April 10, 2012
It’s been a while since Umamimart has put on a big event. Honestly, our Gift of Food benefit last April for Japan set the bar so high that I haven’t had the chutzpah to do anything since. So Umamimart took a long hiatus from events. Too long. But that all changed a week ago, when […]
March 27, 2012
I should confess that I have never really been a fan of tsukemen (ramen with dipping sauce). Shouldn’t ramen be in a piping hot broth, brimming with scallions and chashu (pork) and menma (bamboo shoots)? Tsukemen just always seemed so WRONG to me, despite the fact that I love zaru soba (cold soba with dipping […]
March 21, 2012
On Sunday 3/11, the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in Northern Japan, Yoko and I helped organize a cross-cultural exchange between bartenders from Japan and San Francisco. Held at Prizefighter Bar in Emeryville, it was an intimate gathering of old friends, and new. Tomokazu Kai (Heuga Bar) and Masako Ikegami (Bar Shake) had won […]
March 2, 2012
I woke up to an email this morning with the subject line: “You’re so ahead of your time!” Bryan’s good friend Rob was informing me that March is National Noodle Month, and forwarded me this article about the celebrations in LA. So what the hell, let’s extend noodle month through March! April! FOREVER! Today, I […]
February 24, 2012
Sakura’s noodle report from Bangkok earlier this week had me craving for a bowl of bah mee nam here in the Bay Area. I scoured the city’s Thai restaurant menus but did not find anything comparable to Sakura’s favorite noodle dish. But, fear not, as an awesome Thai spot recently opened up in the Richmond called Amphawa Thai […]
February 17, 2012
IÂ love the pucker-your mouth tartness of naengmyeon–cold buckwheat noodles with cucumbers, hard-boiled egg and pickled Asian pears, doused in a chilled vinegar broth. Like craving ice cream when it’s snowing out, I do love this during the cold winter months. Thanks to Chungtech for introducing me to Sura. They have noodle specials every day! But […]
February 8, 2012
Pho ga dac biet is a special chicken noodle soup at Ao Sen, my favorite pho joint in the East Bay. They serve boiled chicken on the side, bone-in and skin-on, with a florescent orange ginger sauce. It is comforting when you are sick, and warming on dreary rain-filled days. The new Ao Sen location in […]
February 1, 2012
Happy February, everyone! Umamimart turns 5 years old this month, and I thought it would be fun to celebrate NOODLES! We’re all fans of noodles here, and there are pages and pages worth of posts, since 2007 (!), dedicated to the almighty noodle on Umamimart. The column name “Great UM Noodletown” is an homage to […]
December 23, 2011
For the last four years, Sylvan of Peko-Peko catering in San Francisco has been making osechi bento sets for the first of the year. Osechi, as you know from Yamahomo’s annual posts (here and here), are foods that are traditionally cooked for the new year, that are consumed for good luck. There is a special […]