By Jill Daniel
San Francisco has always been and continues to be a haven for romantic, idealistic, and progressive-minded individuals. Look around the city by the bay on any given day and you’ll see lovers of every sort stealing kisses on public street corners, demonstrations for political and social reforms, and new, innovative shops, restaurants, and businesses. See why Frank Sinatra sang about leaving his heart in San Francisco? This beautiful city offers the best of the best for the heart, mind, and soul. Count every summer here as a summer of love.
Best Dog-Friendly Hotel
At The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, the city’s only Mobil Five Star and AAA Five Diamond hotel, all four-legged guests (nine pounds and under) receive a custom bed, a custom-designed in-room dining menu, (featuring Bow Wow Chow: raw chopped beef tenderloin with boiled sliced baby carrots, sautéed lamb loin with steamed white rice, ground chicken breast baked with brown rice, and a “What’s a Dog to Do” kit, which includes a bedtime story, a pooper scooper, a plastic toy lion, and a suggested list of things for your dog to do in San Francisco. A security deposit of $500 is required. The current most famous “dog tail” at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, is when Mariah Carey’s dogs stayed in the Presidential Suite, without Ms. Carey (whose flight was delayed!). Contact (415) 296-7465 or visit www.ritzcarlton.com
Best Vegetarian Dining With a View
You’ve heard the restaurant saying, go for the view but not the food. At Greens, you go for both. While you’re choosing between the spicy black bean chili, spanokopita, or a special pizza or pasta of the day, you get to gaze out at the Golden Gate Bridge and boats harbored at Fort Mason. It’s an unbeatable combination that chef Annie Somerville has enjoyed since 1981. After your meal, pick up one of her best-selling cookbooks Fields of Greens: New Vegetarian Recipes from the Celebrated Greens Restaurant (Bantam, 1993) and Everyday Greens (Scribner, 2003). “The title, Everyday Greens, came out of the thinking of living everyday well and not constantly striving for something outside of yourself,” Somerville explains. “It’s about recognizing that what’s happening right now is it, so go ahead and enjoy your day along with your daily greens.” Mighty good food for thought. Contact (415) 771-6222
Healthiest City Hotel
The luxurious Omni San Francisco offers four “Get Fit” guest rooms with a private treadmill and a “Get Fit” gym bag stuffed with towels, a yoga mat, a set of free weights, resistance bands, and a workout guide. The hotel gym featuring extensive fitness equipment and flat screen projection televisions is also open twenty-four hours a day. Complimentary bottled water is available throughout the day. Upon check-in, guests are given a 2.8-mile walking/jogging map of a course with scenic bay views. Contact (415) 677-9494 or visit www.omnihotels.com
Best Weekend Getaway
The Claremont Resort & Spa in the Berkeley hills is twelve miles from downtown San Francisco. Since 1915 the Claremont has been known as a plush hotel for the wealthy as well as a great place to escape San Francisco’s fog on “the sunny side of the Bay.” The Claremont, however, recently underwent a 23 million-dollar renovation. The prime activities include The Club at The Claremont, a multi-purpose aerobic gym with weight machines, a Somatic Arts room, Pilates equipment, and more than sixty-six weekly mind and body fitness classes (free to resort guests), ranging from low-impact aerobics to yoga and dance. The Claremont also features tennis (ten courts, six of which are lighted), and aquatic programs (heated recreation, lap pools, and an outdoor whirlpool). Spa Claremont encompasses 20,000-square-feet and includes innovative “Signature Journey” spa treatments consisting of an aromatherapy or herbal bath/scrub and Vichy shower/and massage with influences from India, Mexico, Thailand, the Phillippines, and Wine Country. The resort’s restaurant features California cuisine with a Pacific Rim influence from executive chef Hans Wiegand and Chef de Cuisine Laurence Jackson. Such local Northern California ingredients as San Joaquin Valley fruits and vegetables, Monterey prawns, and Napa cheese are highlighted. “Lifestyle cuisine,” a health-oriented gourmet menu is also available. Contact (510) 843-3000 or visit www.claremontresort.com
Best Yoga Spa
International Orange, a day spa with hatha, power, prenatal, ashtanga, and beginner yoga classes is named after the paint color of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was founded by three young Northern California women – Kary Chendo, Amy Darland, and Melissa Ferst – with the intent to involve clientele in their own transformation. The idea behind International Orange is also to offer inventive, flexible versions of spa classics; to incorporate yoga into the day spa concept; to feature a professional and motivated staff; and to provide a beautiful, calming, and unusual environment. They’re succeeding. Monthly unlimited yoga is offered for $100 a month or with $150 down, $280 a month, and a minimum 6-month commitment, you can treat yourself to an IO membership, which includes unlimited yoga and three spa treatments each month. Contact (415) 563-5000 or visit www.internationalorange.com
Best Hotel Spa
When the San Francisco Hilton decided to renovate their spa in 2002, they wanted a unique concept for the treatment menu. Why not combine Eastern healing traditions and Asian decor with Western spa products discoveries, particularly those unique to California? Since California cuisine is famous for utilizing seasonal produce, Spa Fusion decided to create a seasonal spa menu. Examples include an apple pumpkin renewal fall facial, a holiday spice massage with your choice of pine, cinnamon, or frankincense, and a cranberry pedicure with cranberry- and orange-infused oils, scrubs, and lotions. San Francisco-highlighted treatments that are available year-around include the Embarcadero Coffee Scrub and the Haight Ashbury Strawberry Almond Scrub. Contact (415) 923-5014 or visit www.spafusion.com
Best “Healthy Foodie” Farmers Market Shopping
The Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market operates on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays on the Embarcadero sidewalk outside of the Ferry Building. The larger Saturday market is held outdoors on the rear plaza overlooking the bay. About 100 farmers and 25 artisan food vendors offer a wealth of products, most of which are organic. Don’t miss the peaches from Frog Hollow Farm, Galaxy Granola (mocha fudge and raspberry are favorites), the organic breakfast burritos and tamales from Donnas Tamales, or Eatwell Farms’ fresh lavender honey and lavender salt. Inside the Ferry Building, open seven days a week, are epicurean fantasy shops, specialty groceries, cafes, and restaurants. Check out Potter Family Farm which produces perhaps the cleanest/safest beef you can find. Splurge on Recchiuti Confections chocolate truffles with such brilliant flavors like pearl mint tea, lemon verbena, tarragon grapefruit, and burnt caramel. Contact (415) 291-3276 or visit www.ferryplazafarmersmarket.com
Best Upscale Vegan Dining
Millennium restaurant is forging an appropriate new culinary trend for the twenty-first century by bringing unsuspecting carnivore customers to new discoveries in taste and dining pleasure via organic, vegan cuisine. executive chef Eric Tucker uses an influence of flavors and styles of many cultures in the creation of Millennium’s menu. Main course standouts include the “Seitan Marsala” (seitan medallions or marinated tempeh with olive oil mashed potatoes topped with crimini and shitake mushrooms and Marsala mushroom sauce) and the “Asparagus a la Provencal” (white and green asparagus in crisp pastry with porcini gravy and herbed sun-dried tomato and olive garbanzo salad). If you’re a chocolate aficionado, save room for pastry chef Amy Pearce’s delectable “Chocolate Lover”sampler: chocolate cannoli shell with peanut butter mousse; chocolate-dipped rum balls; chocolate almond midnight; creamy chocolate malt float; and homemade truffles. Reservations are essential. Contact (415) 345-3900 or visit www.MillenniumRestaurant.com
Best Outdoor Killer Workout
BootCampSF is the only complete outdoor fitness program in the Bay area. A typical BootCampSF session is comprised of cardio, strength, and functional training techniques. Most programs are either six or twelve weeks long, meeting for four 1-hour workouts a week. Each workout consists of a warm up, stretching, calisthenics, circuit training, resistance training, abdominal tightening, toning, running, and cool down stretching. All workouts take place outside in beautiful San Francisco locales like the San Francisco Bay beach. Contact (415) 921-8537
Best City Happy Hour
In 1929, the Fairmont Hotel created an indoor seventy-five-foot long swimming pool on its terrace level. Known as the Fairmont Terrace Plunge, the elaborate tile pool attracted local crowds as well as celebrities like actress Helen Hayes and members of the Water Follies. In 1945, the Terrace Plunge was transformed into the Tonga Room, a Polynesian-themed restaurant and cocktail lounge. Light tropical rainstorms, complete with thunder and lightening, fall from the ceiling at regular intervals. Mirage, a top-40 band, entertains from a thatch-covered barge floating on the pool. Its no wonder the San Francisco Chronicle calls this the “Best Happy Hour in San Francisco” and you can’t beat the $6.00 all-inclusive price for the extensive buffet of Pacific Rim delights.Happy hour is Monday thru Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. Contact (415) 772-5278
Best Mind & Body Spa
The Nob Hill Spa is a high-end boutique spa catering to a limited number of clients per day who desire an exlusively designed holistic wellness program that invigorates the body and mind. Before or after any spa treatment (performed in rooms with positive visualization names like wealth, splendor, wisdom, and tranquility), guests can sunbathe on the patio overlooking the city, relax in the hot tub, swim in the indoor pool, or take advantage of free fitness classes in yoga, Pilates, tai chi, aerobics, and strength training. A spa cuisine breakfast and lunch can be ordered from The Huntington Hotel’s kitchen and delivered poolside.The absolute must-have massage: The Balinese. This rhythmic and energizing massage is based on Balinese healing traditions. Bali natives believe visual beauty elevates one’s personal vibration and attunes the body’s defenses. Clients recline on a table covered in rose petals in front of a glowing fireplace while the massage therapist performs a choreographed rubdown of acupressure, rolling motion, long strokes, and percussion tapping. If you decline to book a spa treatment, you can still take the fitness classes and use the spa facilities for $25.00 a day. Contact (415) 345-2888 or visit www.nobhillspa.com
Best Bay Area Bookstore
Book Passage is a charming bookstore emphasizing local Bay Area travel, boating on the bay, food, cooking, sustainable agriculture and ecology, and photo and gift books about the Bay Area. The store hosts author events, including many one-day writing workshops by such well-known authors as Terry Brooks, who teaches “Speculative Fiction,” and Donald Spoto, who instructs “The Art and Craft of Biography.” Ongoing travel writing classes are also offered. Contact (415) 835-1020 or visit www.bookpassage.com
July/August 2004
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