| rev:text
| - When much of the fusion world is dominated by poke bowls and fancy abstract izakaya tapas, it's refreshing to see something in between the opposites of fast food and bouge date night.
Trattoria Nakamura-Ya indeed offers an avant-garde interpretation on painting Japanese flavor profiles on the canvas of traditional Italian dishes. Think miso carbonara, uni cream linguine, octopus carpaccio... wow. I almost want to say that I knew this would be a 5-star experience once I sat down and looked at the menu.
(+) Complimentary bread & butter: reminds me of the rolls in Asia, i.e. comfort food tasty. A tad bit sweet, toasty warm, a thin crust, and a fluffy interior.
(++) Bruschetta "Nakamura-ya" Style ($3.50 happy hour) - The toasted baguettes are difficult to be shared (one order per person would be best since there is only one of each. The thoughtful toppings are of fine dining calibur.
- My favorite was the one with tuna and "Mentaiko", a spicy cod roe with very smoky and umami flavors, somewhat like smoked salmon superimposed on cod cakes.
- The octopus with avocado and wasabi mayo was delicious as well, robust and buttery. (Maybe this will be the next avo toast trend.)
- The most basic was the anchovy oil topped with fresh mozzarella cheese, which was mostly cheesy garlic bread--plain compared to the others, but it best exemplified the perfect toastiness
(+) Spaghetti "Kurobuta" Sausage & Broccoli ($8 happy hour) - Classic spaghetti with a light tomato based sauce. The sausage was not noticeably kurobuta and could use more spices. I like the simplicity of the dish, though it wasn't the most exciting fusion creation here.
(+++) Traditional meat sauce with "Wagyu" beef cooked with "Kinoko" (Japanese assorted
mushrooms), tomato cream sauce on fettuccine ($8 happy hour) - A melange of wagyu and mushrooms over pasta, in a mildly spicy tomato sauce with just a dash of cream (to my liking).
The cooking style was homey, not too bold but creative and carefully balanced. Correspondingly, the ambiance incorporates conservative European restaurant necessities of tablecloths and baskets, as well as more modern Japanese additions like a bar area with an overhang and a cutesy handwritten blackboard highlighting their most popular items. Service was extremely polite and attentive.
I think the dishes could use more meat and the pastas more provocatively al dente, but an outstanding dining experience nonetheless. Also, the restaurant is run by Japanese people so it's authentic fusion (though that sounds like an oxymoron), an original interpretation of Asian-European cuisine rather than some business gimmick.
They offer a "happy hour" deal of essentially a lunch menu--there's a discount on select apps and entrees, as well as combo choices. Certain items like the uni cream pasta are expensive, but there's a large selection of very well priced items (and uni itself is valuable!)
The novel fusion specialties are definitely worth the 10-minute drive from the Strip. If I lived in Vegas, I would definitely be inclined to try the whole menu at Trattoria Nakamura-Ya P:
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)