the last person leaves! It's an interesting idea for a place and I feel like they could be a nice late-night dining option, but I guess only if people stay that late!

Thanks for brunch, J!

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Breakfast of Champions: Toast, Fruit, Tea.

Cinnamon toast from Whole Foods, Aveda Tea and fruit salad of honey dew, cantaloupe and pomegranate seeds. Perfect way to start the day. :)

Amazing evening at The Summit, Mission, SF.

Michael Mina Opening Party, Financial District, SF.

The history of the space is pretty amazing and it seems to be fate that Michael Mina is back and re-opening his restaurant in the old Aqua space, while Bourbon Steak takes over the old space at the Westin. Very exciting and a big congrats to Michael Mina!

I didn't take my photos, but here is a partial view of the space! It's lovely, although this was more of a cocktail/dance party, which was pretty nuts. Both Edric and I thought it was pretty amusing to see this going down at Michael Mina! I'm still curious to see what it looks like during service. ;)

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Gettin' my French on at Garcon, Mission, SF.

french onion soup, gruyere, croutons 9

Yummy and a good size--one that you can finish! I find that a lot of times with French onion soup, it's too large and is a lot to finish.

“pate de campagne”, pork & duck liver pate, hazelnuts, green peppercorns, rosemary dijon 9

Not my favorite, but it was fine. I'm pretty picky when it comes to pate, but I'd heard so many good things about Garcon as a French restaurant so I thought it might be great here. And again, it wasn't bad, but I probably wouldn't order it again.

skillet blackened pork chop, potato-onion hash, green beans, grilled peaches, natural jus 26

The porkchop. This looked AMAZING! It was dark for a porkchop and looked more like a steak--so beautiful. :)

After our meal, we moved to the bar for some wine. The kind barman, Ryan, gave our party free shots! I'm not sure what all was in this, but it was a yummy little dessert drink. :)

After service we got to chatting with Chef Arthur Wall, who's a very cool guy. He was telling us about how the group of restaurants (mainly the Belden Place restaurants) are sort of re-branding. They've brought on Fortune PR, so I'm sure we'll see some exciting stuff soon. Chef Wall is helping by menu consulting for the various restaurants. His current sous chef at Garcon will be moving to Chouchou.

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Pinot at Andre's.

Savannah Chanelle Vinyards, 2007 Pinot Noir, from the Russian River Valley.

Sports filled $5 BBQ Sundays at Elixir, Mission, SF.

My cheeseburger with a side of potato salad. The patty was over cooked, but I'm not complaining! It's more about the burger, beer and the game experience, right? :)

Giants win!

So the Elixir does $5 all you can eat BBQ during football season...I'm not sure if it's Saturdays and Sundays, or only on Sundays, but it's a great deal at a fun bar. They also do 2 for 1 pitchers of beer, if I'm remembering correctly. ;) Here's their sports schedule page.

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Wine and pizza tasting at Una Pizza Napoletana, SoMa, SF.

Una Pizza Napoletana opened a block away from the SF Station office! I'm so excited--our part of SoMa is finally getting cool! Haha. After hearing all of the hype, I've wanted to try it, but they aren't open for lunch and I haven't made it out for dinner just yet.

But! Much to my surprise, there was a fabulous wine tasting there today so I decided to stop and meet a couple co-workers there before heading into the office!

There was SOOOO much wine! And so many fabulous people!

My boss, Chris, chose this bottle out of the chaos and it turned out to be a nice, easy, red with bubbles! ;)

Anthony Mangieri, workin' that oven! Una Pizza Napoletana takes "minimalism" to a whole new level--it's actually kind of refreshing, it's just a big space with high ceilings and this beautiful oven. :)

Neapolitan style margherita pizza. Beautiful. Delicious. Super yummy crust--that isn't burnt! I learned this just recently, but the crust on Neapolitan style pizzas are meant to be browned spotty. But okay, this one may be a tiny bit burnt on the bottom, but the top half is perfect! ;)

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Peanut butter banana smoothie.

Peanut butter (I only have crunchy right now.), one banana, a little honey, milk and ice.

Bleeeeeend, blend, blend!

Mmmmmmm. This is one of my favorites. It's great when I'm craving something sweet. :)

Aveda Tea obsession.

I have a little cup of this tea every time I go into Aveda. It's one of my go-to gift products, too, but I have never purchased it for myself. I don't drink a lot of tea, but should get into it and I think this is the tea that will help me get into it. It's so yummy with the licorice root and mint!

Tea! Yay. This was my first time using this teapot. I had this whole pot! :)

My other favorite Aveda products are Brilliant Universal Styling Cream, Hand Relief, and Rosemary Mint Shampoo.

Drinks at Absinthe, Hayes Valley, SF.

Can't remember what's in the martini glass, French 75 in the center and my mocha in the soup bowl!

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Emerald City punch bowl at Rickhouse, Financial District, SF.

Rickhouse is always solid. I'd expect nothing less from the Bourbon & Branch crew. It's a nice place to hit later in the evening because it's less crowded--it's definitely a popular happy hour spot! They're known for their tasty punch bowls, which have a huge block of ice, but still have a lot of drink in them. We opted for the Emerald City because Richard and Sarah were visiting from Seattle! It was quite delicious. :)

Thanks for the bowl, Tony!

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Sake Soiree: Tuna carving and sake tasting at Yoshi's, Lower Fillmore, SF.

Chef Sho, beginning with the massive tuna.

And let the carving begin!

Off with his head!

Wow.

This was the best sushi ever.

SO much sake! The whole restaurant (and if you've been, you know how large Yoshi's is!) was taken over by tables of sake. Amazing.

Everyone carried around their little plastic shot glasses and poured some sake with pipettes. It was an interesting setup and it actually worked really well for this event. Good amount to taste.

A very special thanks to Rivera PR, Yoshi's and Chef Sho. :)

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