Umami Mart

If you’ve ever tried to prepare sashimi or sushi, you’ve probably learned pretty quickly that having the right knife makes a huge difference. Even the freshest fish doesn’t make great sashimi if it’s sliced poorly – you can easily ruin the texture, the look, and the taste of your most important ingredient with the wrong […]

Shopping for the freshest seafood just got easier with another fish market that opened in the People’s Republic of Berkeley. Fish is still my favorite thing to eat for dinner because it’s easy and so, so delicious. Grilled, simmered or baked, fish will let you do anything to it and it’ll adapt. But, by far, […]

The temperature readings for the past week have been falling to lows of nines and elevens (that’s Celsius, for all you Americans out there). Ladies and gentlemen, I hate to admit it, but summer has passed us by. You could still kind of pretend in September that it wasn’t so, but we’re now well and […]

“Tramin” sashimi. Chef Douglas Kim for Morimoto NYC. Photograph by Erin Gleeson. 

Awabi (abalone) is a luxurious clam. When it is eaten raw, it tastes faintly like the sea, but its crispy texture is what stands out the most. It is delicious, but almost impossible to find on sushi menus as they are so hard to obtain due to strict California laws. On the Northern California coast, […]

Uzuzukuri is one of my favorite preprations of sashimi. Kuni (my dad) would make this for very special occasions growing up, usually New Year’s Day or Thanksgiving. It is so gorgeous that you almost feel bad eating it. But not that bad. The word usuzukuri derives from 薄い (usui, or thin), meaning fish that is sliced thinly. […]

Fish is still something a lot of people are scared of in the States. Heads, guts, scales, filleting — there are a lot of processes involved before you can eat a piece of fish. It is the same process for meat or poultry, and I am sure butchers go through a lot of steps to serve […]

My partner Washi recently got a job as a salaryman. This may not seem that odd until you consider the fact that he is living in Berkeley, California and to qualify as a salaryman, you are usually employed by a Japanese corporation. I will miss his face behind the bar at Ippuku. And I will […]

I visited my mom recently and she served me one of the best breakfasts I have had in a long time–tai chazuke. Chazuke is short for ochazuke, a common method of enjoying rice in Japan. A bowl of rice is topped with condiments and hot tea or dashi is poured over it. Tai chazuke is […]

“HELP! I ate three bites of raw chicken, am I going to get sick?!” “I had chicken for dinner but it was pink. I ate it, but I am worried now. What should I do?” “Warning: FDA strongly advises chicken to be cooked completely before consumption.” These are what comes up on Google when you […]