Umami Mart

When I first moved to Studio City earlier this year, my friend Trevor greeted me with “Welcome to the city of sushi joints and bong shops.” And I thought to myself, “Heaven?”  I kid, kind of.  According to Yelp.com there’s about 63 places to eat sushi in the 7.11 square miles that is Studio City.  […]

*Please enjoy this track (in another window) while reading this post. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest Los Angeles fan, but I’m trying my hardest to appreciate the great things the city has to offer, and at the top of most Angelenophiles (did I make that word up?) “things to love about LA lists” is Dodger’s […]

“Yoko, they have rattlesnake and alligator sausages,” my friend told me of this place called Wurstküche in Downtown LA. For some reason I imagined Lisbeth Salander goth types sitting around a table eating rattlesnake sausages with forks and knives. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t at all interested in the rattlesnake or the alligator– […]

Lamill Coffee in Silverlake, LA impressed me because it looked good. They package their coffee beans in tins (made in the USA) that are retro looking and all the staff wear matching t-shirts. Yes, call me superficial – but ever since leaving Tokyo, I have to admit I miss the art of presentation. The menu […]

“Have you eaten?” Without fail, this is the first thing out of my Lola’s mouth whenever I arrive to her house. This is also the only question she will ask you for the next 15 minutes until she sees you physically eating something or in my Lola’s particular case I feign interest in get her […]

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. […]

So I’m in the valley, Burbank actually, or is it North Hollywood? Depends on who you are talking to. LA native? Valley native? You’re from Hollywood? Oh, not from Hollywood? So you’re technically from the Valley, but you live in Hollywood, got it. Do the Hills start at Cahuenga? No? They start at Mulholland? You […]

Omg, I totally forgot to write about Candytown, right next door to the San Pedro Fish Market! Silly me! After gorging ourselves with shrimp, oysters and ceviche, we finally called it quits and all walked over to Candytown. Yes, we saved room for dessert. Candytown is super cute and looks like Willy Wonka barfed all […]

I know a lot of folks who love to hate on Guy Fieri for reasons that include his overt enthusiasm and hair do, but I’ll be the first to admit, I think the dude is completely lovable and has the best damn job in the world. I mean, really… he won a reality TV show […]

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 […]