Rising Sun Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar

Would you like some sushi? Or teppanyaki? Or tempura/katsu/sukiyaki?

Most Japanese restaurants address the three main categories of Japanese food by offering all of them. There's a sushi bar, teppan (or "Japanese steakhouse") grill tables and a menu offering numerous dishes from Japanese cuisine that aren't covered by the other two.

But what if they don't have enough space for teppan tables? Or can't/don't want to put forth the rather substantial investment for the exhaust and fire-suppression systems necessitated by all of that heat?

One solution is to prepare the teppanyaki in the kitchen. Customers will be out the entertainment aspect ("Japanese snowstorm!"), but they'll also bypass the lame jokes ("Japanese snowstorm!"). And if the teppanyaki served by Rising Sun Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar is any indication, the food will be way better.

Rising Sun bills its teppanyaki as Sizzling Butter Yaki Teppan Plates, and I got the beef and vegetables ($13.75) out of curiosity more than anything else. But wow, this was better than anything I've been served by any of the ("Japanese snowstorm!") jokesters. The strips of beef were wonderfully tender, the sauce butter-rich without being unctuous, the vegetables varied -- cabbage, zucchini, carrots, scallions and onions -- and, along with the mushrooms, plentiful. It was the best dish we tasted at Rising Sun.

One little snag: The salad and miso soup that the menu promised -- and that represent components of the standard Japanese steakhouse dinner -- never materialized. That could be because there was a special event at the restaurant that evening, and the place was a bit chaotic. It also might be because we ordered a fair amount of food, and they figured we wouldn't want it all. Either way: Their bad. They should've at least asked.

From the sushi bar (another benefit of not using teppan tables is that it's easier to mix subgenres) we chose the jalapeno yellowtail sashimi from the specials board ($15). It was excellent, the scrupulously fresh fish cut into diamond shapes and topped with circles of jalapeno and a dot of sauce. The jalapeno packed a wallop, but that worked nicely with the yellowtail. One minor complaint: The prices weren't listed on the board.

From the regular sushi menu we chose the Yum Yum Scallop Roll ($6.25), with fresh scallops, crab salad and "yum yum" sauce, and a Hot and Wild Roll ($14), with spicy tuna, avocado and cucumber topped with tuna sashimi and a garlic-ponzu sauce. I'd order either again in a heartbeat.

But probably not the smoked salmon cheese sticks ($5.88), which we chose for an appetizer. A novel take on the standard mozzarella stick, these were made of smoked salmon wrapped around cream cheese, coated in tempura batter and fried. They were nice and crisp, but this was the strongest smoked salmon I can remember having.

The gyoza ($4.50) were fairly standard, but sometimes that's a good thing, and it was in this case.

And standard was the direction we thought we were going with the vanilla tempura ice cream ($8.50), but Rising Sun surprised again. Instead of the scoop-in-a-bowl we expected, we were served a sushi plate with a row of four balls of crisp, tempura-blanketed ice cream, topped with a touch of whipped cream.

Rising Sun didn't rise to the occasion in every aspect of our dinner, but we liked it nonetheless. An innovative spirit coupled with some hints of tradition -- including an obvious dedication to food quality -- always keeps us coming back for more.

Las Vegas Review-Journal reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383-0474 or e-mail her at hrinella@ reviewjournal.com.