Japanese binchotan-charcoal skewers, made canonical in Vegas by Raku since 2008: pork belly, chicken thigh and skin, asparagus wrapped in beef, all cooked over imported white-oak charcoal.
Robata grilling came to Las Vegas with chef Mitsuo Endo at Raku on Spring Mountain Road in 2008. The kitchen runs imported Japanese binchotan, white-oak charcoal that burns at 800C with almost no smoke. Endo's skewers cover the full Japanese izakaya canon: kushiyaki of pork belly, chicken skin, chicken thigh with green onion (negima), asparagus wrapped in beef, quail eggs and Japanese mushrooms. Raku earned multiple James Beard nominations and became the off-Strip room Vegas chefs ate at after their own shifts ended. Endo opened Sweets Raku in 2011 and Raku NYC in 2018.
1 editor pick for Robata skewers in Las Vegas, ranked by editorial score. All Las Vegas signature dishes · Robata skewers across every city.
$$$$Japanese Izakaya and RobataSpring Mountain Chinatown
Raku in Las Vegas is Mitsuo Endo's Chinatown izakaya since 2008, a binchotan-charcoal robata room that drew chefs from the Strip on their nights off.
OrderThe agedashi tofu, made in-house daily, and a run of robata skewers picked at the counter.
TipBooking is essential; the room is small and the line cooks slow when the counter fills. After-hours kitchen runs to 03:00.
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