Raku

I love Japanese food.  Sadly, I almost never have the opportunity to have this since there are hardly any authentic Japanese restaurants near where I live.  What is amazing is that Las Vegas' Chinatown has a decent amount of these restaurants.  In one particular strip mall, there are 4 Japanese restaurants.

Raku is a small izakaya with a limited but exciting menu.  The small menu contains a variety of cold and hot small dishes along with a plethora of grilled items, an izakaya staple.  They also have a daily menu with sashimi of the freshest and most carefully sourced fish.  Not only are the fish carefully sourced, but so are the other offerings.  You know what that means?  It's gonna be a hella good meal.

Let's begin.

Poached Egg with Uni and Ikura

Farm egg, salmon roe, and sea urchin all in one bowl.  Mix that altogether with the mountain yam, and you got yourself a menage-a-trois of eggs.  

Raku Tofu

This is made in house and served with katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), green onions, and ginger.  Add a dash of the house brewed soy sauce, and there's no way you would ever want to go back to mass produced tofu.  This tofu has a fuller body, meaning a greater mouth feel and creamier taste.

Yes, I said Raku makes their own soy sauce.  This sauce is not as salty and has a fuller bodied taste.  There's a theme going on here.  

Kanpachi

Sashimi of the freshest Japanese amberjack belly and loin.  To cleanse the palate, there are pickled chrysanthemum flowers instead of ginger.  There's not much to say regarding the flavor, as it's a mild white fish.  But, where the quality and dedication comes in is the use of the pickled flowers.  Mild pickles paired with a mild fish; how did I not know that?

And now, some chargrilled skewers.

Kurobuta Pork Cheek

Kurobuta means black pig in Japanese.  These pigs are raised in Kagoshima prefecture in the Western part of the country.

The cheeks here have a very good fat to meat ratio.  The charcoal grill creates a nice crust on the outside, giving the pork a nice bite.

Duck with Balsamic Soy

The dark soy sauce and slightly sweet balsamic make a nice mellow sauce that doesn't overpower the duck.

Salmon with Ikura Oroshi

Despite it's complex name, it's a very simple dish of grilled salmon with grated radish topped with ikura.

To be honest, there isn't a whole to say about some tiny skewers as they are that simple.  But this next dish got me talking.

Juicy Deep Fried Ajitame Chicken

This is the highlight of the night.  Dark meat chicken is laid on a bed of spinach which is sauced with the chicken jus.  When they say juicy, it's more than true.  Never had I had fried chicken that is so succulent and moist.  I can't imagine what is was like when the chef cuts into the batter.  Must have been like a tidal wave of juice coming out of it.  

This meal is among of the greatest that I have had in Vegas.  Flawless ingredients and technique combined with simple end results make this place a true gem.  Compared to most places in Chinatown, this is on the higher end of the spectrum.  Even though I was treating my family, my dad somehow still ended hitting up the curry place next door for what he calls "real food".  He means stuff that fills you up, of course.  But I guess it's just a generational difference here.

Like many of the places in Chinatown, Raku is open late.  Like 2am late.  From what I heard, it's for this reason that it's popular with restaurant employees, especially the chefs.  And for good reason.  Even though, this is the kind of place that would be pretentious and trendy if on the Strip, it's quite casual.  Just look at the food.  It's simple.  The presentation is traditional and minimalistic. It's a great place to get away from all the intensity, complexity, and noise that define the restaurants that dot the Strip.  This is what food should be like in a more perfect world.

5030 Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV 89146