Chicken + waffles at Lois the Pie Queen in Oakland.

People often ask me, “Why did you leave NYC?” It’s true, I just sorta packed my bags and ditched my glamorous job, my wonderful friends, my comfortable routine, and the GREATEST! CITY! IN! THE! WORLD! (at least the greatest metro system in the world).

All for what?

I’ll tell you what. The Three Major Food Groups:
1. Sushi
2. Pho
3. Burritos

It is no coincidence that I would leave NYC for these three foods, the best of which you can find in the Bay Area. I tell people this, and they sort of laugh it off, as though this couldn’t possibly be the real reason. But this is no joke. We may not have the “Top Chef Masters” but when it comes to the Three Major Food Groups, the Bay fucking swoops!

My search for the best pho in the East Bay ended when I found Pho Ao Sen. The clouds parted, and a chorus of birds chirped in melodic unison.

I was won over by the neon lights. Indoors.

In my humble opinion, Ao Sen definitely make the best pho broth around. It is piping hot, flavorful, and goes deep. Most importantly, it doesn’t leave you with numbing MSGmouth.

Pho with all the beef part fixins.

But let us move on from pho because apparently, summer is here in the Bay Area (not holding my breath). Instead of pho, I’m gonna share with you my newest obsession: The Bun.

What wildly glorious colors! This one, the Bun Thit Noong Tom, comes with magnificently marinated grilled pork and prawns. It’s essentially a cold vermicelli salad. Perfect for the hotness.

CHECK OUT THE PLUMPNESS!

They are gorgeous. This makes me so happy I want to cry. Tears.

Drizzle the tangy fish sauce concoction over this and mix it all up! A delightful garden of fresh bean sprouts, finely chopped lettuce, and mint awaits you:

Salad porn.

By standard, bun will always have the charred pork. Shrimp and imperial rolls are extra credit. The pork has been a bit too fatty both times I had this, but I’ll let that slide.

Pho Ao Sen is on the corner of International and 2nd Avenue. They close super early, like Turtle Tower and many other pho joints (since pho is more of a breakfast food in Vietnam), so go early.

Nevermind. GO RIGHT NOW.

PS: I would choose a divey restaurant from the Three Major Food Groups over Le Bernardin any day. I fear that I’m becoming one of those gross Californians who loooooooooves California and won’t shut up about it. Apologies in advance.

Dear Anders,

Umamimart misses you.
I  mean, it just ain’t the same out here without The Skank Master.
Come back soon.

Love,

Kayoko

PS: I’m totally taking you to this bakery when you visit. You are going to DIE.

Can we just be lazy this month and have a low-key Umamiventure? YES! Let’s meet at The Trappist Belgian beer bar in downtown Oakland for their Taco Tuesday, next 7/13 at 7pm. Yes, SFers, I’m asking you to trek over the bridge. Deal with it.

The Trappist is awesome. They have nearly 30 different beers on tap, and another 100 kinds in bottles. Here’s a list of what they’ve got tapped this month. Green Flash Le Freak! YAH!

Plus, there’s $2 tacos from Tamarindo restaurant next door, available on Tuesdays only. I wonder if it’s really Belgian Beer Carnitas– that would be amazing!

I’ll get there at 7pm, and stay pretty late so stop by whenever and have a strong beer with me! Yoko will be there too.

SFers: The 12th Street BART station is literally right around the corner so you have NO EXCUSE!

As usual, RSVP in the comments below, Twitter me, or respond directly in the Facebook invite.

Above photo by @serooo.

THE TRAPPIST
460 8th Street
Oakland, CA
T: 510.238.8900

*Umamiventures are organized monthly, traveling far and wide to find awesome, cheap grub off the beaten path.

Past Umamiventures include:
1.) Ocean Jewel Restaurant – Flushing, NYC; June 2007
2.) Red Hook Ball Fields - NYC; June 2007
3.) Taste of Jackson Heights – NYC; October, 2007
4.) Sripraphai Restaurant – Woodside, NYC; November 2007
5.) WINTERMARKET – South St. Seaport; December 2007
6.) Jackson Diner- Jackson Heights, NYC; January 2008
7.) Pacificana – Sunset Park, NYC; February 2008
8.) Puerto Alegre – The Mission, SF; March 2008
9.) Dinosaur BBQ – Harlem, NYC; April 2008
10.) Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden – Astoria, NYC; May 2008
11.) Brooklyn Banh Mi Crawl – Sunset Park, NYC; August 2008
12.) Sheapshead Bay Lobster Crawl – NYC; September 2008
13.) Flushing Food Circuit – NYC; October 2008
14.) Strong Beer Month – SF; March 2009
15.) Loisaida Throwback Crawl – NYC; April 2009
16.) Harley Farms Goat Dairy – Pescadero, CA; June 2009
17.) Tomales Bay Oyster Farm – Marshall, CA; August 2009
18.) Din Tai Fung – LA; September 2009
19.) Din Tai Fung – Tokyo; September 2009
20.) Schroeder’s Oktoberfest – SF; October 2009
21.) Fish Taco Crawl – San Diego; November 2009
22.) St. George Spirits & Hangar One Vodka -  Alameda; January 2010
22.5) Everett & Jones – OAK; January 2010
23.) Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse – NYC; February 2010
24.) Guerilla Ramen Night – SF; April 2010
25.) Knife Sharpening Workshop at Hida Tool & Hardware – Berkeley, May 2010
26.) San Pedro Fish Market - LA, June 2010

July is here! My god, look at this ultra blue sky– it’s so goddamn bright here, I still can’t deal with the California sun.

Quit complaining! It’s gorgeous here!

Fine.

It’s a new month, and rent is due today. This is my first rent check I’ll be writing since I moved out of Brooklyn! I’m weirdly excited about it. Ha. Ask me in another month if I still feel this way.

So, I moved to the Grand Lake Theater area of North Lake Merritt, Oakland. I love my neighborhood! It totally reminds me of the Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, where Prospect Heights meets Park Slope.

Geographically, Brooklyn and Oakland are very similar– the two cities are the (seemingly) grimier, more rebellious counterpart to their glamorous sister cities across the bridge. (Except the bridges in NYC are FREE!!!)

Grand Avenue, Oakland, itself reminds me of Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights, where I spent a lot of time. Lots of restaurants and bars, yoga studios, and random little furniture shops and funky clothing stores. DANGEROUS.

Let me take you around my new hood! It’s super nice! (My idea of “nice” is a bit skewed, considering I lived in Crown Heights for almost three years.)

The Alley is a HUGE reason why I wanted to live in this neighborhood. The resident piano player, Rod Dibble, plays the keys while people sit around the piano and sing old show tunes into the mic. It’s kinda my dream come true. One of these days, I hope to pretend like I’m Annie Hall and sing Seems Like Old Times.

The newish pizza parlor, Boot & Shoe Service– started by the popular Pizzaiolo folks over in the Temescal section of Oakland. @jkeithvanrappin and I ate here the other night. I had a sausage and rapini pizza with an egg on top. YES! Although I was a bit sour, which I wasn’t so crazy about. Great bar though.

My liquor store. Great for when I have late-night cravings for a smoke (GROSS!), or a six-pack of Coors Light.

I watch the World Cup games at Smitty’s. They’ve got two TVs, Miller High-Life, PBR, and you can smoke inside. Classy!

Oakland’s “oldest coffee house.” Kinda neat.

Must try this place, not only for the tongue-twisty name, but also cause it’s pick-three-items style.

My neighborhood bookstore!

Around the corner is an Arizmendi, a coop pizza/bread/pastry shop.

That’s not all. There’s an awesome farmers market on Saturdays across from the theater. My library is down the street, as is my gym, the park, and the lake. There’s a Trader Joe’s around the corner, a Lanesplitter pizza for when I just want a slice and someone to flirt with (the boys who make the pizzas are always cute), Camino down the street, and of course, the Colonial Donut shop.

Oh my, and can we talk about the theater (top photo)? It’s GORGEOUS. Built in 1926, and they’ve still got their resident organist. \TOY STORY 3 + A Cold Beer = My Twisted Heaven.

The theme this month is HOT HOT HEAT. As you can see from these pics, the temperature is rising over here, and I hear NYC and London are scorching as well. So let’s go out, show some cleavage, be drunk all day, and MAKE OUT. Gossip Girl Hamptons style.

YES!

Or, we could just stay in, behold air conditioning, and whip up some milkshakes.

This video is the silliest but it make me SO HOT! Brooklyn diner HOLLER!

Anyway, come visit me! I’m currently looking for REAL LIFE neighborhood friends, and just REAL LIFE friends in general. Let’s hang out! I’m gonna take it easy for July and Umamiventure #27 will be at The Trappist in downtown Oakland, for their Taco Tuesdays. Maybe the second week of July? Stay tuned for details.

The boys are waiting.

Kayoko

Umamimart Founder/Editor/Resident Pervert

Went to see guitarists Bill Frissell and Marc Ribot at Yoshi’s the other night. What an awesome duo! But aside from the music, of course the quintessential question was, “Where should we eat before the show?” I helped brainstorm a bit with Ron (because that is what I do), and we decided on the Home of Chicken & Waffles, right in Jack London Square.

When you walk in, you’re greeted by portraits of diners painted on the canary yellow walls. The bar area (which was hoppin’) is on the right side, and the dining room (relatively slow) is on the left. There’s a counter, so it has a real diner feel.

The bar was stocked with some great booze (Kraken rum, which makes a great Cuba Libre), and they have this out-of-control “Remy Chill” refrigeration machine that serves VSOP Remy at 0ºF. Enough said.

The menu is quite extensive, with lots of combination platters, mains and sides. I love the names of the dishes, like “The Homeboy”, “Njambi’s Magic”, and “Taste of Toussaint”. With names like that, how can you not love this place?

Enric and I split the “Lord BJ” which is 4 pieces of fried chicken and two waffles, all for $15! I deeply regret not getting this smothered with onions and gravy, for 50 cents extra. FAIL.

This was so incredibly satisfying. The waffle was… a waffle. Nothing spectacular, but the chicken was definitely awesome, and I think everyone at the table might have agreed. Not too much batter, nicely spiced, cooked well. Plus the combination of the waffle and fried chicken is just friggin ingenious.

Fried Chicken Porn.

“Jason’s Pick”: Greens, black-eyed peas, rice, cornbread with a piece of chicken. The beans were stewed with love.

“Angie’s Delight”: Waffle, chicken and grits. So clean, so simple.

Side orders of greens and candied yams. How we forgot to order the much-touted mac and cheese, I do not know. FAIL #2.

I am reading on their website that this place was opened by a co-owner of the original Roscoe’s, of SoCal fame. There used to be a Roscoe’s in Oakland, but it closed many years back. Check out Sashe’s post on UM from when she went to Roscoe’s in the LBC.

Greatest thing about the Home of Chicken and Waffles? It’s open till midnight on weekdays, and 2am on weekends! How awesome is that? Place was definitely poppin’ when we left at 10pm, at least the bar area. There were all these bouncers at the door, and I recall a velvet rope. Classic.

HOME OF CHICKEN AND WAFFLES
444 Embarcadero West
Oakland, CA
T: 510.836.4446

Two long tables that seat about 40 guests Harry Potter-style, line the walls of Camino in Oakland. These dramatic slabs of wood sum up the restaurant itself – friendly and warm. Adding to the drama are two stone grills at the back of the restaurant in full view of the guests and four huge chandaliers laced with bay leaves. The rustic atmosphere reflects the menu (that changes daily) which features simple and easy-to-understand ingredients and descriptions.

I went to Camino as a party of four. Sitting nestled between strangers allowed for a very unpretentious experience, reminding me a little bit of izakayas back in Tokyo. The food, however, was definitely not reminding me of an izakaya. Being a party of four was great for trying various starters. In fact, I would like to go back to Camino with a bigger party sometime so I can experience the entire starters menu…

Our starters were:

Blood orange, Oro Blanco, grapefruit and faro with cauliflower
Probably my favorite starter since it was really delicate and well thought out. The citrus added a subtle depth that complimented the otherwise buttery cauliflower. California cuisine at its best.

Fried smelt with arugula salad, beets and herb mayonnaise
The beets were the best part of this dish. I sometimes find beets to be too sweet – these were conservative in their sweetness. Give me some time with smelt, I still can not figure these babies out.

Rock shrimp soup
Very savory. That white stuff floating on the top, most probably cheese, was the star of this dish.

Pork feet nuggets and pork head slices
Melt in your mouth nuggets were amazing, but a little heavy for a starter. I would have liked to be eating these at a bar instead.

Camino also serves complimentary bread, delicious butter and mineral water (gas and no gas).

We all ended up getting the duck as our main entree which was perfection.

On the upper left side of the plate were super sweet cooked carrots of several hues (orange, yellow and cream). Au gratin potatoes were placed on the top of the plate. These were perfectly cooked thin slices of potato in about four layers. Between each medallion was a light cream sauce. The greens are peeking out from the grilled duck on the right side of the plate. This combination of greens had the texture of cabbage but the bitter flavor of kale. The main ingredient, duck came in two styles. On the right side is a piece of grilled duck leg. The buttery layers of duck melted in my mouth after experiencing a slight crunch from the top skin layer. On the left side were four rare slices of steak-style duck. The texture was reminiscent of roast beef, giving off a really satisfying feeling of indulging in red meat, yet without the super heaviness of beef. The concept of the dish was like a really gourmet Thanksgiving dinner. Being a fan of Thanksgiving, this was a really satisfying plate.

And dessert was yet another adventure at Camino. Luckily we all had to satisfy our sweet tooth, so we decided to share three desserts amongst the four of us.

Apple and quince tart with brandy cream
Perfect crunch with this tart. I loved how there wasn’t much of anything besides apple and a flaky crust.

Hazelnut ice-cream with chocolate
Simply hazelnut. And with shaved chocolate, this dish delivered exactly what it claimed to be – hazelnuts and chocolate.

Wood oven-roasted prunes with red wine and vanilla ice cream
This was the star of the show for me. It reminded me of Cherries Jubilee (an all-time favorite of mine). The vanilla ice-cream wasn’t too in-your-face to make room for the sweet prunes. The color of the red wine was gorgeous too.

A truly photogenic meal and atmosphere, Camino will definitely be on the list for places to celebrate a fancy occasion. This gem is definitely somewhere I’d like to go for a couple of cocktails in the near future as well.

CAMINO
3917 Grand Avenue
Oakland, CA
T: 510.547.5035

PREQUEL

Umamiventure #22: St. George Spirits & Hangar One Vodka (SF Bay Area)

What’s the best accompaniment to whiskey? BBQ all the way! As I’ve already told you, the very first time I tasted St. George whiskey was at Fette Sau, a barbecue joint in Brooklyn. So it was only appropriate that we complet the Umamiventure with some ribs, brisket and corn bread. YAH!

After St. George, we all went over to Everett & Jones, an East Bay institution for barbeque. It was the perfect way to end the day, as we were all pretty starving after the tour, and it was only a five minute drive from the distillery.

The place wasn’t so packed when we walked in at 3pm. I had reserved a big table, so they were ready for us– the vibe was super casual, with the carving station right in the middle of the restaurant.

THE BEER

KAYOKO
We started off with a couple pitchers of their house beer, the Saucy Sistah Ale. With a name like that, you’ve gotta drink it by the pitcher-full. Here’s a shot of the beer poster in the window, by kipbot. EPIC.

ENRIC
Awesome Saucey Sistah. Where can I get that? I want to see the bottled beer!

KAYOKO
I’m reading that it is brewed by the founder of the now defunct Brothers Brewing Co., Ralston Brown. More here.

THE FEAST

We ordered two platters of ribs, and two combo platters of the brisket, links, chicken and more ribs. Did I mention we got ribs?

THE RIBS

KAYOKO
I didn’t take a lot of pics, but did capture the best part of the meal– the ribs! The meat fell right off the bone, and tasted of smokey tender FLESH. Not stinky at all, then way bad ribs can be.

LIZ
I am thinking about those ribs right now. The sauce is delish. Mmmmmmmm ribs!

JAMES
The ribs were firm, meaty and saucy.

THE LINKS

KAYOKO
Sorry that pic doesn’t do the links justice. They were excellent– they sort of fell apart in your mouth but were very flavorful.

LIZ
The hot links were especially good. Normally I wouldn’t choose that off the menu but since we got a little of everything I am glad I did try them.

THE SAUCE

ENRIC
The hot Master Q sauce was quite spicy but not so much in your nose as it is in the back of the tongue. It was the key component, 100% enhanced with Wonderbread. Thought I might have liked some toasted wonder bread for more enhanced flavors– in Spain we have the torrades which are used to soak the meat juices after cooked.

JAMES
My favorite was the spicy barbecue sauce, sweet and hot. A good kind of hurt.

KAYOKO
They didn’t skimp on the sauce, which I appreciated. It was tart, smokey and sweet going in, with a touch of piquant at the end. It was a rollercoaster in my mouth.

THE MENUS

ENRIC
MC Hammer, Snoop Dogg with Bigga Figga, whoa!

KAYOKO
If I recall correctly, my menu had a pic of Bill Clinton on it. Or maybe it was Hillary. Pretty awesome either way.

FINAL THOUGHTS

ENRIC
This is a place with character.

JAMES
Everett & Jones was a big surprise.

LIZ
Everett & Jones ROCKED.

IDO
Perfect choice on the follow-up BBQ after St. George. Meat meat and more meat. All washed down with a nice couple of pitchers of Saucy Sistah Ale.

KAYOKO
Excellent food, great beer, accomodates big parties, and all affordable (we spent $25 each I think). By far the best barbecue I’ve had in the Bay Area thus far. All around, it was the perfect Umamiventure. Again, thanks everyone for coming out!

EVERETT & JONES
126 Broadway (at 2nd Street)
Oakland, CA
T: 510.663.2350

*Umamiventures are organized monthly, traveling far and wide to find good, cheap grub off the beaten path. Umamiventure #23 will be at Sammy’s in NYC on Sat. 2/20. Please come out!

**Become a Facebook Fan of UM to stay updated on all future trips!

Past Umamiventures include:
1.) Ocean Jewel Restaurant – Flushing, NYC; June 2007
2.) Red Hook Ball Fields - NYC; June 2007
3.) Taste of Jackson Heights – NYC; October, 2007
4.) Sripraphai Restaurant – Woodside, NYC; November 2007
5.) WINTERMARKET – South St. Seaport; December 2007
6.) Jackson Diner- Jackson Heights, NYC; January 2008
7.) Pacificana – Sunset Park, NYC; February 2008
8.) Puerto Alegre – The Mission, SF; March 2008
9.) Dinosaur BBQ – Harlem, NYC; April 2008
10.) Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden – Astoria, NYC; May 2008
11.) Brooklyn Banh Mi Crawl – Sunset Park, NYC; August 2008
12.) Sheapshead Bay Lobster Crawl – NYC; September 2008
13.) Flushing Food Circuit – NYC; October 2008
14.) Strong Beer Month – SF; March 2009
15.) Loisaida Throwback Crawl – NYC; April 2009
16.) Harley Farms Goat Dairy – Pescadero, CA; June 2009
17.) Tomales Bay Oyster Farm – Marshall, CA; August 2009
18.) Din Tai Fung – LA; September 2009
19.) Din Tai Fung – Tokyo; September 2009
20.) Schroeder’s Oktoberfest – SF; October 2009
21.) Fish Taco Crawl – San Diego; November 2009
22.) St. George Spirits & Hangar One Vodka -  Alameda; January 2010