December 1st, 2009
In Delray Beach, Florida…you will find…Lemon Grass…an Asian Bistro that stands above the rest…
You would think that after the Thanksgiving Holiday eating extravaganza people would not be able to see food for some time, including myself. Well, not in Delray Beach, on Atlantic Avenue. By the look of the restaurants on the Avenue, the coveted outdoor seatings were full even on a Sunday night, when we decided to go to Lemon Grass.
I have forgotten when this restaurant opened but it has to have been at least 6 or 7 years ago. At the time it was half the size that it is now. First, let me tell you where it is located because this is one of those restaurants that you would like to bookmark.
Lemon Grass is located on 420 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach, FL 33483, right in the center of the Avenue. Telephone is 561-278-5050, Fax is 561-278-0222. Website is www.lemongrassasianbistro.com. Hours of operation: Lunch Mondays through Fridays from 12 p.m. until 3 p.m. Dinner Mondays through Thursdays 5 p.m. until 10 p.m., Fridays 5 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. Saturdays 12 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. and Sundays 12 p.m. until 10 p.m.
At first I was just going to go to the restaurant and wing it, as they say but when I decided to call they asked if I would mind seating inside. That was fine with me because it had been a little chilly in South Florida so it might not be a bad thing. When my party got there, I wished I had sat outside since it really was one of those beautiful evenings where there was a nice breeze and the palm trees were swaying in their own unique way. I love them!
The interior of Lemon Grass has reds, whites and stainless steel. And, by the way, our table by the big glass window was perfect; very comfortable. This is a busy restaurant with people coming and going. If you are seating towards the rear of the restaurant, you can see the open kitchen with the sushi bar before the kitchen.
You have to admit that everywhere you look there are so many Asian restaurants sprouting. Lemon Grass, as I stated before, stands above a lot of them. The variety of Asian food will please a wide palate.
We started with the Spicy Conch Salad and conch is something I like and every time I am in an area that has it, I will certainly taste it. This salad had spicy conch, masago, scallions and sesame seeds on top of thinly sliced cucumbers. Very refreshing with the right amount of spice and a pretty good size appetizer, as well.
Do you know what masago is? It is a type of roe from the capelin fish, which is a member of the salmon family. It is small crunchy orange eggs used in sushi rolls to add additional texture and flavor. I thought I add that info. to the post since a lot of the Asian foods have it.
For dinner, someone ordered Sex on the Moon. It is a roll of shrimp tempura, asparagus, avocado, scallions, eel, masago, tuna with tempura flakes on top and sesame seeds. People kept going by and asking what kind of roll it was. Eyebrows would raise with the answer. Other rolls are the Lemongrass roll, which has salmon tempura, eel, cream cheese, avocado inside out with masago. A very popular and impressive roll is the Lobster Monster which is crispy lobster, cucumber, scallions, asparagus, masago, spicy mayo and sesame seeds. It is one of those rolls that’s big so it’s probably the only thing you would need for dinner.
My absolute favorite at Lemon Grass is the Holy Snapper. Check the picture I took. It is a fried whole boneless snapper topped with garlic sweet chili sauce. The taste is so delicious and it is such an amazing looking dish. I hope you don’t mind the other dining patrons looking at you eating, because that’s exactly what is going to happen. A lot of people will never consider ordering a whole fish, but if you do find yourself at Lemon Grass, please order it because you will be coming back to this restaurant time and time again for this particular entree.
Holy Snapper
Lemon Grass has restaurants in Boca Raton, Boyton Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. In their family of restaurants they also own Sushi Thai and Fah in Boca Raton. Their website has information on all these restaurants and if you visit the site you will be able to see the different menus. They have appetizers, sushi appetizers, salads, soups, Asian stir, Asian curry, noodle soup, noodle stir, fried rice, sushi rolls, cucumber wrapped rolls, small rolls, entrees, and sushi and sashimi entrees.
Worthy of notice is that Lemon Grass offers catering for private or large gatherings. For the Delray location, please call 561-544-8181. They also have delivery available and you can call 561-900-7060 for that service.
I really enjoyed it and cannot wait to go back to have that Holy Snapper again.
Note: Information on masago was taken from www.catalinaop.com.
From Delray Beach, talk to you later…
Tags: Affordable, Asian food, Delray Beach, Florida, Full Bar, lunch and dinner, Restaurant, Restaurants, review, Reviews, seafood restaurant
