Umami Mart

I deplore the word “Saketini.” The whole idea that you can name a cocktail by adding “tini” to the end of it is just plain juvenile and not creative at all. Which is not fair because I’ve been drinking a hell out of these Martinis, subbing sake for vermouth, and the name Saketini is not so far off. […]

Yoko and I will be hanging out at Sake Summit all weekend in Union Square in San Francisco. Come visit us! This is your chance to try pretty much all the sakes that are available for consumption in the Bay Area. If you’re into sake, you can’t miss this! This is the third annual Sake […]

Last month, Kayoko and I visited Portland for the 5th annual SakeFest PDX. It’s always a pleasure to hang out in Portland, and this time, we even took a side trip to the Sake One brewery in the Willamette Valley’s Forest Grove. Nestled between wineries and berry growers is Oregon’s own sake brewery. Operating since […]

It’s been a crazy sake week here at Umami Mart — first we launched the Sake Gumi, and now, we’re happy to announce a special tasting event with renowned Hakkaisan Brewery! We will be hosting an evening with Timothy Sullivan, founder of Urban Sake and Brand Ambassador of Hakkaisan Brewery. I have known Timothy since my NYC days — […]

Yoko and I could not be more thrilled today — we are dubbing it SAKE GUMI DAY. We’re finally launching our sake club! IT IS HERE! We’ve been having a lot of fun since we opened our Bottle System in April — it’s been really wonderful to be able to share sakes and beers from Japan with […]

My partner Johnny’s mom has an ultra green thumb. Whenever I see her, she showers me with ripe fruits and vegetables from her bountiful garden. During the summer months, I am lucky to receive scallions that are two feet long, fava beans, and sweet red tomatoes. But with the weather fluctuating so much these days, sometime her plants […]

With the opening of our bottle shop, I have been exploring the world of sake. Daiginjos, Junmais, Yamahais, Namas, I’m trying them all. While tasting all of the different sakes, there is one particular trait I’m always looking for: would this be good in a cocktail? Tis a very important question. Through all the sakes I’ve tasted so […]

Sake is one of those things that really makes you appreciate locality. It’s like the meyer lemons in Berkeley. It’s totally cliche and played out, but local food traditions are a sight to behold. The fact that they are native to their land, makes them thrive and produce in abundance, giving the locals many, many […]

In 2011, we visited Hakkaisan, a sake brewery in Niigata. As one of the most well-known breweries in Japan, it was a wonderful experience to walk through the vast facilities, hosted by the production master, Mr. Nagumo. You can read about our visit here. Yoko and I never thought we would visit this part of Japan again, […]

Since this month commemorates Umami Mart’s Japanese beer and sake shop debut, here is another post on sake-related cooking. Sakekasu (sake lees) is a quintessential Japanese ingredient because of the concept of mottainai (no waste!). Japanese people try not to waste anything. For example, after squeezing soy beans when making tofu, the leftover scraps (called okara) can be […]