Niu-Gu is an experiment of sorts. In the few months it has been open, it has gone from a simple noodle parlor, with a limited menu of Chinese soups and starches, to a full service restaurant serving everything from the formal farm-to-cup Chinese tea service to the best, freshest friggin’ fish we’ve ever had in Chinatown:
(Silky, rich, true Pacific black cod)
How well they succeed is going to tell us a lot about just how sophisticated people want their Asian food to be.
Hating Mr. Chow is practically a right of passage for most food writers.
This is understandable because the food at Mr. Chow has always been pretty much beside the point. Because Mr. Chow, for the uninitiated among you, has always been about the scene. But it’s also about a certain slice of social history, and the “exaggerated elegance” (Frank Bruni’s words) of Chinese cuisine. But most of all, Mr. Chow is about status. But that is about to change, at least in Vegas. Allow us to explain.
Eating Las Vegas doesn’t like to brag (well, actually, we do like to brag), but we foretold our current sushi revolution over three years ago.
That’s when Kabuto opened up next door to Raku and, almost overnight, validated our prediction that down-market, mayonnaise-laden, all-you-can eat sushi bars were about to become the Long John Silver’s of uncooked fish.