There are 4 basic tastes that we are all very aware of – sweet, sour, salty and bitter.  Then there’s the ever-elusive fifth basic taste, UMAMI (pronounced oo-ma-mee).  Attempt to have a chef, gourmand, food scientist or foodie explain umami to you will have them going into Alton Brown mode, with them using scientific words such as glutamate, inosinate, yada yada yada….

The best way that I can explain umami is:  savory – that taste or element that somehow rounds out all other flavors in a dish so that they all co-exist in perfect harmony.  Umami.

Umami is usually associated with Asian cuisine, especially those that use either soy sauce or fish sauce.  Umami may also be associated with Asian cuisine because of the often liberal use of MSG in food preparation.  Ever went to a Chinese restaurant, ordered the egg drop soup and noticed that something was definitely missing as the soup didn’t taste as good as it could be?  Drop a bit of soy sauce in your soup, stir it up a bit and all is well.  Umami.  I make won ton soup every now and again for my nagging friends that always seem to crave for this time consuming dish.  The preparation of the broth is never finished or complete without the addition of fish sauce to blend all the flavors together.  Umami.

Those who know me, know that I’m a sucker for Asian noodles and broth (ramen, soba, udon, saimin, pho, won ton min, kim chee ramyun, etc.).  It’s my go-to “Asian comfort food”, regardless of the time of year. And what better place to truly experience good Japanese comfort food and umami bliss, but at Soba-ya in the Lower East Side of New York City.  A true gem.  And the best place to stop by for a bite to eat either before or after drinks at Angel’s Share as the two are merely steps away from each other.

Here’s what contributed to our umami bliss…

Agedashi Tofu

Pillows of silky tofu, lightly dusted with either cornstarch or potato starch, then deep fried until golden.  It sits in a savory broth of dashi, sake or mirin and soy sauce, then garnished with green onions and grated daikon.  This one also had bits of tempura batter as part of the garnish.

Nabeyaki Udon Special

The house special udon, served in their signature broth with a plethora of garnishes (shrimp tempura, vegetable tempura, enoki mushrooms, bamboo shoots, fish cake, egg).

Soba

Homemade noodles made with buckwheat imported from Nagano, Japan.  Supreme quality noodles that emoted the perfect chewiness.  The broth was definitely soy sauce based with a hint of seaweed and possibly bonito.  It was smoky and earthy, with a slight hint of sweetness .  Definitely savory.

Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura

Crisp, light and not greasy at all.  The shrimp was still juicy and succulent under the fried batter. In the top picture, in the middle of the plate, is tempura shiso (an herb from the mint family, that was also used to make my cocktail at Angel’s Share).

Shrimp Shumai

Orb shaped shrimp dumplings that are densely packed with real shrimp and no extra filler.  The filling is wrapped in a thin rice paper wrapper, then rolled in rice paper “shavings”, then ultimately steamed.

Kampachi Sashimi

Butter-like kampachi, perfect with just a tiny dip in some soy and wasabi sauce.

Happy Spooning and Forking…

*****

Soba-Ya

229 East 9th Street

New York, NY 10003

Between 2nd and 3rd Avenues

Phone:  212.533.6966

The first encounter I had with Yogurtland was in California a few months ago. Some friends of ours took us to the location across from the CSU Long Beach campus. It was a weekend night, around 10-ish, and the place was packed. SUPER PACKED. It seemed like an Under-21 club scene.

The line wrapped along the sidewalk, with hoards of college kids and more than a handful of high schoolers, some in line and some just hanging around. Not an open parking space in sight, unless you were up to doing a crazy hike clear across the parking lot and had enough energy to stand in the long line.

I love frozen yogurt – any frozen novelty at that – but my tolerance and patience for boisterous crowds have since dwindled. I can only take so much of status-conscious-gossip-girls saying things like “Omigod, like, is that a real Louie or did you get that from downtown LA?” and amateur rice-rocket-pilots muttering to each other “Dude, check out that car kit on that Honda. Dude, it’s hella tight!” before I start rolling my eyes in disdain… But I digress…

Sure I wanted some yogurt, but I didn’t want it that bad… So we left and headed home… (Oh man… I must be getting old…) Needless to say, it was a busy weekend for us, so we begrudgingly decided that Yogurtland had to wait till the next road trip.

That is… until I found out that Yogurtland was opening up shop here in Las Vegas. From what my friends have been saying, Yogurtland was much better than Pinkberry. I needed to find out myself. I anxiously wanted to see how they measured up to Pinkberry (the froyo shop lucky enough to pop my froyo cherry).

Bottom line – I LOVE YOGURTLAND. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. More than Pinkberry. Which I like. A little.

During the first week that the Town Square location opened, I visited Yogurtland about 4 times. I purposely spaced out my visits and went and different times for fear of a possible restraining order or job offer. The week after that, I visited twice. And then I just had to restrain myself from going to Yogurtland for fear that the novelty would wear thin and I would stop loving it as much as I do.

Yogurtland reminds me of a Sanrio store, just without the ever cute Hello Kitty mascot. It’s cute. And pink. And bright green. It makes me happy just walking in the place.

Unlike Pinkberry, Yogurtland is a self-serve yogurt place. You pick out the cup size you want – there’s 2 sizes: big and HUGE. Along one wall are the yogurt machines. They have about 15 or so flavors available at a time – most of the flavors rotate, so visit often. LOL.

At the end of the wall is the topping bar, where you can choose as little or as much toppings as you want. They offer the same toppings as Pinkberry, but also offer about 10 other different ones that Pinkberry failed to add to their topping bar – like chocolate syrup, caramel syrup and condensed milk. The price of your personal creation is based, then, on weight. At 30-cents an ounce, you can get a lot of yogurt and toppings for under $5.00. A much better deal than Pinkberry.

The yogurt at Yogurtland is also a lot creamier and not as tart as Pinkberry’s. So much so that at times, you forget that you’re eating yogurt. The strawberry yogurt is my favorite of all the flavors that I’ve tried – so far. It’s creamy and tastes and looks as if real strawberries were put into the mix. My next favorite flavor is the mango yogurt, which I was a bit hesitant to try, but so glad that I did. It’s refreshing, perfect for summer. As far as toppings are concerned, the mochi balls, Cap’n Crunch cereal, Coco Pebbles cereal and condensed milk never fails to impress.

There’s usually a line (and a teeny bopper crowd hanging out in front) at this Yogurtland also. Especially on weekends. But the line moves pretty quick and trust me, it’s well worth the wait.

So if there’s a Yogurtland in your neck of the woods, I highly recommend you stopping by for some really good frozen yogurt. Maybe I’ll bump into you at the one in Town Square. I try to visit at least once every 2 to 3 weeks or so. It’s not so much a staple in my diet like when they first opened. Now, it’s more like a well-deserved treat and a better alternative to Cold Stone Creamery, which is THE DEVIL… disguised as cold, sweet, creamy goodness…

But I like playing with fire, every once in a while… hahaha!

*****

Yogurtland, Town Square

6587 Las Vegas Boulevard South

Las Vegas, Nevada

(702) 822-1000

… more Las Vegas locations coming soon

(visit website)

The Korean’s are taking over my life! Literally. First with the opening of a couple of Korean BBQ takeout places within minutes from home… Then with all of those Korean dramas that take up way too much of my time and emotional energy… And now with the ever increasing amount of frozen yogurt shops popping up all over Las Vegas and Southern California.

Pinkberry, one of the most popular frozen yogurt shops to have hit the US by storm and made even more popular with their appearance in an American Express commercial, is the phenomenal brain child of two Korean-Americans. The mere mention of Pinkberry and their promise of “swirly goodness” just makes me want to SMILE. But then again, anything close to being a “frozen novelty” makes me smile – I *HEART* FROZEN NOVELTIES.

I had my first cup of Pinkberry the other weekend at their location at Irvine Spectrum in Southern California. (They’ve got a ton of locations in Southern California and a handful in New York, but none in Las Vegas – yet…)

Pinkberry has 3 basic flavors (original, green tea and coffee) and about 20 or so toppings that you can choose from. The toppings range from fresh fruit to cereal to carob and yogurt chips to mini mochi balls (my personal favorite). The yogurt is offered in 3 sizes (Small (5 oz.), Medium (8 oz.) and Large (13 oz.)).

I ordered a medium sized original with 3 toppings (oreos, mochi and Coco Pebbles). The yogurt, while on the tart side, was a perfect complement to the sweet toppings that I chose. The yogurt was far from being beneficial to my health, but it was good. I enjoyed it to the very last spoonful.

*****

Pinkberry

Irvine Spectrum

71 Fortune Drive, Suite 330

Irvine, CA 92618

(Located next to the Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 Theatres)

Phone: (949) 788-0877

Check their website for other locations