The black stucco building at the corner of Valencia and 15th Streets resembles a hideaway, a speakeasy from the good old days. Its blackout shades and tinted windows reveal nothing. The only sign is a board above the door marked with a red circle surrounding a white star. Obscure and shadowy, this Mission neighborhood restaurant is the last place you’d expect to find a cozy nook. But on foggy nights in San Francisco when the door bursts open, allowing beams of light to flash and a cacophony of voices to cascade down the block, the Roaring Twenties come to life.

On the outside Little Star Pizza is cloaked in mystery; but inside you’ll find an openhearted atmosphere sparkling with unguarded laughter. Many couples come to this small haven after work to get a glass of wine and share a pie with friends. The exposed brick walls and dark wooden tables envelop customers in warm, earthy hues. Soft candlelight flickers against wine glasses and pale green olive oils, welcoming the hungry to partake liberally.

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Even in a city this laid back, there comes a time when every discerning San Franciscan needs to check out from the demands of modern life. If you’re looking for a place to rejuvenate, recharge and restore the soul, few places do this with more finesse than the International Orange Spa and Yoga Lounge in the heart of San Francisco.

At first you’ll wonder how a place intending to restore peace and calm could be situated on Fillmore Street, a location that teems with foot traffic around the exclusive boutiques and restaurants of its Pacific Heights neighborhood. Thanks to double glazed windows however, your climb up the carpeted stairs to the spa’s entrance on the second floor will transport you into a world of zen-like quiet, where minimalist décor of cream walls and wooden floors and gentle fragrances of scented candles and incense complete the calming effect.

Named after the hue of paint used on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, International Orange (IO) effortlessly embodies the best of Californian sophistication, and it’s not surprising to learn of its firm commitment to being eco-friendly. You won’t find any environmentally harming ingredients here, and most treatments use only natural organic ingredients including herbs, exotic flowers and natural enzymes.

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It was a cold day in January. The taxing holiday restaurant rush was behind me, and I needed a weekend sneak-away to find my center after that most frazzling time of year had subsided. A friend at Healdsburg’s Lambert Bridge Winery mentioned the vacant guest house. I had to summon massive inner strength to avoid sprinting to Healdsburg that very second. In high heels. From Texas.

Healdsburg is an extraordinarily charming small Sonoma town, home to many great restaurants, a handful of great bars (both wine bars and otherwise), and a population of characters as warm as they are memorable. The allure of margaritas at the small bar inside Ravenous, or shuffle board at John & Zeke’s, are strong pulls indeed, but at the end of my stay it took both a village and wild horses (again summoned from within) to tear me away from the inviting guest cottage at Lambert Bridge.

About a mile away from the storybook Dry Creek General Store (best sunset beers in Sonoma, FYI), the LBW cottage is perched at the back of a vineyard just off the gently winding Lambert Bridge road. My arrival at the cottage was the spiritual equivalent of really good foot massage. The front room is outfitted with a cozy small couch, two reading chairs, windows looking out across the vineyard, and the ultimate factor in any seriously relaxing sneak-away: a fireplace. More relaxation beckoned from the huge front porch; overlooking vines just steps away, and bathed in sunlight. I took to bundling up and sitting out in the starry darkness of the night’s wee hours, listening to absolute silence occasionally broken by chirpy bugs, faraway wolves, and mystery creatures snapping fallen twigs from the trees behind the cottage.

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You know they’ve hit a winning formula in a city saturated with restaurants when the new kid on the block has lines out the door every night from the moment it opened three months ago. The new kid in question is SPQR, a back-to-basics Italian eatery recently opened by dynamite city chef duo Nate Appleman and Daniel Holzman. Appleman and Holzman are the brains behind the Marina District’s established favorite A16, and so discerning foodies regarded with interest this new venture that has opened in the gentrified but slightly less pretentious Pacific Heights. The pair must be breathing a sigh of relief, as despite the pressure, they have struck gold again. The secret? Simple Italian fare, quality ingredients and unusual flavor pairings all served amid an unpretentious setting.

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To stay at Auberge du Soleil, the Inn of the Sun, one must suspend certain disbeliefs and succumb to the whimsical feeling its name implies. If so willing, and provided they have availability, you will be immersed in an amazing resort experience in the heart of Napa Valley Wine Country.

My companion and I stayed in a hillside view “Maison Room” at Auberge, commonly regarded as the absolute best accommodations in the Napa region. Due to its name recognition alone, I believe we were even given extra pours at a number of wineries during our tasting tour.

It didn’t take long to realize Auberge du Soleil is truly a full service resort. Upon checking in, a nice young man loaded our bags onto a golf cart and whisked us down a series of trails through the winding olive grove to our room, promising to deliver upon any request. I often make similar assurances to varying degrees of success, my companion noted. You would be hard pressed to find any individual who stacked up favorably to the team of service professionals at Auberge, a member of Relais & Châteaux, the most prestigious collection of small luxury hotels and restaurants in the world.

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Order a scotch and water in any pub, and you will more than likely receive a blended whisky. But the true scotch connoisseur will always ask for a single malt, neat, or with a little water. For most scotch drinkers, single malts are the superiors of all scotch whiskies. There are tips and tricks to the distillation process and in the different regions of Scotland produce scotch with its own distinctive flavor and character.

Single malts are distilled from a mixture of water, yeast, and malted barley. Blended whiskies, on the other hand, will combine a single malt with other grain whiskies made from corn, barley, wheat, or malted barley. According to Kristina Sutter, Master of Whisky and On-Premise Rep for Diageo Brands, blended scotch can be up to fifty-percent single malt. A bottle of single malt will also always come from one single distillery. However, ninety percent of all whisky made in Scotland is used for blends.

Water is the one single ingredient that gives each single malt its distinctive character. Water sources differ on the amount of peat, granite, and heather they contain. These factors come together to give each scotch its own uniqueness and flavor.

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If the quality of a restaurant could be judged solely on the attractiveness of its clientele, then Bacaro — the newest New York City project from Frank De Carlo, owner of trendy and acclaimed Soho-area Peasant — would receive three stars. On a Thursday night in late December, a random survey of the restaurant revealed: a Rebecca Romijn look-alike and her equally drop-dead gorgeous friend, dining with their husbands and looking very unhappy to be so very far outside the comfortable confines of the upper East side; two investment-banker-types, sharing a bottle of wine and discussing iPhone technology in adorable British accents; one beautiful young Japanese performance artist and her fifty-year-old “benefactor”; a baby-faced restaurateur having vintage champagne at the bar, and looking distressed by the confusion of the service. In other words, the crème de la crème of New York’s trend-seekers, signifying that Bacaro has assumed destination status in the short time that it has been open.

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In the 18ème arrondissement, the bohemian lifestyle, gritty side streets, and crowded souvenir shops meld into the unique experience that is Montmartre. Since the international success of the movie Amélie, the neighborhood has become increasingly popular for tourists, which makes it increasingly difficult to find a good place to eat. Fortunately, if you follow the locals along the wandering Rue des Abesses, still under the cool white gaze of the Sacré Coeur yet somewhat removed from the rows of souvenir shops, you will stumble upon La Mascotte. This lively neighborhood bar opened in 1889, the same year as the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge.

The classic brasserie first appears to be a fish market due to an outdoor cart heaped high with oysters, clams, and other seafood. In actuality, this is the take-away cart, and the source of La Mascotte’s specialty — a sensuous array of shellfish piled high on a round platter. By early evening, the brightly-lit bar is swarming with colorful locals, who all appear to know each other. A wide variety of aperitifs, wines, and liqueurs is available, along with small plates of oysters or charcuterie. The regulars drink and regale for hours before drifting back to the dining room for dinner no earlier than 8:00 p.m. Depending on your French skills and your tolerance for cigarette smoke, you may enjoy spending an hour or two sidling up to the bar to catch up on the latest neighborhood gossip.

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The exterior of Chapeau! is so unassuming and humble, marked only by a hand-written sign and white drapes, that you will probably circle around the block a few times before stumbling upon the restaurant. Likewise, the interior has little aesthetically to offer guests, with unadorned yellow walls and tables crammed on top of one another.

But, in spite of the restaurant’s inconvenient locale and nondescript decor, Chapeau! is packed nightly and with good reason. The restaurant’s loyal patrons, including noted industry folks, come here night after night to experience the European sense of hospitality and the lovingly crafted French bistro fare from Chef Phillipe Gardelle.

Upon our arrival, Chef Gardelle kissed me on both cheeks and gave my guest a hearty handshake, as if we were old friends from his native France, as opposed to first-time guests. Given the restaurant’s miniscule confines in which you bump elbows with the diner at the table next to you and hear the din of laughter in the air, I felt as if I had dropped by a friend’s intimate dinner party.

Leisurely yet attentive, service is similar to what you would find in a Parisian café. Guests never feel rushed and can linger as long as they desire, yet the glasses of wine and baskets of warm, flaky French bread always remain full.

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Italy’s food is a gateway to the soul of the nation: its passion, palate, and generosity. Tuscany is a destination for lovers of art, cuisine, and wine; because of this it is often highly populated with throngs of tourists. Begging the question, where to dine for the more adventurous traveler craving authenticity? It is for these travelers that I recommend Il Barco Reale. Perched into a gently sloping hill in the central piazza in Carmignano the restaurant steps out of a dreamscape and offers Italian locals and travelers alike authentic, elegant, and beautiful food. For the travelers who allow themselves the joy of exploring the hills and the regions of Chianti and neighboring Parmigiano, they’ll find the journey visually and gastronomically exquisite. Carmignano thrives on sharing its regional wine and food and Il Barco Reale provides an ideal venue in which to sample these.

The restaurant doors open on the Piazza Vittorio Emmanuelle, and the smells emanating from the kitchen alert even the most casual passerby to the trattoria. Named after a Medici estate, Il Barco Reale is owned and operated by a Florentine family, the Ragueis. The restaurant celebrates the traditional food of Tuscany with meals that are influenced by centuries of tradition. The pleasure the Ragueis take in preparing meals, and their desire to share their knowledge of this food is palpable. Should you be lucky enough to find yourself as the last guest of the evening you may have the pleasure of sharing a glass of Carmignano wine with them while they give you a social history lesson on each of your courses.

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