Charles & Marie

The $91 million Ivy Hotel in San Diego exemplifies modern living and epicurean delights at their best. To ensure that each guest steps out in high style, the hotel appoints drivers to escort you through the city in an enormous black Escalade styled with a strut grill and custom exhaust. Of course, odds are slim that you’ll actually want to leave the premises. Celebrity Chef Damon Gordon plates caviar tacos and lobster pot pie from The Quarter Kitchen, and imbibing reaches heightened levels on the Eden Rooftop, part of a four-level nightclub called Envy. On par with The Standard in Los Angeles or The Gansevoort in New York, this playground for well-heeled hedonists offers rooftop yoga classes by day and excruciatingly expensive bottle service at night.

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Naturally, the new Hardrock San Diego manages to pump up the volume on the ordinary. Following the format of existing locations in Malibu, New York, London, Las Vegas, and Miami, the hotel’s Nobu restaurant attracts a see-and-be-seen crowd. Post supper, this same set seeks out Moonstone Lounge and Sweetwater Saloon, brought to life by Cindy Crawford’s entrepreneur hubby Rande Gerber. The former boasts a stylish rooftop pool bar, private poolside cabanas, flat screen televisions, fire pits, and opium-colored beds; the latter sets the scene for watching a game in high style. Bar stools are adorned with white crocodile skin and private beer taps allow you to serve yourself without getting up.

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The Lafayette Park Hotel & Spa is shrouded in serenity, which makes the bar at Bistro At The Park a great place to unwind after work, or to gather with friends on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Regionally renowned for mouthwatering libations, bartenders serve up traditional martinis in regular or jumbo size glasses, with olives, tomolives, onions, twists or the works. Other must-trys include the Chocolate, Banana Bread, Espresso and Raspberry martinis. Insiders typically arrive before 6 p.m. to get dibs on the one and only fireside table for two (people generally like to linger here for hours once they sit down). Many of the other marble top tables are seated with canoodling couples on their way to catch a movie at the old-fashioned Park Theatre, or large groups of well-heeled women who make the bistro their after-dinner stomping grounds—a testament to the tantalizing tiramisu, crème brulee, seasonal fruit cobblers. As for dessert drinks? You can’t go wrong with Drambuie, Bailey’s Irish Cream Caramel or Courvoisier V.S.O.P.

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Levende East, a spin-off of Levende Lounge in San Francisco, thrives inside a Victorian-style building in the heart of up-and-coming Old Oakland Historic District. The kitchen plates precocious Cal-fusion cuisine (think coconut-miso soup and mini tuna burgers) that complements creative cocktails. The Remedy makes our most-wanted list. It’s made with muddled kumquats, orange bitters and Herbsaint liqueur, and so does The Dark and Stormy, made from Gosling’s black seal Bermuda black rum and Barritt’s Bermuda’s ginger beer. If plentiful and unfamiliar drink options make your head spin, play it safe with small-batch bourbons, specialty margaritas and an agave nectar-infused pisco sour with a float of peach bitters. Communal tables are fitting for large, lively groups and DJ-spun music—both house and hip hop—bounces off the restaurant’s brick walls on Fridays and Saturdays beginning at 10 p.m.

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Sigh. Until we find a way to tack on an extra hour to each day, we’re sipping on Mix1, a protein and antioxidant drink that helps us to tackle our never-ending to-do lists. The liquid balances complete nutrition, great flavor, and convenience. Chug it when you’re short on sleep, before or after your workout, when you’re feeling jet-lagged, or anytime you need a burst of energy.

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