Drunken noodles at SriPraPhai in Woodside, Queens. From Umamiventure #4 in 2007. The savory hot sweetness of the dish still hovers in my memory.

Photo by Irwin Chen.

I am really excited to have been chosen to be part of a food photography exhibition called “Feast Your Eyes” that just opened in Brooklyn on
Read More →

Last week, NYC pastry chef extraordinaire Pichet Ong was a guest judge on Top Chef Just Desserts (aired September 22).  As he was introduced, some of my photos of his desserts were shown on the episode: Foie Gras Taco and Warm Date Cake (see below). I shot the desserts in his restaurants
Read More →

The afternoon I took this picture in Hell’s Kitchen was one of the steamiest days this summer, but that didn’t stop New Yorkers from loving HOT 99¢ slices. I have a feeling I might look back at this picture in 20 years and be shocked at how cheap a
Read More →

Chef Gabriel Kreuther of The Modern prepared this dish for the recent 4th Annual Taste of the Greenmarket benefit in NYC.

Update from The Modern (Tues. 7/26, 12:45pm EDT): The dish is Needle Panna Cotta with Nasturtium flowers and Riesling broth, Fingerling potato crisp and extra virgin olive oil.

Photo by
Read More →

In the past week there’s been a lot of buzz in cocktail circles regarding the outcome of a legal dispute between Pusser’s rum and Painkiller, a tiki bar in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It’s a story that’s led to a lot of anger among us folks in the cocktail
Read More →

PREFACE Skankynavia: In the US (Part 1 – Berkeley) Last week I listened to the great NYC radioshow called RadioLab. They deal with quirky science and interesting true stories, and last week’s subject was “memory” (a rerun from 2007, listen here). It turns out that every time you remember something, and
Read More →

It seems that pop-ups are popping up all over New York City recently. What’s going on? Or should I say What Happens When? That’s the name of a new pop-up resto that has a nine-month lease on a space in SoHo, and a new menu and theme every
Read More →

I just got back from a weekend in NYC, for a very important Umamimart Reunion Dinner, hosted by Yamahomo (post coming!). Even though I really only had two full days in the city, I bounced around and hit some of my favorite haunts. It felt good to be back, if only for a few
Read More →

I know this piece of cake doesn’t look so hot, but to be fair, it’s been through a lot.

Last weekend I was at a house party in Williamsburg. It was still Passover, so I was having wine instead of beer, cheese with no crackers and trying not to look at the cookies. I’d
Read More →