Las Vegas Chinatown restaurants

Come to think of it... When I go to Vegas in a couple of weeks, I'll be meeting a friend from L.A. who is of Chinese heritage. He's into his culture, and I'd love to hit a good place in Chinatown with him. Neither he nor I know specific places in the Vegas Chinatown to go to, though. Anyone here know specifics?

Thanks!

For the most part, Chinese in Las Vegas' Chinatown is probably about on par with the Chinese your friend can get in LA's Chinatown.

A friend of mine who is a fellow food writer and critic in Vegas recently blogged about the best ofs on Spring Mountain, which isn't really Chinese-centric as it is Asian-centric.

http://www.eatinglv.com/2008/07/the-chi ... t/#more-83

I'd say for an extraordinary Chinese experience, head to Jasmine at Bellagio, Shanghai Lilly at Mandalay Bay or Wing Lei at Wynn. It'll set you back, but the experience will be above and beyond what you'll find Chinese-wise in LV's Chinatown.

That said, in Chinatown, the newest restaurant garnering a lot of buzz is Raku, which isn't Chinese at all of course, but a tiny Japanese izakaya featuring real Japanese lump charcoal for their robatayaki, silky homemade tofu and some serious, serious dishes. No sushi. All the chefs in town have been flocking there.

Raku
5030 W. Spring Mountain Rd.
Las Vegas

Vegas is very quiet this Thanksgiving, very quiet.

As for its "Chinatown," someone needs to do a more thorough deconstruction of this maze than the link above. I'd say Asian joints litter Spring Mountain for a good two miles, and the typical strip mall will have a Thai restaurant, two Chinese restaurants, a Korean chicken or BBQ joint, and so on. A bit overwhelming.

Noodle Palace, however, was rather underwhelming--very cheap, though ($27 for four generous dishes). Noodles are good, sauces are not; if you're a fan of Sun Wah or Katy's, you'll quickly realize NP is playing amateur softball. That said, their version of salt and pepper shrimp was excellent, within competitive range of LTH's.

Also ate at Raku, which was very empty at 9PM the night before T-day. There's a lot of pedigree here, but the place feels like a neighborhood sushi bar--very casual, very low-key; our waitress was absolutely adorable, clumsy and all. Service is decidedly not fast. Though not a sushi restaurant--they serve a few sashimi dishes but no nigiri or maki--it is definitely Katsu-like in its inconspicuous, unique-to... vibe.

The menu is divided up into robata, a la carte uden (hot pot), and hot/cold appetizers, supplemented by a literal chalkboard of specials that is carried from table to table. From it, we grabbed some agadashi tofu, the tofu made in house and set in a small pool of house-made soy; a smear of chili paste adorns the lip of the bowl, and a few button mushrooms and salmon roe dot the soy pool. The tofu itself comes as a flying saucer-like sphere, almost foie gras-like in texture, and with the taste of the richest latke you'll ever eat. Just awesome.

The other specials emphasized duo preps of proteins, including a whole golden-eyed snapper with the body fried and the head grilled; salmon belly done on the robata; kobe skewers, one marinated in miso and the other in garlic (just meh); and ikara, half sashimi style and half charcoal grilled. The squid was excellent in both preps, the raw squid pairing nicely with real ginger and wasabi, the cooked taking well to a mere spritz of lime. It was also $29.

I also tried the kobe beef liver, a steal at $4, and the bite-size foie gras bowl, which was decidedly not at $15 (though foie gras drippings on rice es muy bueno). This place does add up, and you may still leave hungry after spending $50pp, but the menu is pretty awesome--so many sea urchin dishes to try the next time I'm here. Add it to the small but growing list of Vegas originals--Lotus of Siam, Hash House a Go Go--that are worth the detour from the Strip...and hope Chicago eventually gets a restaurant like this.

FYI: the restaurant is located in a strip mall (naturally) on the north side of Spring Mountain--and just to the west of Decatur Blvd.--but is not visible from the street. Look for the video parlor--Ozzie's I think--that abuts westbound traffic; Raku is in the northwestern corner of the back set of stores. '

I will be celebrating this coming New Year in Las Vegas and I can't wait. I love Asian cuisine. There are so many options to choose from in Las Vegas Chinatown. Any recommendation. Thank you.

ted carter wrote:I will be celebrating this coming New Year in Las Vegas and I can't wait. I love Asian cuisine. There are so many options to choose from in Las Vegas Chinatown. Any recommendation. Thank you.

Yet again, I'll recommend Orchid's Garden.

I wrote:Dim Sum at Chow’s (Now called Orchid's Garden)
I have written about this place in the past. It’s a large (think upstairs at the Phoenix) Chinese restaurant serving Dim Sum on carts at lunchtime. The clientele is 98% Chinese and little English is spoken. It’s very interesting going there. Americans are treated with suspicion, as if they stumbled into this place by mistake, but once they discover that you indeed are looking for a good dim sum experience, they treat you well (at least they treat you as a novelty). One of the few English speakers on staff came to my table often in case I needed to ask for something special, which they will gladly bring from the kitchen if it is not already on one of the many carts cruising the room. Sorry, I didn’t have my camera with me. There is a full menu available for dinner as well as a “secret” Chinese language menu…OK, it’s not really secret, since almost everyone eating there is Chinese and can read the thing.

Also, no visit to Vegas is complete without at least one meal at Lotus of Siam.

Orchid's Garden
5485 W. Sahara Ave.
Las Vegas, NV
702-257-8807

Lotus of Siam
953 E. Sahara Ave #A-5
Las Vegas, NV
702-753-3033