LUNCH: Lotus

I went to a work lunch today at Lotus with a group of coworkers. It was a birthday lunch and we had a large group of about 18 total so we all ordered ahead. That being said, this review won't really tell you much about the service since it was ready when we arrived. Today I was looking forward to eating a nice crisp, spicy Som Tum salad. I first had Som Tum when I went to Thailand back in 2001. It is a crisp salad of shredded green papaya with lime, fish sauce, chili, dry shrimp, peanuts, green beans, garlic and tomato. It is flavorful, light and a great combo of sweet and spicy. I was very disappointed with Lotus's version. When it arrived I stopped the server to ask if it was papaya salad. It looked like pad thai to me. Som Tum salad is supposed to look green. This salad looked orangey like the white pad thai noodles drenched in sauce do. He confirmed it was and he left. I tried it. It was drippy and the shredded papaya was soft, not crisp. The papaya was completely drenched in sauce that was WAY too spicy. I can handle spicy food but this had the skin under my eyes sweating! It was completely off balance in a dish that is supposed to be light and whose flavors need to be carefully balanced. My other complaint is that the salad tasted overwhelmingly of fish sauce for the first few minutes that my taste buds could still register anything other than chili. It did not contain dried shrimp that I could see nor did it contain green beans. It did have tomatoes and it was served over lettuce. That being said my coworkers Rachel and Meghan both had the red curry with tofu and both of them really liked it. The veggies included red and green bell pepper, basil and bamboo shoots. I tried a piece of the tofu and it was good. Rachel ordered hers Thai spicy and I noticed her coughing and watery eyed during the meal. Apparently they added jalapeno to her dish. My coworker Judie had the L2 pork over noodles dish. She loves it and orders it every time she goes to Lotus. Her dish came in a large shallow bowl and looked like pork slices over noodles. Judie described the pork as BBQ pork having an oaky, grilled flavor served over light rice noodles with green onion, cilantro, lettuce, peanuts, carrots and fish sauce. During our meal, I kept overhearing rave reviews at the table about the tofu at Lotus. I myself am what I call a pescatarian meaning the only meat I eat is seafood. As such, I always look for good seafood and tofu dishes. Next time I go to Lotus I will stick to the tofu dishes. I should mention that they recently painted the interior green and hung new art. It looks better but largely the same. It is sort of hard to find as it is in a sunken courtyard on the corner of 5th and J. It is great for the downtown lunch crowd but if you drive there you can park in the mall directly across the street.