Reviewing the New Umamicatessen

Hello hello friends! I'm back from my road trip. I wish I had been able to post more from the road, but my friend and I were just so busy doing awesome stuff! I'll start filling you in at the beginning. We spent a day in LA going to Griffith Park, eating at Alcove, touring the costume museum at FIDM, and snacking on Bottega Louie macarons. Then we topped off an awesome day by trying out the new Umamicatessen. It took us only about 5 minutes to get a table on Art Walk Thursday, and the service was pretty good. Our waiter made great drink and food recommendations. (I'm absolutely in love with the potato knishes and the 9th & Broad cocktail.) Plus, the decor is lovely with all the barrels and exposed wood.

What makes Umamicatessen different from regular Umami is the cured meat section of the menu. But at $15-$30 per 1.5 ounce serving of meat with no accompaniments, it seems far too expensive for what is essentially an appetizer. The burgers are normal Umami price thankfully! So we all got a burger and loved our meals. I had the tuna burger, the boyfriend had the pastrami burger (so much meat but so right), and my friend has the truffle burger (she was still talking about it days later). The only downside? The 9th & Broad was so delicious that I got 2 and wound up with a killer hang over the next morning :)

PS: For traditional ketchup lovers, sneak in your own Heinz. Umami makes their own ketchup, and its definitely not for everyone.

UPDATE: I went back to Umamicatessen after spring break and had a fairly miserable experience. I don't want to bore you with the full rant (although if you love a good rant, here is the review on Yelp), but I do want to temper my glowing review. My second experience was plagued by bad service, incorrectly cooked food, and (worst of all!) warm beer.