Yamasan, Mills Ave

I had lunch at this new (twelve days) Japanese restaurant on Mills near Virginia on Saturday. I was going to try someplace downtown, but, those jagoffs had it closed off for another of their pointless events. I had a two roll lunch special because I wasn't mentally prepared for Japanese food and the prices were a bit high. This is pretty much the only raw fish special that is competitively priced and it's above average at $10. I had a salmon and avocado and spicy yellowtail roll. The salmon was better because it had fewer scraps that require a spicy sauce to conceal. They were fine. Long, cigar shaped rolls of eight pieces. It came with a tasty miso soup with fried tofu "cracklings" and a salad. Nice bowl. The plate the salad was served on was ice cold. I'd guess it was a remnant from last night's service or they prep these by the boat load in advance. Not good either way. It was mixed greens instead of just iceberg. That was a plus. Some of the leaves had moldy, brown, wet patches though. That was a minus.

 I could write more about the sushi - acceptable rice, but, the real story here is the menu. If they can do what they set out to do then this place will be special. Their menu is a compendium of Japanese cooking techniques with some curious risks. They do all of the following: tempura (agemono), udon and soba (menrui), hibachi, rice (gohan-mono), tiradito, poke, stone grilling (ishiyaki), shabu shabu and sukiyaki (nabemono), kaiseki and individual dishes with special techniques. They have "odd" ingredients like sea snails, foie gras, monkfish liver, truffles, etc. They do tartare ala Nobu or Morimoto. I was told they were cutting back the menu already, so, don't blame me if this list is misleading. The place is in front of the now defunct Segafreddo. I swear Orlando's restaurant scene is one giant game of Jenga. One place has to close to allow another to open. The interior is as disjointed as the menu. They have:  rough stone tile walls near black tile accents, white and black chairs with white ceiling and black floor, white booths, yellow faux marble sushi bar, bamboo light shades, blue lighting through yellow faux marble, wood, plaster mountain on the wall etc. It's like they ran out of material a number of times or the interior decorator wanted a show room to display every design concept available. They also are a little different with their choice of potables. They go heavy on wine. It's not a bad selection of low to medium priced bottles (or should be - I didn't check the prices). Not the usual suspects. Service was nice and they seemed to be busting my waitress' balls, so, that may indicate an ethos of expectation that serves the customer well. I'd suggest you try this place when you are more in the mood for the non-sushi items. You can get a sushi lunch special anywhere. Come here when you are ready for some serious action. And I hope they will deliver. Ohh, I have to mention some cute misspellings on the menu - flute (fluke), poiver (au poivre) and slamon. Maybe the salmon is slammin', but, I get credit for the name if it becomes a thing. And Yama means mountain. Ain't no yama high enough...