Yutori Brings A Certain Specific and Beloved Taste of Japan

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Aburi don bento from Yutori in Palo Alto.
Aburi don bento from Yutori in Palo Alto.

If you’ve ever traveled to Japan, then you know full well the much-deserved affection for konbini culture.

Be it 7-Eleven, FamilyMart or Lawson, Japanese convenience stores seem stocked with most anything and everything needed in life, including an astonishing array of snacks and prepared foods that are not only fresh and delicious, but jaw-droppingly cheap. Talk to anyone who’s ever shopped at them and you’ll get an earful of wistful longing for those cushiony egg salad sandos, seaweed-wrapped rice balls, wasabi potato chips, assorted bentos, and so much more.

Yutori, which opened in Palo Alto this spring, brings a modern taste of that to the Bay Area.

Named for the Japanese word for “spaciousness” or “room to breathe,” this 5,000-square-foot space comprises a coffee bar, small marketplace selling Japanese home goods, and a takeout deli. Before the year ends, it will also add a sit-down restaurant.

Located on El Camino Real.
Located on El Camino Real.

I paid a visit a few days ago, specifically to check out the konbini-like offerings in the refrigerator cases. The array of bentos, onigiri, and sandos will definitely remind you of Japan.

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All Hail, Kale

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Roasted oyster mushrooms become almost like crispy croutons on this flavorful kale salad.
Roasted oyster mushrooms become almost like crispy croutons on this flavorful kale salad.

If lettuce, and specifically iceberg, still leave you skittish, then turn instead to our hardy and hearty friend, kale.

Even if you think you’ve grown bored of this vivid dark green, leafy brassica, there’s no denying its versatility, not to mention its powerhouse of nutrition and antioxidants.

So, if it’s been a while, now is the perfect time to get reacquainted with it in this flavorful “Kale and Shoyu Mushroom Salad.”

This quick recipe is from “Aloha Veggies” (Ten Speed Press), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Hawaii-born recipe developer and photographer, Alana Kysar, who makes her home on Maui.

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Kind of, Sort of, Biscotti

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Cantuccioni are like biscotti, but baked only once.
Cantuccioni are like biscotti, but baked only once.

There is a time and place for cookies that are fancy, full of swoops and swirls, formed into twists or cutouts, and adorned with sprinkles, frostings, glazes, and everything that’s bling.

Other times, you crave a cookie that’s more wholesome, homespun, and has the confidence to just speak for itself.

“Cantuccioni” are that type of cookie. Hailing from Tuscany, they are like biscotti — but baked only once, not twice — so they are much more tender.

The recipe is from “Italian Cookies” (Gibbs Smith), of which I received a review copy

It was written by Domenica Marchetti, a veteran cookbook writer on all things Italian, who is also a food writer and former newspaper reporter with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. She splits her time between Abruzzo, Italy, from where her family hails, and Virginia.

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Great Finds, Part II: The Dumpling Class

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Pork-Wagyu beef dumplings, cooked and ready to eat, that my friend Charlen and I made in Eddie Lo's class.
Pork-Wagyu beef dumplings, cooked and ready to eat, that my friend Charlen and I made in Eddie Lo’s class.

For a dozen years, Eddie Lo was on the tech fast track in Silicon Valley.

After graduating with a bachelor’s in industrial engineering degree from the University of California at Berkeley, followed by a master’s in operations research and information engineering from Cornell University, he worked at such heavy weights as Cisco, YouTube, Google and Coinbase.

Then, he made a major pivot.

He traded project management of cryptocurrency and data for pleating Chinese dumplings instead.

Lo launched “Eating with Edmund,” hands-on dumpling classes at his San Francisco home, four and a half years ago. Since then, he’s taught more than 5,000 people.

His 3-hour classes, limited to a maximum of eight people at a time, consistently sell out, too. They are priced at $129 per person.

Eddie Lo in his home kitchen.
Eddie Lo in his home kitchen.

“Tech was a lot of yelling and a lot of stress,” he says. “It wasn’t my happy place. The happiest I am is when I’m cooking.”

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Great Finds, Part I: The Soy Sauce

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LivCookEat Finishing Soy Sauce drizzled on dumplings from Dumpling City in Palo Alto.
LivCookEat Finishing Soy Sauce drizzled on dumplings from Dumpling City in Palo Alto.

When tasting a product that’s billed as superior to another, sometimes you end up going back and forth and back and forth, concentrating with all your might to discern whether truly significant differences do exist.

Other times, all it takes is one taste to know that one completely outshines the other.

Such was the case when I tried a sample of LivCookEat Soy Sauce against my usual Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce.

Granted, I did not do my tasting blind. However, when I had my husband try the soy sauces, I didn’t tell him which was which. Even so, he immediately guessed which one was the LivCookEat Soy Sauce because it tasted far smoother.

What sets it apart?

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