1. JUST DINNER

Nola's

If dinner is on the menu for date night, book a reservation at Nola Restaurant & Bar, featuring a tasty New Orleans-influenced cuisine with creole, cajun and southwestern dishes. For a little special something, order the skirt steak or the popular gumbo. Nola recently underwent a historic remodeling, so check out the new bar and lounge. Don't forget Happy Hour! Nola's is from 3 to 6 p.m., Mon.-Fri., featuring $6 cocktails, $4 well drinks. Find it at: 535 Ramona Street in Palo Alto. Cost: $$

2. FREE ART

Cantor Arts Center

For an afternoon or early evening date, check out Stanford University's very own museum, the Cantor Arts Center. See displays from all over the world, spanning 4,000 years of art history. The best part about this date destination--it's free! Cantor offers constantly changing exhibitions, tours, classes and special events. Find it at: Lomita Dr & Museum Way, Stanford. Hours: Wed - Sun, 11am - 5pm; Thu, 11am - 8 pm; Mon, Tue, closed. Cost: Free

3. WINOS ONLY

The Wine Room

For those fermented grape-lovers among us, toast your date with a glass of Napa or Sonoma Valley wine at The Wine Room in downtown Palo Alto. This beautiful Spanish-adobe structure is a cozy fit on the inside, its candlelit back room providing for an intimidate date setting. Check out their menu of paired foods, such as the cheese platter or Mascarpone-filled dates--but make sure to eat dinner beforehand! Find it at: 520 Ramona St, Palo Alto. Cost: Wines by the glass, $8-$15.

4. MOVIE BUFFS

The Stanford Theatre

Take your date back to the good 'ol days with a traditional date at The Stanford Theatre, a classic movie house with a Wurlitzer organ that plays before and after the 7:30 p.m. showings, as well as at intermissions. This weekend's movies: Dial M for Murder (1954) at
7:30 p.m. (plus 3:30 Sat/Sun); Shadow of a Doubt (1943) at 5:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. Find it at: 221 University Ave., Palo Alto. Cost: Adults: $7; Seniors (65 and over): $5; Youth (18 and under): $5.

5. AIR & SUNSHINE

Matadero Trail

If traveling off the beaten trail is more your thing, check out Stanford's Matadero Trail, which just opening this past May. The trail, whic connects Page Mill Road and Foothill Expressway to Arastradero Road, offers beautiful views of the San Francisco Bay through the foothills. Bring your bikes for the paved trail, or hike through the wildflowers beneath your feet up to the top for a view of Stanford University below. Find it at: the southeast corner of Page Mill Road and Foothill Expressway and alongside Page Mill to Deer Creek Road. Cost: Free!

Andronico's market, a high-end grocery store that's been a fixture at Stanford Shopping Center for the past two decades, will close its doors July 24.

The "rough decision" to close the Palo Alto location came as the family-owned business works through a recapitalization with an unnamed equity partner, a spokeswoman said.

Employees said they were told of the closure Friday.

Around opening time Monday morning it appeared to be business as usual, with freshly stocked shelves of bread, cheese and baked goods.

"We're hoping to stabilize and strengthen the company long-term" through the current reorganization, Diane Krebs, the company's operations administrator, said Monday (July 18).

Signs on the store windows touted big discounts through the July 24 closing, and referred customers to the Andronico's in Los Altos's Rancho Shopping Center in the future.

Andronico's was founded in Berkeley in 1929 by Greek immigrant Frank Andronico, and is currently operated by Bill Andronico.

Was looking for something new to go out for dinner and ran into a list of "Best Of" restaurants in Palo Alto (titled "Fantastic Fork"). We know most of the places an like their food but there is also a set of 8 pictures of the restaurant owners/workers on the page. Do have a look.

Weekly readers were the casting directors for this year's Best Of issue.

You picked which Palo Alto-area businesses would star here, whether the hands-of-steel chiropractor suitable for getting ailing action heroes back on their feet or the swooniest romantic restaurant for that first-date scene. They're getting their Best Of props based on your votes.

As always, we've found the local favorites in the areas of restaurants, food and drink, retail and services. This year, we also added a few new categories: best dentist, fitness classes, personal trainer/fitness program, travel agency (a Golden Globe winner?), art gallery and barbecue restaurant.

The California Department of Health is advising residents who purchased two lots of recalled baby spinach to throw the products away because they could be contaminated with E. coli.

Manufacturer Ready Pac Foods, Inc. is recalling the spinach, which was produced and distributed in California, Oregon and Arizona between June 21 and 27.

E. coli was found in routine surveillance samples, but no illnesses have been linked to the product, the health department said.

The spinach is sold in 6-ounce packages, and recalled lots are best if used by July 4 and July 8, respectively. The lot numbers are I1707B IR127121 and I2007B IR130373.

E. coli causes abdominal cramps and diarrhea. Severe infections can lead to kidney damage, and complications can be fatal. Young children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are most at risk.

Keep yourself out of trouble - dispose the suspect spinach.

When workers put the finishing touches on Palo Alto's newest hotel at the end of this month, they will install erasable whiteboards, Nintendo Wii systems and a self-service bar operating on an honor system. These are among the features that 30-year-old owner Parimal "Perry" Patel expects will draw hip, young professionals like himself to Hotel Keen, a 42-room boutique hotel that will open downtown.

Hotel Keen, at 425 High St., is Palo Alto's first new hotel in a decade and part of a local spike in hotel development that bucks national trends. It is also a sign of the changing face of hospitality -- smaller hotels aimed at younger guests.

Google Inc. aims for speed and efficiency. So does Google's first chef, Charlie Ayers—especially when it comes to serving lunch at his 16-month-old eatery, Calafia Café.

Waiters at Calafia, nestled in a shopping center near Stanford University, carry hand-held devices that beam orders to the kitchen. The dishes, from wraps to rice bowls, arrive within 10 minutes.

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Lori Eanes for The Wall Street Journal

The Fiery Bottom BBQ Pork Rice Bowl at Calafia Cafe has shredded pork shoulder with spicy barbecue sauce, brown rice, wilted baby spinach, roasted yams, a sunny-side-up quail egg and green onions.

A small market with a salad bar, carry-out items and self-checkout stations is attached to the restaurant.

Mr. Ayers says he aims to serve fast, healthy food incorporating Latin and Asian flavors that won't put workers to sleep—goals he picked up while cooking for Google employees from 1999 to 2005.

The Palo Alto joint draws a lunch crowd of Stanford professors and students, venture capitalists and technology executives such as Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs, who eats at the restaurant weekly, says manager Matt Hunter. (An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment).

We ate there couple times and would highly recommend it. It is located in Town & Country right next to new Trader Joe's.