Tapas get a Japanese flavor at Raku

As with tapas, diners at Raku — which opened almost a year ago — can order from any number of smallish dishes.

Raku Japanese Charcoal Grill, which is hidden away in a strip mall at 5030 Spring Mountain Road, has only seven tables and a seating capacity of about 31. Yet, “we do (serve) something like 100 people a day,” said manager Rie Koleff.

So, while making reservations isn’t technically required, not doing so would be a bit foolhardy.

Once seated, diners can enjoy the creations of owner and chef Mitsuo Endo. More than 70 appetizers, soups, desserts, salads and broth pots, are featured on the menu, with ingredients ranging from what the Western palate would consider the exotic (broth pots made with beef tendon or intestine) to the familiar (freshly made sorbet and green tea ice cream). Also featured are a roster of robata grill items created from chicken, Kobe beef, cuts of pork, lamb, foie gras, vegetables and seafood.

“A lot of the seafood comes from Japan,” Koleff notes, and Endo “makes his own tofu that’s fresh every day.”

The only limits are a diner’s appetite and pocketbook. “Two people can go home (with a check of) $150, and some people go home with a $30 check,” Koleff says. “So it depends on how you like to have dinner.”

Raku is open from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

Starters: Fresh Kobe beef liver ($8), soft custard omelet with scallop ($7), fried homemade tofu in hot broth ($9), Raku’s tofu ($4)

Soups and salads: Tofu salad ($7), cold udon noodle with foie gras custard soup ($16), bite-size salmon roe bowl ($10)

Entrees: Deep-fried bean curd and rice cake broth pot ($2), sea urchin and seaweed with soup broth pot ($4), tsukune-grilled ground chicken grill ($3.50), Kurobuta pork cheek robata ($2.50), Kobe beef fillet with wasabi ($9)

Desserts: Sorbet of the season ($3.50), green tea creme brulee ($5), homemade green tea ice cream ($2.50)

Information: 367-3511

By JOHN PRZYBYS