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| - BLUF...The dining highlight of my trip to Vegas with my girlfriend was our dinner at Nobu. This was my third trip to Nobu, each time having had the Chef's Omakase Tasting Menu. Nobu's tasting menu is a thoughtfully composed meal served kaiseki-style (sort of a themed meal) that seeks to tie together individual dishes by attributes like taste, texture, and temperature to enhance the overall experience of the meal. Since there isn't a set menu, you select the price point you're willing to pay and the Chef and the kitchen staff prepares an appropriate amount of courses using whatever exotic ingredients they deem fit. We both received 9 courses with sake pairing.
First course: We started with a Kumamoto Oyster wrapped in smoked salmon topped with a osetra caviar, served on an endive leaf in an asparagus "boat" with accompanied by sweet and sour miso sauces. A masterful start! The 5 basic tastes were tastefully and elegantly captured together in a single dish!
Second course: Shima-aji Sashimi served in a tosazu (vinegared sardines) gelée with micro celery and "sea grapes" kelp...garnished with pickled turnip. A great all-around dish, but the pickle turnip was the ingredient that put it over the top!
Third course: Bluefin Tuna Sashimi topped with garlic purée and sliced serrano chilies with jalapeño emulsion over brown rice salsa. I love sashimi, but the garlicky goodness and spiciness from the chilies was amazing. The brown rice salsa was damn tasty in its own right!
Fourth course: Ocean Trout and Seared Sweet Shrimp Sashimi salad served with mâche, peppercorn, and spicy lemon dressing. Another success! The peppercorns gave it the spicy notes that greatly accented the raw fish.
Intermezzo: A Yuzu Sorbet...a simple yet refreshing palate cleanser that marked the transition from cold dishes to hot.
Fifth course: Pan-seared Seabass, seasonal mushrooms, and wild ramps served in a yuzu soy sauce. As much as I loved the seabass, the earthy mushrooms and ramps nearly stole the show in this dish!
Sixth course: Grilled Wagyu Beef with Seared Foie Gras served over yellow sweet corn and snap peas with soy-mirin reduction. The oh-so-tender Australian-raised wagyu beef paired nicely with the perfectly seared foie gras.
Seventh course: Dashi with Lobster and Enoki Mushroom with Japanese greens. So simple, yet such an incredibly satisfying dish! They didn't skimp on the lobster, either. In many ways, this was my favorite dish of the night.
Eighth course: A selection of sushi...Otoro (fatty tuna), Tasmanian Sea Trout, Sea Eel, a fish I can't recall, Mirugai (geoduck), and Tamago (egg omelet). I love sushi. I LOVED all of these nigiri!
Ninth course: Shiso (?) Panna Cotta with Strawberry "Caviar", an understated but very satisfying closer to our meal. The "caviar" was made to resemble ikura or salmon roe and was a very nice, creative touch.
As for our sake, Chris (I think that was his name), our lead server, informed us that Nobu imports its sake from Japan and that it's made especially for Nobu. I'm not an expert, at all, on the finer aspects of sake. Suffice it to say, our pairings were very nice, with subtle, yet interesting differences between each glass and went well with each dish. Chris did a great job all-around job taking care of us. We had a very leisurely meal, never feeling rushed, but we never had to wait for our next course or glass of sake. The timing was impeccable!
I'm really not the type of person to toss out superlatives casually, but our meal was arguably one of the best meals I've ever had...at least since I've started yelping! Each dish was memorable and no single dish clearly stood out as the best since they were all outstanding! It takes a lot of hair-splitting to even pick a dish that was less satisfying that the rest but if I had to pick one, it was the wagyu and foie gras course...and that was only due to the impression that the accompaniments on other dishes were more exciting than the sweet corn and snap peas. If you're in Vegas for one night and can only eat at one place while you're there, go to Nobu and have the Omakase Tasting Menu! You won't regret it!
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