Posted July 19th, 2011 by Meg
So happy that my 200th post is Umami Burger in Santa Monica (connected to Fred Segal). Great burgers, great beer, great location.
pronunciation: uːˈmɑːmi / oo-MAH-me.
translation: savoriness / the 5th taste.
review: delicious / DELICIOUS.
favorite burger: Hatch Burger (4 types of green chilies, house made American cheese).
pictured: Special Burger (I don’t remember what was in it) & Smushed Potatoes (dutch yellow creamers, double fried — get the ketchup!)
UMAMI
500 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90401-2406
(310) 451-1300
Mon-Wed & Sun: 11am-10pm
Thu-Sat: 11am-11pm
Posted June 3rd, 2011 by Meg
Almost 2 years, wow. I’d be lying if I said my life has not significantly changed since the last time I blogged. I’m not going to get into the boring details, but let’s just say I do not have much free time. (I’m still lamenting that I never got to finish blogging about my trip to SF. It’s too late now, I have no idea where my photos are from that trip.) Fortunately, I have a teeny weeny tiny bit of extra time that allows me to hopefully add a few posts. I am spending my summer in a part of Los Angeles that I have never really explored before - downtown! Including, but not limited to: Little Tokyo, Olvera Street, and Chinatown. I am very excited for what lies ahead.
As you might have noticed in the past, as I became busier in my life (not unemployed) my choice of subject matter and adjectives became more limited (everything was either delicious or not delicious). This will probably be the case this summer as well. So, I apologize for my future lack of descriptions now & hope you still enjoy my documentation of delicious, sans details.
Anyway, let’s cut to the chase! (A phrase that originated in the U.S. film industry b/c many early silent films started with obligatory romantic story lines but ended in chase sequences. The first reference dates back to 1927 after the first ‘talkie’ The Jazz Singer. More info on this phrase here.) For my first review this summer, I will start with what arguably might be the best sushi restaurant in the downtown vicinity: Hama Sushi. I bet you’re wondering what Hama means. No? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. According to one website on Kanji and Romaji the word Hama, aka はま, means beach or sea coast. (This name choice makes sense b/c it implies that the sushi is fresh from the ocean.) Although the restaurant is small and it was getting close to standard lunch time in Los Angeles (1pm), my friend and I were able to be seated immediately and order our little hearts out. And it was delicious. DELICIOUS.
To be honest, I can’t remember everything we ordered. But, it doesn’t matter because everything was great. I am confident that I could order completely differently next time and still give my same lazy delicious approval.
However, there are a few things that stood out enough for me to repeat: Order hot green tea (obv), order toro (obv), order hand rolls (they are cheaper and more filling). There are a few more pictures, but uploading them is not as easy as I remember it to be! Maybe I will add them later…
Hama Sushi (Yelp page b/c I couldn’t find official website)
347 E 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Neighborhoods: Downtown, Little Tokyo
Posted August 10th, 2009 by Meg
Bi-Rite Creamery is:
- the ice cream shop to the amazing Bi-Rite Market
- organic and local ingredients
- cups and spoons are biodegradable
- tastes done with silver spoons
- made of Strauss Family Dairy
- rarely more than 5 ingredients (nothing artificial)
- daily changing, creative flavors
- delicious
Clockwise from top left: Vanilla Lavender (honey and lavender freshly gathered from nearby Mint Hill), Salted Caramel, Coffee Toffee (made with local Ritual coffee beans), and Creme Fraiche. All were outstanding, but I fell in love with the Creme Fraiche. Yum.
Bi-Rite Creamery
3692 18th St, San Francisco, CA
(415) 626-5600
Posted August 8th, 2009 by Meg
Although completely unplanned, my first morning meal in San Francisco was in China Town at my friend’s favorite Dim Sum restaurant, Dol Ho. Unfortunately, I don’t know Dim Sum well. But, I do know that I did enjoy this Dim Sum.
Having spent a good hour traveling, I was ravenously hungry. So I didn’t really write down the names of everything we had at our table. I know we had a lot of shrimp dishes though. My table did agree that the vegetable dumpling was the best.
Below on this dish is a fried shrimp ball (left) and some sort of eggplant shrimp cheese delightfulness. I love eggplant, period. So to add two other great ingredients: cheese and shrimp. It’s a trifecta of perfect.
Dol Ho
808 Pacific Ave
(at Stockton St)
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 392-2828
Posted August 7th, 2009 by Meg
Cardamon Ice Cream.
A spice that is used in both savory and sweet dishes results into a warm, inviting, subtly spicy, and nicely sweet ice cream flavor. Yum. Check out their many other unique flavors too! Like Saffron, Rose, Falooda, and Kesar Pista.
Bombay Ice Creamery
552 Valencia St
(between 16th St & 17th St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 861-3995
Posted May 12th, 2009 by Meg
Pleasantly Tart with active cultures
It is my latest find at Trader Joe’s. Well, it’s not really my latest find. I’ve been eating this for a few weeks now, but have been unable to post about it because I am so overcome with excitement and happiness about it that I forget to take a picture. Finally, after finishing my nightly bowl I remembered to take a picture of the aesthetically pleasing container. It’s tart. More tart than Pinkberry. It also has active cultures too (something Pinkberry doesn’t have). You can tell this when you bite into it because it tastes so similar to yogurt. However, it is almost custard like in texture. Not what I initially expected, but delicious.
Posted May 5th, 2009 by Meg
The easiest part of this race was the running. It was everything else that made it hard. Correction: Technology made it hard. My shuffle, Shuffley, refused to turn on when the race began. This made no sense to me because I turned it on 30 minutes prior to ensure it was working and that there would be no repeats of Shuffley trouble (San Diego Half Marathon). Shuffley might be a race-ist. Or, maybe Shuffley is just race shy, because Shuffley did not work. Thus, I started the race upset. I tried to focus on the running, but I kept getting distracted and discouraged by the beautiful noises of others. For instance, the lovely woman that took deep, loud, vocal breaths; each time she exhaled, she panted out the words “oh my god.” I was too frustrated to find humor in this situation at the time and only grew more annoyed and conflicted. I couldn’t sprint ahead because that would ultimately lead me to burning out. And I couldn’t slow down because that would compromise my own time. Instead, I distracted myself with random thoughts. Like, what if that dog, that I guess was allowed to be racing, poops on the course. I would definitely be the one that stepped in it. Fortunately, the blasphemous breather disappeared in my dust, the dog never went to the bathroom, and Shuffley finally turned on around mile four. Shuffley’s resurrection significantly increased my speed and mood. I was able to recover some of the lost time and finished the race in under an hour (which means that I ran the race faster than I train). So, yay.
Now… the good stuff.
It has become tradition for my roommate and I to go out to Father’s Office II for post race celebration. After the Santa Monica Classic, I did not think tradition was going to be upheld. Instead, I took a 2 hour nap, went grocery shopping, and lounged around. That is until I got the text message from my roommate asking if I wanted to go out. Of course I did! Here are the highlights:
1. Carafe of Melville “Vernas” Pinor Noir ‘07
2. Rare Yellow Fin Tuna (a special that quickly sold out after I ordered it) - yuzu cherry tomato “ceviche”, shiso, and cilantro sprouts.
3. The Bruery Saison Rue
