Umami Mart

My first dinner of 2009 will go down in the books. On the menu was roasted squab (one squab for every member), wild rice with soaked dried cherries, herb stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, and an avocado and grapefruit salad. Everything was purchased at the my favorite grocery store in the world, the […]

One of my new year resolutions is to cook more. I’m serious this time! Here’s something I made yesterday that is super easy, and perfect for the cold winter months. Oops, I’m in California where it’s 65 today. Sorry NYC suckas!!! Tonjiru is a Japanese dish, which is just miso soup with hearty vegetables, tofu […]

My very first post about Bay Area food since I’ve moved here! Woo-hoo! Vanessa took me to Anh Hong in the Tenderloin, a popular Vietnamese restaurant boasting “7 COURSES OF BEEF” for only $18.95! Love it!!! From their website, it looks like there are restaurants located all over the Bay Area, and in LA and […]

I know I’ve done many lobster postings, but I had to do it again. Thanks, or due to the economic crisis, no one is buying lobster these days. Lobster used to be a status symbol (really?) for the rich. They are not cheap, and if you have them at restaurants, they are pretty pricey. It […]

Besides okonimiyaki, Osaka is known for another genius culinary invention: kushikatsu (aka kushiage). It’s so dreamy. Various meat and seafood parts, sometimes utterly inappropriate but so delicious. All kinds of vegetables. All breaded, then fried. On a stick! Yippee!!! We went over to the Jan-Jan strip of the city (above neon sign), where the taxi […]

Caroline and I made a version (via Ming Tsai’s recipe) of Ikan Bakar, a Malaysian/Indonesian dish, for dinner last week. It was our first time cooking skate, although I’ve enjoyed it in Chinese and French preparations. It’s a really cheap fish ($5/lb at the Blue Moon stall in the Greenmarket on Wednesdays!), but offers good […]

Preface: Umamiventure #12: Sheepshead Bay, Pt. 1 (Jordan’s Lobster Dock) On the morning of our trek out to Jordan’s Lobster Dock, I was cruising the net and happened upon ravings of another seafood shack in Sheepshead Bay, Randazzo’s Clam Bar. Started in 1916 as a fish market, Randazzo’s has built their reputation on fresh seafood, […]

I ate it. Yashigani or coconut crabs live in the Indian and Central Pacific regions. I have never seen one in Tokyo, therefore, although it’s quite pricey (4000yen for a small one at 500 grams), I knew I had to try it. They are terrestrial and have fluffier meat than their aquatic counterparts. The body […]

UMAMIVENTURE #12Jordan’s Lobster DockSheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NYSunday 9/21 Jordan’s has been around since 1938! Come out on Sunday for lobster rolls, steamed lobsters, raw and fried oysters, clam chowder and fried zucchini. You’re not going to make me eat alone, are you??? Lobster season is dwindling, so this is your last chance- please join me! […]

Here is my new favorite place that Christi and Mike brought me to in Man Jose called Dia de Pesca. It’s a seafood taco shack out of a “roach coach” that ROCKS. Literally, it’s just an old school mobile home that houses the kitchen, parked in the middle of a parking lot, with tables and […]