Yamato Restaurant Review.

     Our little town of McMinnville, TN just had a new restaurant open today; Yamato.  Yamato is a Japanese Steakhouse..  This is defiantly something new for McMinnville.  My mom, my older sister, and myself stopped by for a late lunch to check out the new prospect.
Yamato opened up at the same location the old Chines Buffet used to be.  I was quite surprised to hear the Buffet close and hoped something good would fill its spot.

When you enter Yamato, the first thing you will notice is the decor.  It has an open, less is more, design.    The very first thing you will notice is a tea table set into an alcove.  Next to that is the counter where you check out or a host will seat you.  While the decor did seem a little rough in place, especially the paint job on the hallway leading to the restroom, I quite enjoyed the over all feel of the place.  This would defiantly be a good place for a date or special dinner and good way to have a nice cozy meal.

After being seated and having our drink orders taken we examined the menus.  A couple details I was very interested in seeing was the selection of the menu and price.  The selection is decent and varied and prices are fairly good as well.  Especially after I saw our meals and what we got for the price.
My sister tried the Filet Mignon and Chicken Hibachi Dinner, my mom had the Chicken Tempura Bento Box, myself, I had the Teriyaki Steak Bento Box and we also shared a Super Vegetable Roll.
First up was our Soup.  My mom and sister had the Onion Soup and I went with the classic Miso Soup.  Both were very good and quite delicious.  My sister's salad arrived with her soup along with the restaurants  own special Yummy sauce.

After a short while the Super Vegetable Roll arrived.  The Super Vegetable Roll is Sushi Roll containing avocado, cucumber, asparagus, lettuce, mango with kiwi, and drizzled with the house special sauce.  The Roll consisted of approximately ten large pieces.  The whole thing had a sweet and savory flavor and was almost desert like.  Was most enjoyable.  Also included on the serving plate was a small ball of Wasabi and some ginger.  Yamato's menu contains a very nice sized selection of different types of sushi and all sushi's made fresh and to order.  The Sushi doesn't leave the kitchen unless its properly prepared.
Next to arrive was our meals.  The Bento boxes contained our main dish, a small salad, a small spring roll, 4 small pieces of California Roll Sushi, fried rice, and some ginger and a pea sized ball of Wasabi.  The small Spring Rolls contained just Vegetables and was very light and fresh and very good tasting, as was the California Roll.  My Teriyaki steak was cooked with some broccoli, sauteed onions and carrots, and cooked to desired degree; medium well.  I also tried a piece of my Mom's Chicken Tempura.  The Chicken Tempura is absolutely divine tasting.

All in all our meal came to around $40 for the three of us.  This is a good deal considering we all walked away very full and well satisfied.  I was impressed with the knowledge of the waitress in regards to the various items of the menu and was very helpful in explaining things.  Our waitress, Miranda, was very helpful, friendly and patient with us as we asked her several questions, since we had several questions about various items on the menu never having had any experience with Japanese cuisine.  Yamato also offers the option of separate checks for those who are dining with friends or on a business lunch.  Yamato also offers take out.

Over all it was a very good meal, nice atmosphere, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful staff and decent prices with a good selection; especially if you like Sushi; like I do.  I am definitely looking forward to eating there again and would strongly recommend you try it out for a dining experience that is more refined than what you usually find in McMinnville, TN.

Gas Prices Soaring, Yet Again.

We all feel the pain at the pump, especially when the price start soaring above $4.00 a gallon.  For a fuel centric and car loving country, this hurts, add a major economic recession,  and numerous people are upset.  But lets look at the prices of gasoline her and abroad, comparing American prices with adjustment to inflation, and some of the reasons for the current gas costs and benefits.

First lets compare U.S. prices compared to World prices.  This link here is from summer of 2011 but is a good comparison of gas prices.  Some Examples: (all prices are per gallon)

• Germany - $9.07 --> $4.19 (+ $4.88 in tax)
• France - $9.24 --> $3.84 (+ $5.40 in tax)
• Italy - $8.79 --> $4.05 (+ $4.74 in tax)
• Canada - $4.70 --> $3.50 (+ $1.20 in tax)
• United Kingdom - $8.68 --> $3.47 (+$5.21 in tax)
• United States - $3.96 --> $3.48 (+$0.48 in tax)

So compared to Europe and Canada our fuel prices are bout average.  Where we have a major advantage is in the fuel taxes.  The U.S. has the cheapest taxes on gas, less than half of Canada's fuel taxes and just one/tenth of what Europe pays in taxes.  Now the list, that linked to above, shows a couple countries with gas costing less than a dollar a gallon with no fuel taxes.  These countries though, live in fuel abundant country (like the Middle East), in countries with limited demand, or heavily subdivided by the government.

Next lets compare prices of fuel in America over the years with comparison based on inflation.  This info-graphics are borrowed from this article, read the full article for more about the comparisons.
The is first info-graph shows the price of gas from 1919 to 2011.  Seen this way it looks like prices have skyrocketed but looks are deceiving.

Lets compare prices adjusting for inflation and we see a much different picture.  This first info-graph shows prices adjusted for inflation according to today's dollar.

Or adjusting prices if we had not experienced inflation, using 1919 prices.

Using these info-graphs, we can see our gas prices have actually stayed fairly even in cost.  What we are experiencing currently is raise of prices from the large lows we experienced from 1998-2002.  In fact, fuel prices are only twenty two cents above 1919 prices, adjusted for inflation.


In tomorrows article we will cover the reasons for the increase of fuel prices from the 2000 lows and some of the benefits.