Here's to your health - and palate

Where the best-tasting dishes are also the simplest and freshest

Sugar Cane

On a slow Sunday that happened to be Sugar Cane's first anniversary (give or take a few days), my dining companions and I sat at a comfy, family-friendly table in the restaurant's expansive and mostly brown dining room.

We lingered, taking small bites of ginger and coconut ice cream. We were surrounded by locals and regulars - casually dressed couples in booths and sports fans gazing at a flat-screen television at the restaurant's small bar.

We talked about the pleasant meal we had just finished, all the goodies we had consumed. We determined that the plates we loved at the restaurant had something in common - as did the plates we could have skipped. But we couldn't quite pin down what those commonalities were.

To start, we devoured the chicken lettuce cup appetizer ($7), which had us wrapping a mix of diced chicken, peanut bits, and green beans in gigantic pieces of fresh lettuce. We coated the healthy pockets with thick, sweet brown sauce.

We adored the pho beef, a hearty bowl of thick noodles, vegetables, and a round beef patty swimming in a surprisingly spicy broth. We went for the large bowl ($7) as opposed to the small ($4), and it seemed never-ending.

We finished every bite of the shrimp vermicelli, which is similar in concept to the pho, but dry. The thinner noodles were topped with mint, lettuce, cucumbers, and chopped peanuts. I added shrimp and grilled vegetables (soft eggplant and thick mushrooms) to the mix, which brought the plate from $7 to $9.

The favorite of the night was the Szechuan spicy fried tofu ($9), a Chinese-style dish of tofu squares that were soaked in a sauce that had such a kick, even the meat-eaters in our group pawed at the plate.

On the flip side, the pu pu platter for two ($16), which was big enough for five or six, was the greasy Chinese food we'd expect at a quick lunch stop. We only made it halfway through the ribs, downed a few of the deep-fried chicken fingers, and wrote off much of the appetizer, hoping to save room for entrees.

We could have gone without the pad thai ($9), which seemed to be on the menu to appease cautious dinners who want a familiar dish. It contained your standard noodles with nuts on top, but not the best we've had in the area. The dry pile of pasta with shrimp on top was left mostly untouched.

While the "peppery fried seafood platter" ($12) could please the Gloucester set with a heaping plate of scallops, shrimp, and calamari, it was too fried, too heavy, and too peppery for more than a few bites.

So, what did the plates we love have in common? How does one know what to order at Sugar Cane?

At first we thought it was that we preferred chef Raymond Tham's take on Vietnamese cuisine to his Chinese and Thai recipes. But that wasn't it. After all, we adored the Chinese tofu. Then we thought it might be that we preferred his veggie dishes, but that wasn't it, either. After all, our favorite appetizer was the meat-packed chicken lettuce wraps.

Eventually, we figured it out. Tham, who was born in Vietnam and is of Chinese descent, is best at serving up healthy plates. The Sugar Cane dishes made with fresh vegetables, tofu, broth, and light noodles were the most scrumptious. The greasy egg rolls and the plates of fried meat and fish were the turnoffs.

We decided we'd happily return to Sugar Cane - for the taste, and for our health.

MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN