Flem Snopes and I recently shared a fine lunch at Rice Paper. We started with the clam/pork appetizer with sesame rice crackers that at first glance looked disturbingly like granite
It was a big hit, as was our first entree, the lemongrass chicken
with an exceptionally good sauce. This was another standout dish.
The other entree was a combination plate of skewers of pork and seafood (a scallop and some squid); a couple of beef stuffed grape leaves; and some shrimp paste wrapped around sugar cane
along with vermicelli patties and leaves of basil, mint, and lettuce, all accompanied by a contraption with a packet of dry rice paper rounds and trench of water.
You twirl a disk in the water
with more or less dexterity. The disc softens, you place it on your plate, add goodies from the combo, and wrap it into a roll/burrito with astonishing manual dexterity. Or you clumsily make a mess. Either way, it was delicious.
A fine meal with fine company.
