Umami Mart

Look at this magnifiscent Margherita pizza. The crust is alive, bubbling with hot molton charcoal flecks. This here, is true love. Tony opened his namesake pizzeria last year in North Beach. He uses flour imported from IT, and only makes 73 Margheritas a day. It’s a complicated formula that got him to this number– the […]

Photos by Travis LoDolce. Now tell me: why oh why would I ever move back to NYC when all of its wondrous gems can come to ME!!! When I heard last week that PDTman John Deragon would be guest bartending at the popular SF joint Beretta for ONE NIGHT ONLY, I screamed a silent hooray […]

Went out to dinner the other night in Cupertino to a newish Japanese “fusion tapas” place called Gochi. The place is always ridiculously packed, and their menu is way too long. They had several “fusion pizzas” on the menu, and we got one topped with unagi, egg, cheese, shimeji and shiitake mushrooms and seaweed. We […]

Went out to the Brooklyn pizza institution, Di Fara the other day with Jorge. I don’t want to go on and on about this (since there’s been so much written on the place), but seriously, it’s the best pizza I’ve ever had in the States, hands down. Frankly, it even beats out pizzas I’ve had […]

That’s it, I’m hooked. The pizza’s amazing, but the best thing about a trip to Di Fara in Brooklyn is to visit the divey little joint and watch the one and only man who is responsible for these glorious slices in action. Domenico De Marco, a small little floury man from Naples, makes all the […]

As a welcome gesture, my dear newly-wed friends Vanessa and Payman decided to throw me a “Welcome to Brooklyn” Party. Let me tell you- these 2 really know how to entertain! (And they got a chance to try out all those wedding gifts). They had quite a spread prepared- all Brooklyn inspired fare. Our friend […]

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 […]

$100/ 2 Weeks/ NYC: Prologue$100/ 2 Weeks/ NYC: Day 1 & 2$100/ 2 Weeks/ NYC: Day 3, 4 &5Wednesday 3/28 Total Spent: $5 LUNCH–> $0 Fumiko and I had our usual lunch date. I had leftover pasta alla puttanesca, she had made this absolutely delicious spaghetti bathed in cream sauce with artichokes. She says this […]

Ever since reading Aya’s “なまがき fest: Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar” post, I had been out on a mission to eat oysters. Which has since brought me to Shimokitazawa’s Jackpot Oyster Kitchen twice. There’s something perfect about celebrating pay day (which, by the way, seems to have coincided for those of you in NY and us […]

Meet Aaron Unger. Performer/ puppet artist/ photographer/ visual artist extraordinaire. World-traveling Jew from Miami. A man bursting with joie de vivre, a culinary maverick and loving husband and father. A man who has entertained hundreds of people from New York to Berne with his ice-shaving performance (some time accompanied by girls with big bear heads), […]