Restaurant Review: Bar Charlie

Posted on | November 15, 2009 | 6 Comments

Another restaurant that’s been at the top of my list of places to go here in Vegas is Bar Charlie. I’ve been hearing about and wanting to get here for over a year now, and last night was finally the night. And it was more than worth the wait!

Bar Charlie is known as a ‘restaurant within a restaurant’. It’s located inside of Restaurant Charlie, Charlie Trotter’s seafood restaurant housed within the Palazzo. Bar Charlie is a small, Japanese kaiseki restaurant, serving small plates in various set courses. The restaurant is literally a bar seating 18, surrounding the chefs, giving you a perfect vantage point to watch your food being prepared. This is absolutely my favorite style of restaurant, which is very Japanese in nature. I love being able to interact with and observe the chefs in action the entire time. To me, it makes for more of an overall experience. Rather than just simply enjoying a meal, you get to enjoy somewhat of a show!

We walked in, were seated, and ordered our drinks. Then I looked up, and who was behind the bar, entertaining two other chefs? Charlie Trotter! He acknowledged us, the other chefs introduced themselves, and they were on their way. Apparently there was a big celebrity chef charity event being held at Emeril Lagasse’s stadium that same evening. What luck!

Anyway, the bar is the domain of Chef Hiroo Nagahara, a young and extremely talented Japanese chef. Along with his assistant, the two plated some of the most beautiful dishes I’ve seen in quite awhile. The colors and textures of the plates were breathtaking. And the taste was just as good! Adam and I decided to split a prix fix menu, and supplement it with a few additional items. Here’s what we had:

To start, we had the Saikyo miso soup with maitake mushrooms. This tasted NOTHING like the miso soup I make at home. It had a tart, light flavor to it, and was half as salty. Very different, and delicious. The fresh maitake mushrooms not only added to the flavor of the soup, but gave it an overall heartier texture. Almost more of a meal than a soup!

Next, we had the hirame with black grapes and celery. Hirame is a type of sole, and this version was extremely light, fresh, and smooth. It was seasoned with a bit of salt, and had two incredible sauces surrounding it; one savory, and one a bit tart. One of the best sashimi dishes I’ve had.

Next came the Spanish bluefin tuna with umeboshi seawater. The foam is the seawater/umeboshi infusion, and was quite subtle. The tuna was fresh, silky, and delicious. Served with it were tiny cubes of pickled vegetables, I think perhaps daikon, plus a savory sauce. I think the sauces are what made half the dishes we had that evening! Anyway, I found this dish to be equally as good as the first dish.

One of the ‘entrees’ was the Tasmanian ocean trout with cauliflower, tapioca, and roe. I loved the presentation of this dish. The trout was cooked perfectly, still soft inside, but not raw. It was surrounded by bits of cauliflower, and of all things, boba that had been soaked in tea! Very clever. Topping the fish was it’s own skin, fried to a crispy perfection. The skin was reminiscent of an extremely light pork rind, only 1000x better! Another incredible savory sauce was included. This dish had a lot going on, but the flavors and textures all somehow blended harmoniously to make it perfect!

Next was Chef Nagahara’s version of agedashi tofu. We both love Raku’s agedashi tofu, and this version couldn’t have been more different.. but was equally as good. It consisted of a black bean tofu, with beets and scallions, in a beet broth. I don’t think I’d ever had black bean tofu, and Chef Nagahara explained that it is uncommon as the black beans are extremely difficult to work with. I could see why, as the texture was quite different than a typical tofu. It was more grainy, and a lot less cohesive. I found the texture to be interesting, and the taste was absolutely incredible. The beans, beets, and tart beet sauce were quite a nice surprise. Definitely not your average agedashi tofu!

I love how the sous chef explained this dish to us. It’s a “pig running through a forest”. The dish consisted of two slices of delectable Kurobuta pork belly which was crispy on the outside, surrounded by baby carrots, in a creamy sauce cooked with the carrot tops. A simple dish, yet exquisite! And an A+ for presentation!

I couldn’t NOT try at least one of the sushi dishes here. We decided on the hamachi with hijiki and cucumber. This was one of the best sushi rolls I’ve ever had, and makes me want to return to Bar Charlie simply for the sushi! Chef Nagahara hand rolled this work of art. The hamachi was soft and incredibly fresh. I loved the flavor of the hijiki on top, and the texture contrast of the puffed rice. No shoyu or wasabi necessary here. Fantastic.

After our savory courses, we were given a palate cleansing plum sorbet. Quite nice and light.

For desserts, we tried both that were on the menu. The chocolate cake with figs and toasted sesame ice cream was probably my favorite of the two. The cake and ice cream were delicious, but it was actually the sesame topping and savory chocolate crumbles on the side that made this dish exceptional to me.

The final dish was a cinnamon ice cream, with black plum and red shiso granita. This dish was tart, light, and a very nice way to end the meal.

For the closer, we were given four candies each, consisting of a slightly spicy toasted marshmallow, berry tart, chocolate macadamia nut, and espresso truffle. All of them were delicious bites. Mine had an extra message on it!

One of the things I’ve heard about Restaurant Charlie, as well as Bar Charlie, was that they aren’t doing too well business-wise. This is another reason I wanted to get here sooner than later… for fear that one day it might be gone before I’ve tried it! I hope that doesn’t happen, nor do I understand how it could happen. I had some of the best Japanese food I’ve ever experienced here at Bar Charlie. The restaurant seems to get nothing but outstanding accolades, yet, we were here on a Saturday night, and there were only two other couples and one solo party besides us for the 2 and a half hours we were there. I don’t get it!

Anyway, it was a fantastic meal. From the service to the atmosphere to the food, I can’t think of one thing bad to say about this place. In fact, I told Chef Nagahara that it was one of the best Japanese meals I’ve had, and we mentioned that although it’s quite different, it gives our other favorite Japanese restaurant in town, Raku, a run for it’s money! Granted, Raku is more than half as expensive as Bar Charlie, and is a completely different experience. Chef Nagahara laughed and told us that Raku is his favorite Japanese restaurant as well, and that he and Mitsuo Endo (chef/owner of Raku) are very good friends. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised to hear that! Unlike the traditional izakaya style fare at Raku, the food at Bar Charlie is a modern take on Japanese food, with some interesting twists, and incredibly artful presentations. Should Chef Nagahara ever decide to leave Bar Charlie, my dream would be that he and Chef Endo partner up to create the most fantastic Japanese restaurant outside of Japan here in Vegas!

Rating:

Palazzo, 3325 South Las Vegas Blvd Space 1560 Las Vegas, NV 89109
Phone: 702 607-6336

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