When you think about beer from Japan, most people will have a knee jerk response of either Asahi or Sapporo. While these are nice enough beers, there is another side to Japanese beers that I feel bears exploration. more ›

Maruta Shoten is really a Japanese American market, and for that reason it feels like home to many of us who grew up going to a store like this one. It is small enough to explore it on your own and (if you grew up without Japanese school) is full of foods with unfamiliar letters on the packaging. The foods themselves are familiar enough: square tubs of roasted nori, 25-pound bags of Calrose rice by the door, super-kawaii containers of Hello Kitty and Botan rice candies. By comparison, other stores like Uwajimaya fall in the pan-Asian category and are more focused on a variety of Asian countries like the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. Maruta is small, and the aisles are a bit narrow, but never, in our experience, oppressively crowded. Like many small ethnic food markets, Maruta is manageable, and delivers small bites of Japanese American-ness, both culinary and culture-wise. more ›

Over the past few weeks, we've hit up new Broadway sushi joint I Love Wasabi--which unfortunately started out as "I Love Washabi"--twice. They've got a big selection of crazy rolls (and we do so enjoy crazy rolls), so we ordered four on each occasion. The first time around, we think we picked some of the better rolls from the menu, but the second time, we found the food presentation much improved (to be expected with a new restaurant). more ›

There's a reason a restaurant sticks around for 105 years. more ›