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Business & Tech

Lemongrass Reveals Facets of the East

Eatery specializes in Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese cuisines.

Asian restaurants are often the go-to choices for casual, flavorful meals on a weekend evening. When you add in the stress of the recent days’ power outages and flooding complications, Asian food seems comforting even if you’re not familiar with everything on the menu.

We’ve long been a fan of the seasoning lemongrass, so we were curious when we noticed a sign on a small restaurant in a barely noticeable mini-strip mall in Morris Plains, just over the line from Parsippany, announcing “Lemongrass,” a Viet-Thai restaurant. We first encountered lemongrass and Vietnamese food at Manhattan's hip and chic Indochine; we continually look for Vietnamese food outposts closer to home.

So one Saturday, we walked into 2-year-old Lemongrass not knowing what to expect. The sign out front said it featured both Vietnamese and Thai cuisine. Once we opened the menu, we also saw that Chinese dishes were available as well. This could mean we were in for a really confusing trip through the East or a delightful journey in which we pick and choose our favorites.

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One of the first surprises was the smart décor: sleek black tables against clean white walls, atmospheric lighting and very modern softened triangular white dishes and bowls on which our dinner was presented. It almost felt like a New York moment. We definitely felt we had entered a new dimension with the majority of tables filled with Asian families and friends dining happily (and loudly) together. Children of all ages are most definitely welcome here. During lunch, many local office workers stop in for their favorites according to a relative who used to work in the area.

At night, the noise could be off-putting, but we decided to focus on the food, and with our friendly waitress’s help, we were on our way. While she was not Asian, she was quite versed in the various dishes and assured us that she would be available to help at any time.

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We learned that the manager that night, Ann Wang, and her brother, James, are partners with other family members in the venture and she, too, wanted to make us feel comfortable.

Our first choices were the house special, a soup known as Pho, which contained slices of lean beef, soft tendon and tripe accompanied by a mountain of vermicelli noodles. A medium was served in a good-sized bowl with lemongrass, bean sprouts, basil and lime for $7. It came with a large ladle for serving oneself and the typical Asian spoons which allow the soup to cool if necessary. The gentleman next to us was enjoying a large serving throughout his meal. Our only issue was that the soup should have been hotter.

A substantial mango salad came with slivers of the excellent fruit served over iceberg lettuce with mint leaves, peanuts, cashews, onions, red chili flakes and a sweet Vietnamese dressing that was a little too watery; that could have been the result of the iceberg lettuce. Something sturdier—romaine lettuce, perhaps—might have been more appropriate.

When it was time to focus on entrees, we went for a couple of Thai dishes: Thai coconut curry vegetable stir-fry came with a generous helping of fresh shrimp for $13. The sauce was thick, creamy and spicy; it was an appropriate conveyance for the broccoli, snow peas, garlic, water chestnuts, mushrooms and more that made up the dish.

Next was a spicy red curry dish with shrimp that had a shower of bamboo shoots, giving it a grassy, earthy taste that complemented the hot pepper seasoning. A generous bowl of rice rounded out this entrée.

Dessert was not an option since we had had plenty to eat, but the new items on the menu include a mango sticky rice for $5 made with tapioca, coconut milk and both fresh and pureed mango. Fruit shakes for $3 come in flavors including avocado, mango, coconut, strawberry, pineapple or jack fruit, a Southeast Asian fruit that can grow to 80 pounds. Next time.

When we finished, Ann Wang stopped by our table to answer some questions such as why the menu features a trifecta of cuisines. It turns out her grandfather is both Vietnamese and Chinese, as are many of the chefs in the kitchen. James Wang said in a telephone interview that some family members did emigrate to Thailand. In fact, he learned the restaurant business by working in his family’s restaurants in Toronto. So by borrowing from a few flavorful cuisines, the Wang family has come up with a creative and tasty melting pot of dishes that anyone with some curiosity and adventurousness can enjoy.

Lemongrass Viet-Thai Restaurant 1729 Route 10 East, Morris Plains. (973) 998-6303 Hours Sunday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Major credit cards accepted.

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