52nd City

The Grass is Greener

Not only is the new Lemon Grass greener, it's also more yellow. And, most importantly, the two plastic lobsters with large, glowing, red eyes aren't tucked away, but are, in fact, the primary design features of the barroom. Yes, barroom. There's a little bar at Lemon Grass, with a modest selection of beers and wines carefully spaced out on the glass shelving. More green, more yellow, more liquor, same menu, check.

But to return to the "most importantly" concept... it might be that the most important element of the new Lemon Grass isn't that the lobsters made the trip safely down Grand. It's that the space isn't contaiminated by the toxins from CBGB next door. On a recent weeknight visit to the Grass, dozens of 23-year-old men, smelling of cigarettes, PBR and youthful musk, were standing in their black sweatshirts and Chuck Taylors just a few away, playing pinball, discussing the new VHS or Beta album and, waiting, unsuccessfully, for an unacompanied woman of any age to walk in the South City landmark. (Keep the faith, fellows.) But the thick, strong city walls of Lemon Grass - painted those yellows and greens and festooned with lobsters - kept their volume to less than a minimum. They were not a presence.

Lemon Grass is now an oasis. No more opening the door and letting in one of the following: cold blasts of wind; leaves and chips bags; obscenities from passing, foul-mouthed children; and the creeky sounds of car alarms. No more gazing upon boxes of wine, stacked balefully in a corner. No more bumped elbows, as someone you vaguely know from the neighborhood comes in and plops down next to you, easily enough in your personal space to eavesdrop on conversations both petty and uplifting. Lemon Grass is now relatively vast (two rooms, same number as the old place, but what rooms!) and is much the richer for it.

The draconian policy of no soda refills remains in place. A lusty round of boos! But we'll forgive the bosses at Lemon Grass and will simply order tea instead. And we'll order it soon, as the new Lemon Grass is a place worth visiting early and often.