Roka Akor - Old Orchard Skokie

This may be the most superb Japanese restaurant in the metro Chicago area, and it holds its own IMHO among the best Japanese eateries in the world. This is the second time we dined at roka akor at the Old Orchard location, and once again we had a sublime dining experience! The place is beautiful inside and out, the decor and the aesthetic design incredibly pleasing. Our server was an extremely nice and friendly young man who was very skilled at his job and also very knowledgeable about the menu and the food preparation. Roka Akor is known as a Japanese steak house (it calls itself that) but really that moniker understates what it does because the menu is full-scale Japanese cuisine and has all the traditional favorites. It also offers some unusual menu items, with very creative preparations. For example, my husband had escolar, which is a marinated fish with seasoning (including mild wasabi) wrapped around a stick of roasted, white asparagus. A long plate comes out with about 10, small, individual servings. It was exquisitely tasty and tender. He also had a roasted sweet potato which was quite delicious. I would loved to have had a scrumptious, juicy grilled steak but, due to some recent dental surgery, I didn't have the chewing power for it. Instead, I contented myself with the salmon-ginger teriyaki and it was no disappointment or settling for second-best. I can't describe how delectable it was. One thing that was quite unique was its preparation, which is to grill it to just done on the outside, then transfer it onto a large leaf (yes, you read right), in which it is wrapped, then broiled briefly in a baking pan until it's bubbly juicy. Our server explained that the leaf wrapping holds the moisture in better than any other material, and the fish comes out on a little ceramic tray, still semi-wrapped in the leaf. Words are inadequate to describe what a delight it is to consume this lovely dish. The teriyaki is wonderfully flavorful, just the right amount of sweet, and the salmon is so delicate, moist and tender, it almost melted in my mouth. I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit I used my fingers to scrape up every last drop of sauce and flake of seafood because my chopsticks couldn't do the same job as well, and it was so delicious, I had to savor every last molecule! I'm telling you, dear readers, it was almost a sensuous experience. � We had room for dessert and we were having too good an experience to let it end at the finish of our entrees. The dessert menu is quite sophisticated, with a blending of Japanese influences on European standards. I settled on the warm chocolate cake with banana-sesame-seed (housemade) ice cream and roasted peanuts, after a difficult conflict between it or a Ube Pot de Creme. I asked about it and was told it's a velvety custard made from a purple yam. I was intrigued by its description but I had a chocolate craving, so I went with the more familiar. If you love chocolate as much as I do, I strongly urge you to try this. You won't be disappointed. The piece of cake is a small, round puff, covered with a warm, rich, chocalety sauce that somehow has the words "roka akor" in rows of tiny printing, emblazened across its surface. I thought for a second it had to be a layer of tissue paper but when I poked it gently, I could see it was all sauce. It's amazing what technology can do! The ice cream was super yummy. The separate sauce in which the peanut pieces were roasted was tasty, too, although I don't know what it was. My husband had the coconut creme brûlée which is a variety we had not seen before. It was served smothered under a heap of sparkling raspberry sorbet and it was so good, I nearly wept, and I am not a fan of coconut flavor or shavings ordinarily. This was so delicious, however, I may surprise the world by ordering it next time we are lucky enough to return. With dessert, we shared a beautiful, glass pot of Jasmine tea, which was excellent. The check came to about $90 which I think is a bargain for the extremely high quality of the meal, and considerably less than many fine-dining restaurants we have visited. I forgot to mention I had a splendid cocktail, too, from the bar menu which offers a variety of Japanese-themed cocktails, alongside traditional American favorites. My drink was a "Paper Tiger", made with gin, lemon, yuzu (a Japanese liqueur) and--of all things--green tea. Quite good. The only bad thing I can say is I am sad because I don't know when we will be there again. � I wish we could eat there once a week!