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Here’s a typical conversation ELV often has with his fellow food writers when discussing Chinatown:
Food Writer #1 (puffed up with his usual arrogance): “Have you been to (name any place on or alongside Spring Mountain Road)? My Chinese friends come here all the time, and I consider it the best blah blah blah….”
ELV: “Yeah, I was there the week they opened, and hit it for lunch at least once a month.”
Food Writer #2: “I heard about this (fill in the blank: breakfast spot, dumpling parlor, northern Chinese soup kitchen….) from Food Writer #3, and he tells me blah blah blah….”
ELV: “Yeah, I wrote about it on my Website 9 months ago.”
The point is food fans: no one covers Chinatown like yours truly.
No round-eye eats there more than ELV. We may not be Jonathon Gold trolling the obscure Oriental esoterica of Los Angeles, but no where will you get the skinny on what’s happening along this three mile stretch of road faster than you will right here.
No brag, just fact.
The reason is: most of these happenings occur right out our front door (ELV’s lawyer-at-law office is located at Jones and Desert Inn), so we are trolling Spring Mountain Road five days a week in search of great Asian eats.
And the good news is: the good is getting better. Two new joints have opened in the last couple of weeks — one taking advantage of the ramen-mania that seems to be all the rage, and the other bringing just what might be the best Korean food in town to the same shopping center that houses Raku, Monta and Kabuto.
Ramen Tatsu is strategically placed between Chada Thai and Asian BBQ and Noodle (across the parking lot from China MaMa) and our first sips of their tonkotsu ramen, gyoza and chasu pork hold great promise for a joint that could save us a trip to Monta, Ramen Sora or Shoku Ramen-ya whenever Japanese noodle noshings become necessary.
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Owner Wayne Kageyama tells us some of the recipes are still a work in progress, but with a little tweaking (and a little more artful presentation) we forsee Tatsu assuming a regular role on our ramen rotation regimen.
Korean Delicious Restaurant, on the other hand, has hit the ground running. We’ve been twice, and were immediately blown away by the quality of the meats, the preciseness of the butchering, and the assertiveness of the flavors. Too many Korean joints use poorly sliced, grisly, hard-to-chew cuts for their bulgogi, but here the quality was evident from the first bite.
Ditto the “Very Spicy Chicken” — which wasn’t jolokia-pepper-hot but got our attention just the same — it being top shelf chunks of good dark and white meat, not something that looked like it was cooked out of the scrap bin.
The Food Gal® prounounced her dolsot (clay pot) bibimbap to be top drawer as well (she’s bec0me the ultimate bibimbap aficionado and says this is one of, if not the, best she’s had), and when you combine these recipes with a spanking new, clean decor and a helpful welcome, you have what may be our town’s best Korean restaurant.
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All told, things are happening in Chinatown. The doldrums of the past four years seem to have lifted and exotic Asian eats are expanding….it seems almost daily.
And need we remind you, two people can eat a feast at any restaurant in this neighborhood for well under fifty bucks….or roughly the price of two glasses of wine at the Old Homestead Steakhouse.
RAMEN TATSU
3400 South Jones Blvd. #6
Las Vegas, NV 89146
702.629.7777
KOREAN DELICIOUS RESTAURANT
5030 Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV 89146
702.477.0363
Food Writer One prefers Fukumimi to Ramen Tatsu-it’s on the eastside of town, and can’t wait to try the bibimbap at the new Korean joint.
I guess calling it “Korean pretty good” was taken?
What’s up friends, fastidious article and pleasant arguments commented here, I am in fact enjoying by these.
Korean delicious changed their cut chicken for ‘extremely’ spicy to chicken wings tonight (wednesday 24th). Which was ok, but very messy to eat. Didn’t try the bibimbap which I intended to order originally till I laid my eyes on the sunbudu dish (soft tofu chili soup w/ mussels/squid tentacles). Which was a bit disappointing, as in, these soups vary little in differences between korean tofu soup shops. Not to call it a total bust, but did order makgelli (makkoli). Wish it was served really chilled.
Korean D. was out of “extremely spicy chicken” when I went. Sounds like they need to up the pollo order. I try not to eat too much swine. Tried the “spicy pork” it was more like Korean Pretty Good. I also tried spicy cold noodles which were no comparison to Anjin in Costa Mesa CA. yet again were pretty good. I will try other things and will be back soon.