Umami Mart

By Kayoko Akabori Featuring Paystyle Originally posted on March 25, 2008 *This was the very first night I met Paystyle! Told ya I’ve got an eye for great talent.

PREFACE Tales Recap Part 1 Anticipating that I’d have a hangover the size of a punch bowl, and knowing that I’d be competing as a finalist in the Catdaddy Bar Chef Challenge in the afternoon of my second day at Tales of the Cocktail, I intentionally lightened my schedule to allow some breathing room.  In the […]

Ok so here goes the beginning of an effort may prove fruitless and waning. Today’s the first official day of Tales of the Cocktail, the biggest mixology fete/conference in the world, and my earnest plan is to provide daily updates for folks who couldn’t be here to witness it in person. There’s no substitute for […]

Umamimart’s very own Paystyle and his wife Vanessa are off to New Orleans today for Tales of the Cocktail! This is absolutely THE most anticipated week of the year for bar chef/ booze-heads, jam-packed with galas, parties, cocktail-offs, and seminars (“Umami in Cocktails” on Thursday afternoon, anyone?). Lest we forget that Paystyle’s Chinese Bootlegger’s Punch […]

  Last week I wrote a post on the CKTL Jam event that took place at the Astor Center in NY, and I promised that this week I would share the recipe for the second of the two improv cocktails I created, as soon as I figured out what to call it.  I still haven’t figured out […]

Campari Soda is the perfect summer drink, especially when you’re sweltering in the Middle East like I am right now! The bottle suggests you mix 2/3 Campari to 1/3 soda water, which I think is undrinkable. (I mean, I like bitter, but come on!) A jigger of Campari, a bunch of ice and fill your […]

As I mentioned last week, the theme here all month long is HOT HOT HEAT! And judging by the mercury-topping temperatures this week here in New York, it appears Mother Nature keeps up with this blog, because she’s definitely doing her part to keep the theme as relevant as possible. But unlike all the whiny crybabies out […]

  This past Sunday I had rare the opportunity–via my cocktail consulting and event company, Life’s a Cocktail–to use the power of mixology to help the forces of good, serving up cocktails in the name of marriage equality as a vendor in the first ever Illegal Wedding Fair.  The event was held in an amazing West Village townhouse called […]

After spending five months in Venice and frequenting countless wine bars and restaurants, Paradiso Perduto was the one I kept going back to. A neighborhood establishment that’s good for a drink, a snack, a meal, or an all day bender. A place where you felt like the bartenders would recognize you with a wink and […]

Photos by Matt K. and myself. Heard about The Violet Hour, a little speakeasy-esque bar in the Bucktown/ Wicker Park area of Chicago, courtesy of Paystyle. When Pay suggests a place, I follow, no questions asked. Matt and I definitely walked up and down the street a few times and looked around like baffled, confused […]