Eat This Now – Oyster Gigantus at KABUTO
ELV is not a fan of giant oysters — preferring the smaller, brinier, crisper taste of Belons, Kumamotos, Olympias (and smaller Wellfleets) to the larger Gulf Coast and Blue Point varieties.
But one bite of this Washington State beauty had us hooked. Mainly because they slice it into nice, bite-size sections for dipping into the house ponzu sauce here.
Thus does it become firm, instead of an unwieldy, slimy mess, and perfect for bracing your appetite for the sushi/sashimi treats to come.
They only offer these as a special when they can get them — and there’s usually just a few of them in the house — so get to Kabuto early and ask for availability.
They cost $12 each (if memory serves — there was a lot of sake involved).
Just thought you’d like to know.
KABUTO
5040 Spring Mountain Road #4
Las Vegas, NV 89146
702.676. 1044
Restaurant reviews, quips, picks and pans-with some seriously salivating history-from the man who eats his way through Sin City every day.
May 18th, 2012 at 9:37 am
That looks delicious.
Would you be willing to make a (qualified) recommendation on Bar Masa vs. Kabuto for your twice-a-year Vegas visitor readership?
May 18th, 2012 at 9:41 am
ELV responds: Right now: Kabuto, no question about it. You’ll have twice the fun at half the price (or less).
May 18th, 2012 at 10:04 am
I’m sold. Thank you, ELV.
May 19th, 2012 at 11:50 pm
Actually I would like to ask an important question: What effect is the Fukushima nuclear accident having on the seafood sourced for Japan?
Seriously, I’m seeing stuff like this pop up around the internet and it begs the question.
http://enenews.com/fukushima-daiichi-worker-nothing-can-be-done-except-to-leak-radioactive-water-honestly-feel-that-we-are-dumping-massive-amounts-into-ocean-will-spread-all-over-world-reaching-hawaii-and-us-so
May 23rd, 2012 at 12:01 pm
George, well my friend if you really like Japanese sourced seafood, go ahead and indulge yourself! You will either end up with a very big nose or a very large schlong compliments of the Fukushima Nuclear mishap!
May 24th, 2012 at 9:11 pm
Japanese government has a list of radioactivity levels for produce/seafood that are permissible to be released to the market. Therefore any seafood or produce that exceed that level for the particular product would be banned from being shipped to the market and destroyed. Also, the Japanese producers pride themselves in what the make. The last thing they want is contaminated product being recalled from the market, and food safety and labeling laws extremely strict and both consumers and producers are keeping a close eye on radioactivity.
Short story => don’t worry, it ain’t China.
May 24th, 2012 at 11:39 pm
I won’t eat it:
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/01/governments-worldwide-raise-acceptable-radiation-levels-based-upon-politics-not-science.html
May 29th, 2012 at 5:17 pm
I think it’s good for the rest of us that those who are semi educated are avoiding seafood from the western pacific, and perhaps now the entire pacific as blue fin tunas caught close to San Diego are found to have cesium isotopes from Fukushima. It just means that there will be more seafood for the truly educated :D. And the semi educateds won’t blink an eye about eating vegetables or getting out in the sun or taking long flights that expose them to much higher levels of radiation. It’s all good.
May 30th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Not to start a flame war here, but Keita you are completely and totally wrong with your statement. There is a categorical difference between particle radiation and radiation you get from staying out in the sun or any type of ray ionizing radiation for that matter… Particle radiation amplifies and concentrates through the food chain and radioactive particles ingested are taken up by the body like similar elements. For example, Cesium is taken up and used by the body like Potassium and decays to Barium over many years, however as it undergoes Beta decay it releases particles that cause damage to DNA. Damaged DNA lead to mutation and those mutations cause cancer. However, with particle radiation, the ingested radioactive particle stays in your body for years continuously releasing ionizing radiation damaging DNA, whereas exposure to ray ionizing radiation is a one time event and does not mimic normal elements your body uses and also does not continue to cause damage over time like particles do (think of Cesium building up in Tuna like Mercury does) That is why continued ingestion builds up the radioactive load over time and one particle, even though the measured radioactivity is minuscule, over time it can kill. Simply put, a small amount of ingested cesium can do a lot more damage to your body over your lifetime than an x-ray will. You cannot compare the two. In closing, I am not “semi-educated” or even “truly educated”, I have a degree in Physics and I’m an M.D. However, even with this in mind, I enjoy going to Kabuto and if Fukushima reactor 4 blows we’re all dead anyway so make an informed decision and know your risks. I’m sure people have ingested radioactive iodine through milk from California anyway already and Fukushima radiation has been in our food chain since last April. Finally, Seafood sourced from the Sea of Japan or southern Japan is probably safer than that sourced from Alaska now given the dispersion of the radioactive plumes.