Serious food need not be confined to serious spaces. For proof, one need look no further than Jing’s “omakase” plate: a weekly selection of lesser-known types of sashimi, exquisitely prepared and presented amidst the purple neon and pumping bass of Downtown Summerlin’s party hotspot.
Walking through the doors of JING on just about any day or night of the week, you’re likely to find festivities in full swing. From its Monday Industry Nights and Wednesday Ladies Nights, through the weekends and into Sunday party brunch, the restaurant has become the neighborhood’s preferred spot for the see-and-be-seen crowd. It’s a place where F&B professionals come to enjoy bottle service after their shifts in plush booths, birthday celebrants are greeted with sparklers, and the beautiful people dance and grind to a DJ’s beats under the neon-piped ceiling.
Amidst this near-constant state of celebration, it can be easy to forget that JING is also a serious restaurant. Chef Thomas Griese is the man tasked with making sure we remember. Along with his culinary team, too, of course. (Editor’s note: Chef Thomas insisted his team was pictured with him.)
“The demographic in Summerlin, they can tell good food,” explains the fine-dining veteran, who worked in Las Vegas’ Le Cirque, Alize and Andre’s and Napa’s French Laundry before opening restaurants around the world for celebrity chef Michael Mina and Italian butcher Dario Cecchini.
Since taking the helm of JING’s kitchen last summer, Griese has taken several bold steps to take what was already a serious culinary program to the next level: upgrading the restaurant’s steak options, engaging top seafood purveyors from Australia to Nantucket, and finding Australian truffle harvesters who can the provide prized winter variety in the heat of the Las Vegas summer.
When Griese took the position at JING, the menu’s sushi section was already packed with “new style” sashimi and rolls that put creative spins on the most popular breeds of fish. Last December, he was inspired to dig a little deeper to create something for sushi purists.
“This Thursday ‘omakase’ came about because I wanted to have something that was equally as impressive as Nobu, or equally as impressive as when BarMasa was around,” Griese explains, name-dropping local sushi royalty past and present.
The Japanese phrase “omakase”, which refers to putting one’s trust in the chef, is frequently used to describe a multi-course tasting menu. At JING, however, it refers to a single plate of sashimi designed from scratch every Thursday, and available in limited numbers until supplies run out.
“I got on the phone with our sushi purveyor and said ‘We need a guy in Japan that can go to the market, pick out seven types of fish, your best types, and then pick two or three of each one, put it in a box and overnight it to me.’”
Griese and his team never know in advance what will be in the “mystery box” that arrives from Japan every Thursday morning. His only criteria is that it all be lesser-known breeds of “shiromi”: smaller whitefish that can challenge sushi chefs with their smaller bones, low fat content and hard-to manage skins and scales. As a result, his team needs to get creative.
“Maybe we do a torch on it, to curl the skin. Some of it we actually blanch really quickly with boiling hot salted water, which helps curl it and helps the texture of the skin. So even though sashimi is all raw, we do some techniques that are really cool.”
To educate diners on these unfamiliar breeds, large uncut segments can be viewed tableside. (If you ask nicely, they’ll also provide you a handout on each breed of fish.) That’s unlikely to fully prepare you, however, for the jaw-dropping plate to follow: two pristinely-sliced samples of each fish, laid out over a bed of crushed ice and leafy greens, brushed with just the slightest hints of individually selected condiments and adorned with bright flowers.
“If I just put (these fish) on the menu, people would be afraid of it, because the tuna and the salmon and the Hamachi are the crowd favorites,” Griese admits.
Yet in this context, he says, “People are just blown away!””
For those who want to embark on the adventure, fresh selections arrive every Thursday, and the omakase plate is available between $60 and $80 for as long as they last.
“There’s some cool stuff out there,” Griese promises. “So let’s invite you into our world and try to take a little taste of Japan.”
