• 20Mar

    Grove Cafe 121 270x480 Grove Café Downtown

    This tiny San Francisco chain is a great spot for so many things. This is their newest location and convenient to most all parts of downtown (and my loft … yea). Mission and 3rd is a popular corner – Peet’s Coffee, St. Regis Hotel and Yerba Buena Gardens/Park are the well known corners.The SF Moma is 1/2 block away and it’s only 1 block south of Market.

    They’re opened for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offer specialties, like Eggs Florentine, lasagna, chicken pot pie, plus a variety of salads, soup, cookies, beer and wine. There’s more, but you get the idea. AND, they also have FREE WIRELESS (with purchase … you get 30 minutes for each $5 purchase … it’s fair and they’re not stingy about it, which is great).

    They really are anxious to please. The young staff smiles a lot and act like they care, which I find very refreshing.

    The only thing I didn’t care for was the choices of music and sometimes the volume, but we’ll see how it goes. Hard rock isn’t my favorite, but I’m hoping it changes throughout the day. (I may need to get chat with the owner because my partner and I own a music licensing company and we also do music for restaurants, hotels and shops. And to help owners afford the service, we’re offering barter for the rest of this year! That service is: MixtEmotions. Check it out and if you know any  business owners who want to make sure their music handled professionally … and actually brings in customers, and makes them want to stay and spend money … have them contact us.)

    Grove Cafe 021 640x360 Grove Café Downtown

    Grove Cafe 091 640x360 Grove Café Downtown

    Grove Cafe 141 640x360 Grove Café Downtown


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  • 17Sep
    How about a 5 Start hotel breakfast?

    How about a 5 Start hotel breakfast?

    The W Hotel (corner of 3rd and Howard, 2 blocks So. of Market and across from Moscone Center) is one of my favorite spots for nice quite breakfast. The music is great, the service is impeccable, the food is inventive, and the space is well designed and always filled with fresh flowers. And, another reason I love this restaurant? Free wireless Internet.

    XYZ is the name of the restaurant and they also serve lunch and dinner. I’ve never had a bad meal there and always look forward to returning. The hotel caters to a younger crowd, which means the people-watching is never boring. I even saw our mayor there once, and a few other celebs – Sandra Bernhardt, Ty Pennington (the home repair guru), Alex Mapa, Patton Oswal (Spence on King of Queens), and even James Gosling (inventor of Java). Never a dull moment here!

    Tasteful Decor and great music

    Tasteful Decor and great music

    Joseph and Whitney

    Joseph and Whitney

    delphine and scott 168x300 Breakfast at XYZ ... at the W Hotel

    Scott and Delphine (BTW, Delphine speaks fluent French!)

    randy at xyz breakfast 300x225 Breakfast at XYZ ... at the W Hotel
    Me … blogging, of course.

    Click on this link for more info about XYZ.

  • 03Aug

    Blue Bottle Coffee 2 757686 Blue Bottle Coffee

    Blue Bottle Coffee1 704211 Blue Bottle Coffee

    Blue Bottle Coffee is a relative newcomer to the City’s coffee scene. The new location at 66 Mint Street (at Jessie), between Market and Mission, off 5th. If you’re facing the old mint on 5th, it’s directly behind it.
    Well, I’ve read a few comments like “….this is the best latté ever…”, but I’ve had better … in Italy … and sometimes at Peet’s. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really good espresso, and they also make the beautiful little designs using the foam and crema – a nice touch. Also available is a nice selection of tea and the drip coffee is quite a production (see the video above to observe just a portion of the process). They go to great lengths to expand the process, but it’s all good … really good, but not the best I’ve had, like I said, but really good. On a recent trip to Seattle, I sought out their claim to the best coffee, Vivacci, and found the same thing.  It’s really good espresso, but not as good as you find in Italy (and sometimes Peet’s). Since it’s so close to Market and 5th, I’d make the trip for at least a small espresso!
    Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely worth visiting. They even serve some food items, which I I plan to try next time I visit.

    Click on this link for more info about Blue Bottle Coffee.

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