Food

New Vietnamese To-Go Restaurant Seeks to Revive Popular Dishes from the Green Papaya

March 13, 2024

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For those who adored the former Oak Lawn Vietnamese restaurant Green Papaya, a new restaurant named Papaya Kitchen seeks to revive some famous Green Papaya dishes. The new eatery is a take-out restaurant only at 5200 Lemmon Avenue.

Papaya Kitchen opened on March 11. Alan Mai, who founded the original Green Papaya in 1999, owns the new restaurant in Oak Lawn. He ran the esteemed Green Papaya for two decades until it closed in 2019.

According to the Papaya Kitchen website, the Vietnamese restaurant will bring back the flavors and experiences that many have missed since the departure of the Green Papaya. This TOGO-only concept will feature a carefully curated menu, highlighting the 15 best items from the Green Papaya era, ensuring a nostalgic and delicious experience. Papaya Kitchen seeks to fill a culinary void by focusing on Vietnamese cuisine, meticulously prepared to satisfy your taste buds.

The menu includes starters such as fried egg rolls, spring rolls in shrimp, chicken, or pork varieties, green papaya salad, and chicken and shrimp salad.

Customers have many options for an entrée. Bun Thit Nuong includes charcoal-braised pork lemongrass, vermicelli, lettuce, cucumbers, and bean sprouts topped with peanuts and scallions. The same dish comes with chicken, sauteed beef, or shrimp. The menu includes bean crepes filled with shrimp, chicken, bean sprouts and lettuce, cilantro, and fish sauce. Or try the steamed rice cakes with velvety mung bean, prawn floss, fried pork fat, and a drizzle of scallion oil. There is also the Papaya special with fried rice, egg, green peas, carrots and a choice of shrimp, chicken, beef or grilled pork.

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