YUKI'S - Biloxi, MS

Now who'd have thought that you could get sushi in the deep south...not me. Then again, with a military base nearby you can usually find a variety of ethnic foods to serve the hungry population when they get tired of chow hall SOS.

Maria was an expat Samoan from Hawaii who worked on base. "Is there anywhere to get local grinds around here" I asked? Not bloody likely, but she said that there was a sushi place nearby. I skeptically asked if it was any good. "It's okay" she said. That was pretty much the theme the entire time I was down here. The vast majority of places were "okay," no more, no less.

At that point I knew I was tempting the food gods, but I had to try some sushi. I ordered the tempura/teriyaki dinner, plus two pieces each of salmon and yellowtail. The sushi was not bad, nice big pieces and flavorful. As for the dinner….hmmm, where to start? The tempura shrimp was about five parts batter to one part shrimp, like the kind you used to get at Far East, not that that's a bad thing. But to paraphrase Vince Vega, "I just got back from Tokyo." Tempura should be ethereal, like gossamer. It should dissolve as it hits your tongue. This batter was way too heavy.

But here's the topper, they served long-grain rice with dinner! Everybody knows that long-grain is Chinese rice and medium-grain is Japanese rice! What country is this? I could not have been more shocked if the sushi chef was wearing a Klan outfit. I guess I won't be eating any more Japanese food until I'm back home.

Overall rating - 2.5 sumos