Kat's 9 Lives

It might not be a secret anymore but Vegas is rocking out with their late night robata/yakitori joints! Every time I go to Vegas I make sure to try as many places as possible. It really helps that many places are open super late so that I can try to digest a little before I most onto the next conquest. lol Ms. Lin and I planned our little nocturnal outing at 1:30 am to try Raku. Just in case, I would recommend call ahead to make reservations because it is a small space and we all know that people get the late night munchies.


People here are not joking so bring your appetite and your A game. Be bold and daring. Eat the $8.00 Fresh Kobe Beef Liver! Yes, fresh meaning RAW! I dived right in without fear. You've got to be adventurous, especially about food. I love duck/goose liver so raw beef liver should be alright, right? @_@ lol Don't know if it is safe but I am glad I tried it. Raw liver definitely has a completely different texture. Much more glossy and slick than cooked liver. They give a special dipping sauce that includes citrus to accentuate the flavor. Let's leave the whole experience at interesting and fun!


If you like Uni, Sea Urchin, then you will like a bunch of dishes offered here. Ms. Lin is a die hard uni fan so there wasn't any complaints coming from her. They serve Sea Urchin and Seaweed with Soup for $4.00 in the Oden section. At first we only ordered one to see if it was good and worth the money. Needless to say that we immediately asked for a second order since there was a generous helping of uni on top. =)


Ms. Lin had to have the Poached Egg with Sea Urchin and Salmon Roe, $7.00. This was a very light appetizer with a soft poached egg atop a thin broth and tiny mushrooms. The uni is able to stand out and compliment the surrounding ingredients.
One thing I love about this place is that they offered Foie Gras, $14, from the robata grill. I am definitely not sharing this so we immediately asked for 2 orders. Freshly grilled foie gras and nicely coated with a soy based sauce. Yum!
There was a bunch of delectable items to select on the robata section. Ms. Lin wanted the Tomato wrapped with Bacon, $2.50. Word to the wise, wait for it to cool off because as soon as you bite into the juicy baby tomato all the hot juice squirts out and will most likely burn your tongue. Good things come to those who wait.
I always like to get Tsukune, $3.50 Grilled Ground Chicken, since I had it at Kappo Hana. Most of the other robata items are smaller in portion but you get a generous size ground chicken. It almost looks like a ground chicken thigh stick.
We decided to try the Ground Chicken Portabella, $3.50. They stuff the ground chicken into the mushroom and grill. I prefer just grilled ground chicken because you get more meat! =)
Always delicious is the Kurobata Pork Cheek, $2.50. Grilled fatty pork is simply divine. The meat was tender and tasty. I know a lot of you see fatty and think eww, but that is where all the flavor is.
When I see Kobe Beef I have to order some. They offer a Kobe Beef Outside Skirt with Garlic, $6.00. There's a generous portion of meat topped off with lots of garlic.
Would you question the menu if you see Simmer Meat Intestine in Simple Soup, $5.00? We wondered what type of meat... of course we just asked. I believe it was beef intestine, nothing too crazy. It was a big bowl of cabbage, mushroom, and green onion soup. Very light to compliment the intestines.
All in all it was a very enjoyable late snack evening. It can get dangerous here because you just want to keep ordering! Sometimes I want to get rid of Ms. Lin so I can order to my heart's content! Eating with no guilt nor worries is everyone's dream. Be sure to check out Vegas' new late night hot spot Raku to satisfy the hunger. =)

Raku Japanese Charcoal Grill
5030 W. Spring Mountain Rd #2
Las Vegas, NV 89146
(702) 367-3511

My silly friend wanted to go up to LA on V-day, but the traffic was HORRENDOUS! So we did the smartest thing, stay where we were. I thought she would get a kick out of this place because it always has good food and is a fun experience. Luckily she really enjoyed the place. This time I got to sit in front of the grill so there are a lot more pictures. The guy grilling was actually cute.
I ordered the same things I did the first time, check the previous post. They had a special Roast Beef for V-day that was awesome. It was a heavenly mixture of sweet and tangy. The sauce was so good that I ate all the vegetables that came with it! You know how allergic I am to vegetables. O=) My friend ordered the Satsuma Gokoro, fried sweet potato in butter. She liked it, but the butter was overpowering. I decided to try the Jidokara, crispy fried chicken. It was very plain so I spiced it up with my beloved Yuzu. The robata, yakitori skewers, were awesome as usual! I tried the Rib Eye but it really didn't have any flavor. We also decided to share the Crab Croquette. I didn't expect the inside to be a curry mixture. It was decent, but I wouldn't order it again. I'd stick with their regular grilled menu.
All in all I still love this place. Yummy food at a reasonable price. Sitting there and absorbing the experience always brings a smile to my face. I may go deaf sitting there because they often yell greetings and appreciative phrases. It was definitely a fun night. What better way to celebrate V-day then having a nice meal with a good friend! Of course we went out for crepes afterwards to finish the night off.

Friday was the last day of dine about week. Of course I went back up to LA to have lunch and dinner. The menu for here looked pretty good and interesting, so we came to try it. It took us a while to find this place and parking was HORRENDOUS! Fair warning to all, that this is Downtown LA so the rate is $2.50 for every 15 minutes and maxes out at $27.50. I personally think that is ridiculous and astronomically high! So I opted to circle around the one way streets for almost half an hour and I found some parking on Hope street for a flat rate of $6. So word to the wise, come prepared to spend tons of money on parking or search for parking far away. The funny thing is that parking could have been more expensive than the lunch itself!
For appetizer we chose Miso Caesar salad, but it was not brought out as a separate course. We both chose Miso Chilean Sea Bass with a Champagne Yuzu Sauce, Wasabi Mashed Potatoes, & Grilled Vegetable. There was also a Gyoza, Tomato & Cheese Skewer, & Takami Edamame in the obento boxes. Presentation was very modern and gave a more authentic feel.
The only issue I had was that they brought my appetizer, soup, and whole main course all out at once. There was way too much on the table to eat all the food while it is hot. I tried the soup and just left it behind because it was just normal miso soup.
The texture of the sea bass was great, but you couldn't really taste the flavor of the sauce. I didn't even realize that it was Yuzu until I just looked at the menu online. The Miso Caesar was delicious and packed a kick. I loved that there were pine nuts inside the salad. For those that know me, it is RARE that I like to eat vegetables so it must be good. The Gyoza was very unique. It was green looking so I am not sure what type of skin they used. The tomato skewer was different because the cheese's texture was more chewy than normal and light so it really brought out the flavor of the tomato. I couldn't really taste the wasabi in the mashed potatoes, but my friend thought that it was quite strong. My favorite thing was the Takami Edamame. I believe it was sautéed with a delicious combo of soy sauce. Loved the flavor that it added to the edamame. If you like saltier foods than this would be perfect for you.As you know, I usually will order anything that has the word foie gras! I got the Filet Mignon & Foie Gras Robata. The word "robata" meant that the food would be grilled skewers. At first I didn't really like the dish as much, but as I ate more and more the flavors started to kick in. There is very little foie gras wrapped in the filet mignon. To my surprise, the dish came with a TRUFFLE dipping sauce. You wouldn't be able to tell that it was a truffle sauce since it was pink. The server never explained what was the flavor combo or the color but you can taste the truffle and mayonnaise. The skewers were good without the sauce, but having the sauce and truffle flavor mix in was a nice different touch. If I ever come back to this place, I would definitely order it again.
Unfortunately our server wasn't very good at calculating the timing of each dish. He brought the dessert halfway through the main course. I had to stop eating my main dish to take a few bites into my Molten Chocolate Yuzu Cake with Vanilla Gelato while it was still hot. This was one of the main reasons I came here, because I LOVE stuff with Yuzu. You can definitely taste the Yuzu flavor in the center and the cake was moist. Our server left and this lady took over, she was very considerate and took away the melted gelato. She offered to bring me a fresh gelato when I finish my main course and start eating my dessert. The gelato was very bland in my opinion, but I guess it compliments the cake because it is a little strong in flavor. I gave up eating it towards the end.
My friend chose to get Crème brûlée. I found it odd that they gave two Crème brûlées for dessert. At first I thought they might be different flavors, but sadly they were both the original. I asked the new server and she said that the flavors depended on the Chef. They could be passion fruit, macha, or original. You would think they would give two different flavors, but they didn't. I thought that they did an average job on the crème brûlée. The vanilla bean flavor was weak and it was a little to pudding-like for my taste. If it were up to me, I'd go back to Lawry's for their crème brûlée.
All in all the food and portion was good, especially for Dine LA's speciall $22 price. Service was good but had a lot of errors. At least they were friendly about it. The only thing was I wrote in the reservation that we were celebrating a birthday and they didn't do anything, not even a candle on one of the desserts. Overall, I don't think I would make the trip back because of the horrid parking situation and it being Downtown LA.

Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant

Everyone talks about this place, therefore I must come try it. It is tucked away in a Ralph's shopping center. This place is really authentic and fun. The staff members are extremely nice and greet you LOUDLY at the door. I only dined on the Yakitori side, but I will definitely go back and try the Ramen side. The prices are very reasonable. They range from 2-5 dollars a skewer. My personal favorite is the Shiso Leaf wrapped in Pork Belly. Delicious flavors!

The best part is the fresh Yuzu in the cute little containers. Normally I would never be caught dead eating vegetables, but the raw cabbage & sauce went really well with all the yakitori skewers. It kind of reminds me of Korean BBQ where you use the leaf to wrap the meat & rice. We also ordered items off the menu that were very delicious. My friend loved the Mushroom Risotto, which was just like chicken rice soup with an Asian twist. The Hamachi was very flavorful and had a greater kick with the Yuzu around.

Got to love yummy cheap food! I only wish this was closer to my house! The best part was coming with a dear friend & catching up.