Went to Hard Water the other night, Charles Phan’s newest eatery located along the scenic Embarcadero in San Francisco. It’s such a rarity to go out and join the HOT SF scene. But it must be done, once in a blue moon!

The space was impressive, with a gorgeous marble U-shaped bar against a majestic backdrop of countless bottles of whisky.

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We are SUPER EXCITED to host a pop-up by Ippo Ramen this First Friday 4/5. Proprietor Steve Yee will be here starting at 6pm, ready to cook up some noodles to serve you his ramen. His simple menu consists of three choices: shoyu, miso and shio (salt) broths. He makes everything except the noodles by hand, and spent over a year perfecting his broths and a long while on the egg and chashu.

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Two years after the Tohoku disaster in 2011, memories have faded and conversations about the incident, and what we can learn from it, are rapidly disappearing from the media. As time widens the gap between March 11, 2011 and the present, I wonder how I can stay connected to the issues that arose from the disaster — but often I am left feeling very helpless.

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This post is so delayed, but better late than never for such an epic guide to tacos in California. After being open seven days a week during the holiday season, Yoko and I took a much needed 10-day break. Hooray! Yoko traveled to Tokyo, and I went to San Diego to visit my best friend who was having a baby. Johnny and I decided to spice it up by making it a road trip, and we even borrowed Hideko’s Prius (luxury!) for this seven-day journey.

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One of my favorite places for a sunset cocktail in San Francisco is the historic Cliff House. First opened in 1863, it sits on the site of the Sutro Bath House ruins overlooking Ocean Beach. Go early for a walk around Lands End. It’s such a stunning spot! Back at the Cliff House, I recommend the bar downstairs, which faces west and gets the most gorgeous late-afternoon golden glow.

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I recently had a dream assignment for Edible San Francisco Magazine in which I followed one ingredient literally from farm to table in a single afternoon! I took a gorgeous drive up the coast to Bolinas, CA, where I met Annabelle Lenderink, owner of La Tercera farm. She picked a head of puntarella (a bitter chicory) she’d grown and gave it to me to deliver Rich Table in San Francisco.

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Based in Brooklyn, NY, Kelly Geary is the founder and chef for Sweet Deliverance, a thriving subscription program where she prepares healthy, delicious home-cooked meals out of her CSA shares. All with fresh and organic produce, she charts out each meal for the week, for her too-busy-to-cook customers — anything from salads and soups to protein-rich entrees that are ready to be warmed up for the entire family.

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Since May, our beloved Ippuku of Berkeley has been serving teuchi (handmade) soba. Owner-chef Christian Geidemann recruited Koichi Ishii from Yamagata, a prefecture well-known for soba, to come and cook at Ippuku and start a soba program right here in the East Bay. We are SO LUCKY!

I know, I should have reported on this sooner. But rest assured that I have been able to try many different dishes, to show all the variations of soba that are on the menu.

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Our great friend (and twice-Umami Mart writer) Lizzy Boelter is popping up at Umami Mart with her mobile kitchen Grease Box this Friday. Lizzy makes super rad soul food of her native Louisiana, all gluten-free! And lucky for us, Lizzy does not skimp on the lovin’ or the flavorin’. For this special pop-up, she’ll be making GRILLED CHEESE with American cheese that she makes herself!

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Did you know that a bee’s lifespan is based on the distance it has flown? One bee lives to fly about a total of 500 miles.

This is just one of the many things we learned from Betsy and Miguel of East Bay Urban Bees during our hive tour. The tour could not have happened on a more beautiful, warm October day.

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