Sunday, July 10, 2011
Salmon With Black Beans Sauce And Sesame Chicken.
Late afternoon lunch at the Sesame Inn with Mary Ann. Our main motivation there was to tell Steve that we wouldn't be able to do the Eat Club dinner there for a few more weeks. The radio station has jammed half the schedule with remotes, and I the other half with three weeks of vacation. I don't think Steve was all that hep on doing a dinner, anyway. He has been concerned all along that such a thing would inconvenience his regular customers. But that's the kind of host he is. Doesn't want to disappoint anyone.
He certainly didn't disappoint us today. One of the two entrees was old to us, the other new. The old one was the Sesame Inn's signature dish, sesame chicken. Unlike most Chinese dishes under that name, this one was not encrusted with the sesame seeds, but sprinkled with them after the sauce went on. That was a dark brown, very thick concoction, looking like Antoine's oyster Foch sauce, or like Mexican mole poblano. Different taste than either of those, of course. A bit spicy, mellow, nutty--probably some sesame oil in the recipe. Terrific taste.
What Mary Ann had was even better. A big cut of salmon fillet was fried with a light coating, then cut into thick parallelepipeds and set in Chinese black bean sauce. This was a nearly-perfect union of flavors, and one I'd never had before. In fact, I almost never order dishes with black bean sauce. I don't know why. But I'll certainly pay more attention to dishes with that sauce in the future.
I allowed myself some mango ice cream. But it's Sunday, after all.
Sesame Inn. Mandeville: 408 N Causeway Blvd. 985-951-8888.
