Connie "Miss Silicon Valley Yelp" C.'s Profile

Fall means the return of one of my favorite flavors: pumpkin! If you're a fan, you'll love Jamba Juice's Pumpkin Smash. It's truly like drinking pumpkin pie.

My guy was able to peep the ingredients while they were blending one up, and now we make it at home. But when I'm taking a stroll in Downtown Willow Glen (or just feeling lazy), I'll grab a sixteen ouncer from here.

Try it, and I'm sure you'll fall for pumpkin too!

It's easy to overlook Ginger Cafe. You'd never think such a nice looking place exists in a small strip mall in Sunnyvale. It reminds me of PF Chang's, but with more Thai and Vietnamese influences in the food. In fact, there's a PF Chang's across the street. But if I were to choose between the two, I'd definitely come here. Gotta support local businesses!

I've only been here for lunch, but their lunch specials are the way to go - for less than $10, you can choose from a variety of dishes, which comes with soup of the day and rice. The portions are really big, so it's definitely enough for two meals. The egg drop corn soup was a tad too starchy, but flavors were good. I got the basil chicken, which was a very tasty stir-fry dish that came with a lot of shiitake mushrooms - my fave!

I also had the calamari and shrimp, cleverly served in shrimp chips (such a great idea for hors d' oeuvres to make at home). The seafood was very fresh, and the presentation was lovely. I also really enjoyed the Vietnamese ice coffee, which was not too sweet.

Since I was dining solo, I sat at the bar, where the staff was super friendly and very attentive. While this is not a super authentic Southeast Asian restaurant, I still enjoyed the food!

Can Justin Timberlake bring sexy back to SJ? Well, he's definitely trying by opening a William Rast store at Valley Fair. For those of you who don't know, WR is JT's denim line, but don't let that deter you if you're not a fan of the guy. It's one of only two full-priced retail shops (the other one is in Century City), and it just opened two weeks ago.

The store is laid out for easy shopping. Ladies are on the right, and mens are on the wrong, I mean, left. Jeans are displayed from skinniest to widest with various washes. There's something for every body type. My favorites are the Jerri ultra skinny and Sadie straight leg in the Dark Betty wash. The Jerri is like a second skin jean, and the denim is super soft. I also love the jackets here. Most of them have a rocker-chic or military style, which looks super hot paired with one of their flowy silk tanks and a pair of skinny jeans.

You'll get personalized service here (if they're not super busy), which is great because they're happy to show you every style they think will look good on you without you having to step out of the fitting room. It's pretty smart on their part, because they'll bring you something you might not have thought to pick out yourself and you might just love it even more.

So, yes, I think maybe if everyone checks out this store and walks out with a hot purchase, we may just be able to bring sexy back to San Jose. Maybe.

Friday the 13th started out terribly, but ended up great, thanks to Midi. We arrived 15 minutes before our reservations, and decided to grab a seat at the bar and order some much needed cocktails. I had the Pomegranate Metro, which was like a refreshing Sweet Tart, and my girlfriend had her usual, a Grey Goose martini, which was made perfectly. The bartenders were friendly and gave us recommendations on the food menu. Already, our Freaky Friday was taking a turn for the better.

When it was time for dinner, we headed upstairs to the intimate and sleek dining room. We were seated at the corner table by the window, which was the best seat in the house. Three items caught our eyes, so we decided to share the pear and endive salad to start, the butternut squash ravioli and the braised pork short ribs.

They were nice enough to split the salad onto two plates, and the portions were still good. I loved the candied hazelnut vinaigrette and  blue cheese on the salad. My short ribs were very tasty, especially the fatty parts near the bone. The ravioli was delicious, but for $20, we were expecting more than just four ravs.

Service was fantastic from everyone who attended to us, and the mellow atmosphere was perfect for girl bonding time. I definitely plan on coming back for drinks, their chocolate pot de creme, and their lunch menu. They also have a private dining room, and someone was having a party in while we were there. I'll definitely consider it for a private party in the future.

Thanks Midi, for saving us from a midi-ocre night out in SF!

Two of my favorite things about Westin hotels:
1.) The white tea fragrance that's pumped through the vents makes you feel like you're in a luxurious spa.
2.) The Heavenly Bed. I've actually considered ordering one of these for my own home.

This particular location is ideal for business travelers because of its central location downtown, and for me and a girlfriend, as a crash pad. I got a very reasonable rate from http://Expedia.com just three days before. Our spacious room was on the 17th floor, and had a great view of the city. The only issue was that we had a room right next to the elevators, so it sounded like we were next to a roller coaster. Thank goodness for the Heavenly Bed, otherwise I wouldn't have slept like a baby.

Valet parking at the hotel is over $50/day, so if you need to park overnight, there's $20 parking for 24 hours across the street at the Hearst Parking Structure by CPK.

My guy surprised me with a night out at Teatro Zinzanni for my birthday (for him, five sexy stars!). It's awesome that we even have a cabaret/cirque like this in San Francisco. The historic tent is beautifully constructed, and the vibe is very Parisian. It's actually quite small, and while we did get prime seats front and center, you'll have a good seat no matter where you are. Since we did sit up right in the center, we did get picked on a few times to participate in the show, which was fun.

While I've been to Cirque du Soleil shows, and most recently, seen the China National Acrobatic Troupe perform, this show is really nothing like any of them. I think I always had this expectation that it would be more of an acrobatic show, but it wasn't, so I was a bit disappointed. There were lots of comedy skits and musical acts, and only maybe three acrobatic performances. While I was amazed by the acrobats, they were not quite at the caliber of Cirque performers. Actually, one of the trapeze artists fell (thankfully, she landed on a safety mat). And because the tent is quite small, they are limited to movement. Still, it was an entertaining variety show. I'd say you could compare it to a dinner show at Supperclub, but with a lot more acts. Even then, you can do Supperclub for 1/3 of the price of one ticket here.

They say you're not supposed to expect good food at a cabaret, but the food was rather good. It was a five course meal, which was spread out over the three hours. Again, it was pretty similar to what you would get at Supperclub.

I'd recommend coming here if you're celebrating a special occasion and looking for something that's truly unique in SF. Prices vary and can be pretty steep, depending on what day you go, and where you want to sit. It can start at $117 and go up to $195 plus fees per person. This doesn't include drinks. So, make sure you go with someone who will appreciate you for it!

I think the key to a solid five star experience here would be if:
1.) You can read and speak Japanese.
2.) You go with someone who has been here multiple times already.
3.) You are a Japanese businessman.

Unfortunately, I had none of those going for me last night. That's not to say I didn't have a truly wonderful time on our double date. The ambiance was nice, the service was very attentive and fast (our hot tea must have been refilled 10+ times), and the food was very authentic.

The trouble with me and izakayas is that the menu might as well be completely in Japanese, because I have no idea what to order. Well, thank goodness for Yelp and FB mobile, because at least I can go with other people's suggestions. We tried to ask our server, who didn't seem to know too much English, what the most popular dishes were. She was able to suggest a few, but we pretty much ended up closing our eyes and pointing on the menu to make our selections.

Between the four of us, we shared seven dishes. Remember, this is tapas style, so we actually could have done at least two more. However, it seemed to be just enough, and a good variety. On our table:
*hamachi sashimi - 9 thick cuts of very fresh hamachi
*grilled hamachi kama - this is the meat on the fish's neck. very meaty and nice light grilled flavor
*creamy scallop croquette - 3 medium sized croquettes with a very delicious creamy scallop filling
*enoki mushrooms wrapped in bacon - comes 2 in an order, so get 2 orders for 4 people. Bacon wrapped anything is awesome in my book.
*grilled pork belly and spinach salad - very tasty vinaigrette dressing with a good amount of thinly sliced grilled pork. I was expecting it to be braised, which I would have liked even more.
*pen clam in butter - served in a large clam shell, with a delicious buttery sauce.
*seafood fried rice in a stone bowl - like a chirashi bowl but bi bim bap style with a poached egg to mix into the rice in a hot stone bowl.

Everything was served very quickly, very simple, but done very well. Generally, the flavors were light and delicate. I think I would've liked to get something spicy, like the oyster & clam spicy hot pot which was one of the recommendations.

Our bill came out to $72, which was very reasonable for 4 people. I definitely want to go back again. So, if you're Japanese speaking or have been here several times, let me know if you'd like to accompany me!

I think there are about ten froyo shops within a quarter mile radius from my work, and today, one more popped up! Tuttimelon opened up a new location in SOMA, and lucky for me, I got a full sized froyo and samples of gelato for free during their grand opening event.

Tuttimelon has six self-swirl flavors and about 24 gelato flavors to indulge in. Today, I went a little crazy with flavors and toppings. I went fro four of the six froyo flavors (pomegranate tart, mango tart, blueberry tart and pumpkin) and topped it with mango jelly (star-shaped), lychee, strawberry, mochi and pomegranate seeds. I loved the variety of toppings they offer. I'd never seen mango jelly and pomegranate seeds offered anywhere else. The froyo was only ok. I think because of the free event, the machines were getting over-worked. Many of the flavors came out runny and soft.

However, the gelato was truly tuttilicious! While they were only giving out samples for free, they were very generous with how many samples you could try. I probably ended up having half a cup in samples. The coconut almond joy, bavarian mint, pumpkin gelato and blackberry cabernet sorbet were all amazing. I'd probably come back just to get their gelato.

This part of SOMA is kind of weird, as most stores in the neighborhood close on the weekends and aren't open very late. But I think they'll do well with the work week crowd, and it helps that Academy of Art is right across the street.

Patience, young chapulin... Actually, you probably want to eat those little suckers quickly. Yes, I'm talking about fried grasshoppers, the delicacy here. They go down easier if you don't look at it before you pop it into your mouth. Even easier, plop one on a chip and then dip it into some guac. You won't even notice that you're munching on a toasted insect.

If you're not so adventurous, Mezcal serves up a variety of Oaxacan specialties. Mole is a predominant sauce used in the dishes. In fact, instead of getting chips with salsa, you get chips with three types of mole. I enjoyed the quesadillas, molotes and Oaxacan style enchiladas. You have to remember that the flavors are not your typical Mexican ones, otherwise your tastebuds will be in for a surprise.

I loved their special Horchata with prickly pear and crushed pecans. So refreshing, and such a pretty drink! It makes regular Mexican Horchata pale in comparison.

Service was awesome while we were there. I suggest asking your server for recommendations if you're not sure what to order. You won't find tacos and burritos here.

And btw, if you do end up getting the chapulines and have leftovers, take them to go. You can play an awesome prank on someone at home by putting it in their food. It will freak them out!

I walked by Fleurish and to my dismay, I saw the sign that they're closing up shop! :(

I'm sorry to see that Fleurish did not fleurish.... this has been my favorite place to shop for cute and unique gifts. It's where our "We heart Willow Glen" sign came from. It's terrible that this horrid economy has taken away another gem from Downtown WG.

Try to stop in to support this local business one last time. Everything is 30% off right now, including Christmas decor.