Las Vegas, NVJapanese

A sign-less Chinatown sushi room styled after a traditional Tokyo shop. Second-generation Edomae master Genichi Mizoguchi skips rolls in favor of set nigiri and multi-course tasting menus built from fish flown in from Japan, work that landed it on Bon Appetit's national new-restaurants list.

A robata-grill izakaya in a Chinatown strip mall that opened in 2008 and became a favorite of local chefs and national food media. Chef Mitsuo Endo, a multiple James Beard nominee, grills skewers over charcoal and makes his own tofu, and the room helped anchor Spring Mountain Road as a dining destination.

A ten-seat strip-mall sushi bar from chef Gen Mizoguchi, who left Kabuto to open his own Edomae room. Most of the fish is imported from Japan, and the omakase runs past $190 a person, an intensified version of the pristine cuts and minimalist service Mizoguchi built his name on.

Las Vegas's original izakaya, a late-night second-floor pub crowded with locals and industry regulars for small plates like black cod with grated radish, ginger-butter calamari, and deep-fried quail eggs. The printed menu is a starting point; regulars work the handwritten specials.