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| Red letters of glory! |
I’m sure you’re all
aware of what happens in the summer time, as you’re sitting outside in the
evening, rocking back and forth in one of those swinging chairs, enjoying the
warm breeze and watching the sun go down behind the horizon; as the day
darkens, you turn on the porch light so that you are not completely prone to
wild animals and various monsters that inhabit the surrounding area, and in
that instant you are hit by a swarm of moths and flies in pursuit of one thing
and one thing only: the Light. Yes, the holy Light probably the equivalent to
Jesus but for winged life, the most attractive, glorious, beautiful creation by
man for these annoying bugs.
By
now you’re probably asking yourself, Okay, what the hell does that have to do
with the picture in this article, or with anything
for that matter? Well, let me tell you why this is the perfect analogy for this
blog post: the sign in the above photo is that porch light and I am the
representation of all of those winged
annoyances that haunt your porch light once you flip it on. But the sushi sign
doesn’t even have to be on for me to flock to it like a crackhead to crack; all
I have to do is merely see it and I will come. And went I did.
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| I hope the gates to Heaven look similar or I won't be as excited. |
The ever lovely Denise had told
me of an amazing sushi experience she had had with friends at a place called
Yama Sushi off of Flamingo and Maryland
Parkway . Of course my ears pricked at the sound of
the word sushi and instantly it was
decided that we would go. Grabbing the Manfriend and our friend Sean, we
decided to see what this yummy goodness Denise had described was all about. And
while she had already explained that Yama Sushi had an all you can eat menu
that cost an easy $20, those immortal words brazen in neon immaculacy over the
front door nearly brought tears to my eyes: had
we died and gone to fishy heaven? If we had, there was a line to get in
through those pearly gates.
It didn’t faze us too much because Denise was
generous enough to let us play around with her gorgeous camera. The wait was said to be
around 30 minutes, but unfortunately we were standing outside for almost an
hour. Again, like I said, we were having fun with Denise’s camera, conversing
about the pains of work and how hungry we were. My suggestion to anyone who goes
to Yama Sushi for a meal: arrive kind of hungry but not starved because you
will wait for a hot minute. At least with an increasing appetite you are
assured to get your $20 worth. We sure did. Anyway, as
hunger gripped our sanity, we inched closer and closer with every group they
ushered in towards sushi bliss.
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| 24 hour wait? Not a prob! I have all day. |
The
interior of Yama Sushi is a hustle of romance and hunger. It is an odd coupling
that compliments each other so well it’s almost maddening. The lighting is low
and comforting, the flow of traffic in the small space is quick and aggressive,
yet I never once felt crowded. The thing that impressed me the most out of the
service was how quick we were served and the food was delivered. With a bunch
of orders going in and coming out all at once, we had our drinks and appetizers
and essentially everyone’s first set of rolls on our table within the first ten
minutes of being seated. I was shocked; the order was always accurate as well.
I was thoroughly impressed.
Or maybe my brain had
become sod with hunger and anything that resembled something edible in front of
me seemed accurate. Regardless, when the food was in front of me, the world
outside could have gone up in
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| One always needs a bowl of health to compliment the fried. |
flames and I would not have had a care about it.
I was faced with delicious rolls and seated before great friends, so in that
moment, life was peachy. Denise ordered for the table some Edamame and pot
stickers.We each had our own rolls. I am a big eel enthusiast, so naturally I
went with the Eel Avacado roll to start.
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| Eel - the other, other, other white meat slathered in a brown eel sauce ... I guess making it a brown meat after all. |
With a few shots of sake
and some chugs of water with lemon, the four of us finished the delectable
rolls rather quickly as our taste buds re-familiarized themselves with the concept
of food. Before we had even finished our first rolls, our waitress was already
inquiring as to what we would have as our next. Maybe it was because we all
held the disposition of Charlie in the chocolate shop at the beginning of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,
or maybe because we’re American and our glutton-isms were displayed on
overdrive as we dug into every ricey piece with our chopsticks with clumsy
precision, but this waitress was on top of everything. She only made us wait in
intervals of about two minutes before our next round of rolls to conquer was
placed before us. It was service with a serious smile, with a lack there of
smile on her part, stupid grins
on ours.
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| Satisfaction guaranteed! |
Over the course of our
dinner, I began to realize why the wait to dine at Yama Sushi was so long: the
all you can eat deal is amazing and affordable, the food is really good, and
the staff are all super efficient. I only made it two and a half rolls in
before I threw in the towel (to accommodate for the yummy green tea ice cream
at the end, of course), and the half I ate came from aiding Denise with her
roll. The big rule at Yama is that whatever you order must be eaten or you will
pay a fee.
Thankfully our table was ready to dive into help out whoever needed
the help. We all ended up trying/sharing our rolls anyway once the initial
hunger rage was subsided by the first round of food. Aside
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| That's a spicy meat - er, sushi roll! |
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| Denise's beloved No Name roll! ... seriously, it's called that. |
Overall,
Yama Sushi was an enjoyable experience filled with all that I love: fish,
friends, and a splash of booze. It has been over a week since we dined there
and I am already craving a rerun … hopefully my next paycheck will allow me to
splurge on more next time. But for anyone who is in the Vegas area, visiting or
living, and hasn’t tried out Yama, I strongly suggest it. They have an array of
sushi as well as other combination plates and such, so if you’re a non-sushi
fan there is something you can enjoy while your friends pig out in front of
you. Just remember my warning about arriving hungry; don’t be in starvation
mode when you show up because other bystanders will not be afraid to shove your
famished corpse out of the way to move up in the line. And remember to make
sure that whatever you do order must be consumed. Really, it’s all about
careful planning, time management and the Tortoise and the Hare philosophy:
slow and steady wins the race – or in this case, wins the overabundance of
fishy burps succeeding a delicious feast of epic
proportion.
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| Fish-ay, fish-aay! |
Rae :]
