Umami Mart

Burger & Fries at Bonnie’s Grill in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

One of the best things about Hakodate, Hokkaido was that there were no McDonalds. This seems very odd, considering Hakodate isn’t such a tiny city. But not so odd, when you know that it has its own home-grown fast food chain Lucky Pierrot that could take over the world, just like McDonald’s, if it wanted […]

I took a much-needed trip back home to California in May for two weeks. I risked contracting the swine flu to indulge in my second passion after eating – photography with my grandma’s 1970s Nikon EM film camera.I love taking photos of food in Tokyo, but there’s something about the California sun that saturates food […]

I had a busy weekend, and didn’t have time to cook so I dug up old pictures for this week’s ReCPY. When making burgers, inevitably you have to make fries as well. However, I cannot fry fries, since my BF doesn’t eat fried food. I have made oven baked fries, but it’s always a bit […]

The concept of being a vegetarian in Japan is illogical unless you are a Buddhist monk. I have done a lot of thinking about why Japanese people aren’t vegetarians, and I think it is because they originally do not have many meat products in their diet, with the exception of fish. Dairy is also very […]

My dear friend Jim is opening a sandwich, beer and ice cream joint in LA!!! My three favorite food groups all under one roof- could you ask for anything more? I think not. He and his biz partner Jason have named the cafe The Golden State, that will quite appropriately be highlighting beers, meats, cheeses […]

The world doesn’t need another post about the In-N-Out burger, but I just wanted to send a little bit of west coast sunshine to all my peeps who are covered in snow right now. Miss you!!! And believe it or not, I miss the snow very much. It’s just very strange to be having lunch […]

As you may have read from earlier, my friend Khoi was in town yesterday and we basically ate and drank all day. Umm, it’s 3pm now and yup, I’m still hungover. LOSER. So back to the Food Marathon. Met back up with Khoi and his friend (“and coworker”) George at The Modern for a fancy […]

“No other steakhouse serves a porterhouse so breathtaking” –Frank Bruni, The New York Times Mr. Bruni, I coudn’t agree with you more. Some of you might already know that I am a huge fan of a tasty piece of steak. Many might also know that I am an even bigger fan of delicious burgers. Recently […]

I used to have a LOT of kitchen gadgets. Well, I still do, but I managed to sell food processor, and other various items. Pasta maker is something I am looking into for next purchase. My Kitchen Aid stand mixer is an item from heaven if you cook or bake. It makes my life so […]