Steve
01-06-2007, 03:05 AM
Opportunity knocks.
One restaurant suddenly closes, another opens with promise.
By Al Mancini/Las Vegas Citylife
Things rarely go well when I take restaurant advice from CityLife Managing Editor Andrew Kiraly. This week, for example, I decided to visit Paul Lee's Chinese Kitchen, a joint venture by the owners of P.F. Chang's and Outback Steakhouse that he recently recommended, only to arrive there and discover it had gone out of business a week or so earlier. As a result, I found myself in a part of town I never visit -- hungry, a day past my deadline, with no idea where to eat. On the bright side, once I made it back to familiar territory, it gave me an excuse to visit Sapporo, a pan-Asian place on Flamingo Road at the 215 Beltway I'd been wanting to review for a while.
The owners of the original Sapporo in Scottsdale opened their first Las Vegas venture earlier this year. I'd eaten at the original location once as their guest, and attended the grand opening party of the Las Vegas location. But despite great experiences on both occasions, I'd never made it back on my own until my failed attempt to visit Paul Lee's. The food, service and inexpensive drinks were so good that night, however, that I returned a few days later for another meal.
The restaurant is divided into four main sections: a tappanyaki dining area, a sushi bar, a main dining room and a bar area that opens onto a small outdoor patio. The decor has a not-so-subtle undersea vibe that leaves you feeling like you're in a SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon, or the "Octopus' Garden" scene in The Beatles: Love.
For those interested in teppanyaki, where diners sit around a large grill and the chef cooks in front of you, Sapporo offers 14 different choices. They include soy-glazed tofu ($17 for a complete dinner), shrimp ($20), scallops ($22), calamari steak ($18), lobster ($41), sea bass ($28) and five types of steak ($28 and up). Those who can't decide on just one dish can choose from two dozen combinations of either two or three entrees ($21 to $48).
For sushi lovers, Sapporo has a great selection, offering plenty of inventive rolls and numerous specialty items like baby yellowtail and two types of sea urchin (when they're in season). And as weird as it sounds, their Kobe beef sushi is worth shelling out 10 bucks for two small pieces, although I couldn't bring myself to spend $65 for the sashimi portion.
Among the Pacific rim appetizers, you'll find chicken lettuce wraps ($8), steamed lobster dumplings in a citrus miso butter sauce ($10), Australian lamb chops in a Thai basil curry coconut glaze ($15), and lightly grilled carpaccio with butter, ginger, cilantro and an oyster sesame glaze ($23). Pacific rim entrees include everything from a Kobe burger ($10) and a teriyaki chicken sandwich ($9) to crab-crusted mahi mahi in a black bean beurre blanc ($24) and macadamia-coated sea bass with fried plantains and Asian stir-fry in a mango cream sauce ($29). And a wok section of the menu features dishes like kung pao beef, chicken or shrimp ($12 to $14), scallops with asparagus tips, shitake mushrooms and scallions ($15), and szechuan beef ($14).
Since I'd already experienced their delicious teppanyaki dishes at the grand opening party, we opted to sit in the main dining room on both of our recent visits. All of the sushi we tasted was excellent, and I absolutely loved a large appetizer of miso black cod in lobster cognac sauce ($12), although my wife thought the latter was a bit too sweet. A side of shrimp fried rice ($12) was among the best I've ever eaten, and the fried shrimp stuffed with lobster mousse in Japanese butter sauce ($12) was pretty tasty. Among our entrees, we had a simple but good order of beef and broccoli with brown rice ($14) from the wok section and a great piece of blackened ahi tuna in a soy mustard buerre blanc served with a wonderful combination of jasmine rice and Chinese forbidden black rice ($27).
Overall, the service at Sapporo is great, although I encountered one bus boy who just seemed to be having a really bad night. The superior waitstaff more than made up for it, however, as did the super-friendly bartenders. More importantly, a few $3.25 premium after-dinner shots on the patio during the second of two daily happy hours managed to help me forget all about Mr. Kiraly and his latest recommendation.
Sapporo
9719 W. Flamingo Road
216-3080
http://www.lvcitylife.com/articles/2006/07/20/dining_out/dining.txt
One restaurant suddenly closes, another opens with promise.
By Al Mancini/Las Vegas Citylife
Things rarely go well when I take restaurant advice from CityLife Managing Editor Andrew Kiraly. This week, for example, I decided to visit Paul Lee's Chinese Kitchen, a joint venture by the owners of P.F. Chang's and Outback Steakhouse that he recently recommended, only to arrive there and discover it had gone out of business a week or so earlier. As a result, I found myself in a part of town I never visit -- hungry, a day past my deadline, with no idea where to eat. On the bright side, once I made it back to familiar territory, it gave me an excuse to visit Sapporo, a pan-Asian place on Flamingo Road at the 215 Beltway I'd been wanting to review for a while.
The owners of the original Sapporo in Scottsdale opened their first Las Vegas venture earlier this year. I'd eaten at the original location once as their guest, and attended the grand opening party of the Las Vegas location. But despite great experiences on both occasions, I'd never made it back on my own until my failed attempt to visit Paul Lee's. The food, service and inexpensive drinks were so good that night, however, that I returned a few days later for another meal.
The restaurant is divided into four main sections: a tappanyaki dining area, a sushi bar, a main dining room and a bar area that opens onto a small outdoor patio. The decor has a not-so-subtle undersea vibe that leaves you feeling like you're in a SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon, or the "Octopus' Garden" scene in The Beatles: Love.
For those interested in teppanyaki, where diners sit around a large grill and the chef cooks in front of you, Sapporo offers 14 different choices. They include soy-glazed tofu ($17 for a complete dinner), shrimp ($20), scallops ($22), calamari steak ($18), lobster ($41), sea bass ($28) and five types of steak ($28 and up). Those who can't decide on just one dish can choose from two dozen combinations of either two or three entrees ($21 to $48).
For sushi lovers, Sapporo has a great selection, offering plenty of inventive rolls and numerous specialty items like baby yellowtail and two types of sea urchin (when they're in season). And as weird as it sounds, their Kobe beef sushi is worth shelling out 10 bucks for two small pieces, although I couldn't bring myself to spend $65 for the sashimi portion.
Among the Pacific rim appetizers, you'll find chicken lettuce wraps ($8), steamed lobster dumplings in a citrus miso butter sauce ($10), Australian lamb chops in a Thai basil curry coconut glaze ($15), and lightly grilled carpaccio with butter, ginger, cilantro and an oyster sesame glaze ($23). Pacific rim entrees include everything from a Kobe burger ($10) and a teriyaki chicken sandwich ($9) to crab-crusted mahi mahi in a black bean beurre blanc ($24) and macadamia-coated sea bass with fried plantains and Asian stir-fry in a mango cream sauce ($29). And a wok section of the menu features dishes like kung pao beef, chicken or shrimp ($12 to $14), scallops with asparagus tips, shitake mushrooms and scallions ($15), and szechuan beef ($14).
Since I'd already experienced their delicious teppanyaki dishes at the grand opening party, we opted to sit in the main dining room on both of our recent visits. All of the sushi we tasted was excellent, and I absolutely loved a large appetizer of miso black cod in lobster cognac sauce ($12), although my wife thought the latter was a bit too sweet. A side of shrimp fried rice ($12) was among the best I've ever eaten, and the fried shrimp stuffed with lobster mousse in Japanese butter sauce ($12) was pretty tasty. Among our entrees, we had a simple but good order of beef and broccoli with brown rice ($14) from the wok section and a great piece of blackened ahi tuna in a soy mustard buerre blanc served with a wonderful combination of jasmine rice and Chinese forbidden black rice ($27).
Overall, the service at Sapporo is great, although I encountered one bus boy who just seemed to be having a really bad night. The superior waitstaff more than made up for it, however, as did the super-friendly bartenders. More importantly, a few $3.25 premium after-dinner shots on the patio during the second of two daily happy hours managed to help me forget all about Mr. Kiraly and his latest recommendation.
Sapporo
9719 W. Flamingo Road
216-3080
http://www.lvcitylife.com/articles/2006/07/20/dining_out/dining.txt