ROTM: Tonkatsu Kiyoshi

Tonkatsu Kiyoshi

7780 S Jones Blvd
Ste 103
Las Vegas, NV 89139

(702) 837-7300

tonkatsukiyoshi.com


We wanted to look for a cheap, fast, easy dinner that's by us. We found this place with Yelp. This place serves nothing but Katsu - a breaded pork dish made famous in Japan. It is found in restaurant menus and in Japanese homes. 

It was fried to perfection, not greasy at all and the meat was moist. The mixture of the sauce (with addition of hot mustard) really makes the dish. If you are a fan of fried food, I would definitely recommend this place. They do offer a variety of side orders as well, like Edamame, Beef Tatami, Crab & Cucumber Salad, Cold Tofu, Shshito Peppers, Japanese Style Potato Salad, and Panko Crusted Soft Shell Crab.

Oh, and Kaelan got a Melon Cream Soda Float, which was delicious, and I forgot to take a photo of that.

Firs thing on our table we see is this.

One is sesame seeds and one is katsu sauce.

We were told to grid the sesame seeds in the bowls and then mix in the sauce for dipping 

special of the day, a Croquette with mashed potato corn with ground pork

Katsu Donburi  Pork Loin Katsu-Don $11.00A rice bowl of Katsu with sautéed eggs and onions. And a side of Miso Soup.

Hire Katsu and Ebi Fry Katsu Dinner $16.00

Pork Tenderloin and Shrimp Katsu 

Served with Bowl of Rice, Miso Soup, and Japanese Pickles

ROTM: Ramen Tatsu

Ramen Tatsu

3400 S Jones Blvd
Ste 6
Las Vegas, NV 89146
Chinatown

Phone number (702) 629-7777


We stumbled across this place by accident. The restaurant we want to go originally for Chinese New Year celebration was closed that night. After looking around the plaza, which had three 4 star restaurants on Yelp, we decide to eat at this place.

We love Japanese ramen. Our regular spot are two of the best ones in town, Monta and Ramen Sora.
We decided to give this place a try and see if it's just as good.

We ordered two spicy ramen, and man was it spicy! Most Japanese places when they say spicy it is not to the spice level like you would encounter like Thai food.  But this place uses habanero peppers to spice up their soup, not like chili oil in some places.  Our mouths were on fire! But a good spice!
The both were really flavorful and the noodles were cooked perfectly.

We also ordered a side of tonkatsu, edemame, a soft boiled egg (for Zoey), fried rice and karrage.
What I love about this place beside the friendly fast service, is that they have a set of utensils, bowls and sippy cup for your kid! I don't always remember to pack these in my diaper bag when we go out with Zoey and not many restaurants use plasticware, and Zoey has broken a dish or two in the restaurants. I find it very considerate to provide cute utensils for your little ones!

This is place is definitely up in the level of Monta and Sora and mines the long lines!
If you are regular to those you will know there is ALWAYS a line to wait in those to places. I think this is definitely a place waiting to to be discovered! Since it is hidden away in this busy plaza!

Pork katsu  - Japanese friend pork chop

karaage - Japanese fried chicken with ginger salad

Spicy Miso Ramen

Miso Ramen

Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen

ROTM: Mr. Mama's

Mr. Mama’s

5580 S Decatur Blvd

Ste 112

Las Vegas, NV 89118

(702) 220-9224

http://www.mrmamaslv.com

We are always on the search for good homemade country food. Kaelan's favorite is country fried steak and biscuits and gravy.  So far the search has been a flop, it's hard to find a good breakfast place that does EVERYTHING well. Until now.

We kept seeing this place pop up on Yelp with excellent reviews (827 reviews @ 4 & 1/2 star). Of course you can't always trust Yelp because we've been fooled before. So you just gotta go there and try for yourself.

We went on a Sunday, decide to go early (10 am) and the line was already out the door!

It was about a 35-40 minute wait.

It's located in a small strip mall with only 5 businesses in there. Most are auto part stores and a Halloween store, but nothing was open at this time, so all the cars we saw in the parking lot (20+ cars) were ALL to Mr. Mama's.

They have a small seating area up front about 5 chairs when you walk in and you can immediately see their open kitchen. The place doesn't seat too many tables, probably 50.  Decoration is minimal with few pictures on the wall and 2 flat screen TVs.

Cinnamon Roll $3.50  Fresh out of the oven, so soft and delicious.

Mamas Chicken Fried Steak with Over Easy Eggs and Hash Brown $10.50

Mamas Short Stack Pancakes with Scrambled Eggs, Sausage and extra Bacon $11.25

Overall review: 

Chicken Fried Steak: crunchy breading, the gravy is definitely homemade (which is very hard to find here believe it or not). The waitress said the gravy is made from bacon and maple syrup.  Very rich in flavor. The hash browns are a nice golden color and crunchy. Eggs were cooked perfectly a over medium.

Biscuit: Homemade biscuit with a crunchy bottom.

Mama's Short Stack: this is probably one of the BEST pancakes I've had. Soft, fluffy and huge! 

Cinnamon Roll: Definately homemade as well, soft and warm. Although I'm not the biggest cinnamon fan, this was VERY delicious, not overpowering in flavor.

Everything was cooked to perfection and fresh made to order.  Like I said, it's rare to find a breakfast place that did everything well. We got there at 10 am, got seated at 10:35 and left around 11:15 and the whole time there were always a line out the door and people coming in nonstop. Our bill was a total of $31.89 (not cheap but we pigged out, it's definitely worth it for great food!) We will definitely be back!

ROTM: Honey Salt

Honey Salt

http://honeysalt.com/

 

We offer a farm-to-table inspired menu that balances the reality of living in the desert with the amazing ingredients regionally available for those willing to look a little harder. The menu is complimented by homemade desserts, hand-crafted cocktails, and a wonderful selection of beers and wines.



 

dessert table

items for sale upon walking into the restaurant

We arrived 10 minutes early, waiting to be seated.

Getting a drink at the bar while waiting for our table.

Taste of Honey Menu, which I got.

new england fry  15
ipswich clams & calamari, blistered shishito peppers, cured lemon aioli

Opening Act from my tasting menu: chicken tortilla soup 

Appetizer from my tasting menu: Wood oven roasted peach
arugula, bellwether ricotta, pistachio, honey

My entrée: grilled yellowtail
grapefruit & jicama salad, avocado puree, cilantro shoots



caramelized sea scallops  31
charred cauliflower, vanilla bean cauliflower puree, truffle sauce

MAC N’ CHEESE kale & anaheim pepper

french fries

black & tan butterscotch pudding salted caramel corn

My dessert: strawberry shortcake
santa barbara strawberry ice cream & mascarpone chantilly

ROTM: Sweets Raku

5040 W Spring Mountain Rd
Ste 3

Las Vegas, NV 89146 Chinatown

 (702) 290-7181     

 

After our dinner adventure we headed over to Sweets Raku for desserts. If you are not a dessert fan you will still appreciate the experience. They make Japanese style dessert which is not overly sweet and very mild flavor. But the presentation is very beautiful, and you get to watch the making of your dessert in front of you. The restaurant is mostly bar seating, there were only couple tables in there aside from the bar. Total seats probably only about 15 people and I think they do not take reservations so you might have to wait a little while if it's a busy weekend.

 

Kaelan and I ordered the 3 course prefix menu for $19.

 



The kitchen and the sitting area.

 

 

 

 

You are first presented with this.

 

 

After you roll it out, it's an edible menu and the waitress comes by to give you the raspberry dipping sauce.



We think it's made from a type of rice paper. The menu itself has no flavor whatsoever but that's why they give you the sauce.

 

We sat right in front of the bar, you get the perfect view of everything going on in the kitchen.

First course - amuse, mango sorbet with mint gelée.

Baton - chocolate and Pistachio Mousse.

Mt. Fuji - chestnut cream cake.

 

Red Rock - raspberry fondant with pistachio and vanilla ice cream.

how cute is this grinder?

This is Angel Cream - with Fromage Pear. Someone else's order that we quickly took a picture of.

Our chef preparing our last course, cream puff.

Cream puff with chocolate mousse and strawberry jam.

Cute Lego coaster!

Yes, this is their bathroom sink. Took me a while to figure out how to use it.

How cute is this!?