Umami Mart

If there is anything in this world I have authority on, it’s ramen. I know ramen- it’s in my bones. I’ve been eating the instant stuff once a week since I was five (should I be bragging about that?), and my fondest life memories somehow include ramen. Ramen while camping, ramen after a night of […]

Falafel Drive-In is a San Jose institution. It’s been around ever since I can remember, but I’m ashamed to say that I had never been there, even though my childhood dentist is right around the corner. FAIL!!! Looks like they’ve upgraded their sign recently, but I doubt much has changed since a couple, Anton and […]

Last week, chef Rossano Giannini of Lanterna in Nyack, NY, was at the James Beard House for a Tuscan Wine Lovers Dinner. Delicioso! Click for a full menu. From the JBF website:“Lanterna shines an unfiltered light on the popular cuisine of Tuscany, offering a well-executed primer on the soul of true Northern Italian cuisine,” wrote […]

My parents are in town from CA and I wanted to take them out to a fun dinner. I went to Mario Batali’s Otto Pizzeria a few years ago and had such a fun time, that I thought that would be just the place to take them. I made a reservation (which wasn’t easy). We […]

Scrolling through my camera card, I just found pictures of Ayagwa and Tmonkey’s Chinese Banquet Wedding!!!! I’m sorry I am super tardy on this, but it was seriously one of the best wedding meals I’ve ever had (the other being Leslie’s Siena wedding), so I need to share it here. You all witnessed Yamahomo’s CAKE […]

Tucked in the back of Jack’s Bar in Potrero Hill, Yats takes over the kitchen during the daytime hours, and serves up all the NoLa classics. Started by a New Orleans native (via 7×7), it is truly a Louisiana food-lover’s dream- casual, cheap, and calls on all the flavors of the bayou. When three good […]

Wally Waffle has been an Akron institution for as long as I can remember, but for some reason, I have only started to frequent it in the past few years. The menu focuses on breakfast items, and I guess from the name of the establishment, it’s the waffles that are its specialty, but they also […]

A couple weeks ago, Jonathan and I took his Grandmother to dinner at the James Beard House for her birthday. We had a deliciously good time tasting the culinary delights from the chefs at Boston’s Clio. The next time I’m in Boston, I’ll definitely be stopping by! Dinner Menu & Wine Pairings: Smoking Salmon with […]

It was my birthday yesterday!!! I know, I know- when you were little and imagined life at 29, you always wanted to be single, jobless and living with mom and dad. I’m making dreams come true over here! So how could I have lived these last 29 years never having stepped foot into a Red […]

All of my food experiences during my two-night stay in Beijing taught me one thing: the faster the food the better the experience. By the end of my stay, I would choose a place by spying on the doorway of a restaurant for a few minutes, making sure that people were constantly shuffling in and […]