CAFE de JAPON Needs a Better Sign
Cafe de Japon, on Spring Mountain Road, needs a better sign.
But it doesn’t need better food, decor or coffee.
Everything about Kiichi-san’s cafe is charming and criminally cheap.
And tasty.
Darn tasty.
So tasty, in fact, that we at ELV think there should be a line out the door for his spicy curry beef and an albacore tataki — specialties that would be twice as expensive two miles east and not a penny better for it.
Not to mention a killer hamburger steak with gravy (that the Burger Maven heartily approved of) and something called chicken “Doria,” consisting of delicately fried chicken strips over rice and onions.
This is Japanese kissaten food, to be sure, but there is nothing unrecognizable to any American palate, unless it is the waving bonito flakes on some items, and the care and skill used to prepare the dishes.
The only thing that’s wrong with the place is the sign. It sort of blends in to the building during the day, and isn’t visible from the side of the road, nor can you see it if you’re driving west on Spring Mountain Road.
Of course, none of these handicaps hurt Raku, so maybe we shouldn’t despair.
And if we do, there’s always a filter coffee and some cheesecake here to cheer us up.
CAFE de JAPON
5300 Spring Mountain Road #101
Las Vegas, NV 89146
702.431.8038
Restaurant reviews, quips, picks and pans-with some seriously salivating history-from the man who eats his way through Sin City every day.
February 3rd, 2012 at 11:07 am
I can make them a real nice sign!
February 3rd, 2012 at 5:49 pm
don’t tell too many people about it….us real Japanese people like to keep the real Japanese places to ourselves. Look at how Monta got invaded by non-Japanese people with no manners nowadays.