Cocktail creations by Umami Mart: shaken, stirred, and remixed.
Happy Hour
April 30, 2015
Happy Hour: Gin(jo) Rickey
With the opening of our bottle shop, I have been exploring the world of sake. Daiginjos, Junmais, Yamahais, Namas, I’m trying them all. While tasting all of the different sakes, there is one particular trait I’m always looking for: would this be good in a cocktail? Tis a very important question. Through all the sakes I’ve tasted so […]
November 20, 2014
Happy Hour: Yuzu Liqueur
The Food Republic recently declared yuzu as America’s next big THING. Well, duhhhh! Umami Mart readers, writers and shoppers have been privy to this whimsical citrus for a long while now so we’re not lifting any eyebrows at these sort of dramatic announcements. That said, I don’t use yuzu that often in my cooking. Yuzu […]
September 29, 2014
Happy Hour: Tokyo Mule
Heyyyy, Happy Hour is BACK! I spent all weekend trying to come up with a clever column name for this post, which would also be used for future articles about cocktails that I make at home (Bar Umami Mart? Kayoko Bar? Bar Kayo?). But I had an A-HA moment this morning in the shower… Happy […]
December 20, 2013
Happy Hour: Mezcal Winter Cocktails
Once you are through slurping down mugs of Tom & Jerry bowls and hot buttered rum then please consider a few winter cocktails with a smoky twist, mezcal. The two drinks we feature in Happy Hour this month are nothing alike but leave you with that campfire warmth from palette to pinky toe. One cocktail […]
October 11, 2013
Happy Hour: The Affinity, Your New Fall Cocktail
Affinity: a liking for or an attraction to something. I discovered this long-lost cocktail one cold October day, thanks to my friend and barman Maxwell Britten during his tenure manning Freeman’s backroom bar in New York City. The leaves were swirling on this windy, chilly afternoon, and I was downtown. I sauntered down the namesake […]
August 30, 2013
Happy Hour: The Saigon Correspondent
Fact: A gin and tonic is the quintessential summer cocktail. My grandmother Margaret knew this and would serve the iconic drink from a gallon handle of Gordon’s gin topping it off with a lime and Schweppes tonic water. She made the switch over from Rye Manhattans after Memorial Day and it was gin and tonics […]
August 9, 2013
Happy Hour: The Cobbler and the Flirt
The Cobbler is the elder statesman of summer cocktails. At its core, the Cobbler is a sour-style cocktail (spirit, citrus, sugar), which has spawned a host of delicious descendants. The most popular type during the drink’s hey day was the Sherry Cobbler. This libation was first chronicled by Jerry Thomas in his ground-breaking How to […]
May 31, 2013
Happy Hour: La Louisiane
Once upon a time in the Crescent City, there was a culinary institution and hotel named the La Louisiane Hotel and Restaurant down Iberville Street in the French Quarter. La Louisiane, as it was know to the locals, was opened in 1881 by Louis and Ann Bezaudun in an old wine merchants space. Their nephew […]
March 15, 2013
Happy Hour: The Improved Japanese Cocktail
In honor of Umami Mart’s sixth anniversary/ lease-signing and the Japan Week celebration in NYC, this month we spotlight the Japanese Cocktail for Happy Hour. We will review the cocktail’s origins, its ingredients, and offer an improved adaptation that pays homage to Japan. Cocktail historian David Wondrich gives a through history of the libation in […]