Dazzling and so much more

Somewhere between the funkiness of a Vietnamese noodle shop and the polish of an Aubergine or Pinot Provence lies Ngoc Suong. A Euro-Vietnamese menu and theatrical presentations have made this noisy, lively dining room one of the coolest places to eat in Orange County.

The lure is Ngoc Suong’s long list of Vietnamese-style fish and seafood dishes -- a relatively new phenomenon in Little Saigon, since Chinese restaurants have long monopolized seafood dining in the neighborhood.

Ngoc Suong’s building looks as if it may have done time as a coffee shop or fast-food depot. But someone has transformed the room into a dreamy Somerset Maugham-type setting with greenery, heavy white plantation shutters and classical Vietnamese musical instruments hung on the walls.

The tropical reverie is interrupted somewhat by the yummy-looking European desserts in a glass case near the door and the Britney Spears sound-alike warbling in Vietnamese over the sound system (no doubt a product of Little Saigon’s budding recording industry).

You won’t have to guess what the house specialty is. Ca dut lo Ngoc Suong (whole broiled catfish Ngoc Suong-style), one of the great festive meals of the Vietnamese repertoire, is brought out with the fanfare of a royal court presentation by a parade of waiters. One carries a huge platter holding the whole fish, garnished with frilly lettuce and carved vegetables. Another brings more platters of fresh produce: half a dozen aromatic herbs, lettuces and cut vegetables, and green banana. A third sets down the plates of rice paper and containers of the house dipping sauce.

If a customer looks bewildered by the spectacle, the management proudly demonstrates how to nudge chunks of moist fish from the skeleton with a chopstick and wrap them with herbs and greens, burrito-style, in the pliable disks of rice paper. One secret ingredient that draws people back for this often-copied dish is the kho -- the fine bittersweet caramel glaze on the fish.

As you might imagine, ca dut lo serves at least four or five when made with the smallest fish. Most other dishes serve two or more.

A smaller presentation, but one filled with drama nonetheless, is the lemon leaves-grilled chicken (listed as No. 23 under “Lunch”) with sticky rice and black beans “in a bamboo stick” (No. 24). You dip the grilled chicken morsels into a bowl of sauce afloat with flaming (yes, flaming) kaffir lime leaves. The bamboo tube comes to the table with one end on fire. You put out the flame at your leisure, remove the cork at one end and then remove the rice, which has picked up a clear smoky flavor, with chopsticks. Dining hasn’t been this much fun since the flamed crepes suzette craze.

The salads are absolutely spectacular. (They’re randomly listed under various menu headings, but don’t despair; keep an eye out for dishes with names containing the word goi).

In the appetizer list, look for clam and sliced young banana flower salad (No. 2). It’s masses of chopped fresh herbs in a tart-sweet dressing, strewn with crunchy deep-fried shallots and crowned with a crimson “lipstick” pepper carved into the shape of a flower. Goi dau que (No. 56), a refreshing tangle of shredded green papaya tossed with crisp green beans, poached shrimp and roasted pork, also gets that crunchy shallot garnish. Sole salad (No. 67) is a sort of carpaccio: sliced raw fish sprinkled with crushed toasted rice. Fold it up in rice paper with pungent herbs and you’ll have packets of explosive flavor.

A fine counterpoint to the salads would be crab- and shrimp-stuffed imperial roll, which has the scent of clean frying oil and briny shellfish juices. Or consider crab and watercress soup -- a broth tinged orange from crab roe, its delicate yet compelling sweetness balanced by the bite of the “watercress” (actually, water spinach) leaves. The whole crab dishes are quite tasty if you don’t mind all the pounding and sucking necessary to extract the meat from messy, sauce-covered shells.

The Euro part of Ngoc Song’s menu offers dainty filet mignon with three-peppercorn sauce, lamb chops slathered with a garlic reduction and half a dozen other standard a la minute French-style dishes. They’re more than acceptable but not worth traveling a distance to eat.

That advice doesn’t hold for the Euro-style desserts. The kitchen turns out the most mango-y mango ice cream served stuffed into the fruit’s shell and a refined cappuccino- pecan-Grand Marnier truffle. Both beckon from the center of Little Saigon’s newest dining scene.

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Ngoc Suong

Location: 10112 Westminster Ave., Garden Grove, (714) 539-8811.

Price: Appetizers, $3.25-$12.99; entrees, $5.50-$35.99 (large fish serves 8 to 12); desserts, $3.25-$4.25.

Best dishes: Ca dut lo Ngoc Suong, lemon leaves-grilled chicken (No. 23), sticky rice and black beans in bamboo stick (No. 24), goi dau que, mango ice cream, Grand Marnier truffle.

Details: Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Monday; closed Tuesday. Beer and wine. Parking lot. Visa and MasterCard.