Nothing like eating great food in NYC to get you to write about great food in Vegas.
Tonight, Shibuya. Located at the MGM grand this Japanese restaurant is one of millions you can find in the city. So what makes it so special? Well for starters it's at the MGM grand. Why does that matter? Summer tastings, of course.
The MGM is home to Tom Colicchio's only Vegas outpost, along with (yet another) Wolfgang Puck (but this one is actually decent), Nob Hill's farm fresh cuisine as interpreted by Michael Mina, and Joel Robuchon. A note about Joel Robuchon, for a moment. It's the only 3 Michelin winner in all of Vegas (and how many hundreds of amazing restaurants are there?!). They have a 16 course tasting menu. In a word, it may be the most outrageous overthetop meal you could have in this city, which is saying an awful lot. If you wanna bust your belt and your budget, I salute you intrepid eater.
There are dozens of other restaurants at the MGM, ranging from bars to cafes to burger joints. Mexican at Diego, seafood at Seablue, Chinese at Pearl, Emril's for more casual, even the Rainforest Cafe, if that's your gig. And many if not all participate in the Taste of Summer, an MGM program where the restaurants offer 3 to 5 course meals at discounted prices. Summer is already off season, the desert is hot as hell, but if you manage the walk over to the MGM (or the taxi), you're in for a further treat.
It is with all this backdrop and elaborate aside-ing that I return to Shibuya. Of course I had to partake in the summer tasting menu, and the line-up was as follows: two raw fish courses (but not quite sushi/sashimi, we're talking a little more substantive), a surprisingly delicious salad, shrimp tempura lettuce wrap, short ribs, a sushi platter, and a dessert trio. 6 courses, $60/person. One of the best deals on the strip.
I will never be able to do the 2 fish dishes justice. They were simply spectacular. One was kanpachi with a black truffle oil and some grated garlic,
both powerful accompaniments for a delicate fish. It could've gone south so quickly, but the balance was beautiful, and really just helped develop the flavors of the fish, rather than stand in the way. The other was the albacore,with a citrus ponzu and fun little crispy onions on top. With the kanpachi, eat it all together. With the albacore, I wasn't thrilled with the onions with the fish, but each separately was a bite of heaven. 
Honestly, I would've been happy with that. But there were 5 more dishes on the way. The salad was simple, clean, elegant. Veggies, a little vinegar, a crispy little rice-type-deal, and we were on our way. Maybe lettuce wraps have been done before, yeah. Maybe you've had edamame at every japanese restaurant you've been to. But you haven't done these lettuce wraps so shut up. Rock shrimp tempura, coated in a messy and delicious aioli with a kick, sitting in a fresh piece of butter lettuce. I know right? For all the fancy that it has, it smacks of comfort food in a wonderful way. It's fried, it's garlic-y, it's like home. I wanted seconds, but this was a tasting menu.
The edamame was great to munch on between courses, but honestly the service was so spot on that we rarely waited. Also, we were doing a sake pairing (additional money, children), so by round three were so pleasantly buzzed that they could've taken days to get us the next course and I don't think we'd have cared. When this intoxicated, the color-changing bar suddenly becomes so much more impressive. It's a huge, fairly deep bar perfect for making friends, watching the action, and spreading your food out when ordering lots of little things at the same time. Which is unquestionably the way to go if not the tasting menu. The point is: get some edamame. It's good for you.The famed and long awaited short ribs were up next. Perhaps this part deserves introduction. For that introduction, see my previous night's meal at Part 2 of this post, and scroll to the outrageous burger. See the inside? That's short ribs. If I ever could eat short ribs in my life again it was going to be a miracle. See also X'd Out, 15 Dean.Rep. 37 (Charlottesville, 2008) (discussing my dinner of short ribs at the X-Lounge 3 nights later). But these short ribs. Oh. My. Gd. These short ribs. Braised Kobe Short Ribs. With a hunka-hunka force-fed duck liver loving right on top. Tender, juicy, a little spice but not too much, a soy compliment that didn't taste entirely of salt. My heart stopped when I tasted this dish. To be honest, I'm not sure if it was from love or cholesterol. Either way, this is the dish of the house. They don't skimp on the foie gras, either - you get your money's worth for this one.
But we're so not done. I was already stuffed. You may be stuffed just from reading this post. But oh no, let's bring on the sushi.
A little sushi? Maybe a lot of sushi. One down side to a tasting menu is that the sushi is not your call, it's the chefs, and it invariably tends to be the most popular, which isn't necessarily the most exotic, the most exciting, or the most traditional. Spicy tuna and california rolls (with crab, not krab), as well as 3 pieces each (one for each eater) of salmon, fatty tuna, and sea bass nigiri. Just look at that presentation. You know it was delicious. You know it was the best sushi I've had in years. But for those looking for the rare anago, the prepared-with-care hand rolls, or the less traditional "special" rolls like the Kabuto (a lobster tail tempura roll with cucumber and shiso), you'll sadly have to leave the realm of the tasting menu and strike out on your own. I wish you well.Oh, but before you go, let me quickly mention dessert. A trio of their options was presented, each one better than the last. First, the Yuzu-Momo, a parfait that tasted mostly of strawberry, but the fruit honestly was refershing after all that food. Next, who'd have thunk it, tofu cheesecake. Tofu cheesecake? I was skeptical. It was maybe the most delicious cheesecake I've ever had. Wow. Completely different flavor, texture, everything. But there was something legitimate in that tiny little cake. Almost a vanilla-y thing kind of going on, and the cake was almost spongy, but not quite like angel food. That adventure on the menu rewards your risk well. And finally, a mochi with various ice creams. Good, cold, but frankly, available nowadays at Trader Joes.
It's a tough call between the Wynn's Okada and MGM's Shibuya. And we haven't even discussed the Venetian's Sushi Samba (a latin american twist on japanese food with a killer cocktail list), Yellowtail at the Bellagio, Ah Sin (a fun word play) at the Paris...the list goes on. The only solution is to stay for an all-japanese week.
-M.
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