Best Newsstand

When Adam Smith opened Fog City News in 1999, he focused on providing the most diverse offerings of magazines in what he accurately describes as an "elegantly old-fashioned" setting. He paid close attention to the aesthetics, hanging framed turn-of-the-century photos of San Francisco on the daffodil- yellow walls, laying plush burgundy carpeting on the floors, and outfitting the upscale shop with custom-built oak cabinetry. From the beginning, the long, narrow room featured one of the largest and most varied magazine selections in the Bay Area, from political and cultural zines to literary and academic journals to consumer glossies of every stripe. All told, Fog City carries more than 3,000 titles on its shelves (over 700 of them international), with the overflow stacked on the floor. But in 2002, the already-popular newsstand began attracting a new clientele: the chocolate lover. What started out as a request from a friend to stock Canadian chocolates has grown into a serious subspecialty. Now, connoisseurs from all over frequent Fog City for the 200-plus premium chocolate bars from famed purveyors (Valrhona, Michel Cluizel, and Scharffen Berger, to name a few). Given the allure of the shop's chocolate displays in the front, it's likely some sweet-toothed visitors never make it to the magazine racks in the back.