Week of February 28th 2011: Bisou and the Castro Theater

I suppose it's fitting that I write about the Castro Theater during Pride in SF. The Castro Theater is one of many incredible landmarks around San Francisco. The Theater plays lots of classic, old movies so when it was suggested that I check it out for my blog, I knew I had to pick the perfect movie to be my first there. So when one of my favorite classic movies - a timeless tale of love, family, and transformation - came along, I knew I had to go. That's right - I went to The Little Mermaid Sing-Along.

But let's back track a couple of hours. As a belated birthday present, I decided to take my friend, Shannon, to an endless mimosa lunch. We decided to go that day so we could see the movie together as well. After some Yelping and Google Searching, we came across Bisou, a cute French inspired brunch spot. It was a great choice. We were lucky that we beat a lot of the Sunday brunch rush (although there was already a table filled with another group of Shannon's friends) so we got great service the whole time. In addition to our endless mimosas, we got incredible food. I got some crab eggs benedict and she got a croque madame and they were both super tasty. To top it off - our waiter topped off our mimosas even after we finished eating.

However, we couldn't stay and hang out too long because we had to make our movie! After getting our tickets, we were handed Little Mermaid goody bags for the show. They were filled with bubbles, crowns, necklaces, glowsticks, and dinglehoppers.

The whole movie experience was so fun. I think the best part about the theater is that ability to see a movie that came out before you were born (or in this case, when you were just a little kid) and have the chance to see it on the big screen again or maybe the first time. I definitely recommend that everyone check out the theater's calendar each month and try to make it to one of your favorite old films. I'm sad that I didn't look at June a little earlier. They played my favorite movie, Vertigo, for 3 days straight. It would have been wonderful to see that on the big screen.\

And now I'm finally through the February posts! It only took me three months to get through February and a lot more went on in March - I'm never going to catch up am I?

Well - I have another vacation coming up. I'm going to spend a week or so in Southern California visiting family and taking it easy. I have a few new things planned but if you're in LA, SB, or SD - I'm headed your way and would love to see you. If not, that's more time for me to write.

Week of February 28th 2011: Candybar

What do you do when you have Groupon expiring in a week? Well, you grab one of your closest friends and make sure you use that sucker.

Candybar is a little spot that my friend Elissa had told me about before. It's known for champagne cocktails, amazing desserts and board games. Since she told me about the place and loves all of those things (and we were still celebrating her birth), I thought it would be fun to bring her as my date.

Our timing was rather impeccable - we got there shortly after a tour bus full of young professionals. Although we had to wait a while, it was actually kind of entertaining. The "bus" was actually this comically old green bus and all of the participants of the group were dressed in their best suits and cocktail dresses. They all also had name tags on that had 3 random facts about themselves. It was pretty fun to watch until they cleared out and we were able to get a table.

We were finally seated and decided that the most appropriate game at Candybar was clearly Candyland. It should be obvious as to how we chose the colors of our pieces...

We decided to start off the night with two lemon drop shots which were really delicious. Then we ordered a couple of champagne cocktails each. I go the Mango Tango (champagne and mango) and the Jasmine Sparkle (champagne, jasmine and lemon).

For our dessert meals, Elissa got a really good flourless chocolate cake. I decided to get the panna cotta. I'm not sure that I'd even had panna cotta before but it came with a macaron so I was sold.

With our cocktails and desserts, we decided to play a few rounds of Sorry! After we both won a game, we decided to call it a night.

Overall, the bar is really cute. It's a great place to go and have a laid back date night or just spend some time with a friend - just try to avoid the party bus crowds.

Week of February 28th 2011: CSSC - Four Barrell Coffee

I'm sure you were all thinking that as soon as I finished my test, the number of posts would just explode. Unfortunately - free time is something I don't do well and have had trouble finding some. I also lost my notes (bet you were wondering how I remembered things from so long ago) somewhere between here and the UK. Thank goodness this was a spot I thoroughly enjoyed.

So, spoiler alert - There are only like... 6 posts in my coffee series and I didn't study one of those times or get food another. I did really like checking out places though and had no less than 50 or so coffee spots on my list. I was thinking of just dropping into some locations and reading for a couple of hours. I figured most 20-somethings looking for good cafes aren't studying anyways.

Without further ado - Four Barrel Coffee.... is amazing.

Taste - 5. My creamy latte was delicious. I dropped a few sugar cubes in there and really enjoyed sipping it while reading my study guide.

Buzz - 4. It was good and I was able to focus but Blue Bottle was still stronger. I think Blue Bottle is going to be my benchmark for strong coffee. If something can top Blue Bottle then I may need a new ranking scale.

Presentation - 4. I've been mostly ordering latte's just to see if they make pretty patterns in the foam. I wasn't disappointed. I guess you get a 5 if there are fireworks and anti-gravity tricks happening. Yes, I will eventually have a 5, but that's a story for another day.

Ambiance - 5. The space is really cool. I always think dark wood in a coffee shop makes it feel warmer and more comfortable. In addition to that homely feel, Four Barrel had a lot of artwork on the walls. Some of it was kind of erratic but it was fun to look at. There was also a cool rope/light fixture in the windows that I loved. If I ever get a pirate ship movie theater, I'll need to look into getting some.

Food - 4. I got a really nice toffee chip cookie. And by really nice I mean it was delicious and gooey like a cookie should be. My only issue was the size. If it came in Specialty's cookie size, this may have been a 5.

Selection - 3. For a coffee shop, not bad but there was a short list of coffee drinks, a shorter list of tea drinks and a handful of special blends. Plus, the food was limited to a dwindling display case.

Study - 5. This was probably my most productive cafe. At first I thought the music may be too loud, but it was actually the perfect volume to drown out the chatter. I grabbed a window seat and had plenty of space to layout my books. There was a lot of seating so I didn't feel rushed or like I was inconveniencing anyone.

Novelty - 4. How did an artisan coffee shop in the Mission get such a high score for novelty, you ask? It goes back to ambiance. Anyone can set up a coffee shop and say that they serve the best imported, specialty, fair-trade coffee in the city but if you can also create a warm environment where people feel welcome to relax and read for a bit, then that's kind of special. I would go back any time for a coffee, or to hang out. People had kids, dogs, laptops, newspapers - so many different kinds of people felt welcome there. That is hard to find.

Overall - 5. I was really close to giving this place a 4 based on the cumulative score, but if I liked this place so much and didn't give it a 5 - what would deserve the top score? This is a great coffee shop with friendly baristas, a good crowd and it's in walking distance. I don't really know what else I could ask for!

..but seriously - how awesome was that pirate ship movie theater?

Optimized for Mobile Viewing!

I've seen in the stats that some of you are reading this on Blackberries or iPhones so now I proudly present - Mobile views! If you're reading this on a smart phone, it probably looks a lot nicer than before. Now you can follow my rantings from anywhere with no excuses.

Also - my test is over now so I'm going to try to get to my backlog of posts. I've had a crazy few days so it might be a little bit before I can tackle my looming lists of new things that I have to write about, but they will come to you as soon as I can.