Yamamoto

I remember the old days when an evening of drinking ended at a little local restaurant called Lums, up on Knoxville near the top of the hill. Wienerwald chicken for the win!!

Sadly, the place is long closed, and has been two or three different restaurants since then, all with little staying power. Hope the newest incarnation lasts, because it's such a treat!

Yamamoto Japanese Grill and Sushi Bar has brought us back the spatula-and-fork banging chefs who scared away the evil spirits inhabiting the big stainless steel grill that is in front of every table. Used to be a place over on Brandywine that did the same kind of thing, place called Shogun. I was never rich enough to go there, but it was a place like that, or if anyone's ever been to Benihana. The magic of your food cooking takes place before your very eyes!

The decor is pretty typical of an Asian cuisine place, no real variance to be had in any situation. The station we sat at was a horseshoe-type sitting arrangement around the grill in which the chef would wheel out his cart of foods to be prepared in accordance with our orders.

Following a rollicking night of bingo, seven of us headed to Yamamoto. Dining with me and the wife were Angie of Angie & Joseph fame (Joseph got a headache and skipped dinner), Katie of Katie & Ron fame (Ron's sick, poor little magical feller) and Greg and Heather, the newliest of newlyweds. Only myself and Jenny were new to the place, so everyone chipped in with advice on stuff to get, except for Angie and Katie who were wrapped up in their Hurricanes. We sampled some sushi, which thankfully was cooked, I think even deep-fried, making it all the better. It was known as the Peoria roll, which had typical sushi stuff, only cooked. Heather had something that wasn't as cooked, but it was still quite tasty.

For dinner me and Jenny split a stir-fry thing with shrimp and lobster. Greg had everything in his dish-beef, shrimp, lobster, and chicken, I think. Looked hella good. I think Katie had some beef and maybe something else, and Angie had vegetables cooked up on the big griddle.

Preceding the dinner was bowls of onion and miso soup, and a salad with a ginger-orange dressing. I liked the onion soup, and the dressing on the salad was good, but I didn't want to eat more than my forkful.

This food is stuff that you can probably make at home for a cheaper price, but the premium paid is for the entertainment, and it was definitely worth it.

Yamamoto-HIT LIST!!