We only wish we could! We, too, are fans of Kabuto, which earned instant inclusion in the 2013 installment of Eating Las Vegas following its 2012 debut.
The "sign-less jewel box on Spring Mountain Road," as author John Curtas put it, which "probably gets the best fish in town (much of it from Japan)", was also one of 50 restaurants nominated to be in the list of Bon Appétit's top ten new restaurants in the United States the year it opened and has been ranked among the best sushi restaurants in the nation by Travel + Leisure. The menu consists of various tasting menus featuring many fish you've probably never heard of; mostly it's prepared raw, although grilled options are available. You will NOT find Maki or Hako sushi served at Kabuto.
The restaurant is still going strong at 5040 W. Spring Mountain (along with sister/neighboring ramen joint Monta, plus Sushi Mon, Monta Chaya, and Goyemon in Las Vegas and Monzo in L.A.), but revered chef-owner Gen Mizoguchi, a.k.a. Gen san, departed earlier this year, ostensibly to open his own new venue somewhere here in town and, like you, we've heard nothing since.
The best we can do for now is to leave you with a pearl of wisdom gleaned from the master, which we found while similarly searching in vain for some online update as to his whereabouts. This is a short piece by Julia Moskin in the archives of the New York Times, titled "How to Eat Sushi":
"The responsibility for great sushi extends to the customer.
The sushi bar diner is expected to order from the chef (but drinks and other food from the waiters), to pick up each piece with fingers or chopsticks (both are correct) and to eat it in one or two bites without putting it back on the plate.
Another sushi commandment, often flouted in American sushi bars, forbids dropping a piece of sushi into soy sauce and leaving it to soak. All the careful hospitality of the Japanese tradition could not conceal the shudder that ran through every sushi chef when asked about this practice. 'It is very painful for us,' Gen Mizoguchi of Megu said.
For the record, you should turn the piece upside down and swipe the fish lightly through the dish of soy sauce. A small amount of wasabi can be added to the dish, but too much is disrespectful to the chef and the fish, as it drowns other flavors."
We hope Gen san wasn't so hurt and offended by Las Vegas' sushi-eating habits that he left for good...
