Miso Baked Sea Bass

Damn you Santa Ana Wind!

It feels like thousands of tiny needles poking my skin every time the wind blows,

And I don't know how to get rid of that burning sensation from my eyes,

Humidifier and eye drops are not really doing their jobs.

I can't focus here,

The dryness makes my skin started to peel off,

I tried to put on layers of lotion,

But it feels greasy rather than moisturized.

Plus you know what?

It was 90 Degrees Fahrenheit (32 Degrees Celsius) yesterday,

Are we in the middle of January? Hello? Hello? What's going on here?

Despite all the obstacles,

I still managed a way to stand in the kitchen and cooked something for dinner,

You've got to feed that empty tummy right?

Miso baked sea bass-

Ingredients?

1 medium to large sized sea bass (or cod) fillet

2 tablespoons of white miso paste

1 tablespoon of mirin

1 tablespoon of sake (Japanese cooking wine)

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of soy sauce

How?

Mix all the ingredients together (except the fish) until the sugar dissolves,

Another way to do this is by heating them up in a saucepan,

But make sure nothing gets burned please,

Low heat works just fine.

Now let's grab a paper towel and pat dry the excess liquid from the fish fillet.

(Maybe the fish fillet is sweating here too)

Spread the marinade on both sides of the fish,

Sealed the container and let it sit in the fridge for at least 6 hours,

And of course you can leave it overnight.

One more step before serving.

Turn the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit,

Take the fillet out and wipe off the marinade,

Transfer to a baking dish, into the oven for 10 to 12 minutes or till the top turns slightly brown.

How simple is that?

I did feel like my skin started to crack when I opened that oven door,

(Especially under this extremely dry weather),

But,

It's all for my stomach's sake,

Let's just pop up more humidifier and --- dig in!

Cindy's Rating: 7

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