LAST YEAR OWNER/CHEF RON LARSON and his culinary team decided to distinguish Strip’s cedar-planked salmon by infusing it with Asian flavor.  “ There are certain ingredients that you always think of when you talk about Asian,” he says. “One is soy, which is usually a base. Another would be ginger, and the other would be wasabi.”  The most surprising ingredient is the blueberry — perhaps the last fruit you’d expect to receive top billing in this version of an upscale American-restaurant staple plated with whipped potatoes and vegetables.
     “We found it was [the] most appealing of all the particular berry items that we looked at,” he says. “It’s got a nice feel to it. And that’s something you have to think about when you put together a menu item that people are actually going to read.”

 THE BLUEBERRY SOY SALMON. Larson roasts or bakes the 8-ounce piece of Faroe Island salmon on a hand-cut cedar plank, “a simple way of smoking” that imparts “a savory tanginess.” He then brushes the fish with a house-made glaze consisting of a soy reduction, brown sugar, honey, red wine and blueberry puree. The brown sugar adds a molasses-like “dark richness,” while the honey and wine further counter the soy reduction’s strong saltiness with their sweetness. The most pronounced flavor and texture, however, is that of the blueberry puree, which provides “the fruit-based body.”
     “I don’t know how to describe that taste other than it’s euphoric,” Larson says of the cumulative result. 

THE GINGER-ROASTED SEASONAL VEGETABLES. “Ginger is typically hot and peppery, too,” Larson notes. He sautés fresh ginger root in a pan with butter before adding a medley of blanched fresh veggies — perhaps peppers, squashes, daikon radishes and beans grown on the restaurant’s Stone Eagle Farm.

THE WASABI WHIPPED POTATOES. Larson whips enough of the root paste into the redskin smash to turn it a light green. “It provides heat,” he says — but not enough to necessitate gulps of water between bites. 

THE WASABI WHIPPED POTATOES. Larson whips enough of the root paste into the redskin smash to turn it a light green. “It provides heat,” he says — but not enough to necessitate gulps of water between bites.