Umami Mart

If you’ve ever tried to prepare sashimi or sushi, you’ve probably learned pretty quickly that having the right knife makes a huge difference. Even the freshest fish doesn’t make great sashimi if it’s sliced poorly – you can easily ruin the texture, the look, and the taste of your most important ingredient with the wrong […]

We are total gadget heads here at Umami Mart. Johnny always scoffs when I bring home a new kitchen toy, or cocktail tool — we even tried to implement a rule of getting rid of something in order to bring in a new product. But that didn’t last long. When I brought home these two […]

Since seeing Michael Romano’s collections of Japanese knives (many were around $1,000, but some were custom made and cost him $5,000, which he displays, never uses) at one of the programs I organized last fall, I determined the need to graduate from my Global knives. I mean, I like them– they are basic and cuts […]

Chef Says: Japanese Knives are the BEST Tuesday, November 9,  6:30 pm Japan Society NYC We all know Japanese knives rock. Once you start using them, you will never go back to Henckels, Wüshtoff, or even Global, a fellow Japanese maker of mass-produced knives. Do you know why? Because we used to kill humans with the same […]

The 25th Umamiventure took place at Hida Tool and Hardware in Berkeley. After writing about sharpening Carbon and Stainless Steel knives on Umamimart and receiving a lot of questions, I thought it would be good to take these questions to the source. Chika, the knifemaster, at Hida Tool and Hardware. Chika has been working with […]

I owe much of my knife sharpening knowledge to the folks at Hida Tool & Hardware in Berkeley. So when a few people emailed me about wanting to learn more about sharpening knives, and/or purchasing a hocho, I thought it would make sense for me to bring those people with me to Hida Tool & […]

After seeing how well the chefs (at Konohana, the sousaku-ryori restaurant I worked at last year in Tokyo) and the housewives in Japan take care of their hōchōs (Japanese cutlery), one of the first things I did when I moved back to the U.S. was to get a knife sharpener for my carbon-steel hōchō I […]

My pops got a new fish slicer-dicer for work. Check it. He got it engraved with the family name, or as fancy Upper Eastsiders would say, “monogrammed.” AKABORI HOLLER! Kinda awesome (Mifune/YOJIMBO) slash creepy (Mishima/SEPPUKU).

For my birthday, Kuni, my dad, handed me this box. A new diamond necklace, perhaps? Um, there is no way in hell that would EVER happen- I’m not even sure my mom has gotten anything of that sort since the wedding ring, uh, THIRTY YEARS AGO. So what was inside? Something better than diamonds, for […]