Blog » Eat Out

It seems that pop-ups are popping up all over New York City recently. What's going on? Or should I say What Happens When? That's the name of a new pop-up resto that has a nine-month lease on a...

Recently, I had a ramen epiphany in San Francisco. It was at Ken Ken Ramen, a tiny operation that pops up in the Mission every Thursday and Sunday, at The Corner (a coffee shop/ restaurant space). Robert Patterson,...

I just got back from a weekend in NYC, for a very important Umamimart Reunion Dinner, hosted by Yamahomo (post coming!). Even though I really only had two full days in the city, I bounced around and hit some of my favorite haunts. It...

As you may all know, I'm half-Japanese and half-Sri Lankan, so anything to do with either country sparks an immediate interest. So when I began hearing rumours about a new Japanese cake shop and tea salon springing up in...

In honor of the James Beard Awards being held tonight, I thought I'd post about Craig Deihl of Cypress Restaurant in Charleston,...

In my hood, the chic São Paulo bairro of Jardins, I share sidewalks with a rather large group of Hasidic Jews. All of the beards make me feel like I'm safe and at home. They are the unspoken guardians of Jardins, as...

I know this piece of cake doesn't look so hot, but to be fair, it's been through a lot. Last weekend I was at a house party in Williamsburg. It was still Passover, so I was having wine instead of beer, cheese with no...

Around the corner from the dimly-lit, time machine-esque Smoke House is Bob's Big Boy. This is where tourists and locals go to eat high-calorie meals under bright fluorescent lights, without caring who's watching them--and no one is. The polite waitstaff is there to do...

If you are not convinced that beer pairings work with upscale dining, this post may change your mind. Recently I attended an amazing event put on by Stag Dining Group who partnered with Magnolia Brewery to create The Brewmasters Dinner. Stag Dining Group...

In Junichiro Tanizaki's celebrated novel, The Makioka Sisters (or Sasameyuki (細雪), loosely translated as 'light snow' or 'a flurry of snow'--titles in translations are always so different but I guess it's as much about nuance as meaning), the four Makioka sisters,...

Seeing an old friend after some time is like nothing else. You catch up, see how they are doing, and talk about old times. I made my way to Okinawa a while back to check old the old island and made it my first priority...

I am finally back. Although the past couple of weeks have been super hectic, I had the opportunity to go to my favorite restaurant Kajitsu, twice in two weeks. At the end of March, my work held a special dinner gathering...

I was recently in my hometown of Santa Rosa (Sonoma County, CA) and a bit of a buzz has started about a gathering of food trucks on Monday afternoons in one parking lot in town. Serving fare from their adorable airstream trailer,

The Smoke House is the sort of place where old-timey execs sip their nightcaps as they wait for their retirement (“I gave the best years of my life to this place”) and where awkward co-workers carry on as if they are...

I'm so over normality. I'm over generic cafes, mediocre restaurants and bleh bars with all their effortless interiors, lazy service, boring menu offerings and pointless existence besides making money (in these days: little). The next time I walk into a cream...

My wife and I are dressed to kill. The guards are looking us up and down. My hands are sweating. I enter awkwardly remembering last minute to bow, even though I'm not sure who these people are greeting us at the...

Are ya'll sick of hearing about fundraisers for Japan yet? Well, get over it--Japan needs us right now and we absolutely must do what we can to support it. You don't hear me get all up on my soapbox very often, but for this, Umamimart...

I know, how silly is this? Eating Indian food when you're finally in Thailand? It's really only excusable if you had already sampled so many Thai dishes that you need a break from the coconut and lemongrass fireworks. Face is a super trendy "it"...

MUSICAL LINE-UP (Update Tues. 3/29, 11:50am PST) Tommy Guerrero Gadget (Function 8 ) TophOne (RedWine DJs) DJ Orb Gabuちゃん (Amoeba Records) +++ The night of March 10, here in Oakland California, was like any other night. I finished my shift early,...

I've fallen in love with the Bangin' Cock, aka Bangkok, the frantic and exotic capital of Thailand. Just returned home to the rather chilly degrees of Copenhagen from a sensual 33˚C, and I severely miss the hot sticky nights, tall palm trees, weird exotic birds,...