Pedestrian assortment of sliced baby carrots and canned baby corn

Tag : canned Bamboo
The interior, which mixes comfortable lounge seating, a gleamingbar and two spacious dining rooms, is minimalist but soothing --warmly lit and wrapped in gray-green and cobalt-blue walls thatrise to a lofty ceiling. And at the rear, vast windows and asprawling deck place the restaurant right at the edge of a greenforest. Design architect Jill Smith once aptly described theconcept as "Frank Lloyd Wright on a shoestring."
The August Moon bill of fare isn't quite at the "shoestring" level,but Looi (whose other restaurant, Asiatique, ranks amongLouisville's finest dining establishments) has created a menu ofChinese and Southeast Asian dishes that are elegant, affordable andpresented with an eye for detail that's perfectly suited to thespace.
Plump, golden wontons, filled with crabmeat and melted goat cheese,nestle in an orderly row, next to a dollop of bright, refreshingAsian salsa -- mangoes, red peppers, a bit of pineapple and justthe faintest bit of heat ($7, dinner; $6, lunch).
A bowl of hot and sour soup has the fragrance of fresh stock, and apiquant tinge of vinegar and hot chilies, and is filled with bitsof tofu, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots that look as if theywere individually whittled by a skilled woodworker ($3; includedwith lunch entrees).
Spicy minced lamb -- spicy enough to deliver a pleasant, if mellowkick -- has a red, juicy gleam that looks beautiful when wrapped ina sturdy pale green leaf of romaine ($7.50). Every starter on themenu, from pan-seared dumplings with a flavorful ponzu sauce($7.50) to a vegetarian spring roll ($2.50), is invigorating andwell-executed.
On recent visits -- both before the remnants of Hurricane Ike sweptthrough and while the restaurant was running on generator power --service was brisk and unusually well-informed. One night, as wewavered over a couple of Gewurztraminers that we thought might gonicely with some spicy selections, our server recommended a NewZealand Riesling (Villa Maria, 2005, $32) that was several dollarsless expensive than our other choices, and paired perfectly withour plates.
On the August Moon menu, the adjective "spicy" translates as "aninteresting mix of flavors" rather than the near-universal "hot."And an order of stir-fried shrimp and vegetables in a spicy basilsauce ($16.50) was just that -- exquisitely tender shrimp on a bedof succulent bok choy, draped in a silky brown sauce inflected withfragrant basil, subtle chilies and a generous but pedestrianassortment of sliced baby carrots and canned baby corn.
An order of Malaysian curried chicken ($12) had a velvety,coconut-milk base, an oniony sweetness and the gentlest of spicyslaps.
On the other hand, an order of Mongolian beef -- fork-tendermedallions with an abundance of scallions and tender white onions-- packed a lovely wallop in the form of a rust-brown sauce thatseemed a very distant, and oh-so-much-more-interesting, cousin tothe usual sweetness that characterizes other more clich