Vdara Las Vegas and Aburiya Raku

Thanks to my friend, I got a free pass to CES Las Vegas this year!
(CES = Consumer Electronics Show)

Sadly I didn't bring my camera to the show,
Lesson learned,
No matter what happens, camera should always be within reachable distance 24/7!

Since I cannot show you all the exciting new gadgets, 3D TVs, green engineered cars of this upcoming year,
At least I can give you some thoughts and feedbacks regarding the hotel I stayed in,
Plus possibly my top three favorite restaurants in the U.S. - Aburiya Raku!

You never know,
These information can come in handy if you ever gonna visit Vegas!

Vdara is one of the modern looking hotels inside CityCenter,
Other hotels and structures including Mandarin Oriental, Aria, etc.

Their interior design gives you a more modern yet elegant vibe -

Bathroom -

Apartment-like setting, which the room is equipped with a small kitchen -

You can request for different kinds of cookware, plates, and utensils.

View from the room during different time frames,
View 1 -

View 2 -

View 3 -

View 4 -

View 5 -

View 6 -

View 7 -

One of the hotel lighting -

I've only stayed in four other hotels in Vegas:
Venetian, Aladdin, Mandalay Bay, Treasure Island,
But of course I've visited all other hotels *just like a tourist!
By far, Vdara is my favorite,
I think 70% is due to its anti-smoking regulation, and 20% due to its fabulous view.

*Vdara smells really nice!
Unlike most of the Vegas hotels...even high-end ones...always carries a hint of cigarette..

Enough about hotels, let's talk about food!

I had a pretty old post about Raku,
Read here if you're interested,
But pardon me that some of the picture sizes are all messed up and went over the border.

If you've been reading my blog, you'll notice the change of layout couple months ago,
And that's how some of my older image sizes got over-board..
Maybe I'll spare some time to fix it one day...when I'm not around food...
(which will NEVER happen* muahaha......ah...laziness...I blame it to the confusing technology)

This is how we started out our binge eating night -

Complimentary dish that goes pretty well with our sake,
Baby vegetables with miso -

Specials of the day,
Darn it! They didn't have any dessert items ( > _.< ),
I remembered having Raku's brown sugar flan with foam, it was so darn good!

Beef liver sashimi with thinly sliced garlic, high-quality oil, and a pinch of green tea sea  salt -

Never had it before,
When I saw raw liver on the menu, there's a sudden voice in my head forcing me to order it,
And I didn't regret that decision at all.

Poached egg with sea urchin and salmon roe -

Steamed foie gras egg custard -

Front to back:
Kobe beef fillet with wasabi, apple marinated lamb chops, oden -

Front to back:
Soboro don and foie gras don -

That's just a tip of what we ordered that night,
Two people, nearly 20 dishes,
Man...I felt like I've never been this full in my life,
I left the restaurant with balloon shaped belly and a spinning head (foodcome kicking in),
Nevertheless,
It was definitely worth it!

Here's the link to Raku's newly designed website:
http://www.raku-grill.com/index.html

Go check their "commitments to quality" section under "about us,"
Good ingredients, good chef, good place, plus chef's passion for food,
No wonder this place is so DARN good!

Raku Japanese Charcoal Grill

People say Christmas dinner is over-rated in the case of dining out.
This statement is so true, especially in Las Vegas.

My boyfriend and I were gonna have our Christmas dinner at a fancy restaurant on the strip,
Good thing that we have a special connection in the city.

"It's a rip off to eat anywhere on the strip on Christmas eve!"
"It's double the regular price and so many places are booked till late hours!"
"The set menu that usually costs about $125 per person went sky high for $250 per person."
Our chef friend strongly made his point across before we make a reservation at the hotel.
"Go to this place instead, you'll love it! it's DA BOMB!"

DA BOMB huh?
Well, if the expert said so, we'd better follow,
So here we were at Raku, a cozy Japanese restaurant located near China Town in Vegas-


The place is pretty small compared to most of the fancy joints in Vegas,
But somehow it gives you a cozy, warm feeling,
Or maybe just because our waitress had this red Xmas hat on.
Doesn't matter, she was super friendly.
Service points = 100.

Because all the tables were occupied, we settled for a bar seat.
And this little guy was right in front of our face-


Very cute, I've always wanted one for myself,
But too bad I don't drink that much warm sake at home,
Maybe I should just get one for my friends, wait, I did not say my friends are alcoholics!
(There's hot water inside the box. The chef will warm up the sake by dipping the bottle in the water. The raccoon looks like he is enjoying a hot sauna/bath in the middle.)

Our oden selection (with daikon, homemade fish cake, and homemade tofu)-


First I took a bite of the daikon (radish),
It's been cooked through so I can just squash it with my tongue, yum!

And the fish cake, my god, I've never had a fish cake so smooth before,
At first I thought it'll probably look like those store-bought ones,
Thinly sliced with pink food coloring on the edge,
No! It was thick and fluffy,
Oh yeah, fluffy is the perfect word to describe the texture, highly recommended.

Grilled Kobe beef liver-


Raku also serves a wide variety of grilled dishes,
I wish I took a picture for the menu,
But I was too excited and definitely too hungry at the time..I forgot to take more pictures...
That might be one of the biggest weakness for food bloggers,
It's so hard to wait and take food pictures....especially when the food is inviting you for a bite and your stomach is growling.

Grilled pork belly-


Look at that shiny fat!

Grilled pork ear-


We actually ordered a whole bunch stuff already,
But fear that it might be a long time before we get to dine at Raku again,
We asked our waitress and see if we've missed any goodies.
This is the one she recommended, and she particularly emphasized that we should dip the ear with the spicy oil-


It's the clear-colored bottle on the left.
They have a big jar of this oil in the corner,
Where you can see chilies soaking on the bottom.

Grilled foie gras-


They even have grilled foie gra, and it's only $12,
I've never been so happy before!

Agedashi tofu-


Homemade tofu of course,
They put some ikura (salmon roe) on the top that pumps up the flavor even more.

Fried asparagus-


This is the ok dish,
It's good, but not extraordinary good.

I was very pleased with this dinner,
Raku is now on my have-to-visit list when I'm in Vegas.

For the same price I spent in Raku on Christmas eve,
(Besides the dishes I posted up here, we also had sake, beer, chatsuke, and more grilled items)
I probably can only get an entree, dessert, and a drink for one person in any restaurants on the strip.

This place really is DA BOMB!

Overall Rating: 9!!

Raku
5030 Spring Mountain Road #2
Las Vegas, NV 89146
(702) 367-3511