After three days of recovering from my weekend excursion, I felt like eating again.  Last night, I had Sushi and Sake for dinner.

My colleagues and I went to Japonais, which is located in the Mirage Hotel.  We began with a wonderful cold-sake, Bichu Wajo, which they served in a champagne flute.

We ordered a series of courses to be served family style and began with kobe beef Carpaccio, which they served with fresh garlic, green onions and a rice vinegar.  Wow! Talk about a flavor explosion.  We devoured the Carpaccio.

Next came the Manju buns.  There were puffy steamed buns stuffed with a sweet braised pork filling— much like you would find in a dim-sum restaurant, only they were quite elegant.

Following the buns, we enjoyed an order of lobster spring rolls. Both crispy and delicate at the same time, these spring rolls were quite exceptional.  The chef used sea salt to flavor them, so every other bite, a salt crystal would melt on my tongue.

The tempura made its debut at our table with a light batter and even crispness.  The vegetables were perfectly cooked and soft inside.

Then our sushi courses began, first, we received a crispy shrimp and salmon roll that balanced crispy shrimp tempura with a slightly spicy wasabi mayonnaise and some very tiny black roe.  My colleague Jeff doesn't like mayo, so he diligently wiped off the top of his sushi with a napkin— much to our amusement.

We moved into the Nagiri and Sashimi plate that included silky, fresh Otoro that Nelson described as … "Love, in my mouth."  We indulged in Hamachi, Salmon sushi, Ebi (shrimp), Tamago— I happen to be a Tamago connoisseur.  When well prepared, these delectable diminutive egg soufflés are a true sign of a skilled sushi chef.  We tasted two different types of Unagi; the first was a traditional barbequed eel.  However, the second preparation was unique— certainly, something I've never seen or tried before, even in Japan.  They poached the second Unagi in sake, which gave it a delicate, sweet flavor and soft texture. This Suro Anago highlighted our evening.

After several glasses of sake and a lot of sushi, we decided we wanted to try dessert.  We ordered a sorbet sampler with watermelon soup and a Japanese pumpkin cheesecake.  The sorbet sampler had crisp, clean fruit flavors that paired well with our (4^th?, 5^th?) glass of Sake.  The cheesecake resembled a soufflé with a light layer of cream on top with cake below.  

When dinner ended, we continued our evening next door at the wine bar, where we got silly, drank a bottle of Procecco and indulged in cheese… House-stretched Mozzarella;  Manchego, Brie de Meux; Tete de Moine and Gorgonzola Crema.