Sen of Japan- Las Vegas

For my recent trip to Las Vegas, I felt it was necessary to have an amazing sushi meal. My research lead me to an off strip joint, catering to locals and tourists alike, Sen of Japan. Opting to stay away from Las Vegas's overpriced outposts of Nobu and Sushi Roku, Sen seemed like the best choice. Vegas has also recently put in an outpost of the famous New York joint, Masa, called Bar Masa in the new Aria casino, but that was out of my price range. Other reviewers have compared Sen of Japan to Sushi of Gari in New York City, so I was very excited to get there and try out the goods.

Sen is located about 15 minutes off the strip in a non-descript strip mall. The decor is nice, but in no way over the top. I rented a car, specifically because there were some spots off the strip that I wanted to hit. In the end, I found myself at Sen of Japan on two different nights. A nice feature about Sen of Japan is that they are open late.(2am) We got into Vegas around 9, and after some rental car woes and picking up some friends on the strip, sat down at the sushi bar around 10:15. We had the whole place to ourselves.

While researching Sen online, I found that they offer two omakase meals, one for $55 and one for $85. These emphasize both cooked items and some sushi/sashimi. These are more like a prix fix menu with a set course. Wanting to put the emphasis on the raw fish, I decided to ask the sushi chef to give us a more traditional omakase approach, and just serve us whatever fish he seemed was best and let the chips fall as they may. For the sushi enthusiasts, this seems to be a more effective approach than the omakase they boast on the menu. Having the place to ourselves ensured that we had a constant flow of fish. Going during peak hours may drag your meal out longer, as the sushi chef does not have the ability to give you his full attention.

Our meal jump started with a couple plates of sashimi, hamachi(yellowtail) with jalapeno and sauce as well as a seared salmon setup. Both were excellent. Following the sashimi plates, we started to receive a steady flow of nigiri sushi. All nigiri was garnished and sauced, so soy sauce was unnecessary. There was also a wide variety of fish and several types of toro (tuna belly). Traditionalists may say that the sauces and garnishes take away from the natural flavor of the fish, however, I would suggest that the sauces and garnishes are carefully picked to match and enhance the flavors of the fish. On our second night we were presented with a pair of Japanese Snapper nigiri, one with sea salt and the other with a sweet Japanese pepper sauce. This salty then sweet, one two punch, is not something to miss. We were also presented with some halibut nigiri that was delicate and delicious. After hearing how much I enjoyed the halibut nigiri, I was presented with another piece as well as a soft and chewy piece of meat from under the halibut fin, in a light ponzu sauce, that was also amazing. The sushi that was consumed was too numerous to mention, and my memory escapes me about many of the preparations.

The hot dishes at Sen are also high quality. The chef migrated over from Nobu and he brought some tricks with him. They offer a Black Cod dish very similar to the version at Nobu that is soft and subtle. This melts in your mouth and needs to be tried. We also had a foie gras dish over Japanese pear. This was delicious and rich, but smaller and did not compare to the foie gras nigiri at Gari in New York City. There were also many other preparations on the cooked menu that we did not have the opportunity to try.

I look forward to my next trip to Vegas, so that I can have another session at the sushi bar of Sen of Japan. It is a great place to go to escape the madness of the strip. The sushi is fresh and inventive. You can avoid the taxed prices and image of the strip and go for the real thing. Each night our bill came to around $100 a head for the full meal, including drinks. This is a far greater deal than the outrageously priced prix fixe meals at the mega resorts on the strip and the omakase meals that can be 2-5 times that price with ease. If your in Vegas and love sushi, make sure you stop in at Sen.
Hamachi Sashimi
Seared Salmon Sashimi
Nigiri Set 1
Nigiri Set 2
Nigiri Set 3
Nigiri Set 4
Unagi (Eel)
Uni (Sea Urchin)
Black Cod
Foie Gras with Pear

Learning to ROLL your own...

There comes a time in every man's (or woman's) life where they must learn to roll their own. You can't always go around asking other people to roll for you. Along the way your bound to have some spillages and deal with some stickiness. But at some point, you just gotta step up and go for it. So last week I decided it was essential that I attempt to roll my own sushi. This endeavor started with a trip to the Fubonn Super Market on 82nd Ave in SE Portland (2850 SE 82nd Ave). If you live in Portland and have never been to the Fubonn market, I recommend you go. This place has everything you need and tons of stuff that you will probably never need and think are strange. I was in a rush because SOMEBODY was rushing me to take them to yoga, so I was unable to fully embrace Fubonn. It was my first time and I could have frolicked in the pickled vegetable isle or bathed myself in chili sauce, but alas there was no time for those shenanigans. There was enough time to get the supplies I needed for vegetable sushi though. I got nori (the seaweed wrap), short rice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, wasabi powder, pickled ginger, the bamboo roller mechanism, and some other odds and ends depicted here. I will definitely be returning to Fubonn in the near future for another experiment.

So, once I had the proper supplies, the next step was getting in there and getting my hands dirty. The first step was going to be coming up with some delicious sticky rice. I always thought that this was extremely difficult for some reason. Well, I was wrong. It's very easy to make good sticky, sushi rice. I just followed Alton Brown's recipe from the Food Network. If you are a complete noob to the cooking world, The Food Network has an extensive database of recipes online. You can pretty much learn anything there and get any recipes you may need. I constantly check their database for recipes or if I want to try something new. You can also look on Youtube for cooking tips. I actually watched this clip from Alton Brown's show Good Eats about sushi making to get a little more information on what to do. While my rice was cooking I took out a cucumber, avocado, carrots, jalapeno, and asparagus. I sliced everything into very thin strips, except for the asparagus, which I left whole.


Once your rice cools, pull out a piece of nori. Some tips that I got off of the internet suggested cutting the nori in half. We tried that and it made it too difficult to roll the sushi. I'd say until you are an expert, roll with the whole piece of nori. Your sushi will come out much better. I started by using my hands to apply the rice. This ended up being a very sticky proposition. On later rolls, I realized it was better to use a small spoon to apply the rice to the nori. This takes a little while longer but your hands won't be nearly as sticky.


Something I found important was not to put too much rice on. I would recommend being able to see through to the nori in some spots. If you put too much rice on it will be difficult to roll the sushi. You also want space for your insides. I know, when you go to the sushi bar, you see the sushi chef really piling it on there. Well, I wouldn't suggest doing that unless you want to encounter an epic failure.



See how the rice is somewhat thinly applied, yet covers most of the surface of the nori? I found this to be the most successful approach. Once the rice is applied you can put in your vegetables. Once again, I would not overload this until you really get the hang of it or it will look like the death of a sushi roll. This happened on my first roll. I ended up eating it like a broken cigar. Also, I would put the veggies or fish towards the side you plan to start rolling from. That way, the insides will get tucked into the roll at the beginning.




Rolling it is pretty self explanatory. See how when I placed the veggies near one side the rolled up nicely into a pocket before finishing the roll? That's good and will give you success.



Once your roll is done you can slice it up. I did not have a sharp knife. This is recommended. You can use a steak knife, but a sharp sushi knife is likely better. Once you are done plating the sushi, dip it into some soy sauce and enjoy. We also got some wasabi powder and pickled ginger. On this first attempt, I decided to stay away from fish. I did not want to get a nice cut of fish and then waste it if I was unable to make good sushi. Next time I want to try using sashimi grade tuna, shrimp, and maybe even teriyaki chicken. It was a successful experiment. Once you get all of the ingredients you can make a fresh, cheap snack any time you want. It is also pretty healthy, other than the calories from the rice. Well, until next time, go learn to roll your own.

The Best Sushi Deal In Portland

Wednesday I took a trip to my favorite sushi place at the moment, Bamboo at 310 SE 28th Ave. It is located in the same building as Ken's Artisan Pizza. If you go during happy hour it is hands down the best value for sushi in the Portland Metro Area. I would say the best on the whole west coast, but honestly I can't verify that. It used to be called Masu East and was part of the Masu family of sushi restaurants until it became Bamboo and splintered off. Their concept is sustainable sushi. So that means they only get fish that is in season and the fishing practices used to catch the fish is sustainable. Most if not all of their fish, for example, is line caught and they do not carry unagi because the fishing practices used to catch unagi are very destructive to their ecosystem. (I still eat unagi when I'm not at Bamboo...Sorry ecosystem) Their concept is good and makes you more conscious of what your eating, even though fish in general are not very sustainable because they are overfished which makes the concept ironic. One benefit of this concept is that it brings in higher quality fish as they need special distributors that can insure the fishing practices used to get their fish. When I spoke with one of the owners I found out that they have some exclusive fish dealers and an agent at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. This brings us to the food.

If you go during happy hour (5-6:30M-F) you can get ridiculously good sushi for real cheap. They also have a killer drink menu and the bar tenders are skilled. Another small perk is that they give you edamame right when you sit down at no extra charge and put cucumber slivers in the water which give it a different taste. To be honest, even if they didn't have these little perks it would still be the best deal possibly the best fish, but these just sweeten the pot. Anyways, the happy hour menu has a nigiri set for $5 which is one piece of shrimp, tuna, albacore, and salmon. The salmon and albacore are the best I have ever had. The salmon is not fishy at all and they both are like eating butter. They also have a NW Philly roll for $4. Its your standard salmon, cream cheese, veggie deal but with this one they tempura fry it and put unagi sauce on it. Its delicious and very large. Also on the happy hour is a California roll($3) and hand roll of the day($2) as well as some vegetarian options that I am not gonna waste time to explain, but they exist. When I went the hand roll was spicy tuna and it was awesome. The happy hour menu also offers half off some of the entrees and appetizers from their regular food menu including vegetable tempura, a salmon dish, some Kobe beef dishes, and salads. I have not had the chance to try many of the entrees as I get tunnel vision whenever I walk in to this place. Also off the regular sushi menu is this thing called the Hoke Poke Press Box($14). It is possibly the best single roll I've had in my life. I was told that the press box is a how sushi "rolls" were traditionally made. They have two options and this one has crab and is covered with tuna and avocado. Ponzu sauce is drizzled on it and some scallions. It is finished with a few spicy pepper flakes. It is super simple but is extremely delicious. I think that it can go head to head with any sushi roll I have had. Go during happy hour and you can leave full of high quality sushi and you can even try some of the stuff off the happy hour menu and still come in under what you would pay at a regular sushi place. Or if you want to go on the cheap you can grab a green tea and a few HH options- as you have to purchase a drink. I am sorry to say that my loyalty has shifted from Yoko's to Bamboo. Yoko's (2878 SE Gladstone St) still serves great sushi and it is still my first choice if it is not happy hour as I can't really afford Bamboo off happy hour. I love Yoko's but Bamboo is just on another level. I also have not been to Hiroshi(926 NW 10th Ave) much, which is rumored to be the best sushi in Portland. I have only been once and do not recall it being better than Bamboo. Either way get out there and judge for yourself. All you need is 20 bucks to eat at Bamboo and its good food for people on a diet... Top:Hoke Poke Press Box, Cali, Salmon Nigiri,
Middle: Spicy tuna handrolls, Cali
Bottom: Nigiri set