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SoCal Burger at Umami

OK, I know I’m late to the game on this one, but I finally ate at Umami Burger. I had the SoCal Burger at Umami Urban, otherwise known as the Umami that took over the Snackbar space at Space 15 Twenty, which was topped with butter lettuce, “spread,” oven-dried tomato, house-made American cheese and caramelized onions. Overall, it was salty. I could barely eat half the burger, which wasn’t very large to begin with. I really wanted to like it because I could tell the flavors were complementary, but the umami was just too intense. My dining companions enjoyed their burgers, so I figured the saltiness was just not for me. And the fries were salty, too — you could see the flecks of sea salt on them. Oh, well. At least I finally tried it, right?

UPDATE: I tried Umami again at the Star Chefs event. This time I had a mini burger version served up specially for the event topped with a sweet sauce and parmesan cracker. I still found it salty, though not as salty as the burger I had at the Umami Burger in Hollywood. So maybe the one I had was overly salty, though, like I said, my fellow diners enjoyed their burgers. Or maybe I’m just more sensitive to saltiness. So you can take this with a grain of salt!

Eat My Blog: On Saturday, Dec. 5, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Zeke’s Smokehouse in West Hollywood, a whole bunch of food bloggers are getting together to sell their homemade baked goods to benefit the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. Enjoy everything from macarons and carrot cake cookies to mini bundt cakes and bacon brownies with bourbon caramel sauce for $1 to $3 each. Participating bloggers include Diana of Diana Takes a Bite, Anjali of Delicious Coma, H.C. of L.A. and O.C. Foodventures, Anisha of Food is My Nish, Liz of Food, She Thought and Jo of My Last Bite, among many others. Check out the menu here.

Space 15 Twenty One Year Anniversary: Get your shop on Saturday at the hiptastic Space 15 Twenty in Hollywood, where you’ll get 20 percent off at all stores from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. There’s also a party of sorts, with DJ Ana Calderon, a “very special guest band,” giveaways, raffles and hors d’oeuvres from Umami Burger. For some reason you have to RSVP, so do that to rsvp@space15twenty.com.

Unique Los Angeles: This is a two-fer event. On Saturday and Sunday, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., pay $10 and get entry for both days to this shopping event featuring independent designers — and a free tote bag, drink ticket and access to workshops. There will be clothing, accessories, stationery, housewares, artwork, screenprints and more. New this year is a special “green” room with more than 50 eco-friendly designers. Unique will be at the California Market Center downtown, and parking will be $6 with validation (a steal, considering I’ve paid $20 to park here for fashion shows!).

Blogger Shop Day at Space 15 Twenty

I haven’t been out for a day of wandering and shopping (well, window shopping!) in ages, so when I saw there were some interesting events happening over the weekend, I recruited Esther of e*starLA to check them out with me.

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