Umami Mart

I know there is good food in Los Angeles and I’m trying to be more open to new things. That being said, I don’t like driving and I don’t particularly like Santa Monica, so I normally don’t travel to the west side of the city to do anything, beyond what I have to for work. […]

It’s funny how when you mention Japan and food in the same sentence, there only seems to be two options. You can take the fabulous gourmet-cheering, sushi-adoring, heavenly-graced and experimenting Michelin-guided way. Or, you can choose the back alley into the world of eyeball-abusing, crazed up, disgustingly weird nastiness that freak the shit out of […]

Photos by Alda Ly, Moet Hashimoto, and myself. Sara wrote a post two years ago about the San Pedro Fish Market, and I’ve fantasized about visiting since then. All that sunny, surfside seafood looked like paradise. So that was the obvious choice for Umamiventure #26, since I was coming into town. Also, with all the […]

Summer seems to be a fickle thing here in muggy London. Not sunny enough for a picnic but warm enough for some chilled beer so we headed off to Belgo Noord for some moules, frites et bieres. Just north of Camden Town, the restaurant itself has an industrial feel but it’s cool, clean and light. […]

I’ve been dying to visit the San Pedro Fish Market since Sara wrote about it a few years back. It’s the perfect summertime Umamiventure! Although it’s always summer in LA, isn’t it? Sigh. Since I’ll be in LA this week, let’s all get together and gorge on fresh oysters and crab and shrimp and drink […]

Hot Doug’s (The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium) was really the ONLY place Matt wanted to go to during our Chicago visit. Our conversations leading up to the trip often went like this: Kayoko: Should we go to Burt’s Place for pizza? Matt: Sure, I’ll leave it up to you. But we’re going to […]

Since Japan is surrounded by ocean, it’s very easy to get very fresh seafood in any part of the country. We Japanese love squid, octopus, and any kind of chewy seafood. Italy’s geography is similar, and they also love squid and octopi. Fried calamari, Italian restaurant’s signature appetizer is basically the same thing as squid […]

Last week, my colleague had told me that he was going fishing on Saturday night. Come Monday morning, he gave me a cooler full of five squid. He kept them on ice, and they were so fresh! They didn’t smell fishy, which is a good sign for “fresh” seafood. I wanted to bring them home […]

It’s sugar snap pea season! These beans are so sweet and only need a minute in the frying pan, which means it’s perfect for us LASYASSES. Remember when I wrote about chinese sausages, aka lap cheong a couple weeks back? Let’s add those, and a clove of garlic. Deveining, or “stringing” the peas is the […]

One of my loyal Monday night regulars brought me these on the other week. A bag full of Chinese sausages! YAY! He grew up in  San Francisco and swears that this one butcher in Chinatown, Mow Lee Co., makes them the best (774 Commercial at Grant, 982-5767). He brought me the regular pork kind, and […]