What The Heck Is Going on with Morimoto at the Mirage?

What’s going on with Morimoto at the Mirage? The restaurant from the Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto was announced two years ago and expected to take over the Japonais space. Giant billboards at the resort and links of the Mirage Website touted the restaurant was coming soon.

Yet construction never got off the ground. Japaonais is still open. And now all reference to the chef was removed from the Website.

An official with the Mirage says that the resort is still in negotiations with Morimoto to open his first Las Vegas restaurant. So all plans are on hold for now.

Last year at Vegas Uncork’d Morimoto told Eater Vegas that his restaurant was coming, "sometime soon, but I have been saying sometime soon since last September."

The Japanese chef with a penchant for singing made his mark in America while working for Nobu Matsuhisa in New York City when he started working on the Iron Chef America television show. He opened his first Morimoto in Philadelphia in 2001 with restaurateur Stephen Starr. This will mark the 11th restaurant with the Morimoto signature worldwide.

If and when it does arrive in Las Vegas, expect to find dishes that meld Western ingredients with traditional Japanese fare in the form of tempura, sushi and sashimi. He's perhaps best known for his Morimoto sashimi salad made with seared toro, smoked salmon, barbecue eel, tun and hamachi, blended with five sauces and served in a blond wood box. His Duck, Duck, Duck features a roasted duck leg with a duck sandwich made with cucumber and a foie gras-infused croissant, all served with a red miso sauce and a soft duck egg.