Bastille Day is nearly upon us, and there isn't a better time to check out San Francisco's little French Quarter located on Belden Place and Claude Lane near Union Square. This area serves as a hub for the city's French-American community; the French Consulate and Alliance Francaise are nearby.

These tree-lined alleys house a number of charming restaurants and bars; Plouf and Cafe Bastille are noted for their traditional French offerings; Cafe Claude boasts live jazz on the weekends and an intimate zinc bar. The district's newest restaurant, Gitane Restaurant, is a festive, special-occasion restaurant that has garnered nods from local critics.

On Bastille Day (July 14th), streamers and balloons are hung, lights lit, and the party takes over Belden Place as live dance tunes crank.

Photo courtesy of Cafe Claude

If you are headed to San Francisco for the Fourth, check out our guide to fireworks, celebrations, and other Independence Day happenings. We've even got a map to show exactly where the fun begins. Enjoy!

If you haven't had an agua fresca (fresh fruit juice drink), hot summer days like today are the perfect excuse to try one. These refreshing soft drinks originated in Mexico and are ladled out of big glass jugs at most of the Taquerias in the Mission. Made with ingredients ranging from watermelon to guava and served over ice, aguas frescas are one of my all time favorite thirst quenchers.

If you mised the blockbuster King Tut show thirty years ago, here's another chance to see this spectacular exhibition. More than 3,000 years after his reign, and 30 years after the original exhibition opened in San Francisco, Tutankhamun, ancient Egypt’s celebrated “boy king,” returns to the de Young Museum June 27, 2009 and runs through March 10, 2010. "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" is a glorious exhibition of over 130 outstanding works from the tomb of Tutankhamun, as well as those of his royal predecessors, his family, and court officials.

Photo courtesy Andreas F. Voegelin, Antikenmuseum Basel and Sammlung Ludwig.