Umami Mart

Welcome to Bay Eats Japan, where we’ll alert you to newly and soon-to-be opened Japanese restaurants and bars in the Bay Area. As we’ll be listing new places, a mention is not necessarily a recommendation. Use this as a handy way to keep track of new spots you might want to try in the future.  San Francisco […]

Welcome to our new column, Bay Eats Japan, where we’ll alert you to newly and soon-to-be opened Japanese restaurants and bars in the Bay Area. As we’ll be listing new places, a mention is not necessarily a recommendation. Use this as a handy way to keep track of new spots you might want to try in the […]

Kyoto is a bit stuffy for my taste. Literally, it gets SO HOT in the summer, I can’t deal. Plus, it’s a bit dainty compared to the gruff streets of Tokyo and Osaka, which is more my style. Kyoto is where to go if you want a slice of old world Japan – with all its temples […]

Let me start off by saying that I think Abura-ya is the most exciting dining experience in the Bay Area in the last few years. By “exciting” I mean: doing something spectacularly new and genre-bending — all deliciously, and not one bit bank-breaking. Abura-ya specializes in Japanese fried chicken, but it is so much more […]

Yoko and I are here for Portland Cocktail Week, where we were on a panel about import/ export/ distribution yesterday (it was great!). We have been here for three nights, and it’s been a total blast. Portland has changed so much since we were last here — Yoko in 2004 and 2007 for me. It’s […]

Izakaya MOTO is an invite-only, very exclusive izakaya, located in the heart of Financial District in Manhattan (aka my apartment). I had my friends over one night, and decided to host an izakaya-style evening. I have a large counter in my kitchen where guests can sit (well not so comfortabely yet, since I don’t have […]

Gochi opened quietly in 2005, in a little non-descript strip mall on the back roads of Cupertino. It was actually a bit traumatizing for me — they bought out a nasty dive bar called the Peacock Lounge where my friends and I used to go when visiting our hometown for the holidays. The “Cock”, as […]

“Where the hell are we? Did we miss it?” I ask as we drive further and further away from the city center. Geary Boulevard is still bustling, but we’re way past Japantown now, and the storefront signs are getting harder to read. Besides, why would a restaurant like Kappou Gomi be all the way out […]

Last night, I was at a local izakaya, Washio, with some friends. My friend Takachiho, fresh off of work, downed two bottles of beer, three sake servings and quickly moved onto his next drink all in the time span of about 80 minutes. “Master, please give me an awamori!” (Master is the word used in […]

Eating while walking, talking, driving, computing and making love. Most Americans have done many or all of these things. Hopefully not simultaneously. Eating while standing in one place, however, is something that Americans don’t do on a regular basis… yet. Enter Tokyo, and the prevalence of stand-up dining, or tachigui. Step off most any train […]