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Despite sitting vacant since the February "Grand Opening" of the Grand Bazaar Shops, there appears some hint of momentum to bring San Francisco's famed Katana-Ya to its first, very compact 432-square-foot Las Vegas location.
Located in front Bally's Las Vegas resort, master ramen chef Yoshiaki Noto was scheduled to debut his always busy Katana-Ya Japanese noodle shop on the outdoor malls' opening day. New construction paperwork only now indicates a start to the project, with an estimated budget of $285,000 in costs.
At less than 500 square feet, chef Noto is used to small spaces, serving as many as 20 different ramen dishes at his original 30-seat restaurant located a couple of blocks from Union Square in San Francisco. The famously cramped space also features a five-person sushi bar and an equally loyal following for Noto's karaage Japanese-style fried chicken.
Plywood on the Strip renamed the venture Ramen-ya, but current paperwork refers to the venture as Katana. Even more puzzling, the on-site Grand Bazaar maps calls the the project Katana-ya. All mention of either name have been removed from the Grand Bazaar web pages for some time. No new timetable for completion has yet to be revealed.