What is it about Bellevue? There's plenty of wealth concentrated out there, maybe not as much as in Brentwood, but unlike its Williamson County cousin, Bellevue doesn't offer much memorable dining. Recently the area got a shot in the arm with Wildwood Oak-Fired Kitchen, which is well worth visiting, but pound-for-pound, Brentwood wins the battle of the affluent outliers with well-grounded restaurants like Hanabi, Mere Bulles, Wild Iris and Criallo's.
And so we have this "it's good . . . for Bellevue" syndrome going on out there. Lemongrass is doing its best to change that, and the hybrid Thai/sushi restaurant certainly succeeds on the Thai front, but its sushi menu offers nothing that can't be had closer to wherever it is you live.
In fact, the sushi menu is really an afterthought, tacked onto the end of a menu that showcases some pretty smashing Thai dishes that you can't find in many places: frog legs, grilled yellowtail jaw, crispy squid with garlic, sea bass curry. Come here with an open mind and a willing tongue, and you'll find a lot to engage you. Just don't come looking for mind-blowing sashimi.
Scallops were stars
That's not to say that all the seafood dishes are lame. Far from it. Scallops get their own little chapter on the menu, and a dish that paired the ivory medallions with a bold chili-basil sauce and stir-fried peppers, onions and snow peas ($15.95) was outstanding. The scallops were glistening, firm and fresh tasting.
Fat shrimp on the pad Thai ($11.95), which was a good riff on the familiar dish, were juicy and seared expertly.The sauce over the dish was a little sweet, but not too far over the line. Should you order the pad Thai, ask for a couple wedges of lime to brighten it up a bit.
Also worth exploring is the curry region of the menu. Step away from the usual coconut milk-infused sauces, which can sometimes lull your mind into a sweetened fog, and try the keang pah variety ($10.95 turf, $12.95 surf), which manipulates your attention with scarlet threads of chili, bell peppers and basil.
As for the heat scale, here you have three choices. I like very spicy food, and I'm here to tell you that ordering something medium here will hurt you. Whether that's good or bad is up to you.
Appetizers disappoint
For all the successes my table hit on the entrée menu, we hit so many stumbling blocks on the appetizer front that the rest of the meal had to be stellar to make up. The tom ka gai soup ($3.50) was too salty -- briny, almost -- for a dish that should balance sweet, heat and salt in a delicate juggling act. And the chicken chunks floating therein were of that dreadful, tasteless mystery-bird sort that makes you wonder what kind of freeze-drying process it's been through.
The tiger tear salad ($7.95) was better but still disappointing. The beef was stringy and dry, while the spicy ginger kick and bright laser-beams of lime that usually mark this sliced beef salad were absent.
And while I loved the idea of the curry puffs ($6.95), little fried pillows of chicken, sweet potato and onion, the first two ingredients were nowhere to be found. Not that eating bites of sweet onions dusted with curry powder was bad, but being promised three things and getting one isn't fun no matter how you cut it.
Sushi suffices
You can find the usual bevy of mayonnaise-bedecked sushi rolls here, with a few tempura options thrown in. The overall quality of the fish is fair, judging from the five kinds of sashimi I tried, but it's not a connoisseur's kind of place. There are better places to get raw fish in Nashville and, yes, Brentwood. The raw scallop, however, was delicious, glistening and almost molten in texture.
Asian beers and a few decent cheap wines comprise the drink list. Avoid the plum wine unless you like the idea of alcoholic Hawaiian Punch. Do go for the pineapple sake, though ($8 for a small carafe). It's a house specialty that's equal parts sweet and dry, and it goes very well with many of the lighter seafood dishes.
I found the service attentive without being smothering, but guidance on dishes is somewhat hard to come by. Pacing was a problem; the sushi I ordered as the main course was brought out with the rest of the appetizers, and the soup I'd ordered as an appetizer, albeit a little late, was presented after everything else.
Still, Lemongrass is a worthy destination if you're looking for something a bit different in the Thai realm. It may not blow away the "good for Bellevue" doldrums, but it's going to take a lot more than one restaurant to do that anyway. What we have now is a solid, ambitious addition to the local dining landscape that does certain things, like scallops, very well, and that's reason enough for locals to stop by for a taste.
