After Four Years, Imoto in Victory Park Continues to Ride the Wave

In a northwest pocket of downtown Dallas sits one of the trendiest neighborhoods of DFW. Victory Park is home to about 4,000 residents as well as the American Airline Center, which is home to the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars and WFAA Channel 8 Studio.

A one-bedroom apartment there would easily set you back about $2,000 a month.  With all the influx of residents and visitors streaming through this entertainment district, new restaurants have emerged to satisfy locals and tourists alike. About four years ago, four-time James Beard Award-nominated chef and restaurateur Kent Rathbun launched Imoto.
Rathbun partnered with executive sushi chef Jimmy Duke, who was raised in Japan and has gone through the vigorous tutelage of the restaurant Nobu to create a dining experience that expresses flavors from all corners of Asia. Imoto is the opposite of its predecessor restaurant, Kenichi, which once occupied the space. Kenichi was more casual dining and strictly East Asian fare with various types of sushi and Japanese-inspired cuisine.

Imoto looks like a backdrop of scenes filmed in Korea and Japan for the Netflix Series Asian Nights. It’s an edgy and lively vibe with night-club energy. The menu exudes flavors from various parts of Asia including Thailand, Japan, Korea and China. You can also see some East-meets-West fusion items on this menu.

We started with the namesake Imoto sashimi ($18) and a mango snow crab roll ($19). Both were excellent and gorgeous. The yellowtail is set in a bath of citrusy yuzu soy sauce and garnished with raw serrano. The yellowtail was fresh and melted in the mouth. The serrano was a welcomed burn that woke up the taste buds for the zesty flavor of the yuzu and the fresh yellowtail.

A great sushi roll is a lot like a great grilled piece of meat; if it's done properly you don’t have to add any performance-enhancing sauces and can eat straight from the kitchen. The mango crab roll consisted of snow crab, mango, cucumber, salmon, which all worked harmoniously together.
The cocktail menu is innovative. There were several choices of drinks with vodka, gin or bourbon but the one that stuck out and mildly made us chuckle was the Miso Thorny, which has a rose-infused Timberline Vodka, St. Germain, lemon and lots of bubbles in a sugar-rimmed glass. This is perfect for someone who doesn’t know exactly what they want to drink, but wants vodka, and not too sweet.

Imoto changes its menu frequently based on fresh ingredients; no one wants to play Russian roulette with potentially old raw fish. The daily specials when we visited had several options including fan favorites such as hamachi, oysters and even live scallop, but we went for the bluefin tuna tasting.
This consisted of a trio of akami (lean), chu toro (little fatty) and oh toro (fatty belly). We opted for sashimi to keep other ingredients from getting in the way of the quality of tuna belly. It didn't disappoint.

We asked the server for something new and interesting, and he suggested the dragon-style elotes. Corn on the cob is deep-fried and slathered with butter then smothered with cotija cheese, cilantro, lime and their spicy homemade dragon sauce.
For the final plate tako (octopus) sashimi was set on a large salt rock with glowing lights inside. Although this dish was very Instagrammable, it fell short on taste. The thinly sliced octopus absorbed a lot of the salt from the rock, which made it hard to enjoy.
Overall, Imoto molds well into extravagant Dallas nightlife. It’s a sleek, sexy, sophisticated restaurant where you can enjoy a casual cocktail or premium dining with an exquisite menu.

Imoto, 2400 Victory Park Lane, 5-10 p.m. Tuesday - Thursday, 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Closed Sunday and Monday