taste
Nobu's perfectly charred
shishito peppers.
Wagyu salad.
While beef may be the
star of the show at Nobu,
the hand-rolled sushi is
equally droolworthy.
"We designed this
menu With Vegas in
mind.... it has a touch
of the extraVagant
and excessiVe to it."
—thomas buckley
A lthough myriad proteins are offered, it's the ult radeca-
dent prix-fixe Wagyu beef banquet that has guests dropping
$688 (or more) to satisfy their most extravagant carnivorous
crav ings. Touted as t he world's most f lavor ful, tender, a nd
expensive beef, Japanese Wag yu is "a delicacy in the same
way as foie gras," explains Thomas Buckley, executive chef at
Nobu in Caesars Palace. Its marbling lends rich f lavor and a
butter y texture to the beef, which practically melts in your
mouth. All Wagyu, however, is not created equal—it varies by
grade (A5 being the highest) and region. Wag yu from Kobe
has finer marbling, Buckley says. "So if you hold it in your
hand raw, it just melts naturally." Thus he prefers to feature
more than one type on the menu to provide guests with differ-
ent tastes and textures throughout the meal. And with a bit of
advance notice (at least 24 hours is required), he can take you
on a regional Wagyu tour without leaving the table.
Southeast Asia and the Far East inspired the menu—specifi-
cally, Vietnamese beef banquets and Tokyo restaurants that
showcase various cuts. Similarly, Buckley uses not only pri-
mary cuts of tenderloin and rib eye, but also secondary and
tertiar y cuts like oxtail and tong ue. He says his ideal menu
takes a nose-to-tail dining approach, since "all the cuts are
delicious and have fantastic marbling." The offerings range
from award-winning A5 Miyazaki Wagyu tenderloin finished
with ginger, garlic, chives, seasonal truff les, and lightly seared
porcini mushrooms (g iving it an Italian spin and a nod to
Nobu partner Robert De Niro's heritage) to street food gone
upscale with a decadent Wagyu gyoza.
Since the beef is the star of the show, the chefs explain the
ingredients (why they may use an A4 versus an A5, for exam-
ple) and cooking techniques. For instance, a large piece of
beef seared on all sides and cubed to bite-size pieces melts the
internal fat, resulting in "burst in your mouth" meat. But while
the show focuses more on technique than tricks, with a winner
of the Food Network's Flying K nives competition manning
the grill, you can still expect to see some midair egg cracking,
knife juggling, and lightning-fast slicing and dicing.
"The banquet is for someone who appreciates food and the
quality they're getting," says Buckley. Laughing, he adds, "Also,
we designed this menu with Vegas in mind…. It has a touch of
the extravagant and excessive to it, which sums up the Vegas
customer very well."
702-785-6628; nobucaesarspalace.com
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