Dining

The Golden Age of Vegas Dining: Kabuto lives here

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Head chef Gen Mizoguchi shows off the goods at Kabuto.
Photo: Steve Marcus

There’s never been a better time to eat Las Vegas. As the Strip and the city around it have evolved, so has the Valley’s sprawling dining scene. From eat-your-way-through neighborhoods to groundbreaking restaurants, these 10 reasons are a right-now snapshot of why today truly is the Golden Age of Las Vegas dining.

6. Kabuto lives in Las Vegas

What does it say that on half of my four visits to Kabuto, I’ve found esteemed Vegas restaurateur Elizabeth Blau seated at the same sushi bar? That she’s eaten there more than four times, probably, but also that Kabuto offers what neighborhood sushi spots and high-end Strip sushi splurges do not: singularity of experience.

More than maybe any other restaurant in our Valley, the unassuming (and unmarked) space at 5040 W. Spring Mountain Road #4 stands apart from its peers, to the point where it simply has none. Hyperbole? Ask the Yelpers streaming in from sushi-rich SoCal for a taste, or those comparing it favorably to joints in Japan. From the super-minimal space—intensely formal yet made comfortable by engaging head chef Gen Mizoguchi—to the parade of obscure, flavor-rich fish (Ever had, or even heard of, wakaremi? Umazurahagi? Kamashita toro?), everything about Kabuto screams “once in a lifetime.” Except that, because it’s ours and not New York’s or San Francisco’s, we can revisit whenever we like.

Or maybe, as often as our wallets allow. It’s spendy for certain—$48 for a 10-piece nigiri course, $80 and $120 for more expansive omakase flights—though it still seems like a steal whenever I go. Each portion of warm rice draped with complex, fleshy fish feels like a gift, like the best bite I’ve had in my life. Until the next piece arrives.

NEXT: 7. We have really good pizza now

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