In various aspects of my life, I have readily turned my education over to a number of senseis and mentors that I have chosen to guide me.  There are those who influenced my tastes in music, fashion, and – as it relates to this post – dining.

So, when one of my favorite foodies (Elaine Newton) told me about this “delicious little Japanese-Italian place” I was intrigued.  Elaine had never steered my palate wrong, before – and, had actually turned me onto one of my Las Vegas faves, Aburiya Raku.  But Japanese/Italian?  I remained optimistically skeptical, as Jacob and I went to pick-up Miss Elaine, for our Valentine’s Day dinner à trois.

It turned-out that the restaurant, Trattoria Nakamura-Ya, was a revelation – and in the same off-Strip strip-mall as the previously mentioned Raku (as well as Monta Japanese Noodle House – but that’s an essay for another day…).  Well, it turns-out that all of these Japanese culinary outposts are the brainchild of Japan-raised, Las Vegas-based restaurant stylist, Martin Koleff  - and lemme assure you, Martin’s on the top of his game.

We let Elaine do the ordering, and Boy, am I glad we did.  From the moment we nibbled on our first bites of Octopus Carpaccio, until we slurped down the last heavenly noodle in the Spaghetti with Uni and Tomato Cream Sauce (have you ever?), Chef/Proprietor Kengo Nakamura kept our taste buds tripping the light fantastic.

Every bite was a pleasure, and so fresh were the flavors that I can still taste each and every one (not surprising, considering that taste and smell are two of our most potent sense memories).  Even something as seemingly mundane as fried chicken bites takes-on an exotic twist when reimagined as Fried Jidori Chicken and the tender strips of breast meat are briskly deep-fried in panko breading (per a technique known as furai), resulting in a simply marvelous piece of succulent poultry virtually teeming with aromatic zest (beats the crap outta anything they've got on the menu, at KFC...).

Also – did you know that when dining, family-style, at a Japanese restaurant, one uses the back ends of the chopsticks (the side that doesn’t go in the mouth) to serve oneself?  I didn’t, but I do now!

Domo arigato, Elaine-san!  And Martin-san and Nakamura-san – keep it coming, like you do!  We’ll definitely be coming back – with reinforcements.

Trattoria Nakamura-Ya
5040 West Spring Mountain Road
(702) 251-0022

Get into it!

[Editor's Note: Apologies on the subpar photos.  I'd forgotten the memory card for my camera, and took the images for this post with my BlackBerry.  -SHULMAN]