Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/120116
FOOD SPOTLIGHT Walzog points out. "A tin of caviar and a pearl spoon perched on a little bowl of ice; that's all they want, and they just have at it." Throughout his chef training, Walzog has tasted caviar in a wide variety of incarnations, whether in a pasta or fish sauce or as a little dollop on top of scallops—the latter, he says, is a particularly good match. "Like sour cream or the brioche, the fat in scallops offsets the caviar's salinity and makes it even more wonderful," he says. "As a cook I find it adds a lot to dishes, not just in terms of elegance or price point, but more importantly in depth of flavor. And you don't get that flavor from anything else in the sea." CAVIAR HAS ALWAYS BEEN ON THE MENU at Mizumi, including one offering that features golden osetra sushi embellished with flakes of gold leaf. "It's very simple," says Devin Hashimoto, executive chef of Mizumi, of his choice to garnish the dish with edible gold flakes. Wrapped in seaweed to contain the eggs, the sushi form is called gunkan, or battleship. "If you just try it on its own with the sushi rice, you get the true flavor of the caviar. The gold flakes are just to add a little extra, the cherry on the sundae," Hashimoto says. Of course, Japanese kitchens use roe in many different forms. Ikura, or salmon roe, and tobiko (flying fish roe) are traditional garnishes, along with masago, which comes from a fish called capelin (a type of smelt), and finally mentaiko, or cod roe. "Now we have even more interesting flavors to play with," says Hashimoto. "We offer a wasabi tobiko, a golden one that's yuzu flavor." Hashimoto and sushi Master Chef Masaru Matsuura enjoy the variety, not only for their different taste sensations but also to add an artistic touch to plating. A new star on the Mizumi menu is toro tuna tartare, featuring golden osetra caviar, yuzu-ginger sauce, and furikake (seaweed) brioche croutons. "The furikake brioche takes the place of the standard blinis or toast points," Hashimoto explains. The chef also likes to include osetra as the amuse-bouche for his six-course omakase tasting. "I always want to start with something cold. Right now that's Golden osetra a chilled Kusshi oyster from British sushi, garnished Columbia with yuzu kosho mignonette with edible and bamboo puffed rice and golden gold flakes, at Mizumi. osetra caviar," he says. "Creamy and not too salty, it balances with the oyster. I add the crispy bamboo puffed rice to give the amuse-bouche more texture." Indeed, along with color, taste, and size, texture is one of the characteristics on which caviar is graded. "You want it to break in your mouth," says Hashimoto. "The osetra we use, if you roll it around in your mouth, it will separate easily, they're that firm. Golden osetra is clean; it has a creaminess and buttery finish that is amazing." n "If you try it just on its own with the sushi rice, you get the true flavor of the caviar." —devin hashimoto 56 PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF GALE (SUSHI); JEFF GREEN (HASHIMOTO) Mizumi Executive Chef Devin Hashimoto. WYNN 050-057_W_F_FoodSpotlight_Spring_13.indd 56 4/4/13 4:17 PM