BR wrote:Raku is an outstanding restaurant, although I rarely hit it on trips to Vegas. As I've noted before, I simply prefer other Asian cuisines and have a hard time missing out on Lotus of Siam, and I often have limited off-strip trips. But do not interpret my preferences as an endorsement of Lotus over Raku (or Kabuto for that matter) - just a matter of preferences. But even despite a couple of dishes that didn't excite me, overall this was a really tremendous meal, with the Agedashi tofu, the fried chicken and the Kobe skirt steak being my three favorite dishes. And returning to the same strip mall two nights in a row, for Raku and Kabuto, made for quite the little trip to Japan (too bad I missed Monta, same strip mall).

Abriya Raku

Nice post!

You know if faced with choices, I would surely put a lot of cuisines ahead of Japanese (no that I dislike Japanese food). I've just found that as good as Lotus is, it's not really that different, quality wise, that what we have in Chicago. Raku, Monta, Ichiza, and more that I have not tried, however, seem so much better than what I've had here. For instance, I went to Slurping Turtle not that long after Monta, and I proved my point, to myself at least. Also, the places in Las Vegas seem bracingly authentic and transportative, which I find, adds to the pleasure.

Also, to echo what I said a page or so ago, how can the tofu at Raku taste SO much better than any other tofu out there. It's like Kobe tofu. I mean, come on. Tofu is not very complicated, and there should not be that many variables. How can someone do it that much better?