Vietnamese-French Fusion Meets New Orleans
A welcome international touch to the New Orleans culinary scene is Lemon Grass Restaurant, located at 217 Camp Street. Here is a restaurant that offers a light, stylish alternative to the "traditional" New Orleans fare, offering Vietnamese food with French and New Orleans influences.
Server Garett Drez presents
a Lemon Grass specialty.
Photo by M. Reiss
The "Soup of the Day" was a gumbo created by Executive Chef Mihn Bui and Chef de Cuisine Cynthia Vu Tran ($5). This gumbo included duck and Andouille sausage with jasmine rice. It was the duck--actually a "Laque Duck"-- roasted with five spices, that distinguished the flavors and gave the dish an Asian twist.
Another starter was the "Happy Pancake." We were indeed happy to enjoy this rice crepe, lightly sautéed and crispy, filled with tender shrimp slices, Ming bean sprouts, and finished in a zesty, spicy citrus sauce ($6.50). Here Vietnamese ingredients merge with a French-style crepe to produce a memorable appetizer. Also included on the menu as an appetizer is the "Crawfish Beignet," described as "crawfish, sweet pepper, celery, sweet onion with wasabi Remoulade" ($6.50), another fusion dish with New Orleans influences with the beignet and crawfish, yet having a distinctive Asia flavor.
The day we dined, Lemon Grass was offering as a special, "Sesame-Crusted Soft-shell Crab Over a Bed of Organic Mixed Field Greens." This was deliciously crunchy with the full flavor of the delicate crab coming through. Because we wanted to eat lightly, we ordered the "Grilled Shrimp on Top of Baby Lettuce, Rice Noodles, Roasted Peanuts and Fresh Summer Herbs with Citrus Sauce." The citrus sauce was in fact Vietnamese moc mam fish sauce prepared in a lemon-lime vinaigrette. This dish was a delicious light salad preparation.
For dessert we had the "Sampler Plate" which consisted of French styled creme¸me brule, fruit cheese cake, and a delicious Sacher-tart style chocolate cake. The deserts were prepared by Cynthia Vu Tran, Chef de Cuisine and Pastry Chef and were expertly executed.
Chef de Cuisine and Pastry Chef Cynthia Vu Tran
displays a Lemon Grass selection of fine deserts.
Photo by M. Reiss
Lemon Grass Restaurant is located adjacent to the hip International Hotel and the restaurant itself has a cool, Asian minimalist décor with muted colors, open grain wood and a high-tech, industrial feel. We would recommend Lemon Grass Restaurant for its light Asian-French/New Orleans inspired food.
Lemon Grass Restaurant
217 Camp Street
New Orleans, LA (504) 523-1200
food ***1/2 Scale ***** Outstanding
service ****
atmosphere **
value scale **** for lunch
****1/2 for dinner
**** Excellent
*** Good
** Fair
* Poor
