Raku

Raku is another Las Vegas restaurant that I had heard rave reviews over and over throughout the years, but after a couple glances at the menu I never found it that enticing.  The menu is similar to a Japanese izakaya style menu with a slightly fusion twist, but my absolute favorite izakaya in Las Vegas is Ichiza (see post HERE), which I highly highly recommend.  I put this one on the food list this time around to finally see what the fuss was about.

The poached egg with unit and ikura was my absolute favorite dish of the meal and had I know I would be disappointed in the meal I would have ordered two of these dishes to satisfy myself.  This dish is so well composed with bits of creaminess, crunchy, salty, and slimy. 

All the item came out super fast, which I found to be a little off putting.  Since I believe grilled items are meant to be eaten hot and the Las Vegas winter was fairy cold, it cause me to eat twice as fast and possibly not enjoy my meal as much.  First out was the grilled chicken skewer wrapped in crispy skin.  The skin could have used a little more crispiness and the chicken was fairly dry.

While the wasabi sauce gave the kobe beef a nice kick, the meat was much too overcooked.

The pork belly skewer was one of the better skewers with juicy chunks of fatty pork.

I had high hopes for this kobe beef with fried garlic.  The meat was cooked too well and dried out the otherwise tender beef.

With San Francisco's foie gras ban still in full force, I like to indulge in foie gras when I can.  The grilled foie gras with soy sauce glaze was a rather large piece of foie and it was a bit of a foie overload for someone who hasn't had foie in a while.  Rich and decadent, foie was just as creamy and sinful as I remembered. 

Foie chawanmushi with seared duck.  I love a good chawanmushi.  However, this egg custard was a bit overcooked. 

The chicken meatball is another house favorite at Raku.  Minced chicken is lumped onto a stick and then grilled.  Again, the chicken was a little too dry.

Raku is well known for their housemade tofu.  It comes both steamed as well as fried.  The fried version (agadashi) is lightly fried and topped with ikura (salmon roe) and shredded dried seaweed.  The tofu is creamy and light, but being from the Bay Area I'm already spoiled by many restaurants that make their own tofu so I didn't find the tofu here extraordinarily spectacular.

Address:                     Raku
                                    5030 Spring Mountain Rd.
                                    Las Vegas, NV 
 

Type:                           Japanese

Popular chomps:         foie gras with glazed soy sauce
                                     freshly made tofu
                                     agadashi
                                     foie gras chawanmushi
                                     poached egg with sea urchin and salmon roe

                                     kobe beef with garlic

Chomp worthy:            poached egg with sea urchin and salmon roe