fifth floor

If it's really true that 70 percent of women and men expect to get hot and heavy tonight, then dinner should have one mission: to make the two of you swoon. We've offered the lowdown on healthy foods that'll stimulate sex drives — but what foods do chefs put on the menu to help you get in the mood?

To find out, we turned to David Bazirgan, who's no stranger to sexy meals. As the executive chef at San Francisco's Fifth Floor Restaurant, he helps to set the standard for the city's relaxed fine dining atmosphere. To check out some of the ingredients that he elects to use on his Valentine's Day menus — and to hear what he calls the most "underrated" aphrodisiac, read more.

Not only did he reveal his favorite aphrodisiacs, but handsome chef David Bazirgan, of the Fifth Floor Restaurant, also shared his recipe for oyster chowder! With its creamy, velvety broth and chunks of plump oysters and soft potatoes, this chowder is to die for. At Fifth Floor, the chef serves it in a shot glass as part of an appetizer that features oysters five ways. When offering it at home as a seductive starter or entrée, I recommend reducing the amount of half and half. His recipe calls for a soup base that's entirely half and half, but that's a bit rich, so I cut it with chicken broth. The resulting chowder is briny, bacony, and brilliantly delicious. For easy-shucking, soak the oysters in water. Ready for the recipe? Read on.

One of the highlights of the SF Chefs festival was a special lunch hosted by Kendall Jackson at the Fifth Floor. The winery invited some of the Bay Area's top sommeliers, like Shelley Lindgren of SPQR and A16, to enjoy the meal. Each sommelier sat at a different table and led us diners through the five-course meal. It was informative but fun, and I loved hearing about how my master sommelier, Jesse Becker, got his start.

To take a look at the food and the wine, browse my photos after the jump.

A couple of weeks ago I attended a cocktail pairing dinner hosted by Plymouth gin. Since the pairing of cocktails and food is a growing trend, I wasn't surprised when I was invited to another dinner. This time the spirit of choice was Pernod Absinthe and the evening was an exciting cocktail crawl. We started at Comstock Saloon — a highly anticipated new bar that has yet to open! — and moved on to the Fifth Floor. There, bar master Steven Liles served three stellar drinks paired with three amazing courses. After that the night finished at the famed tiki bar Smuggler's Cove.

To take a closer look at the cocktails and see the fabulous vintage cars that drove the group from location to location, check out my images after the break.

On Tuesday night I was lucky enough to be among a select group of Nirvino users to attend a special tasting at San Francisco's Fifth Floor. The restaurant recently launched an old-fashioned tableside bar service in which the bartender, spirits extraordinaire and all-around amazing guy Steven Liles, prepares drinks at your table. The 1950s-style wooden cart is stocked with all the necessary tools to create beautiful and delicious cocktails. While at our table, Liles stirred classic gin martinis and chatted about the history of the cart. He's a seasoned pro who can tell when the concoction is ready simply by touch, but for home bartenders, he recommends 20 stirs to the right and 20 stirs to the left. Since my preferred gin for a martini is Plymouth, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Beefeater one — it was perfectly balanced. To get his recipe for the classic cocktail, read more