I'm feeling guilty for the lag in blogging, but that doesn't mean I'm going to quit. Lot's of places to recap and because of that, they are all getting rolled into one gigantic awesome blog. You ready?

Places of consumption:
- Cappellini (San Mateo)
- Cav Wine Bar (Downtown/Civic Center)
- RNM (Lower Haight)
- Absinthe (Hayes Valley)
- Rex Café (Russian Hill)
- Blue Light (Marina)

Cappellini- The recap. Been there many times and continue to be very impressed. Ask for the two-seat booths near the back stair case. Interesting crowd to watch while dinning. Crowd ranges from families grabbing a bite to eat after their school recitals finish, to San Mateo townies, to couples ranging in age looking for a nice dinner out. Tip: Ask for a half order of ravioli and get the most bang for your buck. I like the banana-butternut squash and mushroom ravoli. G likes the clams, beet salad and eating whatever I don't finish. Everything is made fresh on premise, including the bread. The wine list is above average with below average prices. Go for a special night out. Don’t go the night before leaving on a 9-day business trip. Get dessert. 4 out of 5 stars.

Cav Wine Bar- Well, it’s been a while so I’m lacking some of the details. The décor is nice, a bit barren yet clean and crisp for the area. I guess in my opinion, I would prefer a more comfortable, plush setting if I’m going to down some expensive wine. We ate some cheese, butternut gratin, and asparagus paried with pinot and cab. That's all I can remember that stands out. The fact that nothing stands out to me makes me that something was lacking……….so it couldn’t have been *that* impressive. Nice for an after work drink and snack, but seemed a bit overpriced to go for a sit-down dinner. Plus I spent kindergarden through 12th grade sitting in metal chairs. Don't need to do it again while eating an expensive dinner. Check it out before it vanishes. Restaurants in civic center don’t tend to stay too long! 3 out of 5 stars.

RNM- Been twice now and continue to enjoy the atmosphere and food at this establishment. We were greeted by the owner at the door on both occasions with a warm, and perhaps too warm of a smile for G. The owner claimed to have the same shirt as G. Yeah, sure you do.....Up to you, but we like to eat at the bar……and for the ladies, the bar does have hooks for your purse. Nice touch. We ordered the cheese plate and beet salad to start. The cheese plate is excellent, large range of tastes, served with select fruits and different breads. G ordered fish in the past that was excellent and we usually split the side of mac and cheese. G also bites on the pate and some other things that vegetarians such as myself tend to steer clear from. However, they did look decedent and G seemed pleased with the tastes. I recommend this place for a contemporary dinner, with a nice atmosphere. The lighting is just right and it’s small enough to be intimate yet doesn’t make you feel like you are dinning in central Mumbai such as so many other restaurants in town. 5 out of 5 stars

Rex Café- Visited this restaurant for brunch recently with my brother. Yes, I do have a brother, actually two. Not much to write here. Service was ok, food was ok, atmosphere was ok. I’m not a huge fan of Polk Street anyway so it somewhat fit my expectations. Go if you are starving and don’t want to wait in line at Mama’s in North Beach. Don’t go if you are expecting something different. 2.5 out of 5 stars since there was no wait.

Blue Light- Thought I would throw this one in here since it is baseball season. Baseball season = red sox. Red sox= 4pm games on the west coast. 4 pm games on the west coast = happy hour. Blue light has the usual drinks, each day a new happy hour special which range from $2 pacifico, $4 margaritas, $4 Jim beam/coke. Not bad. Get there early and score a table in the back. If you are nice, you’ll get the one friendly waitress there. I don’t need to describe her here as she is one of the few waitresses I have seen in this town that actually smiles and is polite. Various bar food for cheap prices balance out all those $4 drinks, such as chips, dip and guacamole, fries, etc. You get the picture. This place can get crowed but is much easier to *really* see a game then some of the other sports bars in the area. Check it out next time your boss leaves early for the day. 3.75(ha!) out of 5 stars.

Absinthe- Getting tired of writing now so I’ll keep this quick. Absinthe has some interesting things on the menu that I’m sure are tasty but are not very suitable for all you vegetarians out there. I recommend going for wine/cheese. Seemingly over-priced for what you get but not too bad for SF. Most customers are in deep discussion of what show/opera/symphony they just attended which can be interesting. G said the clams are good. Lot’s of talk of this restaurant but I just can’t give it a high rating due to it’s apparent lack of veggie options. Yes, I know you are all saying, but it’s French blah blah blah. Hey, sorry, this is San Francisco. You can eat veggie dogs at the ballpark. I would expect a veggie entrée on the menu. 3 out of 5 stars.

Olive

I'm breaking up this blog a bit since G is slacking on his end of things and I've been busy. This blog is all about Honni and Abra's big night out. Well, it wasn't a big night out, but Abra had a friend who gave her free tickets to see CATS at the Orpheum. She drove up to my house and I did some research and decided on some drinks and snacks at Olive. It's been a rough few weeks so I'm going to get right to the point. After a short jaunt through the 'Loin we found Olive and walked right in. There was a huge disco ball in the middle of the bar which Abra kept saying, "theres a disco ball in here" which we laughed at while we scored a nice square booth to sit in the front of the bar. Our waiter who seemed like he had better things to do quickly took our drink menus and rapidly ran away. $4 cosmos the menu advertised. And just like all things in life, you only get what you give. The drinks were not even drinkable by college standard in my opinion. We ordered some light fare, olive tapenade, baked brie and fruit, and sauteed spinach. The tapenade was ok, and so was the sauteed spinach, but we were still so disappointed in our drinks the food already had a negative impact in our dining experience.

On to why we were at Olive at the first place, we had tickets to CATS. I have to write about CATS although this is about food and drink because we HATED it. I am still in shock that CATS is the huge hit it was in New York. There was no plot, they had Christmas lights as the set decor and they sang that song Memory at least 4 times that I counted before I lost track. Abra fell asleep. I understand that "jellicle cats have moonlit-eyes" and "jellicle cats like to jump and play". Hearing that during every other song was a bit repetitious to say the least. There was a space ship. The cats had a tap number. It just didn't make sense to me and maybe I was trying to hard to make sense of a show with singing cats. I was re-thinking my love for those furry creatures. Maybe I want a dog afterall? To summarize, it was great to hang out with Abra, but our food and drink were poor which pretty much fit the mood of "the longest running show on broadway" too. Save your money for Wicked. Eat before you go to Olive and grab a beer if you must drink there.

2 out of 5 stars because it had a disco ball

Olive 743 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94109

The Hidden Vine

G had some meetings in the Nob Hill area at the Farimont Hotel for the past few days so we decided to use that time as a good excuse to check out places in that neighborhood. Everyone in San Francisco knows, unless you live in Nob Hill, you don't usually hang out there since the hills are very........well, nobby. We took off from our short term stay at the Fairmont and decided to hit the hills, literally.

If you have been to Le Colonial, you can easily find The Hidden Vine. It's located across the alley-way and there is another entrance through the Fitzgerald Hotel. Once you find the door, you walk down a staircase into another world of wine and cheese paradise. There are plush red velvet chairs and couches, nook and cranny tables placed in strategic locations, and tea candles scattered throughout the room which made the lighting oh so complementary. It's the perfect place to bring your friends or your more-than-just-friends. I was impressed with the relaxed, European atmosphere.

We found a nice seating area next to the fireplace on some cushiony chairs and started to study the wine list. Soon after, our perky waitress came over to chit-chat and help us pick our selection. They had a wine tasting special from wines from Austria which looked interesting but not enough to indulge in that night. Nothing against Austria, but it's not a country I think of as producing a lot of high-end wines. We settled on an Italian Bombinno(sp?) cabernet sav. and to eat some Cowgirl creamery, Humbolt fog cheese and bread. Once the wine was poured, we had a quick toast and continued our blissful evening at this camouflaged wine bar. The wine was superb and so was our bread and cheese which was accompined with dried blueberries and something similar to a mango chutney. Delicious.

If you can brave the hills, I would highly recommend grabbing some good company and enjoy your favorite drink of the grape variety at The Hidden Vine. I hear there is free bread and cheese on Thursdays. Get there early! 5 out of 5 stars.

The Hidden Vine 620 Post Street or 1/2 Cosmo Place at Taylor, San Francisco, CA

Alive

This past Sunday I went over my brother David and his girlfriend Amanda's new apartment located in the Marina. After checking out their pad and saying hello to thier dog Pilot, G, Amanda, David and I strolled over to Lombard street and walked towards the wide-selection of restaurants in the area. We stumbled upon Alive first and foremost and decided to give it a try. I had noticed this restaurant recently when driving by since it says, Vegetarian cuisine. You know how some people have 'Gay-dar'? I have 'Vegetarian-restaurant-ar'. Yes, I know that's not a word but this is my blog, so deal with it. I have the ability to smell out a vegetarian restaurant in foreign cities all around the world. Trust me, if you are vegetarian, it's best to stick with me when visiting Japan or Central America. My gift comes in handy. So me and my 3 other temporary-vegetarians sat down at the window table for dinner.

The restaurant has a nice, feng-shui atmosphere. A pretty mural on the wall and some funky artsy-looking lights. It is very, "San Francisco", yet the space is small. We all studied the menu which as advertised, was entirely raw-vegetarian (vegan?) fare. We decided to split a bunch of appetizers, and main dishes. I'm never going to remember all the names, but they were comprised of sushi with salmon substitute(pretty good), pizza's with sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, macademia-cheese on some sort of wheat-thin like crackers(ok, not that great), a salad that Amanda liked, I couldn't tell you what was in it! G and I split the Empress medicinal soup. Sounded really cool, but was disapointing. It was mostly made up of seaweed, with potatoes and carrots. There was another side of fresh spinach with pine nuts which was so-so. Actually we really ordered shiitake mushrooms with goajiberries(sp?) that but I wasn't going to make a big deal about it. The main dishes were (vegan?)lasagna in which they used macadamia cheese instead of "real" cheese and the other was sesame noodles with various side-dishes included which added to the pretty ascetic of the dishes. Everything was interesting and good for you. I just can't say that they were *that* great. Especially for the price, if I'm going to spend $14-15 on a main entry, I want something that is going to memorable for a least a few hours. All that I could remember later that night was that I was feeling hungry again.

My suggestion is to try out Alive for dessert only. You can have a nice vegan dessert which is probably better for your figure anyway and some exotic milk or tea to go with it. I think you would get more bang for your buck. It would also be the perfect restaurant if you have a food-allergy or are vegan. The foods were all free of most allergy-spewing ingredients such as gluten, lactose, sugar, etc. However, because of that fact, I thought some of the dishes were quite bland. On a positive note the drinks were very interesting, and of course, fresh. G ordered almond milk, Amanda ordered coconut juice and I had the carrot-ginger juice. David got his usual, orange juice--surprise surprise.

OK. I just read the reviews on citysearch regarding this restaurant. And this is exactly why I decided to write this blog. I don't think they are very accurate. This is NOT the best vegetarian or vegan fare by any means in San Francisco. Everyone seemed to rave about this place, but I am suspicious of some of the reviews. They seem very posed. Which makes me think the owner wrote the review. G is a big fan of healthy, vegetarian food, but after looking at the amount of food we got at Alive, I thought is this really going to feed a man who weighs over 200 lbs.? It just didn't seem like it was equal to the price. Next time, I'm going to Pluto's for a salad!

3 out of 5 stars as I have a weak heart for vegetarian restaurants

Alive! Restaurant 1972 Lombard St. San Francisco, CA 94123

Christie's

For those of you who are San Francisco-centric, you can ignore this next entry. Christie's breakfast/brunch is located on California street in Burlingame right next to the hussle and bustle of the main drag of Burlingame shopping, Burlingame Ave. G and I hit up the gym prior to hitting up Christie's; knowing the portion sizes match what one would find when visiting the Cheesecake Factory. We got there close to the restaurant closing, 2:30pm on weekends. There was no line and we sat right down and ordered. Let's get this party started......or more, I'm hungry.

Christie's is one of those places that you always say, oh I'm going to order something new this week, and you end up ordering what you always do, week after week. With that said, I got the vegetarian scramble which comes with fresh vegetables including avocado and broccoli, home fries and toast. I washed it down with freshly squeezed OJ. I love when places give you the freshly squeezed stuff. It's a nice touch. G got the American scramble which looked delicious. I wish I could offer you some to try from his plate but it was allllllll gone in record time. As G says, you know it's good if there is not a lot of talking and he had a point. It was not an overly chatty meal for either of us. We were happy.

There's not much to say regarding the atmosphere, but it's clean and has a home-cooked charm about it. They provide salt and pepper, cream with your coffee, ketchup for your potatoes and there is a nice selection of jams ready and waiting to be sampled with your morning toast. You know, breakfast stuff. The staff is friendly, accurate and efficient. I think Christie's is family-owned and run. If I'm wrong, I would guess the staff are really, really close friends. They always seem to know a lot of the customers and are in no rush to leave the restaurant even when their shift has ended. SO friendly in fact I was once asked by a waitress if I was pregnant due to my ordering of decaf coffee. Decaf coffee=Prego? W-H-A-T-E-V-E-R. No, I just don't want to have the shakes all day. But hey, thanks for asking.

The menu selection couldn't be better. A favorite of G's, the 'G special' as we call it is when the menu has a varied selection of items all rolled into one dish. For example, 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, side of toast and bacon for $7.95. Or 2 eggs, 1 french toast, home fries, and a side of bacon or sausage for $6.95. Get it? Good. As you can tell, we take breakfast pretty seriously. God forbid, I order pancakes and that's all. JUST pancakes? I mean that could ruin my whole day. Maybe not everyone will admit this statement, but I'm sure you are all aware that the key to a good breakfast is a little bit of ........well........Everything! You know you want a little bit of pancake to have something sweet, some sort of eggs: scrambled/sunnyside/over-easy/omelet, a mutitude of drinks, coffee/juice/water(who only gets one drink at breakfast?), toast, fruit, home fries, etc. The list is endless. Christie's is the perfect place to accomplish my goal of having a little bit of everything to start your day, or afternoon. Excellent menu selection, good value, well-cooked food and extreme portions are what makes this restaurant a great breakfast find. 4 out of 5 stars.

Christie's 245 California Dr, Burlingame, CA 94010

Mama's Royal Cafe

I have to laugh at the name of this restaurant. Mama's Royal Cafe. There is nothing "royal" about the look or location of this restaurant. We're talking breakfast, cash-only, in O-Town. However, I don't want any of you to get the wrong impression of this joint. It's one of the best breakfast places in the Bay-Area hands down. G has a theory on cash-only restaurants. If they are cash only- they are going to be good. He's right. In this day and age, if a restaurant can stay in business with a cash-only policy, you know it's going to be good. I feel a little uneasy using the adjective "no-frills" but it really seems to be the right fit to describe Mama's.

There's always a line outside Mama's well into the afternoon when the hard-core partiers from CAL show up. Mama's is prepared for these crowds with self-serve coffee adjacent to the hostess line. Mama knows even a touch of coffee will bide some time for the most impatient brunch-goer. I would love to say the cafe is reminiscent of a 50's or 60's burger joint, but really it just looks outdated. Period. There are some frames of random napkin art over one of the walls. If I remember correctly some of the booths have old jukeboxes in each of them. There are some colorful old-school aprons dressing the walls in the main dining room that look like they are aged circa 1969 or before- and a waitstaff to match. Worried you are looking haggard still sporting the same clothes from the night before? No worries, mate. I can almost guarantee you will be more stylish then the waitstaff. This doesn't mean they aren't good- the staff is usually quite quick and somewhat attentive. Just not that friendly. But, what do you care? It's just brunch.

Onto the food. I should mention this place is on the cheap side. You can get a full breakfast(coffee, juice, muffin, full omelette, side of home fries, side of whatever else you are craving that morning, etc.) for 2 people for around $20-$25. For the Bay-area, that's pretty good. The dish I always get is called, Veggie Jo. It's a yummy egg scramble with spinach, tomatoes, veggie-tofu sausages, onions and peppers. It's delicious! Comes with a side of toast (fresh acme bread made in Berkeley) and Mama's famous home potatoes, complete with spices and a dab of sour cream. Yum! G likes the California Omelette and the perfectly cooked blueberry pancakes. Mama's has a plethora of vegetarian selections, and many can be made into Vegan options. It's a good option if you have a hot vegetarian girlfriend you are trying to impress the morning after. There's a ton of other options on the menu, all that at the moment I can't recall. Don't worry about a lack of selection, they'll have what you want. To recap, it's tasty brunch food with large-sized portions at great prices. Mama's will set you right this weekend. 4 out of 5 stars. Expect a wait.

Mama's Royal Cafe 4012 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611-5618

Sushi Groove South

Sushi Groove South encompasses mood of San Francisco nightlife and dining all under one roof. Unless you are "in the know" you would probably walk by this inconspicuous giant iron-door entrance while clubbing it up in SoMa. I find the term "hidden-gem" over-used to describe excellent restaurants, but in this case, I will let it slide. SGS is definitely a true hidden-gem. For those who thought candle-lit dinners were saved for French restaurants on Valentine's day- be warned. SGS sports a wall of candles lighting the back area dining area. The atmosphere is really, cool. Sorry but there is no other way to put it. It's funky, unique, and eclectic. And I haven't even mentioned the sushi yet. The waitresses and waiters can and may bust into dance in the middle of the restaurant at any time. It's the kind of place you expect someone from say the land of Hollywood to walk into and order a saki-bomb at the bar. Anyone who's anyone knows you are going to get more bang for your buck if you sit right at the sushi bar, which is where G and I sat this past Friday night. Did I mention, there is a DJ behind the bar? Special props to the DJ who occasionally spins Groove Armada. Nice job, buddy.

OK. Onto what you have been waiting for.........The Sushi. I'm sure some of you are wondering, Honni=Sushi? Huh? Everyone who knows me knows I'm a vegetarian. And I do NOT eat fish(vegetarian wanna-be's beware, a true vegetarian does not eat fish, that would be a piscatarian to be exact). However for those who are possion-centric, yes, there is a wide selection of vegetarian sushi that is just waiting for people like me to consume. First we started off with some delicious miso-soup and edamame(see, vegetarian so far) and some Isen saki(also, vegetarian). Since G is so charming, he became friends with a few sushi chefs at the restaurant so he went through his usual spiel of 'do you have...(insert extremely exotic fish)....and 'what's that(pointing at various fishes in front of him).......I'll try that' in ordering directly from the sushi chef. And then the sweet boyfriend he is he always asks the sushi chef to make me an exotic vegetarian sushi dish so that I don't feel left out when everyone around me is ohh'ing and ahh'ing about whatever it is they are admiring on their plates. Did I mention this place is a goldmine for people-watching?

For starters, G had tako, maguro, hamachi, hen clam, and shiro maguro. If you want a more detailed description, you are going to have to ask him for the details as this is a foreign world to me. G said the shiro maguro was great that night. I had a few custom-made veggie maki, filled with asparagus tempura, avocado, shiitake mushroom and some other indescribable vegetables. As our sushi chef, Kenny continued to fill our plates with delectable rolls of this and that, G and I continued to try almost every sake on the menu. I do not recommend unfiltered sake, too sweet. I wish I could remember the names of them all but the last and final one we imbibed had the nick-name "Devil-minder" or something like that. As you can imagine, we didn't stay too much longer after we finished that one! While this wasn't the best meal we ever had at SGS, I would recommend it to all those who are seeking quality sushi in a trendy, upscale environment. So grab your friends, mates, co-workers, lovers, domestic-partners, whatever and hit the high-road to SoMa.

Eat. Drink. People Watch. Welcome to dining at Sushi Groove South. 4 out of 5 stars.

Sushi Groove South 1516 Folsom Street San Francisco, CA 94103

Sugar

Sugar Lounge is a nice addition to the recently transformed "hip" neighborhood of Hayes Valley. I remember only a few years ago that Hayes Valley was considered an OK neighborhood with emphasis on the close proximity of the ghetto down the street. Anyway, now In Style magazine is writing about Madonna and Courtney Cox shopping at the boutiques on Hayes. Boy have things changed! G and I stopped in for a quick drink at Sugar before the Laker game started and were pleasantly surprised. The decor is cute, girly with mauve walls and velvet pillows along the window seats near the bar entrance. G liked the creative, glass-blown lighting fixtures which were prominent on the walls.

We scored a place at the bar and each ordered a drink. G ordered the "009" Gin Martini while I opted for a nice glass of cab. The bar had a good amount of people, but was not too crowded to enjoy a nice chat with the person you are with or the people sitting near you. Oh wait, this is San Francisco and you are not supposed to talk with people unless you know them. This is what I have found to be my experience and I think most east coasters, especially Dean would agree with that statement.

A nice touch at the bar was that they had some free h'our derves for patrons which included brie and crackers, vegetables and dip and a few hot plates that were of an unknown origin(we didn't care to check). The bartender was friendly and attentive, but not too attentive, just the way I like service to be. There was a live DJ playing some vinyl in the corner-mostly ambient/downtempo beats which fit the mood and personality of the bar perfectly. There is a small room in the back of the bar, behind the bathrooms which could hold around 6 people and is very private. This spot would be great to play a board game or even just relax with a bunch of friends you have not seen in a while knowing that you will continue to get louder as the night goes on.

Overall I would rate this bar 4.5 stars out of 5. It's a nice place to grab a drink after work, on a date or a pre-dinner drink. The drink menu was creative and they had a nice "by-glass" wine selection that was classy yet not overwhelming to even the most uneducated wine connoisseur. Enjoy!

Sugar Lounge: 377 Hayes St.(cross is Gough) San Francisco, CA 94102