california – Castle Foundations

Happy !

This week we are featuring Natalie Wong! We love macarons and Natalie makes such unique ones! Natalie is attending university while running her own business at the same time. We know how crazy the workload can be at school, so it’s a pretty amazing feat to be doing both simultaneously. Just goes to show that if you are passionate about something you’ll find the time to pursue it. It’s also a great idea if you want to get a foothold in the industry you plan on entering after school. Running your own business looks pretty impressive on a resume! Read on to learn more about Natalie and her macarons!

: Introduce yourself and tell us what you’re all about!

: Hello everyone, my name is Natalie Wong and I am a macaron artist and baker from Oakland, California. I am currently twenty-one and I go to San Francisco State University hopefully it’s my second to last year of college. I’m studying management so that one day I can manage and run cafes and shops in multiple locations. I love baking and I always have, I also introduce my artistic background in my macarons like character themed ones. I try to make my desserts aesthetically pleasing as well as delicious, made with only natural flavors and real ingredients.

(keep reading…)

BY TARA BURKE

Umami Burger originates from California and only has two locations in the city. We heard a lot of great stuff about them and their unique take on burgers. As the name suggests all their burgers are made with “Umami dust,” a blend of anchovies, mushroom powder and soy. That in itself doesn’t sound that appetizing, but trust me the Umami and “master sauce” bring these burgers to the next level. They also have several burger options that come with truffle sauce and I just love truffle oil on anything and everything.

Cailin got the Truffle Burger. It comes with truffle aioli, house truffle cheese and truffle glaze. She took one bite and said it was the best burger she’d ever had. She so graciously let me have a taste and it was really delicious. It had a sweetness to it that you normally don’t experience with burgers, but when combined with all the other flavors made for one divine bite.

I got the Sunny Side Burger, which comprised of parmesean frico, fried egg, truffle butter and truffled arugula. It was packed with flavor and the parmesan frico added a great crunchy texture. The fried egg made it a huge mess to eat, so not ideal for a date night meal, but if you’re with people you know well I’m sure they won’t mind if you eat like an animal just this once.

We added some truffle cheese fries to the mix to finish off our great experience at Umami Burger. Oh, and one more thing to mention, Umami Burger usually has a great deal on one of their burgers. On this night Cailin’s Truffle Burger was only $8! That’s a really good deal for NYC. Till next time, Umami!