DINING OUT:
LEMONGRASS

238 West Jefferson Street
Armory Square
Syracuse, NY
(315) 475-1111

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by Sue Brode

Elsewhere in this issue of TABLE HOPPING, you will find Nancy Roberts’ review of a new book that is set in Syracuse. Any literary value set aside momentarily, you will note that the book has only nasty things to say about the Salt City. The scribe, who lived here for several years, apparently found nothing to like and was particularly unimpressed with the restaurants, which are written off as for rubes only. We beg to differ. My husband and I have traveled the world (literally) and had the honor of dining in some of the most famous restaurants anywhere. Not to take anything away from them, mind you, but we’re here to say that Syracuse’s top quality eateries hold their own against anything anywhere. We are NOT simply saying that our fine restaurants are ‘terrific for Syracuse.’ That would be to damn them with faint praise. We’re saying that they are as good as a restaurant gets.
And right at the top of the list is LEMON GRASS. It’s not just a Thai restaurant; it’s a Thai Pacific-Rim restaurant, and as all food sophisticates will tell you, that’s a far broader and more inclusive scope of taste treats to sample. Located at 238 West Jefferson Street in historic and trendy Armory Square, LEMON GRASS has long been known as the place to go when you want to celebrate a special event. It remains that, with all sorts of new seasonal items on the menu.

In addition, though, owners Max and Pook Chutinthranond have announced a special 2006 summer menu, which will allow many more people, who were concerned that perhaps they couldn’t afford LEMON GRASS, to now give this special place a try!
Max is now offering a three course dinner for $20.00! No, we’re not kidding. Same top quality food as always, but now packaged into a special summer treat that will cost you no more than what you would get at a far less prestigious eatery.

Check out the possibilities . . . for a starter, you can choose between a soup composed of Maryland crab meat and cream of corn; a dip of lobster meat and shrimp in lobster stock and coconut cream; tuna tartare (the most popular dish for this summer) served over bed of Soba wheat noodles, shredded cucumber, marinated fresh seaweed, sesame seeds, and red bean sauce; lemon grass chicken fritter (and INCREDIBLE taste sensation) with red curry, kaffir lime leaves, and herbs, served with sweet and sour sauce over greens and peanuts. (If you die without ever having tried Max’s truly remarkable chicken fritter, and you consider yourself a gourmet, we can tell you that your life will have been lived for nothing. Don’t let that happen!)

Second course is a salad, field greens with your choice of peanut dressing or balsamic vinaigrette.

Then, for the third course, your ENTRÉE: how about 1) Chili Tamanarnd Sauce/Lad Prig Sauce, served with Yellow fin Tuna. Or how about Chicken Red Curry (Gaeng Gai) with cinnamon basil, bamboo shoots, straw mushrooms and chili peppers. Others will want to go with Sauteed Asian vegetable in brown sauce (Kaw Lad Nah), featuring your choice of meat prepared with garlic, cashew nuts, Shiitake mushrooms, straw mushrooms, bamboo shoots, baby corn, and scallions in sherry wine. For fans of hot and sour, there’s Pad Prig sod, a major league step-up from any simple sweet and source sauce that you may have tried. Max’s is more aggressive on the palate. A basic whisky sauce with hints of molasses and fresh peppers provide you with a surprisingly light but fully loaded sauce, served over your choice of chicken or beef.

Also making a night out affordable: Five high quality wines are available, one bottle per couple, as an accompaniment to this prix fixe dinner only for $20.00 per bottle. Dessert, beverage, tax and gratuity are not included. It’s a great deal if you’re looking for a deal, and ought to make this great eatery affordable to people who have been hungering to give it a try but just couldn’t in the past.

Let’s move on, though, to the a la carte Menu, which continues to grow with additional new items that Max has just come up with, as well as hanging on to the most beloved items that have forged the lofty reputation of LEMON GRASS.
Max is spending more time than ever in the kitchen, coming up with items like the neo-Japanese Tuna Tartare.

For appetizers, the recommended favorites include Chicken Sate, glazed with Peanut Sauce and served with cucumber salad ($7.50). This has always been one of our favorites, and Max explained the lengthy process – literally hours spent ‘beating’ the poultry to achieve precisely the right tenderness – to us. Vegetarians will want to opt for the Fried White Tofu, served with the sweet-pepper tamarind sauce, grounds peanuts, and sprigs of cilantro ($7.50). Also note that MANY items on the menu can be specially prepared for vegetarians with all sorts of meatless substitutes.

For the less adventurous, those who know what they love and want an old reliable, there’s Calamari, marinated (($9.00) or fried ($8.50) and Coconut Shrimp, flash fried and served with Chili Tamarind sauce ($9.00).

There’s soup (Tom Yum, traditional Thai hot and spicy soup, $5.50) and salads, ranging from mixed greens ($4.50) to Goat Cheese ($9.50) and Charbroiled Beef ($8.95). The NEW salads, which are most engaging and utterly different, include Mushroom (lightly grilled wild mushrooms, roasted sweet pepper, shallots, garlic, vine ripened tomatoes, and fresh herbs with a lime vinaigrette, $9.95), and Citrus (grape fruit, lemon grass, radicchio walnuts, smoked shrimp (optional), and lemon grass crouton tossed with a champagne cream vinaigrette ($9.50).

Entrees, which run between $18.50 and $25.00 (excluding steak selections) offer you choices of meat or fish served with Chili Tamarind Sauce, Green Curry, Garlic Sauce (Gratiam), Panaeng Curry, Sweet and Sour (Priew Wan), Pad Thai, Pad Prig Sod, Kaw Lad Nah, and Himalayan Mango Cashew Nuts. Among the most memorable items that we tried were the soft shell crab, new mushroom Pakini, and Russian King Crab.

Max explained to us that he is constantly looking for new suppliers of everything from fresh fish to gourmet mushrooms, in order that the food he serves will not merely be of high quality but the highest quality. He’ll discover that mushrooms he once ordered from a certain city are not what they used to be, and so begin to order them instead from Asia, at a considerably greater expense to himself, though the customer’s palette always comes first. Max assumes that the people in Syracuse deserve fine dining on the highest level, and eery single item is carefully picked to supply precisely that.

Just a note as to how ‘personal’ the touch is: all the mint leaves served at the restaurant are grown by Max in his own home.
Right now, Max orders his soft shell crabs from Maryland. But in just a few weeks, he’ll probably shift over and get them from Mexico, because the crabs will be tastier then, as the season for top crabs lasts longer south of the border. That kind of close attention is paid to every single product. The tuna comes from Boston right now. Max is searching to see if there might possibly be a better source anywhere in the world. If he finds it, he’ll order .it

And you’ll get to eat it.

All the shrimp and crab dishes are to die for. But if you should happen to have a friend along with you who wants something far more traditional, do note that there are filet mignons, Delmonico Premiums, and aged USDA prime New York strip steaks, as well as New Zeald Baby Rack of Lamb.

And we haven’t even begun to talk about the Long Island roast Duck dishes! Oh, well. Next time.

Our favorite desserts include THE LOST SLIPPER (a hazelnut chocolate mousse that fills a chocolate cone and is accompanied by raspberry layer cake, white chocolate truffle filled with Frangellico liquor and raspberry sorbet) and CHOCOLATE PYRAMID (chocolate mouse filling a well tempered chocolate pyramid served with homemade vanilla ice cream, a honey tuile and a dark cocoa moon). The CRÈME BRULEE contains three tiers of banana and warm banana fritters.

One other recommendation: If, like my husband, you are a fan of fine and hard to find beers, ask either Max or your waiter (the wait staff is super-professional and highly knowledgeable) to recommend some of their unique imported beers. My husband tried three different ones, each chosen (by Max and our waiter) as a perfect accompaniment to our current dish, and says that the unique ‘Harpoon’ is one that he’d never got around to trying – and will always order when and where it’s available.
Maybe that won’t be too many places. But LEMON GRASS has it!

For more info and reservations, call 475 1111. Please mention that you read about LEMON GRASS in the “Dining Out” column of TABLE HOPPING.

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