This just in: Drew Terp, the self-proclaimed “big white boy” running Bar Masa and Shaboo in the Aria Hotel and Casino, has parted company with the restaurant and the hotel.
Despite rumors to the contrary, Chef Masa Takayama is still completely engaged with the operation, and discussions of his Vegas demise (by ELV and others) have been greatly exaggerated and are untrue…according to folks-in-the-know at Aria.
In other news, Nora’s Wine Bar in Summerlin has closed.
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KyAra is not as good as Raku nor as fun as Ichiza, but ELV is fairly certain you’re about to read that it is from his Eating Las Vegas co-authors — who will no doubt be effusive in their hyperbolic praise for a place that’s not nearly as fine as it wants to be. Slapsie Maxie will no doubt love it because it’s Asian, and “Mad Man” Mancini will love it because it’s cool and cheap. But both will be missing the point, which is: This place exists to cash in on the uber-cool Japanese tapas craze started by its predecessors. ELV wishes it would, and would be right there with them if the food was solid, but it isn’t. At least not yet.
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Depending on how fine a point you want to put on these things, Osaka can either be your favorite Japanese restaurant in town, or a joint not worth having a yen for.
Since 1967, it has plied Las Vegans with passable representations of Japanese food from its somewhat dingy/sketchy surroundings on West Sahara, and it exists, even thrives, because of a loyal following who fell in love with this food decades ago, and return for decent sushi, sashimi, hand and cut rolls, as well as everything from udon noodle bowls to teriyaki and shabu shabu.