The Smoke House is the sort of place where old-timey execs sip their nightcaps as they wait for their retirement (“I gave the best years of my life to this place”) and where awkward co-workers carry on as if they are passing through town for work, treating their affairs as fleeting, one
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Why are old things, places, clothes, movies, books, more interesting than what’s available to us today? Is it because the grass is always greener? Or that you always want what you can’t have? I’m sure that’s part of it, but it has to be more than that. The authenticity, the history, the
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My third blog entry on my trip to Ishigaki Island in Okinawa is about beef. Since moving to Japan, I realize just how beef-obsessed the Japanese are. Yakiniku is huge, guaranteeing for really stinky salarymen on packed trains every Friday night. Luckily on Ishigaki Island, there are no salarymen.

Ishigaki-gyu (cow) is probably what Ishigaki is most
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Hi guys, this is my first post on Umami Mart. I just got back from a great vacation visiting my brother in San Diego. We went out to eat for every meal, but there is only one place that we went to twice – and that’s the Turf Supper Club.

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kayoko (1:51:48 PM): tell me about that steak you had at Diner amira (1:53:19 PM): ahh kayoko (1:51:53 PM): Matt said it was awesome amira (1:53:21 PM): sure amira (1:53:30 PM): absolutely the best steak I’ve had in the States amira (1:53:35 PM): Better
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Ok, so I am not one to fine dine too often, but this past Wednesday I took my lover out for a mean steak in celebration of March 14th - Steak and Knobber Day. For those of you that are not familiar with this
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