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| - I've enjoyed a lot French tasting menus, but my dinner at Raku was only my third Japanese Kaiseki menu. This was hands down, the best Japanese tasting menu I have had thus far. When I made my reservation over the phone a few weeks ago, the person I spoke to made sure I knew the 15 course Kaiseki dinner would last over 5 hours-yep, no problem.
We missed Raku on our first drive down the street, but saw it coming back the other direction. Once they found our reservation, we were taken to a little private room. Excellent! No need to worry about our camera flashes distracting anyone in the dark restaurant. Our server, Andrew, was great. He explained each course, answered questions, gave us specific suggestions on how to eat certain dishes, and made sure we were enjoying everything.
The presentation of our first dish was very creative. In addition to a spoon, a bowl filled with some dashi, roe, and yuzu powder, a paddle and a rectangular box were placed in front of us. When you push the paddle in one end of the box, the homemade silken tofu came cut out the other side. Nice.
The second plate was adorned with 9 different little bites. Everything on this plate was a hit with me. I loved the rice cracker covered asparagus, green onion duck with balsamic, salmon & egg yolk, and miso marinated cod. I was also intrigued by the corn on the "cob" where the cob was replaced with mashed potatoes.
Did I mention they wiped the table between courses?
My friend was just eh about the third dish, but it was so surprising, I think it was one of my favorites from the whole meal. The clear, cold tomato gel w/ dashi, scallops, shrimp, okra, and soy sauce powder looked uneventful, but when that get hit the top of my mouth, POW! That was intense, fresh tomato flavor. Great dish!
The next dish that we devoured was a grilled chicken that came with a charred sweet onion and a little dab of super hot chili pepper. The chicken skin was crisp and the meat was juicy. I'm telling you, if people knew how to cook chicken this well, they wouldn't be complaining about eating chicken every day. Perfect execution.
Hands down THE best dish of the night was the foie gras chawanmushi. The truffle oil, little cube of foie gras (thank you Nevada) and dashi-custard was so rich. My mouth is salivating just thinking about it. Oh man, make me another, and make it an ostrich size, not that little quail egg. LOVED it!
Another favorite was the steak with garlic, soy, XO sauce, and garlic chips. The Hennessy flambe was poured on top of the hot rocks at the table. Great presentation, and fabulous flavor!
We weren't sure if all 15 courses would be savory or if there would be a dessert. Well, it turned out that there were two parts to our dessert. First was a yuzu custard brulee with tangerine sorbet & whipped cream. THAT was a great combination. I loved the tart tangerine with the sweet cream and the smooth custard with the crunch of the melted sugar. Nice and refreshing. The second part of dessert was a sweet sake topped with heavy cream. My friend exclaimed that it was, "The best sake ever!"
As with all tasting menus, there were standout dishes that I couldn't wait to tell people about. There were several dishes that were good, not bad, but not great, and there were a couple that were okay, but we wouldn't necessarily order them on their own. There was only one dish that we absolutely did not like.
Our dinner at Raku was great. This was only my friend's second tasting menu ever, and he enjoyed it. I've had way more expensive meals on the strip that didn't satisfy as much as Raku. The food was delicious, service was on point, and our entire experience was excellent. Andrew even told us to make sure I use the same contact information when I make my next reservation, so they can make sure we get different dishes. I don't think that'll be necessary. Next time I'm coming and ordering ala carte. Have you looked at their menu? There are so many yummy sounding dishes. Plus, I can get a whole bowl of that foie gras chawanmushi! Yum!
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