Umami Burger

According to Wikipedia, "Umami, popularly referred to as savoriness, has been proposed as one of the basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human and animal tongue. Umami (旨味^?) is a loanword from Japanese meaning "flavor" or "taste" (noun).^[1] In English, however, "brothy", "meaty", or "savory" have been proposed as alternative translations.^[2][3] In as much as it describes the flavor common to savory products such as meat, cheese, and mushrooms, umami is similar to Brillat-Savarin's concept of osmazome, an early attempt to describe the main flavoring component of meat as extracted in the process of making stock."

This is what I researched before going to Umami Burger off  La Brea in LA.  I heard many reviews, read yelp, and was referred by one of my best friends to go and check this burger joint out when I get the chance. I didn't want to set my expectations too high, but this place was looking pretty good. Umami Burger wasn't a big space, it fit no more than 20 tables, and the wait wasn't too bad.  I do not recommend others to go in a large group, this would be disastrous.  Keep it small folks, no more than 2-4 at the most.  Anyway.. let's get to the yummy and juicy parts.... the food...

Must have a good beverage while eating some yummy food! Tony ordered a root beer (his favorite) and they brought out, Sparky's Root Beer.  Neither Tony or I had every drank this root beer before and we were excited.  It had a great Sassafras taste, wasn't too sweet, went down smoothly and had a great bite at the end. 

I was fascinated with the water "glass" they served our water in.  They were made of plastic, and had an indentation on one side of it, so when you are drinking out of the cup, you can place your thumb on this part of the cup.  Simply genius... and it fit my thumb perfectly!

<-- the Manly Burger
Tony ordered this burger which contained beer cheddar cheese, smoked salt onion strings and bacon lardons. 

The Umami Burger --->
The signature burger was super yummy.  The beef was juicy, the caramelized onions were nice and tender, the shiitake mushroom was bursting with flavor, subtle green chillies, and a salty parmesan crisp. It was beyond what I thought I was going to get.. what won me over was the shiitake mushroom and the parmesan crisp.. I am a sucker for cheese

<-- inside the Umami Burger

 you can see the shiitake mushroom on one half of the burger, and right next to it is the ketchup along with the green chillies and parmesan crisp...

The tempura battered onion rings were soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.  I just wished they had a bit more flavor... I will try my best to recreate this myself at home... but with some kick to it!

Sweet Potato fries topped with brown sugar.

The best way to end my night.... Red Bean Ice dessert from a local Chinese cafe.  This classic dessert contains red beans, ice, condensed milk and a bit of coconut milk.  My mouth is still drooling...









Also I am excited to report that I will be receiving a DSRL camera very soon!!!