Dig if you will the picture, of you and I engaged in a fish. Perhaps Copper River salmon. Or Kamashita toro. Or even shirako (cod sperm sac). If that sounds intriguing, seek out Kame Omakase, hiding in plain sight adjacent to the more accessible Yummy Grill & Sushi.
This isn’t a meal for anyone with even a modicum of culinary cowardice. In omakase, the chef already has your journey prepared for you, but if you’re willing to push the limits of your palate (and wallet), Kame stands ready. At $165 per person before drinks, it’s an expensive but wildly memorable meal.
Each experience lasts around two hours with ornate presentations for eight lucky diners offered during twice-nightly seatings. The menu, consisting of 16 to 20 courses, rotates monthly depending upon seasonal ingredients. Recently, live octopus tentacle accompanied smoked radish, while crispy lotus root-topped Chilean sea bass was paired with live softshell Maryland crab and accompanied by sharp, house-pickled ginger. A rare treat, Hokkaido hairy crab arrived in two dishes: its tomalley (innards) atop chawanmushi—steamed egg custard—with uni and caviar, and with pickled squash and an addictive butter-miso dipping sauce with fresh wasabi on a miniature sharkskin grater.
A nigiri lightning round late in the meal impressed: shima aji layered with white kombu; smoked sea salt-dusted sea perch; New Zealand mackerel adorned with gomashio; Seattle giant clam; Kamashita toro in a trio of presentations including cheek, chutoro and sashimi straight from the jaw; uni playfully swaddled in a seared nori “taco”; and a duo of Copper River salmon (sockeye and white king) needing no gilding.
Other composed dishes included black truffle sea salt-sprinkled Maine lobster sashimi garnished with dollops of bluefin cheek, caviar, uni, gold flaked tapioca spheres and Scottish smoked trout roe in a busy, delicious presentation; and in a surf-and-turf for the ages, unctuous, hot stone-grilled A5 Kumamoto Wagyu served simply with wasabi and cold smoked sea salt preceded by lobster claws swimming in an uni Sauvignon Blanc sauce with soba noodles.
Thus far, the large majority of Kame’s guests have been tourists. With a meal this good lurking right below our noses, isn’t it time to change that?
Kame Omakase 7331 W. Lake Mead Blvd. #104, 702-771-0122. Monday-Saturday, 6-10 p.m.; Sunday 7-9:30 p.m.
