Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/41419
Saké is made with water, yeast, and specially grown rice, with fats and amino acids on the outside of the kernels, and starches, which give saké its fl avor, in the center. As the kernels are polished, they become smaller, producing progressively lighter tastes. To simplify the many saké variations for customers, they can be separated into three categories: daiginjo, in which 50% of the rice is polished away, producing a light, smooth taste; ginjo, with 40% of the rice polished away, resulting in a slightly fuller, spicy taste; and junmai, which means "pure rice," only polished 30% and the fullest-bodied. Once opened, saké lasts about a week if kept cool. Most premium saké is sipped chilled, but a few, such as junmai, can be served either warm or chilled. And forget "traditional" porcelain cups—quality saké war- rants a stemmed glass. To acquaint customers with saké, Innovative Dining Group's Sushi Roku sushi-and-saké restaurants in Las Vegas, Scottsdale, Arizona, plus West Hollywood, Santa Monica and Pasadena, California, as well as their Robata Bar in Santa Monica and Katana in West Hollywood, offer saké samplers of the three basic styles. SushiSamba, which melds Japanese, Peruvian, and Brazilian cuisines, offers Saké 101 classes for individuals and groups at its New York, Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas locations. More dramatically, their multi-branched Cocktail Tree allows customers to pluck-and-sip specialty mini-saké cocktails such as the Kumori (nigori saké, shochu, gin, muddled cucumber and nori-salt rim) or the Bushido (shochu, plum saké, muddled plum, daikon and a beer fl oat). Shibuya at Las Vegas's MGM Grand stocks more than 135 sakés and offers saké classes and take-home cards so customers will remember what they had and where they had it. From the unfi ltered, opaque nigori to the new organic Chikurin "Karoyaka" Junmai Ginjo, saké is becoming understood. So raise a glass and toast Kanpai! Michael Durovsik, General Manager of SushiSamba Las Vegas at The Shoppes at the Palazzo, presents one of the restaurant's unique Cocktail Trees, which showcase a customer's selection of three di≠ erent "sambatini tasters" in 12 di≠ erent glasses. The presentation is often photographed as much as it is enjoyed. Innovative Dining Group's Sushi Roku, Robata Bar and Katana o≠ er customers a sampler of three basic saké styles: daiginjo, ginjo, and junmai. september 201 1 / the tasting panel / 109 PHOTO: RICHARD CARLETON HACKER