RuYi Celebrates Fine East Asian Dining at Potawatomi

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RuYi is Chinese for “as desired.” The restaurant by that name at Potawatomi Casino and Hotel gives its guests more than could be desired—not just in Chinese cuisine but from a menu that also includes Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean and Thai offerings.

Enter through the busy casino and follow the enticing aromas past the slot machines and into a restaurant whose simple elegance is a contemporary update of East Asian aesthetics. The floors are wooden (with mosaic insets), the ceilings are high, and the seating is spacious. Offsetting the natural materials are many shades of red, the color of celebration in Chinese culture, including the high lanterns lighting the main dining area. There is a full bar (sake, wine, beer and specialty cocktails) and off to the side, a smaller dining nook fronting the sushi bar.

Some two dozen varieties of sushi and sushi rolls are on the menu, with fresh fish flown in twice a week. Nothing is frozen. The popular Milwaukee Roll is a layered combo of colors and textures, a balance of mild flavors derived from tuna tartare and avocado. RuYi recently added all-you-can-eat sushi for $28.88, the pricing based on the numeral 8, a lucky number in Japanese culture. 

Salads come in a scrumptious variety, including chicken & cashew, wakame (marinated seaweed) and tuna salmon avocado. The beef salad combines softness and crunch with its array of green and red lettuce, crushed peanuts, thin-sliced carrots and tender stir-fry beef in a Thai chili vinaigrette. Starters span the eastern side of Asia, including egg rolls, pot stickers and a delicious Crab Rangoon.

The Vietnamese beef pho is prepared from dark, rich, delicious broth, sharpened by onion bits and made onsite, as is most everything on the menu. Japan is represented in the soup section with miso shiru and China with egg drop and sweet and sour soup.

Orange chicken is a staple at Chinese American restaurants but is seldom as well prepared as at RuYi. Flecked with sesame seeds, the chicken pieces are large and meaty in a light orangey sauce, not drenched in syrup as is often the case. The breading isn’t a heavy blanket but a thin cover, adding a touch of texture and taste. The wagyu steak is meltingly tender, and the salt and pepper chicken (and the salt and pepper shrimp) are similarly succulent and flavorful. Friday brings a spin on a Wisconsin favorite: tempura-battered walleye served with bok choy, bell peppers and bean sprouts.

The menu’s many starters, soups, salads and entrees bring diverse East Asian elements together in a contemporary setting, but the desserts are where East truly meets West. The mochi ice cream is wrapped in sticky rice, the coconut cake is served with caramelized pineapple, the fluffy cheesecake sits on a rice crispy crust and the chocolate cake is infused with passion fruit. Desserts are prepared in a pastry kitchen on site. The almond cookies are huge and fresh, and there is a Cake of the Month.

Remarkably, RuYi’s prices are reasonable given the cosmopolitan ambiance and the quality of its menu. Dinners will leave with plenty of cash to spend at the blackjack tables that await outside. 

RuYi Authentic Asian Cuisine