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| - You know Raku and Ichiza, dah-duh and dah-buh, but do you recall, the most forgotten izakaya and yakitori joint of all? Shuseki the red-walled restaurant... Okay, I can't carry on the Rudolph parody; it's straining my brain and my corny-bone.
We ventured over to Shuseki last night because we were ready to give the underdog a fightin' chance, and I must say that if the place were a little cuter and a bit less fluorescent-lit, it would be giving Ichiza a run for its Japanese small-plate money. The interior is simply not the most comfortable. I have been trying to figure out what it reminds me of, but the best I can come up with is that it looks like Frank from Trading Spaces did a rework. Frank is a nice man, but he himself describes his style as "eclectic country," and that can never be good. So, imagine that Frank showed up and built some Longhorn looking booth structures, painted the walls red, and then hot-glued some bamboo sticks here and there: that is a pretty good visual.
The menu is extensive with lots of small plates, grilled fish, noodle dishes, tempura, sushi and soups (and I am probably missing something). We both had soup: a spicy pork ramen and a veggie tempura udon. The spicy ramen broth was flavorful without inching into being salty. The udon soup flavor was also delicious; however, the tempura upset me because it was julienned vegetables. That's right: little thin slices of tempura vegetables put on top. Perhaps it is more traditional, but I had never seen that. It was a little frustrating because the pieces were hard to fish out despite my very respectable chopstick skills, and before I could fish them out, all of their tempura breading had sogged up and fallen into the broth. This scenario made the broth a little greasy. When I did catch one, it tasted great, but I would really liked to have had some nice full pieces of tempura.
Still, the overall dish sure beat some other offerings I have had around town, and I am eager to try some of their small plates. So, on one foggy Sin City night, I'll definitely say: Shuseki with your menu so bright, won't you feed my belly tonight.
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