Did you know San Francisco's Chinese New Year Parade is "the largest celebration of Asian culture outside of Asia"? Well that's what its handy website is saying. Superlative statements aside, it's always fun to hit the streets for glimpses of the 250 foot Golden Dragon and Miss Chinatown U.S.A.—in doses. This year, we'll be there, but not without several "breaks" for respite from the jam-packed street, a drink, or a delicious bite along the way. Make the parade your excuse to follow our crowd-dodging itinerary. 

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Happy Beer Week! SF's craft beer community has had a big year, with the recent launch of Southern Pacific Brewing (the city's first new brewery in over a decade), and huge community support for up-and-coming suds superstars like Almanac, Local Brewing Co., and Pacific Brewing Laboratory. As usual, the SF Brewers' Guild and their counterparts around the Bay have put together a dizzying lineup of 300-plus events at over 140 venues that are sure to please the palates of both seasoned drinkers and beer neophytes. With ten days of wall-to-wall good drinking, it was hard to choose just a few events to highlight, but these six seemed particularly appealing.

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Friday, Feb. 10

Cafe Prague is throwing a free pre-Valentine's Day block party to kick of the weekend in the FiDi. They're taking over Merchant Alley with beer, sausages and sauerkraut. Ladies can enjoy $3 pints from 4-7 pm, while the first 40 guys will receive vouchers for $2 off pints and 1/2 pints of Staropramen beer. DJ Doctor will be on the turntables to keep the mood going.

Saturday, Feb. 11

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1. O3 Bistro & Lounge Launches Cocktail Menu: The Ozone Thai empire has added a third, more upscale restaurant to its lineup, appropriately named O3. The focus here is more Asian-fusion than Thai, with bar bites like braised oxtail tacos and a miso Caesar salad, and drinks like a wasabi Bloody Mary or the Far East Capirinha ($12), a mixture of rum, sake, lychee puree, chili, and lemongrass, topped with vanilla, lemon juice, and champagne. The upscale atmosphere makes it a nice stop before or after a show in the Civic Center area. (Monday-Wednesday, 11 am-11 pm, Thursday-Saturday, 11 am-2 am, 524 Van Ness Ave., Civic Center.)

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Poor chocolate. Every February it suffers at the well intentioned but ultimately misguided hand of romance. While sparkling wine and chocolate are two of life’s greatest pleasures, enjoying them together, unfortunately, is anything but pleasurable. The reason? Most Champagne and sparkling wine is dry or nearly dry and most chocolate is, well, sweet. To rescue both of them from this annual massacre, we offer this year’s Valentine’s Day Pairing Guide—for every kind of love.

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An avalanche of your votes surged in to crown the winner of our Valentine Dinner, Drinks and Dreamtime contest with St-Germain. The lucky gal who's taking home the awesome prize of a lavish night on the town is Miss Abigail B., whose "Love Is" entry grabbed the most votes. Congratulations, Abigail!

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Although Bay Area Japanese noodle connoisseurs have long insisted you need to go to the South Bay for great ramen, the popular comfort food is beginning to develop a legion of followers here in San Francisco. Identified by a rich broth—milky with emulsified fat—and long, springy alkaline noodles, there are textbook bowls of ramen to be found from the Marina to the Outer Sunset. Here's where to go when the craving hits. 

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At one of the city’s most revered coffee temples, the design is like a beautiful third-wave film set. From soaring ceilings with skylights, hazy sheaths of light illuminate exposed wood, cement floors, and sheet metal. A guy with tattoo sleeves listens for the crack of the coffee beans roasting in the vintage Probat, and a barista in black-framed glasses and a checkered flannel mans the Slayer espresso machine. From a vintage turntable, Van Morrison belts out G-L-O-R-I-A, yet the room has a sobering tenor of importance.

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The best thing I ate this week was not the caramel corn–chocolate chip cookie at Cento (360 Ritch at Brannan St.), which is located right next to Little Skillet. The cookie—which sounded so great in theory—wasn't so good in reality. What was better was the thick as mud Americano I had while sitting in the sun on the loading docks across from the little coffee takeout window. I wish, however, I'd paired it with the mint ice cream sandwiches that one Yelper raves about. Next time.

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At the end of 2011, Neil Jorgensen's lease forced him to close Spork, only to turn around a week later to open Rice Broker in its place. The deal is that the space's landlord is set to demolish the building next year, but until then, Jorgensen will be in the kitchen at the helm of his new Asian pop-up concept.

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