Many casino restaurants throughout the country are not particularly notable. It’s no secret that casinos only want to provide a serviceable food option to keep people from leaving instead of plugging coins into a slot machine. But Potawatomi has always had a higher dining standard than most casinos. One such standout is RuYi, located on the casino’s first floor at the bottom of the escalators from the skywalk. The restaurant and sushi bar serves a variety of Asian cuisines with varying degrees of Americanization. It’s a restaurant designed to please the masses of folks who walk through the casino’s doors, and, traditional recipes or not, it’s doing a good job with well-prepared dishes and friendly service.
Whole fish is a standout on the menu. The fish, generally branzino or red snapper, can be prepared two ways: steamed with soy sauce, sesame and herbs, or wok-fried (market price). When steamed, the fish takes on the simple flavors of the sauce and herbs with supple flesh. But my choice is always the fried version, which is fried whole and plated upright for a dramatic presentation. A Thai-inspired brown sauce full of julienned carrots, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions is ladled over the fish. Both dishes come with copious amounts of white rice and are generally shared by two people.
Also on the menu is the volcano chicken ($15). It’s a different preparation than most Thai restaurants: a thin chicken breast is breaded in crisp panko, fried, sliced into strips and then topped with a creamy, coconut-based, mild curry sauce. It’s a grown-up chicken strip dish, and who doesn’t love that? RuYi makes no apologies for it, and neither should you.
Entree salads are substantial and full of herbs, like the Vietnamese-inspired bun thit nuong ($15). Rice noodles are layered on top of lettuce, along with plenty of vegetables, whole shrimp and strips of tender, savory pork loin. Dressing on the side emulates traditional fish sauce-based nuoc cham but is sweeter and less pungent.
A soup/noodles section of the menu includes roast duck ($16) with Cantonese egg noodles or opt for wide, fat rice noodles in the chow fun ($14-$16) stir fry. For something more like your favorite Chinese American dishes, head to the section titled Milwaukee’s Favorites, where you’ll find kung pao ($14-$16), fried rice ($13-$16) and sweet-and-sour chicken or shrimp ($14-$16) complete with bright red sauce and pineapple chunks.
For starters, bypass the bland crab Rangoon ($8) for the potstickers ($8) filled with ground pork or the Thai spicy wings ($10) that are tossed with garlic, chile, sesame and fresh basil. Both benefit from a drizzle of spicy chile oil that you can request from your server.
While it hasn’t always been possible, you can now order from the sushi bar menu in the main restaurant. (If you’re just getting sushi, however, sit in the sushi bar; it’s calm and serene, while the frenetic atmosphere of the casino spills into most of the restaurant.) Rolls, nigiri and sashimi are available, along with starters and rice bowls called donburi. Specialty rolls are numerous, including the signature RuYi roll ($19) that includes spicy salmon, yellowtail tuna, tobiko, avocado and spicy mayo. Almost two dozen types of nigiri and sashimi are offered, with hotate gai ($8-$10), a sweet scallop and bright orange uni ($7-$9) as standouts.
There is often a wait to be seated at RuYi, but the vibrating pager to alert you when your table is ready works throughout the casino. Even if you’re not gambling, you can watch a craps table or get a drink at a different bar. Or, stand nearby the host stand and count the number of to-go orders leaving the restaurant. Like most Chinese American spots, they do a high volume of takeout. This is a restaurant that is designed to satisfy as many tastes as possible, and with a menu that spans sushi to pho, it does just that.
