Blog

This week, Gilt launched a new food website, Gilt Taste.  I had the pleasure of attending the launch party in Chelsea and the even greater pleasure of finally getting to meet Ruth Reichl, whom I've admired for years. I...

After getting canned without reason, the day after her maternity leave was up, Paula Cinini was not sure what to do; she had always worked as a journalist. To find some solace in this devastating situation, and cope with her mother's passing, Paula dug up...

Here it is, the moment you have all been waiting for... Our second line of the UMAMIMART SHOP IS HERE!!! We've listened to your feedback and have brought around well-designed products at reasonable price points. We loved our debut...

I want to talk about the US, particularly about its food. USA--my god, such a vast, vast country--so much space, so many people it's almost hard to fathom. Especially for someone who lives in a tiny country of five million where everyone who's anything knows...

All photos by Yoko Kumano and Vanessa Bahmani, I've been running Umamimart for over four years now (since February 2007), bringing together people from all over the world to share their personal experiences through food and drinks. It has gone through...

I went to Miami for my birthday this year. I didn't do much besides reading, lounging by the pool, drinking piña coladas, and eating. It was 90˚F every day, sunny, dry, and my allergies disappeared while I was there. For...

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 am home in Berkeley after taking a week-long road trip through the American southwest with fellow Umamimart writer Anders, bookended by a five-day trip in NYC. I am so excited to be back in my own kitchen that I've stocked...

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...

Dear Microsoft Office (and all you other people who can't differentiate between a macaron from a macaroon), Macaron is not a macaroon. Every time I write "macaron", you always highlight it, suggesting I misspelled the word and replace it with "macaroon" instead. How atrocious. I...

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...

Hey hey, Kayoko here, filling in for Yoko this week. Seems that summer has arrived in the Bay Area (a balmy 77˚F in Oakland, holla!), which means I will only cook meals that take me a few minutes to prepare....

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, and many of you will be sloshing down the compulsory Margaritas and tequila shots, which in no way would I want to stand in the way of. But if you're an adventurous drinker like I am...

All Photos by Yoko Kumano. About a week after our initial GIFT OF FOOD fundraiser in San Francisco, Yoko and I were approached to help organize a similar event down in LA, to benefit the victims of the 2011 Sendai Earthquake and Tsunami. Could...

I am hosting a rather important dinner party with lots of opinionated eaters this weekend, so I've been practicing and experimenting with what I may serve. In the last year or so, whenever you go to an upscale restaurant, you always encounter sous-vide this and...

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...