I'd been dying to try Raku, a Japanese izakaya, for a few years now, but could never convince my travelmates to go. This time - there would be no such issue. After a stop for provisions at the Wal-Mart Supercenter, we hit up Raku minutes before last call for the highlight meal of the trip.
Hidden away in the corner of a non-descript strip mall along a veritable sea of strip malls, we miraculously found it thanks to Ray's eagle-eyes. From Spring Mountain Road, only the "U" part of the sign was visible (barely) - so you really have to drive slowly if you don't have the address.
The menu is framed on a plastic covered board which stays permanently in a slot on the table - perfect for future reference. Also easy to clean! There's a number of standard-bearers, as well as some standouts as the picture shows. Raku features a daily-special board that I've been advised to "order everything off it" - but sadly it had been taken down for the night.
The drink list was rather impressive - if not for the large selection of sake and spirits, but also the included descriptions of each spirit! I was dyin' to partake but I was the designated driver. Ray ordered the kome kome - described as similar to a Reisling... and WAS IT EVER! Sweet and smooth - not my cup of tea.
On the tableside was a collection of house-condiments, including what I'm believing to be soy sauce they make themselves (they make their own tofu in-house). From left to right, green tea salt (light salt, couldn't taste the green tea), yagenbori shichima chilli powder (nice and perky, without being overwhelming), koregusu chilli sauce (mmm burning...) and Raku's soy sauce (light flavour, wine-like after taste).
My "Top Chef judges' table" shot :-)
We started with their trademark agedashi tofu - which was hands down the best agedashi tofu I've EVER had - and the absolute highlight of the trip. Yes. The WHOLE trip. We were fighting over the remnants of the bowl. I won. It's a big round tofu sitting in a flavourful broth, which the batter managed to stay crisp in. The outer panko shell was light and broke through with ease. The tofu's texture itself had a slight firmness I'd never experienced before, something between toothsome and fork tender. It was borderline existential.
Next up was char-grilled eggplant topped with bonito flakes. If you've never had it, Japanese eggplant has a more elongated and thinner body than the bulbous one you find on North American shelves. It also exhibits a lighter flesh and flavour, with a thinner skin - so it cooks quite a bit faster. That being said, you have to be careful or it can very quickly turn into mush. This is a favourite summertime BBQ dishes of mine so I was looking forward to Raku's take, and was quite disappointed with what we got. The texture was perfect - soft, yet firm enough to be picked up with chopsticks, but there was no flavour whatsoever to be found. The opposite of the fight for the agedashi tofu dish, I became the de-facto "okay Mom will clean the plate" on this one. Though it did present a great opportunity to try out the condiments - none which were able to improve it measurably.
This was Barry's oden with mochi-stuffed bean curd parcel. Oden is a restorative soup that is ubiquitous in Japan (it's sold at 7-11!), and absolutely perfect for cold evenings. I didn't get to try it as the portion was meant for a single diner.
Jumping into the robata (grilled) menu, this was duck skewers with balsamic soy-sauce. You can see how thick the sauce was - borderline syrupy. The flavour of the duck sadly was non-existent - we tried it and none of the us could figure out what it was - which is just wrong. I'm a huge fan of gamey duck - the stronger, the better!
Next was a salmon skewer with side of ikura oroshi (grated daikon topped with salmon roe). The salmon was perfectly cooked, beautifully moist, and had just the lightest sweet glaze to it. The oroshi made for a cooling counterpoint to the fattiness of the fish. Nothing special for this Vancouver-boy, but a well done dish nevertheless.
As the menu showed earlier, they had a fine selection of kobe beef - but I'm not the biggest beef fan, and having eaten kobe in Tokyo - don't have any desire to try it elseplace (and don't get me started on the literal bullsh*t of "kobe sliders" or "kobe meatballs"). Kurobuta pork, on the other hand, I'm an absolute sucker for.
Kurobuta is essentially the kobe of pigs. The English name for the breed is a Berkshire, known for its fattiness and extremely tender meat. Japadog sells a kurobuta-dog, and there's an explosion of sweet sweet fatty juice with every bite - closest thing to a xiao long bao hotdog as you'll ever get. This was no exception. The meat had been marinated in a sweet soy sauce that bloomed nicely on the grill, and they had expertly placed some chunks of fat on the skewers so you got an extra burst of happy yumminess along the way. Not the best kurobuta I've had -- but I had a big smile on my face regardless. I'm simple that way.
Ray was perusing the don (rice) selection and perked up at the sight of the foie gras don. The foie was the size of a credit card about as thick as a DVD case - about right for $18.50. I'm not a fan of the foie (nothing political, I just don't like the taste) - so this was all Ray's, and he was exhibiting dreamy happiness with each bite. With the richness of it, he wasn't able to finish his rice so I pounced on it. It was short-grain Japanese rice, but just past al-dente - toothsome - which was a surprise (not in a bad way!). The sweet soy they used to coat the rice was equally welcoming - it was sweet, but still earthy - a nice balance for the foie.
The chicken tsukune skewers (minced chicken with herbs) was touted as one of their specialties so who was I to argue? These were surprisingly big! About 2/3 the size of a corndog, and yes I am aware I'm going to hell for using that metaphor. Bursting with flavour and juice with every bite, I was almost worried that the chicken might have been a little under! It wasn't, and it was good stuff! The boys had called it quits at this point so I got to have an extra skewer to myself *glee*
Last was 2 plates of fried pork ear - I knew I'd need something to chew on, and I've been on an offal kick lately so why not? Pork ears are a regular park of Asian menus, and there's a myriad of ways to prepare it. This came to the table nicely crispy, with a nice chew to the cartilage. A welcome textural change to the rest of the menu we'd had. A little bit of the koregusu chilli sauce took it to the next level, the perfect companion bites while drinking a bottle of Asahi. I also liked the yagenbori chilli powder - I like the tickling dry heat it gave while chewing away on it.
Overall the bill came out to $100 with tip - considering we had the foie don and sake, definitely a good price. All the hype for Raku is absolutely well-deserved and it's going into my regular visitation list for Vegas. Doors close at 3 AM, with last call at 2 AM. On a welcome note, their online menu has pictures for every dish, so you can preview what you want before going, and order off their "daily specials" menu too. Or just go with the kaiseki tasting option which is widely recommended.
Raku is located on 5030 West Spring Moutain Road in Las Vegas, about 5 minutes off the Strip - and absolutely worth a taxi cab ride (remember, BIG sake menu!). Check them out and you will not be disappointed! Reservations highly recommended before 11 PM.
Done.
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