Umami Mart

Soyez le bienvenu au cours de cuisine Française contemporaine. Aujourd’hui nous allons faire un ragoût aux champignons bourguignon délicieux, champignons bourguignons.* And that is the extent of my French lingo skills. Although I use to live in Paris for a while, my French never stayed inside my head. So now my French consists of rather non-mentionable phrases […]

L’Epi Dupin near Le Bon Marche is normally a quiet place full of neighborhood types and locals. Their course meal is a bargain. Old types sit and drink. The snobbery was at a low. When our mixed mash group of birthday celebrators reserved a month before, they probably didn’t expect the entire ambiance of the […]

My family and I went on a flying visit to Paris again to rendez-vous with my dad (since he managed not to get his UK visa in time–visa people suck). Last year I gave him a copy of Ernest Hemingway’s memoir of 1920s Paris, A Moveable Feast, which he raved on about until I decided […]

I’m feeling a bit deflated today. Recently I discovered that my column shares the same name with a right-wing, conspiracy theory, political blog (I’ll leave out the hyper link here, because you don’t need to waste your time with all that. Ok never mind, freedom of speech yaddi yadda, here you go). So just to […]

My mama and I have this ritual lately where we go to the Mt. View farmer’s market on Sunday mornings. The market here in the Bay Area is unreal- it’s such a vibrant celebration of vegetables and fruits, the way I have never seen in NYC. There’s so much energy and color- even street musicians, […]

My mom went to Paris and all I got was this lousy Edible Paper. Being a fan of everything fake and pink I had to give this a try. Everyone across the world is probably constantly wondering: How do those French supermodels keep so beautiful and fit? What on earth are they eating? Well, here’s […]

Yesterday I was at my usual Thursday happy hour and started wandering around the city with a little buzz trying to figure out where to go next. As I approached the corner of Folsom and 7th Street, I noticed a food truck in a parking lot and naturally went straight over to check it out. […]

Finally made it to my #1 NYC fantasy restaurant, Le Bernardin! I had been dying to go there for years- one time I had almost convinced my parents to take me, but alas my dad refused when he heard of their silly jacket requirement. I don’t actually think he owns a suit… My prayers were […]

In Vegas, every other thing that came out of my mouth was, “Let’s go to Robuchon!” My parents were not so enthusiastic, as they are growing tired of overly rich french cuisine in their old age (ok fine, they’re not that old, but French Laundry totally ruined French food for them). But come on, he’s […]

We splurged at one of the best restaurants in Cabo, which was conveniently located in the hotel we stayed at. We asked concierge to make a reservation, and I casually asked about dress code, and she said “elegant outfit”. WTF does that mean? It’s a beach vacation, and Nate only had a pair of jeans, […]