Umami Mart

Are you ready for THE GIFT OF FOOD, Part Deux??? After the initial benefit we hosted in San Francisco just two weeks ago (raising over $10,000!), Yoko and I have been working with some kickass folks down in LA to organize a similar event to raise money for Second Harvest Japan. We’ve gotta keep this […]

The Smoke House is the sort of place where old-timey execs sip their nightcaps as they wait for their retirement (“I gave the best years of my life to this place”) and where awkward co-workers carry on as if they are passing through town for work, treating their affairs as fleeting, one night romances. The […]

Located in Studio City or Toluca Lake (depending on who you’re talking to) since 1961, Henry’s Tacos has served ground beef tacos served in a hard corn shell. They’ve marginally expanded their menu since then, now offering soft tacos, burritos and the quasi-famous taco burger, but the ground beef remains as basically the only option […]

Diners provide a gastronomic touchstone for family weekend breakfasts, drunken all-nighters, road trip pit stops and business meetings. Du-par’s is no exception. This family owned diner chain has had a presence in Southern California for the past 73 years, and has always held a good reputation for its house-made baked goods, and accommodating 24-hour service. […]

I drove up the well hidden path framed by carefully manicured greenery and pulled into valet (only to ask, “is there street parking close by?”), and a rush of old Hollywood imagery washed over me. Frames from The Way We Were and Shampoo fluttered about as I fell into a movie star k-hole. After some […]

Why are old things, places, clothes, movies, books, more interesting than what’s available to us today? Is it because the grass is always greener? Or that you always want what you can’t have? I’m sure that’s part of it, but it has to be more than that. The authenticity, the history, the credibility? Whatever the […]

Some people love the availability of innumerable options and possibility; Flea markets, Walmart, The Cheesecake Factory. And while there are some occasions where I enjoy the limitless options and “but what ifs” that tend to come along with sitting down to a proper meal at a new and exciting restaurant, generally I don’t have the […]

Ahhhh the life of a food journalist. The repeat and multiple visits to restaurants of all shapes and sizes, booze and food paid for by expense accounts, all in the name of research. I remember reading a review by Frank Bruni about Per Se, Thomas Keller’s New York sibling to French Laundry. I was so […]

Regional food pride has long been a competitive discussion between residents of urban cities throughout the United States (acutely observed here by our favorite comedian Kyle Kinane). Food at the the top of this list, like pizza and hot dogs, are usually made with cheap ingredients infused with a local style. And of course there […]

I’m feeling a bit deflated today. Recently I discovered that my column shares the same name with a right-wing, conspiracy theory, political blog (I’ll leave out the hyper link here, because you don’t need to waste your time with all that. Ok never mind, freedom of speech yaddi yadda, here you go). So just to […]