Heavenly Bodies

And so you realize how many restaurants you're obliged to visit before you stumble into one where the owners, managers, and staff are all ferociously interested in the small and large gestures that go into creating an experience. How many restaurants get it half right and then decide not to sweat the small stuff? At Fah, and usually at Lemon Grass, magic resides in the details, like a genie in a stoppered bottle. But Lemon Grass is a zoo, plunked down on the hottest block in Delray Beach, a yawning space with a different clientele of drop-ins and tourists — and frenetic pacing. At Fah, time slips silently through the hourglass while you marvel at the sheen on a wok-tossed shrimp or bicker mildly over who gets the last curry puff. If you'd rather pay attention to your food and your dinner partners than to the witticisms and fashion statements at the next table, Fah's your scene.

Our chopsticks resume their arc. A plate of Dynamite Shellfish ($8.95) is a luscious concoction of mahi, squid, and crab baked in cream, scattered with masago, and served over sushi rice. Sex on the Moon roll ($12.95) appears to resemble the scarred surface of a lunar terrain — hills of shrimp, eel, asparagus, avocado, and masago wrapped with rice, topped with tuna, then moon-dusted with tempura flakes. An old favorite from Lemon Grass, the Extremely Rainbow roll ($9.95), a California roll topped with raw red and white tuna and salmon, seems, at this point, almost prosaic. And then our entreés arrive.

Speaking of pigs: The pornographic Babe on the Stick ($15.95) turns out to be beautifully grilled, slightly smoky spears of marinated pork tenderloin, hot and moist enough to satisfy any thirst. A sweet-and-sour green papaya salad and a pile of perfumey jasmine rice make for textural and temperate contrast. At this point, of course, the platter of Fah special fried rice ($11.95) ought to feel like one platter too many. But it's delicately scented, oily, loaded with marinated strips of grilled beef and chicken, with curled pink shrimp, pillowy scallops, furls of squid, ribbons of fried egg, chopped scallions, and a scattering of green peas — an absolutely faultless fried rice that ought to make Fah a local legend: They deliver free for orders over $20! For your next Netflix night, the Thai spring roll ($4.95); the fried rice (there's also a vegetable version for $8.95); and either the Babe or the salmon teriyaki ($16.95) will total out at $30.95, plus tax and tip. This bag o' bliss will keep you, your beloved, and your best single friend occupied during the 104 highly saturated pink and turquoise minutes it takes to run Tears of the Black Tiger.

Our waitress sidles over with the check. "Hey, wait a second — what's for dessert?" we say. By this time, the manager and most of the rest of the staff have come by our table on the pretext of checking in to get a load of the famous and bottomless American appetite as applied to Asian fusion. This beautiful girl: Her mouth goes slack, her eyes dull.

"Just kidding!"