Where's the juice?

Tonight's blogging soundtrack is brought to you by Prince Royce. I so love his self titled album. I first listened to it on a flight and fell in love with it. It contains beautiful songs and even if you don't understand Spanish, the melodies are beautiful.

So, when I finally decided that a juice cleanse was not going to hinder my travel lifestyle, I came up with the brilliant idea of finding juice bars in every city I travelled to and featuring them on my blog. The tag line "Where's the juice?" seemed so appropriate that I began dreaming of pitching it as a show on FoodTV and maybe even a guest feature on morning shows world wide or on the Travel Channel! Remember what I said about my imagination? While I work on developing those ideas further, for now we shall stick with blogging about my experiences so far.
Before I visit any city or stay at any hotel, I always check Trip Advisor. If Trip Advisor says no, I won't go and it has not failed me yet! The first trip on my cleanse was to Puerto Rico where I spent 2 days and after a day of walking around Old San Juan I finally broke down and got some broth from a random restaurant which was not very good. To be quite honest, I did not make a good enough effort for me to say that juice bars are scarce in San Juan. This was still early in my cleanse and I was too impatient and irritated to do an adequate search. Therefore, I owe San Juan another visit to figure out, Where's the juice?
The next city I visited was San Francisco and well over a month into my juice cleanse. I underestimated the weather in San Francisco in February and so the cold took me by surprise. My first "meal" in San Francisco was some soup from the San Francisco Soup Company. Now let me stop here and address a question some of you might have. Technically a juice cleanse entails consuming nothing but freshly made fruit and vegetable juices and if needed simple broths. However, to each her own, and that is what I did during mine. I had walked over 20 blocks trying to find my hotel, was poorly dressed for the weather hence freezing and consuming cold juice was not going to cut it! So I drank some soup. I got a small because I must admit I did feel a little guilty about consuming something besides juice during a cleanse. However, The San Francisco Soup Company menu features Organic, Vegetarian, Vegan etc options, source locally, care about sustainability and that is a plus in my book. I choose the Organic Tomato Bisque as it was a smooth soup and would be gentle on my stomach's hibernating system. Maybe I was hungry from that mini marathon around the city but the soup tasted heavenly. It was smooth and perfectly balanced. The San Francisco Soup Company is definitely on my gastronomical rotation when next I visit San Francisco.

The next day, I started off the day with an 8 oz serving of Odwalla juice, proceeded to cross the Golden Gate bridge, and walked from Fisherman's Wharf to Castro Street with a detour by Lombard Street. By the time I got to Castro it was night and while I was not necessarily hungry, I knew that my body needed sustenance. It seemed like fate that I stumbled upon Frapez Smoothie Spa.

 One minute I was walking down a dimly lit street and the next thing I know I am looking into a shop with wheat grass on the counter. I almost ran myself over trying to get into the store. The cashier was very knowledgeable and helpful. Upon his recommendation, I decided to try a concoction called Spring which contained Beets, Spirulina, Chlorella, Green Apples, Wheatgrass juice, Plum, Limes.

I love tangy/sweet combos and this juice hit the spot. I am barely able to drink the 16 oz of juice I take to work with me for the day but I sat down then and there and drank every last bit of that juice! It was delicious, refreshing, filling, everything juice should be. What pleased me the most about this experience was that this is a real juice bar.

I could see the Omega juicer, the Vitamix and the fresh fruits and vegetables hanging out in the background. There were no cans or frozen fruit in bags, just freshness everywhere! Frapez is a must if you are a juicer visiting San Francisco because after your visit you won't have to ask, Where's the juice?











Where's the juice was brought to you today by the San Francisco Soup Kitchen and Frapez Smoothie Spa even though they have not compensated me for this review and I paid for all their products I consumed.