Strat Names New Restaurant: Chi Asian Kitchen

By Scott Roeben, on September 07 2022

3 min read 0 comments

A few months ago, Strat shared plans for a new Asian restaurant, but didn’t give a name for the venue.

Now, we know.

Chi Asian Kitchen makes it debut at Strat in October 2022.

This construction wall is near the high limit lounge at Strat. Not a coincidence. The Strat is whale hunting.

At first, we assumed “Chi” rhymes with “fry” (as opposed to “chee”), because the name has a symbol over the “i” in the news release. Like this: Chī Asian Kitchen.

“Chi” is taken from the Asian word meaning “eat.”

Actually, it’s not pronounced “chai” or “chee.” It’s more like like “chuh.” It’s easiest if you just say the “ch” part.

In Mandarin, “to eat” is also sometimes written as “shi,” but that’s three quarters of the way to some terrible jokes, so let’s stick with Chi.

Anyway, learning things is hard, so let’s get back to regurgitating the news release!

The news release describes Chi thusly, “Reminiscent of a bustling Chinese alley restaurant, the street-inspired interior will include a variety of traditional and unique design touches and decor.”

There was an accent mark over “décor,” too, but we just aren’t an accent mark person.

Here’s a look at the new restaurant.

Dragons, pandas and pedal-driven, single-track vehicles. Let’s eat.

The news release continues, “Chi will offer a wide variety of traditional dishes, including Chinese curry puffs, crafted with ground prime beef and toasted cumin; salt and pepper calamari, made with jalapeno, garlic and ginger crunch; Japanese-style fried chicken, served with spicy soy mayonnaise and pickled daikon; and potstickers, made with pork and shrimp, pan-fried or steamed.”

If you were looking for the squiggly line over “jalapeno,” good luck, as we are now fully committed to not using accent marks, despite the level of awkwardness.

Here are more references to foods we either don’t recognize or probably will never try, “Additional dishes will include fried pork sauce noodles with crushed peanuts, cucumbers, carrots cabbage and rice noodles; braised mushroom yee fu noodles, crafted with spicy braised mushrooms, bok choy and crispy garlic; bulgogi fried rice, made with shaved marinated ribeye, kimchi, mushrooms and a sunny-side up egg; and a spicy cucumber salad, topped with spicy garlic and chili dressing, among others. Mango sticky rice will be available for dessert, crafted with lightly sweetened rice, coconut milk and sliced mango.”

Oh, all right, we’ll order the “yee fu noodles,” just because that would be fun to say while intoxicated.

Speaking of intoxication, Chi will also have beaucoup cocktails, including “‘Heart of the Dragon,’ infused with Ciroc Peach Vodka, Lillet Rose Apertivo, lychee juice, yuzu juice, cranberry wash and rose water; ‘Confucius’ Smile,” made with Casamigos Respado Tequila, Chinola Passionfruit Liqueur, Lilikoi Lime Juice, vanilla syrup and Peychaud’s Aromatic Bitters; “Age Before Beauty,” crafted with Askashi Ume Japanese Plum Whisky, Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur, yuzu juice, lemongrass syrup and blackberries; and ‘Nĭ Hăo Cucumber,’ made with Roku Japanese Gin, Tyku Japanese Infusion Sake, Yellow Chartreuse Liqueur, cucumber, Thai basil, lime juice, sugar cane syrup and aquafaba.”

Yes, we let “Nĭ Hăo” slide. We are not a monster. “Nĭ Hăo,” of course, is Chinese for “Sup?”

That’s about all there is to share about Chi Asian Kitchen coming to The Strat.

As always, restaurant decisions like this are strategic. Strat would obviously love to see more Asian gamblers at its casino, and good Asian food can sometimes make that happen. (Lucky Dragon, not so much.)

Strat would love to see some gamblers from Resorts World (with its fantastic selection of Asian fare, including at its largely Asian food court), and wouldn’t get mad if players from Gold Coast or Palms or Palace Station made their way over to try Chi Asian Kitchen.

You know we’ll be there when Chi opens to try the bulgogi fried rice, whatever that might actually be.

In Chinese culture, a concave navel is considered good luck. Random, but we ran out of photo captions.

Oh, and we can’t let this slide by. The news release about Chi closes with, “Complimentary parking and valet are always available at The Strat Hotel, Casino & SkyPod.”

Yes, that’s the full name of The Strat, but that’s for another time.

The thing about complimentary parking is only 90% true now. We love that 90%. The other 10% of the self-parking at Strat is “premium” parking, meaning you pay for the convenience of parking on the same floor as the casino entrance, and if you park near an elevator. Here’s more.

So, our recommendation is just park in the 90% of spaces that are still free and everyone can go on with their lives making immature jokes about “crushed peanuts” and “toasted cumin.”