The Thursday night crowd at Lemon Grass Asian Bistro means a couple of things. Delray Beach needed another good Asian restaurant, and locals have already discovered that this 4-month-old amalgam of cuisines delivers on what it sets out to do. Owner Tammy Grayson, originally from Bangkok, will be familiar to anyone who has every dined at her Sushi Thai in Boca Raton, where the emphasis is on inventive sushi and some very good Thai dishes.
RESTAURANT INFO
Cuisine: Asian
420 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach
561-278-5050
Cost: moderate-expensive
Credit cards: AE, MC, V
Hours: lunch, dinner Tuesday-Sunday
Reservations: only for parties of four or more
Sound level: very noisy during dinner rush
Bar: beer, wine
Smoking: outdoors only
Wheelchair accessible: yes
Children’s facilities: high chairs, booster seats
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At Lemon Grass, Grayson wanted to spread her culinary wings even wider with a greater number of authentic Thai dishes, a small selection of Vietnamese dishes, plus sushi. It also has an impressive sake selection. This is a huge menu, and it’s understandable that some dishes are better executed than others.
On this Thursday, the chefs in formal white coats and hats put out dishes as they can. But this is a relatively small restaurant with a bit of a chaotic vibe, despite the Asian-cool furniture, the evocative black and white photographs and the ambient lounge music.
But diners will do very well by ordering lemon grass duck ($22) from the entree menu, crispy and served with mixed vegetables and choice of either fresh ginger, sweet chili or basil sauce. It’s part Vietnamese and part Thai and very good.
In many ways, our appetizers were better than our entrees, but that may be because I love sampling many different dishes when in an Asian restaurant. There’s classic mee kob ($7), Thai crispy rice noodles perfectly glazed with a sweet sauce and topped with shrimp. Someone described it as Captain Crunch cereal for adults. It’s really not as sweet as the kids’ cereal. Be sure to order the curry puff ($6), which tastes Indian. Ground chicken, onion, potatoes, yellow curry and sweet potatoes are encased in fried pastry and served with cucumber relish. Steamed pork and shrimp dumplings ($7) are served with a wonderful house-made sweet-meets-vinegar sauce. There’s a Thai-style crispy spring roll ($4) and a fresh Vietnamese summer roll made with soft rice paper rolled around shrimp, basil leaves, lettuce, mint and rice vermicelli. Vietnam also shows up in the noodle soups.
A fresh seaweed salad ($5) is dressed perfectly. Tuna tartar ($10) is nicely spiced and served in a crispy wo-ton-like cone. The one piece of sushi we tried — hamachi ($2.95) — was divine.
By contrast, grilled Vietnamese pork ($13) seemed uninspiring and maybe a little dry. The pork is skewered and cooked with lemon grass in a nouc-nam sauce and served with steamed rice noodles. There are simple dishes here such as jade noodle ($13), steamed jade noodles with a simple grilled chicken breast basted in teriyaki. Volcano jumbo shrimp ($18) are grilled with sweet chili sauce and served around a hot stone. Mama’s lobster is sauteed with ginger, onions, bell pepper, shiitake mushrooms, scallions and cashews ($22). The presentation, like just about everything here, was awe-inspiring, the flavor less so.
It will take a few visits to make your way through this menu. There are 19 appetizers, and that doesn’t include sushi. There are easily more than 30 entree-appropriate dishes if you include stir-fries and noodle soups.
I know I’ll be back soon.
Please phone in advance to confirm information on hours, prices, menu items and facilities. For review consideration, please fax a current menu that includes name and address of restaurant to 954-356-4386 or send to Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-2293.
John Tanasychuk can be reached at or 954-356-4632 or by writing to him at the Sun-Sentinel.
