On July 10, Red Rock Resort welcomed Hachi to its culinary family. The contemporary Japanese restaurant offers a modern atmosphere with a casual twist.

Priding themselves on offering the best in entertainment and dining to their guests, the resort owners looked to add an upscale, yet comfortable, Japanese restaurant with a hip feel to the resort. With this goal in mind, they sought out a chef that could help them bring this vision to life. Their search led them to renowned Chef Linda Rodriguez.

Executive Chef and Nobu veteran Linda Rodriguez comes from New York’s acclaimed BondSt restaurant, where she was known for impressing guests with her unusual interpretations of Japanese cuisine. Linda and the international team of chefs have lent their various cultural backgrounds and influences to the menu, providing diners with a unique culinary experience.

Guests can relax in the bar and lounge area with a cocktail or one of the more than 30 sakes offered. Dinner can be enjoyed in the dining room or at the sushi bar. For those looking for a more intimate experience, three private tatami rooms with traditional ground-level seating will be available for parties as large as 12 guests. In total, the restaurant will offer seating for 220 guests.

Hachi will be open for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and 5 to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling 702-797-7576.

Featured Chefs and Staff

• Executive Chef Linda Rodriguez is the first woman to have studied under Chef Nobu Matsuhisa
• Sushi Chef Luna Cesario Fernando trained under Chef Masaharu Morimoto at Nobu New York
• Executive Chef Rodriguez and Sushi Chef Fernando come to Las Vegas after a successful multi-year partnership at BondSt restaurant in New York. Room Chef Martin Swift and Assistant General Manager Tarek Debira also have worked at BondSt in the past
• Hachi will mark the third restaurant at which the husband-and-wife team of Martin Swift and Linda Rodriguez will have worked together
• The diverse international team of chefs infuse traditional Japanese cuisine with various cultural influences
  • Executive Chef Linda Rodriguez
    Hometown: Manila, Philippines
    Trained in Japanese, classical French, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian and Cajun cuisines
  • Room Chef Martin Swift
    Hometown: Liverpool, England
    Trained in various Asian cuisines (Malaysian, Japanese) and sushi making
  • Sushi Chef Luna Cesario Fernando
    Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico
    Trained in Japanese cuisine and sushi making
• Hachi features one of only two sake sommeliers in Las Vegas

Menu Features

• Select items on the menu will change seasonally
• Fresh fish is flown in daily from Japan
• Blowfish, a rare delicacy, will be featured on the menu when available
  
  

  Featured menu items include:

  • Cold Appetizers: Yellowtail sashimi with serrano chili ponzu; scallop carpaccio with calamanci granite and fresh tarragon
  • Hot Appetizers: Seared tuna and foie gras with Asian pear chutney and candied cashews; braised shortribs with roasted apple puree; creamy spicy shrimp with yuzu calamanci vinaigrette and chipotle aioli
  • Salads: Crispy duck confit with lotus seed and citrus vinaigrette
  • Soups: Lobster akadashi (lobster wontons in red miso soup)
  • Noodles: Kamo namban in hot udon broth (soba noodles with duck)
  • Tempura: Purple potato, fresh hearts of palm (from Hawaii)
  • Kushiyaki: Chicken with Peruvian sauce
  • Entrees: Grilled rack of lamb with Asian pear and shiso sauce; sake steamed black cod
  • Hachi rolls: Sesame crusted shrimp with orange curry and reduced balsamic vinegar; salmon, avocado and mango with spicy lemon dressing
  • Nigiri and sashimi: O toro (high-grade fatty tuna belly); kanpachi (amberjack); hamachi (yellowtail)
  • Desserts: Apple gyoza with vanilla bean ice cream and cider gastrique; calamanci pinenut tart with honey mascarpone cream

Unique Design Features

• Inspiration for the overall concept of the space came from the original museum-quality pop art installation “Jellyfish Eyes” by contemporary artist Takashi Murakami. The installation is
• Natural elements such as rosewood, zebrawood and polished St. Laurent marble stand in contrast to the vivid colors used in the seating, wall and floor accent. Fiery orange and hot pink glass tile accents, hot orange leather and plush brown mohair are used throughout the space
• A sculptural “sake screen wall” wraps the entrance to the restaurant, along with a soothing, modern water feature with waterfalls spilling over split-face rocks from Indonesia
• The dining room features a soaring 21-foot tall sake bottle display tower that features more than 130 unique sake bottles and a custom-made, modern Italian glass chandelier.
• A seven-ton granite stone art piece table
• “Flying Dragon” fixture that featured more than 2,500 handcrafted glass cherry blossoms suspended from the dining room ceiling
• The tatami rooms feature tatami mat flooring, low tables with ground-level seating and a sunken floor below table for comfortable legroom and modern glass “shoji screens”

Bios

Linda Rodriguez – Executive Chef
As Executive Chef at Hachi, Rodriguez will oversee the kitchen and culinary team. She was responsible for the design of the kitchen and sushi bar, as well as the planning of the menus.

Rodriguez was born in the Philippines and came to the United States at the age of seven, after briefly living in Japan with her family. At the age of 20, she moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she apprenticed for two years at Maison Lacour, a traditional French restaurant. It was here where Rodriguez learned not only classic French cooking techniques, but also Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian and Cajun cooking from French-Chinese Chef Jacqueline Greaud.

To pursue her passion for cooking, Rodriquez enrolled at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York. After graduation, she went on to work at highly regarded New York restaurants, including Le Bernardin, Park Avenue Cafe, Lespinnasse and The River Café.

After a couple years, Rodriguez took a position at the newly opened Japanese restaurant Nobu New York and trained under Nobu Matsuhisa for the next three years. While at Nobu New York, she mastered each station. When the Head Chef departed, she became in charge of omakase (the tasting menu). She spent her last year with Matsuhisa at Nobu London, where she consulted on the newly opened restaurant. It was here where she met fellow chef Martin Swift, who later became her husband.

Rodriguez returned to the United States in 1998 to become the Executive Chef at BondSt restaurant, the acclaimed New York City Japanese restaurant. For the next nine years at BondSt, she married the various techniques and cuisines she was trained in to create her own signature culinary style.

Martin Swift – Room Chef
Martin Swift was born in Liverpool, England, and started his culinary career at the young age of 17 in London, working in many hotels. During his time at the Gloucester Hotel, he had the opportunity to travel to Singapore and Malaysia in order to learn the regional cuisines.

In 1997, Swift was brought on as Senior Sous Chef at the soon-to-open Nobu London. As part of an all British team, Swift and his fellow chefs quickly learned traditional Japanese cooking. After two years at Nobu London, Swift moved to the United States to join his wife, Chef Linda Rodriguez, at BondSt restaurant in New York. He joined the team behind the sushi bar and began learning the art of sushi making.

Eventually, Swift parted from BondSt to venture out at other New York restaurants. His love for, and training in, Asian cuisines led him to become Executive Sous Chef at Tao restaurant in 2000. He then went on to work at Thom, a chic Pan Asian restaurant housed within the 60 Thompson hotel in SoHo, and later at Ten Sushi, where he held the position of Executive Chef.

Luna Cesario Fernando – Sushi Chef
Mexican-born Fernando brings 14 years of restaurant experience to Hachi. He began his education in Japanese cuisine in 1992 at Yama, a Japanese restaurant in New York City, where he started off preparing sauces and garnishes, and graduated on to skilled-techniques such as fish preparation and making sushi rolls. Three years later, he joined the team at Nobu New York as a sushi chef. In this position, Fernando trained under famed Chef Masaharu Morimoto and honed his sushi-making skills. In 2003, he left Nobu New York and became the lead line cook at BondSt restaurant, working closely with Executive Chef Linda Rodriguez.

Vince Adams – General Manager
London-born Adams brings more than 25 years of restaurant experience to Hachi. Having lived in Hawaii for 17 years, and having working at restaurants such as Bali by the Sea at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki and Malibu Chan’s in Las Vegas, he is intimately familiar with Pacific Rim cuisine. Adams also is a Vegas veteran, having served as manager of the food and beverage department at Caesars Palace and general manager of Lutece restaurant in The Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian.

Tarek Debira – Assistant General Manager
Debira got his start in the restaurant business as a waiter at restaurants such as Nobu London and Market Jean Georges in Paris. He went on to become an assistant general manager at Nobu Paris and BondSt in New York. His most recent position was captain at Buddha Bar in New York. Debira brings 13 years of restaurant experience to Hachi.