Since I published my list of favorite ethnic spots last week, I’ve received two phone calls–one very kind, pointing out that I should try Lotus, and another pretty crazy one, saying I should try Lotus and that other places on my list are “Mafia-owned”–and then a letter to the editor this morning saying Lotus should’ve been on the list.
Well, I’ve been to Lotus two or three times and I don’t get it. The food was good enough, but nothing special. What should I be ordering? Tell me what’s best and I’ll give it another try. I love to head toward Summer instead of Poplar for a quick dinner, so I’m going to be happy if something good comes from this…
Reviews
Responses to “Lotus”
December 28th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I lived in Memphis for 3 years back in the mid 80s. It was at Lotus that I first tried Vietnamese food. And it was a revelation! I lived out east at the time and it was close by. I must have eaten there at least once a week if not 3. I had never had food like that before: tart, tangy, spicy yet light and full of herbs and vegetables. I was especially taken with the Banh Cuon, very delicate rice flour dumplings filled with pork and tree ears, topped with a refreshing salad of cucumber, bean sprouts and that indespensible sauce Nuoc Cham. Hot, tender dumplings, cool,crisp salad and fiery tart sauce, God get me back there! I also loved their banh zeo, a crisp rice cake, the fried spring rolls, searingly hot and sour soup and Vietnamese vermecelli.
It would seem rather useless that someone who hasn’t eaten there in over 20 years could possibly recommend it now. I am sending this email as a sentimental tribute to a restuarant that inspired me to explore Vietnamese food and learn to make it. I am a chef and have worked at Food and Wine magazine for the past 20 years. I eventually co - authored a Vietnamese cookbook with a wonderful Vietnamse chef.I have been to Vietnam twice and hope to return soon. I have had Vietnamese food all over this country and in it’s native land. Aside from Binh Duong’s food and the native cooking I have been fortunate to experience, The Lotus remains in my memory as some of the best I’ve had.
I will always be indebted to The Lotus and the wonderful family who has run it for all these years, (the kids used to do their homework at the front table). It was at their modest, authentic restuarant that my life long love affair with Vietnamese food began. And I will be back this coming year to try again.
December 28th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Well, Marcia, you’re tempting me. There are many more Vietnamese restaurants in Memphis today than there were 20 years ago and a couple made my list. I’d love to be wrong about Lotus–it’s by far the closest to my east Memphis address.
So come on people, tell me what’s good there right now. I’ll go this weekend and will report in.
December 28th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I remember Lotus much like Marcia does, although a few years later in the 1990’s. Unfortunately, after having my car broken into there on one occasion and seeing another vehicle burglarized on a subsequent trip, I just haven’t had a desire to venture back to their rather dark parking lot in over a year. I know, I know, it can happen anywhere, but there’s no denying that the area has seen an increase in the criminal element in recent years that is quite unfortunate.
When we did go, I always loved their hot & sour soup (it has a sourness that is distinct from most chinese restaurant h&s soups), the Vietnamese Vermicelli (wonderful curry flavor with pork and little shrimps) and lemongrass chicken. If it is the same as it was, just be prepared to wait! It is definitely family run and everything is obviously prepared as it is ordered.
December 28th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I’ve always heard great stories about Lotus. On my one visit last year, it took us over an hour to get our very average food. The menu looked to have as much Americanized “Chinese” food as Vietnamese food. Overall, I was not impressed. I try not to judge places too much on the basis of one visit, though, so maybe I should go back.
December 28th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Lotus … ahhh … Lotus. There isn’t another ethnic restaurant in Memphis besides the old Golden Dragon Thai on Cleveland that makes me wistful for years past. There was a time when Lotus and the aforementioned Golden Dragon provided me with the majority of bought meals during my college days. Both established a lifelong love of Asian cuisine that has meandered through the sub-continent but never fallen far from the dishes I had at both places years ago.
Sadly, Golden Dragon is long gone and Lotus is a mere shadow of its former self. Seriously folks, the place isn’t the same. I know they have the same owner … but come on … it’s just not the Lotus of 80s or 90s.
From what I could tell, the mom has quit cooking and they have hired help in the back. Simple and effective dishes like ANY of their shrimp dishes were done poorly and lazily. They weren’t even butterflied like they had been before and the use of frozen shrimp, while the norm in Memphis, was tepidly obvious. Their dumplings used to have this sublime pinkness to them being steamed perfectly. The last time I had them, they were gray and lifeless … boiled from a frozen state as far as I could tell.
The beauty of Lotus emanated from the Bac family. Again, much like Saigon Le, the food is always beyond compare when it reflects a family like that. However, there’s always the ever lurking Achilles Heel for a place like Lotus. It’s consistent energy and enthusiasm throughout kitchen changes … and the Bac family and Lotus were not spared that wrath.
Anyway, all restaurants come and go. Maybe they’ll see a renaissance there but I’m doubting it.
Fond memories of Lotus: the ubiquitous service of Mr. Bac, the scrum of kids studying by the TV, the bamboo motif, the wall mural of the Hai Feng oceanside (maybe), and the fantastic aroma of the 100% pure Jasmine rice peddled out tableside by a ever glowing Mr. Bac … knowing he had the best rice in the city and justifiably proud of his menu at Lotus.
Sometimes fond memories need to remain just that. There are reasons we sometimes decide not to revisit places we miss when we know they aren’t the same. The present day’s reality will never match the past’s emotional gravitas.
I don’t go back to my grandparents’ hometown and I don’t eat at Lotus.
Enough said …
MD
December 28th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Oh, Michael. Has anything in the world ever tasted as good as the tom yum soup at Golden Dragon? It was ADDICTIVE. Honestly, I think they put something in it! (OK, not honestly, but you know what I’m saying.) Nothing like that soup to ease a cold. And no other tom yum I’ve tasted comes close.
December 28th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
I reviewed Golden Dragon years ago and thought that it was great, but its brief stay on earth reflected a gradual decline, in food and service and atmosphere.
December 28th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Sorry, folks, I cannot resist this. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Times change, restaurants change. How many people remember that “La Tourelle” started as a weekend lark of some professors from “Memphis State”. The menu was pre fixe and published a month in advance. I used to ride by on my bicycle to see what was up for the month to decide when to dine. As Jennifer and Fredric know very few establishments can maintain service and food for many years.
December 29th, 2007 at 3:20 am
Golden Dragon beat anything over the counter for a cold hands down! Funny you mention that because the Tom Yum was MY cold remedy as well back then.
Yes, the service at Golden Dragon slipped I heard. I had already moved to China by then. However, from what I understand, it was the departure of a few of the daughters that hurt the service more than anything.
GD never had a peer and still doesn’t. While Jasmine can muster a fine dinner … no one can put together a full fledged Thai meal family style like Golden Dragon did in it’s heyday.
I’ve heard LA is ground zero for all things Thai outside of Bangkok. However, I’ve eaten Thai there maybe four times at supposedly fantastic places and never had soups as good as Golden Dragon’s.
MD
December 31st, 2007 at 5:23 am
Ah yes, GD. The staple meal of broke Rhodes students (not ALL of them drove in with daddy’s credit card and a shiny BMW) was a shared bowl of tom yum, LOTS of rice, two of their pork egg rolls (thin and cigar like with lean pork and lemongrass) and a plate of larb as hot as possible. Whatever ills the Tom Yum wouldn’t clear, the Spicy Larb -minced chicken with onions, lime juice and red fresh chilies- would drop kick into next week. That meal would leave you well stuffed to sit back in the vintage Ford LTD and listen to an 8 track on the lazy drive back to campus to take up a shift with Subash Grover and crew. Total damage was $24 - more if the cuter sister was waiting tables.
Lotus is NOT the same. I went there a few months back and it was merely a shadow of its former self. Just in case I had made a mistake I went back 6 weeks ago, and the only thing that I recognized was the two identical 80s model Toyota vans out front, the owner’s work ethic, and the smell of that sweet, intoxicating Jasmine rice. Jennifer - you should go to Lotus for the rice if nothing else. No serious Asian food fan (and MD counts even though he is likely keeping warm shoveling pierogies) has been able to find a better Jasmine rice in the city. Just open the aluminium serving tray and inhale the steam, and you will know why that rice is Asian Jasmine at its finest.
The home made authentic dumplings -and the accompanying sauce that some would fight over- are no longer available. The owner said that the dumplings used to be made by his aunt who has retired. He no longer makes the sauce with the pork stock base either. His dumplings are now “pre-made” which I guess means that a machine in Dallas stamps them out before they are shipped on a refrigerated truck to whoever his food supplier is.
I did get some food to go, and asked for extra jasmine rice. The lemongrass chicken tasted and felt like rubber, the lotus pork, like jerky and the shrimp was soft and mushy (maybe the truck isn’t refrigerated after all).
The rice though, ah the rice - was heavenly.
January 1st, 2008 at 5:01 am
LOL … yes, I’m keeping warm by imbibing in all the pierogies I can muster right now! Krakow is a balmy 34 or so this morning! I’m the only person here that sees the need for gloves!
BTW, no Asian here either. A giant European University town with NO ASIAN! Can we say untapped market???
The only quality thing that Ford LTD ever did for us is 1) not break down outside the gates at Rhodes and 2) ferry us to GD an obscene number of times per week!
Subash!!
M
January 4th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Forget the past….Where is the best cold remedy aka Tom Yum Soup today?
January 6th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Well, I’d recommend the version at Bhan Thai as the best-tasting I’ve had. It’s what I crave if I’m feeling queasy and solid food loses its appeal, and is very good at settling the stomach. But Miss Pam’s at Jasmine is earthier and more robust, and might be more effective at fighting cold symptoms.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
The best alternative to Golden Dragon Tom Yum is at Emerald on Mt Moriah. It is very potent. Bhan Thai does indeed taste good, but is a little gentle for my liking. A bowl of Chicken Tom Yum from Emarald with a little rice on the side will definitely kick the sinuses awake.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
At Lotus, definitely try the Lotus shrimp… love it.
As for Tom Yum soup, also try Tom Kha. Bangkok Alley does a DELICIOUS one!
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