Umami Mart

If I gave you several options for dinner and you knew nothing about the restaurants other than their names, and one was called “Junk Garage”, you’re eating there, right? I’m going with Junk Garage every single time. I heard about this shop through the usual ramen fanatic-suspects and was fascinated by their namesake ‘junk’ ramen, […]

A gleaming school of herring greeted me upon my arrival on U.S. shores yesterday. After landing from Tokyo, my first errand after dropping off my bags at home was a visit to my local fish monger (Monterey Fish Market). Winter is a cornucopia of goodies for seafood. Crabs, oysters, salmon roe and herring are just […]

We finally made it into Tsujita for lunch during our trip down to LA over the summer. You know, when they actually serve ramen… Yoko and I had ignorantly gone there for dinner once, all excited to try their tsukemen (dipping ramen). But they don’t serve noodles at night! BAH! How silly, to call yourself […]

Sakura-ebi kakiage at Nunotsunesarashina in Tsukiji, my favorite soba spot when I lived in Tokyo.

We drove a long way from Los Angeles proper to try the soba at Otafuku in Torrance. The shop donned no sign, except a neon “Open” sign that flashed in the window. The place was packed with hungry folks for lunch, lone salarymen sitting at the bar, and housewives chatting amongst one another at the […]

If you know anything about ramen in Los Angeles you’ve heard of Daikokuya, the original LA noodle institution. There are throngs of people waiting outside its bright yellow awning at almost any hour of the day, despite several other shops within viewing distance. It was my first-ever ramen love. I’ve written before about how I […]

Since May, our beloved Ippuku of Berkeley has been serving teuchi (handmade) soba. Owner-chef Christian Geidemann recruited Koichi Ishii from Yamagata, a prefecture well-known for soba, to come and cook at Ippuku and start a soba program right here in the East Bay. We are SO LUCKY! I know, I should have reported on this sooner. […]

My second day in Japan was inauspicious. The sky was dreary, overcast, drizzling all day and on into the night, and I woke up with a full-blown cold to boot. So in other words, the perfect day for a bowl of ramen. After spending the day at the National Museum in Ueno Park, where my […]

It all started with a vision. Three guys, slaving away at Chez Panisse for years, decided to open a ramen shop in Oakland. Hot damn! The East Bay needs nothing more than a GREAT ramen shop, and the Food Gods know it. They have left the responsibility up to Jerry (JJ) Jackish, Rayneil De Guzmun […]

This one was a long time coming. Since I first started reading about ramen over at Ramenate I’ve been fascinated by Jiro-kei (Jiro-style) ramen. What is Jiro you ask? Jiro is an institution. It has spawned several official offshoots and many more imitators. Jiro is to ramen as suicide sauce is to wings. It’s the […]