Now here I sit at a beautiful teak counter watching sushi chef do his art. He slices raw fish delicately and rolls it up in sticky rice, wraps it in seaweed and garnishes it with ginger. He makes another pretty roll and adds lobster and shrimp.

Once I found out that lobsters are like seagoing cockroaches they were removed from my ‘food for Kathy’ list; …and now I’m not so sure about shrimp either.

Anyway, even at this enlightened age of “fty-something” I cannot separate myself from my early memories of fish processing and therefore will never be able to take part in trendy practice of devouring raw fish. Even wasabi won’t help.

The third course is Rainbow Trout accompanied by braised artichokes, apple wood-smoked bacon, oven-roasted tomato, aged balsamic and black truffle. All these exotic ingredients may sound busy, but flavors blend well with light flavor of fresh trout.

While I'm tasting and photographing artistically presented dishes, my husband's entrée arrives. He's picked grilled wild Salmon. Braised leeks fan out from salmon. All is drizzled with a Manila clam vinaigrette.

Rick Moonen has a passion for ocean conservation and sea, which he calls "our last wild frontier," but he won't serve any seafood that's farm-raised. His is a strong belief that our favorite seafoods must be eco-managed in such a way that natural seafood populations continue to be sustainable. In his New York restaurant, concerned about dangers of over-fishing, he took Chilean Sea Bass off his menu at height of its popularity. Moonen has testified several times for environmental and sustainable policy issues in Washington, DC and New York. As a founding member of Chef's Coalition, he brought together 2,000 chefs nationwide to fight for purity of food. He is a founding member of Seafood Choices Alliances and an active member of Wildlife Conservation Society, Seaweb, and a chef's advisory board member of Ecofish. He has also served as a spokesperson for American caviar, an environmentally sound alternative to Caspian Sea varieties.

Read entire feature free with photos at: http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/food/vegas/rmseafood/rmseafood.html

rm seafood Mandalay Place 3930 Las Vegas Blvd. South Las Vegas, NV 89119 702/632-9300 www.rmseafood.com Reservations recommended.

By Carolyn Proctor, Las Vegas Correspondent. Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com