The Comforts of Japanese Izakaya

When it comes to Japanese Izakaya these days, restaurants have become a dime a dozen.  For those that aren't familiar, Izakaya by tradition is a sake bar that serves an extensive list of small Japanese food plates.  It's rare to find a spot that takes this concept and pushes the menu toward modern sensibilities while maintaining traditional dishes.  This brings us to Ichiza, found in the Las Vegas Chinatown.  This place is almost hidden, found on the second floor of a shopping mall.

When you sit down at this place, the first thing you will notice are all the postings on the wall.  No they aren't soliciting second hand furniture, at closer inspection they are actually food offerings.  Although I love the menu's selection of yakitori, grilled fish and bowls of ramen, I can't help but go by the writing on the wall.

Here you'll find a menu that's a little more creative than what you'll find anywhere else.  First written in Japanese, you also get an english translation.  Even when translated, the dishes are just as foreign, adding to the intrigue.  You'll find things such as marinated salmon belly, garlic kobe beef fried rice or even a seafood quesadilla. 

Today I wanted to try something new, and for this I looked to the wall and found Unagi(eel) risotto.  This is definitely not what I expected when I ordered though.  Risotto is traditionally a rice steamed and cooked to a creamy consistency.  This was more like a rice porridge with egg, 3 different kinds of Japanese mushroom and eel.  The broth is light, probably a dashi fish broth which absorbed well into the egg and rice.  The mushrooms were enoki, shiitake and shimeji all found commonly in Japanese soups and each with their own earthy nutty flavors.  The whole reason I got this was the eel, which I'm a huge fan of.  The eel was like anything you'd find on unagi sushi, with a slight bbq flavor and soft fatty fish texture.  Eel definitely has it's own unique flavor difficult to describe, for the adventurous it's a must try.  Although this wasn't what I intended to order, I quickly got past that fact with a great tasting and filling dish.

 

A few visits ago I found this little gem on the wall and it has become a favorite of mine.  This is the deep fried marinated squid.  Squid legs marinated in what seems to be a soy/ponzu mixture which is then breaded and deep fried.  Along with the squid you'll find sliced onions to the side.  The squid itself has immense flavor.  The marinade really comes through and even tenderizes the inherently chewy calamari.  The onions also take on great flavor and add a nice contrast to the seafood.  For less than $5, if you're a calamari fan, TRY THIS.

Everyone I know that has tried this place loves it, 4/5 stars on Yelp is definitely deserved.  Ichiza offers some really different flavors and dishes but also caters to the more traditional tastes if that's what you crave.  Icing on the cake is that this place is open up to and past 3 on the weekends, so go and get your sake and tapas on!

Ichiza

4355 Spring Mountain Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89102

(702) 367-3151

My Original Vegas Favorite

Before I was living here, I frequented the Vegas Area on a whim.  I mean, it's only 5 hours or so from San Diego, never a big deal.  On the recommendation from locals and family, Bachi Burger became a traditional stop each time I was in the area.  I'm always bothered that this place is considered as either over-rated or extremely popular, I always go with the latter.

Bachi is an abbreviation of Hibachi, the Japanese style of grilling.  With this in mind, the most important thing to first note about Bachi Burger is that they use a mixture of ground chuck and 21-day aged rib-eye glazed and caramelized with a soy-mirin-sake marinade.  Even though I've been here a LOT since I've found out about it, I'll talk about the first burger I tried here, the one that got me hooked.

 

This is the KiKi burger, obviously everyone will have their preferences, but for the first 5 trips or so, this is the only thing I would let myself order, one of those situations where you know what's good so why tamper with it?  On top of the unique burger patty, we have a Gruyère cheese, offering a slightly sweet and salty cheese with a nutty finish.  On top of that is carmelized bacon, real smoky adding that pork dimension a burger has to have.  The next layer are sauteed Shiitake, Enoki, and Eryngi mushrooms mixed with carmelized onions, a classic pairing kind of kicked up a notch with Asian flavored-earthy dimension.  On top of that we have spring greens, and although I'm usually a purist, on this trip I couldn't help myself and added a couple fried onion rings for a nice crunch to the burger.  What brings it all together is the bun, and it's no simple bread either, the only way I could describe them is by comparing them to Chinese baked pork buns.  They're soft, and a little sweet with a bit of a sugar glaze over the top then crusted on the inside from the grill.  If you're interested there's even a garlic chili aioli on the side so you can bring add that hint of garlic spice to the burger.  Although the KiKi may seem a little complex in flavor, taking a whole paragraph to describe, it's simply delicious.

So what's a burger without fries?  Here at Bachi they have sweet potato, salt and pepper garlic, and truffle parmesan.  I always opt for truffle parmesan fries with sun-dried tomato aioli.  The fries are crisp and has just enough salt from the parmesan, then there's a drizzle of truffle sauce over top that gives you an amazing truffle flavor that really goes well with the potato fries.  Even when you realize you've eaten that top layer of truffle goodness, you have a nice sun-dried tomato aioli to take you the rest of the way.

I always appreciated Bachi Burger for it's unique delivery of the classic burger.  I can't think of a place that employs Asian-fusion on a burger to begin with, but besides that, Bachi just executes at a high level.  I never understood the whole "over-rated," title this place gets sometimes but in my book this place is simply a winner.

Bachi Burger

470 E Windmill Lane, Ste 100
Las Vegas, NV 89123

(702) 242-2244

http://www.bachiburger.com/