Lemon Grass Restaurant in Brookyn Park

[soccermom13]

This place was listed in the August '12 MSP mag in their "Insider Eats" article. Here's what MSP mag said about Lemon Grass in the article:

"LEMON GRASS THAI CUISINE
Insane Chicken in a Strip Mall

Up near nowhere, where Highway 252 gets you to Coon Rapids, there’s a newish but desolate strip mall with some of the best Thai food in the metro. Get the Crazy Duck or the Insane Chicken (the mad fowl are similar) for a profoundly moving update on the classic roasted rice, lime, and herb salad known as larb. It’s fresh and bold, jumping with big leaves of just-snapped herbs and vibrating with chili. Next, the Chiang Mai Alley Noodles, a tangle of spicy yellow curry and sour pickled mushroom greens, will have you understanding spice and pucker in a whole new way. Suddenly nowhere tastes like somewhere wonderful. 8600 Edinburgh Center Dr., Brooklyn Park, 763-494-8809, lemongrassthaicuisine.net—D. M. G."

Here's a link to the entire listing of 57 places to eat:
http://mspmag.com/Eat-And-Drink/Artic...

We ordered the Insane Chicken with a side of sticky rice and Southern Curried Noodles. I was all set to get the Chiang Mai Alley noodles that Dara wrote about, but then I discovered they were fried noodles, which did not appeal to me last night.

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the food! The larb was the best I've eve had. The flavors just pop! I used the sticky rice to mop every bit of the sauce left on the plate after I devoured the salad. DH loved the curry. I will most certainly return, and it's a LONG drive for these St. Paulites to get there, but it was so worth it. I asked the charming server if these were prepared traditionally, and she said that they had been modernized somewhat. I don't know enough about Thai cooking to know how they were modernized, but I don't care. They were just plain delicious.

I have not seen discussion of this resto on this board. Anyone been there? What did you think?

[kevin47]

This is my favorite Thai restaurant. The sausage appetizer is one of my favorite things to eat. The Lao style papaya salad is absolutely authentic, and they will make it extraordinarily spicy if you ask. Curries are very good as well.

I agree the tom kha gai is pretty forgettable. A better option for that flavor profile is the creamy tom yum.

[soccermom13]

Thanks Kevin, Shadowfax, and Getgot. I appreciate your comments and I have duly noted your reccs.

[shadowfax]

Just tried 'em last night. We had the flamin' chicken and a duck-in-fried-rice special they were running, and a couple of veggie spring rolls. Everything was delicious. The chicken curry was incredible - lots of interesting flavors in there. The spring rolls are delicious, and huge. The duck was my least favorite, but still very good. It just had a lot to compete with in the chicken's curry.

Can't comment on the service - we were late getting there, and they apparently do carryout only the last half hour, which was fine with us. We live fairly close. We'll be going back on a regular basis now.

[soccermom13]

So glad you liked it, Shadowfox! I am planning my next visit. Thanks for the report on the spring rolls; I'll put that on the list of things to try. I definitely want to try the curry with squash on our next visit.

[shadowfax]

Be aware that these are not fried spring rolls as a lot of people might expect. They're raw veggies, wrapped in wide rice noodles with a side sauce.

And they're huge. One is the equivalent of a large side salad.

[nichal]

the curry with squash is amazing :)

[getgot211]

there have been a couple, the house sausage has been mentioned. it is quite good, the fried rice is good, I believe a few mentioned 'crazy duck' or something like that. I advise to stay away from the tom kha gai however.