Category: Zines

SEN OF JAPAN is Simply Sensational

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Hiromi Nakano‘s Sen of Japan has been humming along for years now, so sometimes we take it for granted. Shame on us for forgetting just how spectacular the food is here. So contrite did our staff feel, that recently, they stopped by (twice in one week ) to remind themselves about the subtlety and precision this kitchen is known for.

Before we go any further: Those of you who swear by Sushi Fever and I Love Sushi are hopeless cases, and we at ELV can/will do nothing to dissuade you from the wrong path you have chosen — into the land of gimmicky, sloppy sushi and away from ethereal eats — so please spare us any comments on how good they are.

Japanese food is all about superb ingredients, and the surgical-like, minimalist way a good chef treats them to bring out their best, intrinsic qualities. It is not about screaming orgasms and cream cheese concoctions (although Nakano has some of them on his menu to placate the philistines).  Nakano respects both his oeuvre, his country’s cuisine, his ingredients and his customers in dishing forth some of the most finely-tuned food to be found in town — all at prices that won’t have you reaching for a respirator.

The best way to experience his food is through an omakase dinner (gently priced at either $55 or $85/per) where he and his chefs compose a menu that builds through a ginger-spiced raw seafood salad with mango, to sparkling fresh kumamotos, to sablefish in that cliched miso glaze (that doesn’t taste cliched at all here), to sushi that is as as much about the sweetly-scented perfect rice as it is about the perfect slices of fish lain about them. When they do accents to those fish — be it pickled eggplant or a spicy red wine glaze) — the flavors of that rice and fish are accented just so, never by too much or too little — and every bite seems to be a revelation of the main ingredients — just the way Japanese food is supposed to be. His smoky, intense miso soup is also the best we’ve tasted in our humble burg.

In other words, what gussying up Nakano and his chefs do, they do with restraint and respect for the underpinnings of their cuisine.

Much of this subtlety is lost on Americans. We like our flavors big and bold, just like our movies and our actresses. Most American food is, likewise, about as subtle as a UFC cage match.  But take the time, think about what’s really happening on your plate (and in your mouth), and read this blog, and maybe you’ll begin to get the vibe.

But let’s face it, the only way you can really appreciate a country’s cuisine is to travel there and experience it first hand. So in that regard, most of us, ELV included, are no different than a Russian trying to make sense of American food based upon all the hamburgers and fried chicken he eats in Moscow.

Until we get to Tokyo (which, we hope, is this November), we’re content to cruise down west Desert Inn to Hiro’s place, for the best of this cuisine (at the best price) our town has to offer.

Kanpai!

SEN OF JAPAN

8480 W. Desert Inn #F1

Las Vegas, NV 89117

702.871.7781

TWIST and Shout – in Vegas Magazine

ELV note: This month’s Vegas Magazine features the following profile of Twist by Pierre Gagnaire. For those of you who don’t hang out at Rehab or Tao Beach (where Vegas mags’ coverage is ample, even if the clothing isn’t), we thought you might enjoy the article in this more-clothed-but-no-less-dignified format:

Twist & Shout

Epicurean adventurer Pierre Gagnaire is shaking up fine dining at his eponymous CityCenter restaurant.

BY JOHN A. CURTAS

ASK PIERRE GAGNAIRE if he was worried about opening in Las Vegas in the worst economic climate in over 30 years and his answer will invariably be, “No, no, no. Never, because I am more worried that my sauce doesn’t work, not that the restaurant won’t work.”

Having now tasted those sauces on multiple occasions, Monsieur Gagnaire has nothing to worry about.

If you’re not acquainted with this mad scientist of a culinarian, his Vegas outpost, Twist by Pierre Gagnaire at Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, is the perfect place to sample those nonpareil sauces and fork-dropping creations the gourmet world has been raving about for the past 20 years. But first, a word of caution: You don’t go to a Pierre Gagnaire restaurant looking for a traditional big-deal meal any more than you go to a progressive jazz concert expecting to hear “Turkey in the Straw.” If your food tastes run to the musical equivalents of catchy pop tunes or lush, recognizable symphonies, you might have a hard time coming to terms with a restless spirit who is always looking for something new and exciting. But people rarely express shock or disappointment with what comes out of the kitchen. “Customers have all read about us even if they’ve never tasted our food,” says executive chef de cuisine Pascal Sanchez. “They’re so much more sophisticated now. They come to our restaurant expecting to be surprised.”

Those surprises have been toned down somewhat for the Vegas audience. In Paris, where Gagnaire opened his namesake restaurant on the Rue Balzac in 1996, he’s famous for sometimes offering five or six variations of a single main ingredient for each course. Here diners can usually expect three, although his Langoustine Five Ways might be the absolute most stunning dish on the menu. Each small plate respects the sweet, nutty salinity of the crustacean while using another ingredient (or two) to accent it just so. For those who prefer turf to surf, Gagnaire plays with Hudson and Sonoma Valley foie gras (which Sanchez calls his favorites in the world—no small compliment there), preparing them as a terrine, a custard, seared with sweet-and-sour duck glaze and as a croquette with pickled red onions. Each of these multifaceted courses comes at you as a barrage of plates, so you and your tablemates can compare how the central ingredient stacks up to the different treatments.

Whereas the appetizers and tasting menu are Gagnaire’s playground for all of these explorations, main courses (on the à la carte menu) are slightly more conventional but no less delicious. A simple loin of venison is served with a Grand Veneur (venison-flavored ice cream) quenelle and a red cabbage-black currant jam drizzled about the plate. As for the deer ice cream, it’s intriguing but more compelling in concept than reality. The Nebraska prime beef sirloin served with a side of smoked parsley powder and a small carafe of thick, dark-purple Burgundy escargot sauce might be the single best steak in a town full of great steaks.

If it’s fishy simplicity you seek, head straight for the Santa Barbara spiny lobster or the Dover sole. The spiny lobster appeared in thick chunks under large, thin rounds of mushroom, all at room temperature and napped with a Champagne dressing. On the side, thin cappellini in a small bowl waiting to be tossed into the green pepper, celeriac and cauliflower velouté that sat beneath it. The first half of the equation was all subtle textures and flavors; the second, bright, clean and assertive, effectively complementing the seafood salad.

You expect the Dover sole “pan-fried corn flour” to be the classic preparation: a large piece of fish filleted and served with a sauce. What you get is small ribbons of fish, fried and mounded on a plate of baby greens, haricot vert and small broccoli. The “ivory” (wine-butter sauce) drizzled across the top of the fish and around the plate is so good you’ll want to dispense with utensils and lick it directly.

Twist by Pierre Gagnaire is not about pirouettes on the plate as much as it is about the exploration of tastes and flavors. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in the succession of small plates that make up any of the six desserts offered nightly. Chocolate lovers will swoon over Everything Chocolate, a cake, ganache, candy bar and tuile, while those looking for sharper tastes shouldn’t miss All Citrus, a study in acidity in four small helpings. Every time you take a bite from any of them, as with most of the menu, you will feel as if you’re truly tasting the essence of each ingredient for the first time. Such is the genius of Pierre Gagnaire’s cuisine that the familiar becomes a revelation in intensity.

Blogspotting: The Frugal Foodie and Tasting Las Vegas

The words frugal and John Curtas have never, ever collided in the same sentence.

Just ask his his colleagues, his sons (still chafing at what will be their pitifully small inheritance), his ex-wives, his accountant and the IRS.

So he usually cedes the reporting on lower-end joints (unless they’re Asian joints) to others.

And that’s where The Frugal Foodie comes in. The Frug is a blog by a little gal (Jillian Plaster) with a big appetite. She trained as a chef so her reviews tend towards the food-and-recipe-specific, and sometimes she’s tougher to please than ELV with a hangover. But she has some serious food chops, and covers a lot of ground — including places that Eating Las Vegas wouldn’t be caught dead in — so give her a look.

Mike Dobranski’s Tasting Las Vegas puts forth a steady stream dining posts that are always  fun, if sometimes a bit logorrheic (The Frugal Foodie suffers from this as well). He is clearly a worshiper of great chefs and good food, has quite the sense of humor and more opinions than Glenn Beck Keith Olbermann.

Are they the next generation of food writers in Las Vegas? Too early to tell, but if you’re looking for thoughtful opinion on our restaurant scene, check them out.