We have written a lot of reviews here in GamingToday but this is a first. I went to a sushi place with friends last weekend.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit I am not a full-fledged sushi lover. I will order a roll that’s at least partially cooked. I’m taking baby steps, so to speak, on my sushi journey.
So if I’m not totally into sushi, why am I at a sushi place? Well, it’s for the fried chicken.
Let me explain. The friends I went out to dinner with have been going to Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill in the Cosmopolitan for a while now. They love sushi, so being a team player I said that’s fine for dinner. I’ll find something to eat.
My friends started off with some Sashimi as they ordered Hamachi (Yellowtail) and they both were in heaven with it. In fact, my one friend, RJ Bell, said it was the best Yellowtail he’s had in Vegas. My other friend ordered the salmon and he was quite pleased as well with his choice.
So let’s get to the real reason I am here. These guys have been telling me about this fried chicken dish they have here. I’ve got to be honest, at first I thought they were kidding just trying to get me to go to dinner with them at a sushi place.
So when I see there really is a fried chicken dish on the menu I’m happy. It’s called Fried Chicken “Blue Ribbon Style.”
We decide to order a couple different things and share it family style at the table.
We get two orders of the fried chicken, and I’m telling you I wish I had ordered my own. It not only lived up to the hype from these guys, it was even better than I could have imagined. Plain and simple, this was the best fried chicken I have ever had.
The coating was very crispy and had this mixture of spices that was incredible. I decided to take a piece of chicken and dab it into the excess seasoning on the plate. Yes, it was that good.
The chicken was very moist inside but extremely crunchy on the outside. They serve it with a Wasabi & Honey dipping sauce, which everyone liked. Personally, I did not need any dipping sauce. It was perfect as it was.
We also had a few orders of the Oxtail Fried Rice. This was the first time I ever tried that and it created a whole new taste. I highly recommend trying it. You get a lot of taste from the bone marrow of the oxtail.
I can remember my mom using oxtail in her beef vegetable soup to give the soup a rich and unique flavor. We also had an order of Asian Broccoli, which was sautéed with Sea Salt and Garlic.
The Cosmopolitan is one of the Strip’s hot spots for partying – a place to see and be seen. A great way to kick off a night of clubbing is with dinner at Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill. I give it 3.75 Forks out of 4.
Marco D’Angelo is the senior handicapper at Pregame.com. He co-hosts FIRST PREVIEW every Thursday at 10 a.m. on ESPN 1100 AM/98.9 FM. Follow him on twitter: @MarcoInVegas. Contact him at [email protected].