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Happy Hour

Grandpa Richard Highball Cocktail

Louis Anderman, founder of Miracle Mile Bitters, used to make Celery Bitters in very limited quantities only. We love his rendition of these bitters, savory and earthy, and have been begging him for years to make this a part of his regular line-up. And it's finally here! Made with celery...

Bay Eats Japan

Soba Ichi's Washi, the Chuhai King

We love chuhais, the ubiquitous, thirst quenching drink served at any watering hole or found in a can at any conbini (convenience store) in Japan. The word chuhai is a combination of shochu-highball – get it? They have yet to get their day in the limelight here in...

How I Became A Shochu Advisor

Shochu is a drink that I have enjoyed immensely in the last decade, and to further my education about the spirit, I flew to Los Angeles last summer to take a certification course to become a Shochu Adviser. Put on by the Sake School of America near Little Tokyo,...

Happy Hour

Sakura Daikiri (A Hemingway Daiquiri Riff)

If we were in Japan right now, Yoko and I would shut down Umami Mart for a week and spend our days hanami-ing – picnicking under sakura (cherry blossom) trees with bentos and sake with friends, joyful that spring is here while blossoms flutter all around. Just look at...

Japanify

Japanify: Umeshu Highball

I've been really excited to see the umeshu (Japanese plum infused in shochu) popping up on cocktail menus in non-Japanese restaurants. My most recent experience of having an umeshu cocktail in an unexpected place was at Al's Place in San Francisco. Their approach was very...

Happy Hour

Happy Hour: White Ale Shiso Spinner

Since celebrating Solstice last week, we can finally say that summer is here. In the Bay Area, we've already experienced a heat wave that rivals those in New York or Tokyo - we could not handle it. I've created a cool, refreshing beer cocktail for just those days...

I Know What You Did in Paradise

Four friends find themselves in a secluded VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) on the North Shore of Oahu. They thought paradise was at arm's length, but they were wrong. One by one each thirty-something is lured by the mysterious, irresistible charms of the tropical...

Postcard

Postcard from Tokyo

We made it! After a restless 16 hours of travel -- I read this month's New Yorker (excellent expose on Amazon and its monopoly on the publishing industry) and Vanity Fair (The Hollywood Issue! Rupert Murdoch's marital betrayal!) cover to cover, whilst...