Umami Mart

2 oz Irish whisky (Jameson, Bushmills, etc.) 1/2 lime, squeezed A few dashes of Peychuad’s Bitters Shake it up with ice and add it to your copper mug from Umami Mart Pour in 3 oz ginger beer Garnish with a lime wedge Kanpai! *Kid Skwid is a sous chef at Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills. […]

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 […]

While Jonathan and I were visiting the east coast for a wedding last week, we snuck away for a couple of nights to his family’s house in Vermont. New England is absolutely gorgeous this time of year. Blueberry-picking is a popular activity here during the month of August, and we found a stunning place to gather some […]

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 […]

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 […]

I went to college in the States after I graduated from high school in Japan. I learned how to speak English and how to eat two portions. After a year, I gained 30 pounds. I didn’t feel so guilty when living in the States but I felt horrible every time I went back to Japan […]

Welcome to a special edition of Kayo’s Kitchen: Live from Hopkins Buffet! For those who follow our Instagram, you may have asked yourselves, “Where is the Hopkins Buffet?” Well, it’s Yoko’s house of course! God forbid she should name her place something bore-a-thon like Yoko’s Kitchen! I tested out a new cocktail creation recently in […]

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 […]

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 […]