Tables for Two in Time for Valentine's Day

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (MainStreet) -- Sometimes a Valentine's Day meal can feel like a forced exercise in romance, from restaurants decorated in over-the-top cupid themes to melodramatic menus for two that even the most loved-up couples can find hard to swallow. The secret to a successful romantic dinner for two is in the subtleties, and finding a restaurant with a captivating decor and worthy chef that will likely be far more memorable experiences than the usual prix fixe feasts so often served Feb. 14.

San Francisco is one of the country's most romantic cities and has a foodie pedigree rivaled by none. While eateries such as Atelier Crenn and the new Parallel 37 at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco continue to grab headlines, AQ Restaurant & Bar is on a less glittery strip of Mission where lovers holding hands clutch just a little tighter come nightfall.

AQ Restaurant & Bar in San Francisco features innovative cooking and a stunning interior with exposed brick walls, lofty ceilings and design elements that rotate by season.

Installed within a 100-year-old building once belonging to the city, its harder urban elements outside yield to a stunning interior space defined by exposed brick walls and lofty ceiling with design elements that rotate by season. Its acronym name refers to "as quoted" -- restaurant lingo for dishes so fresh prices can't be pinned down when the menu is printed. Expect well-priced dishes such as slow-cooked beef cheek with bone marrow and duck aged on the bone with beetroot and fennel by chef/owner Mark Lieberman. Valentine's Day offers a special "Love & Passion" prix fixe menu (with a vegetarian supplement) at $65 per person.

An hour's drive from San Francisco into Napa yields even more restaurant choices, from Cyrus to the acclaimed Madrona Manor. A more casual but charming aesthetic can be found at Bottega, located in Yountville, within one of Napa's oldest wineries. The dining rooms ooze a Tuscan farmhouse flair with beam ceilings, earthy color palette and seven-foot arched windows leading to a stunning terrace with open hearth and lounge seating. A lunch and dinner service by Chef Michael Chiarello justifies its numerous press accolades with a seasonal menu of caramelized Brussels sprout salad with toasted Marcona almonds, rigatoni with braised Sonoma rabbit and smoked short ribs that fall from the bone over a bed of mustard spaetzle.