Umami Mart

Aya: Hey Tmonkey, boo tmonkey: hey have you recovered from The Banquet? Aya: um I don’t even know what you’re talking about because I’ve had my memories from Friday night removed from my brain. tmonkey: nooo ok the movie was painful but the ramen at Setagaya! Can’t forget that! Aya: hmmm seem to have a […]

I’ve just come back from a brief vacation to Paris and Berlin–I rarely vacation, so upon returning I’ve regaled everyone I’ve spoken to with the dreadfully banal, I-see-the-world-anew!-type minutiae familiar to anyone who has attended college and encountered–in the words of one friend tired of my anecdotes–“that annoying kid who studies abroad for a semester […]

HURRY, it’s here!!! The best restaurants on the list are lunch only. No reservations left for Gotham and Del Posto. Many tables are exceeding their max reservation date, so you gotta wait (Esca, Mercer Kitchen, Gramercy Tavern). I snagged a table at Morimoto, L’Impero and Spice Market (for my Jean-Georges fix). OpenTable.com is on overload […]

Whenever I visit my hometown, Cupertino, CA (home of the beloved Macintosh computer), the first thing that I do, before I even go home, is stop off at Sushi Kuni Restaurant. In my five years in NY, I haven’t found a place that compares to the comfort, the authenticity (I hate to say that word, […]

Practically the first thing we did upon deciding on Hawaii as our honeymoon destination was make a reservation at Alan Wong’s in Honolulu. Our excitement to eat at this relatively unknown restaurant was fueled by strong rec’s from friends and co-workers (including a Hawaiian native) and reinforced by Alan’s appearance at the finale of last […]

A few weeks ago, we ventured on our first official Umami Mart field trip, which I hope we can organize once a month. The idea is to get people in the area, UM contributors and local eaters, to travel far and wide (an outer borough, OH MY!) for infamous eats. In the five years I […]

Noteworthy readings, websites, blogs and eats: The Minimalist on how to cook the perfect hard-boiled egg Bittman goes to Istria with Lidia Bastianich (note asparagus frittata recipe) TMonkey recommends the wine documentary, Mondovino A community of wine lovers on Cork’d Batali and Bourdain on Adam Platt and bloggers on Grub Street Bruni Showdown: yet another […]

I’m from Monterey, California (home of the world-famous — and deservedly so — Monterey Bay Aquarium) which is one of the most beautiful places on earth (the breathtaking landscape was featured in Hitchcock’s masterpiece Vertigo), but the problem with the beautiful places on earth are that they are usually turned into tourist traps — everything […]

I think I’ve found it: the best pizza joint in New York. Ok, ok, maybe that is too definitive a statement, and I’m not trying to claim that I’ve had ALL pizza in NY (I have yet to trek to the middle of Brooklyn for Di Fara), but The House of Pizza & Calzone is […]

I don’t care what Time Out thinks. They ridiculously passed up the The Smoke Joint for Blue Smoke in Manhattan in their Eat Out Awards last week for Best BBQ, and all I have to say is: BAD CALL. I’d like to testify that The Smoke Joint is far superior to Blue Smoke, in taste […]