Lemongrass Palace Is the New Kid Among Blocks of Thai Restaurants

One stretch of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City seems to have a Thai restaurant every few blocks. One of the newest is Lemongrass Palace, a large, clean-lined ‘50s sort of place done in white, gray and black with art hangings adding a splash of color.

Among the pleasures at the Lemongrass are familiar dishes done especially well and unfamiliar dishes that convey the complex subtleties of Thai cooking.

Lemongrass Palace’s satay (skewered braised marinated beef), for instance, may seem simple, but it’s not. The clear tangy taste is a compound of numerous flavors including ginger, garlic, chili, coriander, tumeric and cumin. It is served with a spiced peanut sauce, but the satay is so well-flavored and tender that the sauce risked gilding the lily.

Larb was especially well-handled. Warm, coarsely ground beef shares the scene with crisp purple onions, scallions and carrots plus the welcome texture of rice powder, which helps spread the essential lime juice dressing. It’s a salad that unites warm and cold, crispy and chewy--a happy combination.

I’m a mee krob fan, and use it as a bellwether of Thai cooking. Some versions of this airy mound of fried, thin rice noodles with shrimp, chicken, bean sprouts and scallions are unpleasantly sweet and tomatoey. This one was neither; the flavors were well-balanced and the chicken and shrimp tender and moist. Deep-fried won tons were, however, the usual thing.

The surprising Tofu Delight was just that. Its hollowed-out rectangular blocks of soft tofu had been lightly fried to a chestnut brown and filled with a savory pork, shrimp and mushroom mixture.

Exhilarating steam, rich in the perfume of chili, coconut and curry poured out when the waitress cut open the large foil puff that held the Mixed Seafood Special, a favorite dish. Inside were tender scallops, squid and green-shelled New Zealand mussels cooked in their own moisture. I could see pulling this package out of a charcoal fire and sharing it on a palm-tree-studded beach.

Alas, there also have been disappointments at the Lemongrass Palace. Since they were mostly at lunch, it seems that there may be a different chef during the day. Pad gra-pow , chicken sauteed with chili, onion and fresh mint, was almost bereft of the mint, which gives this dish its character.

Prig khing (which in its various spellings has always struck me as seditiously anti-monarchist) consists of leaves of beef--or pork or chicken--with green beans in a dark curry sauce. The beans were crunchy, as they should be, but the beef was far too tough. The only dish that didn’t work at dinner was the Lemongrass Duckling, which was dry and, strangely, lacked duck flavor.

The Lemongrass Palace is reasonably priced, and the staff is graciously attentive. Being greeted upon arrival and escorted to the door upon leaving is a nice gesture. It makes you feel that even though they don’t know you, you are the guest of people who are proud of their hospitality.

Recommended dishes: Satay, $7; Tofu Delight, $6; Green Curry, $7; Mixed Seafood Special, $10.

Lemongrass Palace, 11744 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. (818) 985-7491. Open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day. Beer and wine license pending. Parking lot. Dinner for two, food only, $30-$45. Major credit cards accepted.