Tag: Japanese food

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

Squid Cartilage at ICHIZA

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If you’ve ever had a hankerin’ for a little deep fried squid cartilage — and let’s face it who hasn’t? — then point to the poster on the wall at Ichiza (that doubles as a menu for the place) and get yourself a plateful of the little nippers.

They’re surprisingly good — sorta like popcorn shrimp, only a bit more toothsome — and go quite nicely with a glass of junmai daiginjo sake.

And while you’re at it, grab some oysters in ponzu sauce, some jalopy fried rice, slimy raw wasabi octopus, and a little albacore sashimi, for one of the better Japanese snack meals around town.

Click on the link below to hear why Slapsie Maxie and ELV are so crazy about this place.

ICHIZA

4355  West Spring Mountain Road

Las Vegas, NV 89102-8784

702.367.3151

YAGYU Yakiniku BBQ Gets Its Due

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The Japanese, along with most Asian cultures, think our American habit of consuming large chunks of steer muscle wholesale is unhealthy, unsightly, and barbaric.

And it is.

That doesn’t keep ELV and his staff from occasionally tucking into prime, aged beauty from one of our many Grade A beef emporiums. But it does cause him to consider how much more civilized it feels to have well-marbled, juicy, superbly tender beef sliced raw into bite sized pieces, delivered to his table by an accommodating hostess, so they can be flash grilled before melting in his mouth.

We think you consume less this way and appreciate it more.

And appreciate Yagyu Yakiniku Japanese BBQ is something we have no trouble doing. Because where else in Vegas can you get a platter of such superior beef, kimchee fried rice, a steak tartare-like raw beef dish called yukke, and a whole lotta beef tongue in brown gravy for $47 pour deux?

We’ve yet to explore the provenance of that beef, but will as soon as we find someone working here who speaks enough English to explain it to us. As it is, we’re usually too busy marveling at the quality of the provisions to care. And this is yet another place in Asiatown where it’s kinda fun to be the only gaijin in the joint, and relax with the fact that we’re eating so well for so little.

A few fun food facts about yakiniku barbecue:

* Yakiniku means “grilled meat” in Japanese.

* It is a relatively new form of eating in Japan, having thought to have originated with Korean immigrants there after WWII.

* Many yakiniku restaurants in Japan are run by Koreans (just as most Japanese restaurants in Las Vegas are).

* Eating beef in Japan was illegal until 1871, when the government legalized it in an attempt to modernize the country and introduce western culture to it.

* The popularity of this form of eating really took off in Japan after the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

* Unlike Korean barbecue, the meat isn’t cut with scissors.

Fine distinctions aside, we can think of no better way to consume beef. You eat less of it, while enjoying a quality product at a reasonable price.

And it’s really hard to complain about how it’s been cooked.

YAGYU JAPANESE YAKINIKU BBQ

4355 Spring Mountain Road #107

Las Vegas, NV 89102

702.868.5635