The Fish Sauce Adventure

We should have known that the evening was going to be interesting when the sirens came up from behind us as we approached Blue Ginger, Ming Tsai's restaurant in Wellesley, Mass. Don't worry, it wasn't for us. They drove right passed us and stopped 20 feet ahead. We sat in the middle, ok side of the street waiting for traffic to start moving again as our reservation time came and went.

Alyssa, who was driving all seven of us in her minivan, kept telling us to hop out and walk to the restaurant (it was literally half a block away). But none of us was going to abandon her. It cleared up pretty quickly, though I became rather impatient. We got seated so fast that I was barely able to get the line cook's recommendation (they have an open kitchen) before everyone was seated--fyi, he says the black pepper lobster is their most consistent dish.

Cousin Ming (not really but he's Chinese-American, I'm Chinese-American...) runs a smooth operation. And, you know it's a clean restaurant when the bathroom is so nice that I would eat in it. Most of us got appetizers since we'd actually already had dinner at the conference. I'd show you pictures but it looks like last night's dinner but with broccoli instead of kale.

So back to our story...Alyssa gets the Lime-Leaf Crusted Colossal Shrimp with Galangal-Green Mango Salad & Vietnamese Sauce (pictured). She was surprised that it was only one shrimp and that it was deep-fried. It was colossal...and very tasty. I've always loved the texture of deep-fried shrimp--tender meat with a crispy, salty crust. Mmmm...

Leslie and Dawn shared an entree: Sake-Miso Marinated Alaskan Butterfish, also known as sablefish or black cod (pictured). It has a similar texture to it cousin, Chilean Sea Bass, but is not illegally or over-fished (as of yet). The dish came with a vegetable sushi roll that used soba noodles instead of rice. The fish was tender and a nice kick from the wasabi sauce but I have to say that my all-time favorite miso-fish dish is still Nobu Matsuhisa's Black Cod in Miso.

Steph and I shared two appetizers: Ming's Tea-Smoked Salmon & Beef Carpaccio with Fresh Wasabi Emulsion (pictured & my choice) and Crispy Fried Calamari with Thai Dipping Sauce (not pictured & her choice). Both were good. I figure that if you mess up fried calamari, you really shouldn't be in business. The sauce for the calamari was the impetus for this posts title. 

So we're sharing food. How often are we going to go to Blue Ginger? So I tasted a little of everything and so did Alyssa...except she opted out of the salmon-carpaccio dish because she has an allergic reaction to fish which registered but didn't click. So she's tasting the calamari which she liked and then asks what's in the sauce because it's so different. I responded, "Lime juice and fish sauce." What? Uh-oh. She asked me if I was sure. I was pretty sure. I mean, fish sauce has a distinct and potent flavor but I was hoping I was wrong. When I went to talk with our server, she confirmed it and then she got a little anxious. No one likes when their customer goes into anaphylactic shock, I guess. 

But apparently Ming is very active with Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), working to further education and research on food allergies. Who knew? Needless to say, his restaurant is very careful about food allergies and really accommodates for it . Long story shorter, Alyssa's Vietnamese sauce also had fish sauce in it but I made her eat a lot of bread in hopes that it would soak up everything. She seemed fine when we got back. We'll see if I get a call in the morning...

As for our other app, it was heavenly. It's because of this carpaccio that Steph is glad that we are friends. She said as much.

Is that not the look of pure joy? The carpaccio just melted in our mouths. The salmon only had a hint of smokey-ness. Both were well complemented by the avocado salad and wasabi "emulsion."

And after the cupcake headache from Monday, I decided that ordering a dessert would not be worth my while. It was a surprise to all at the table. But I couldn't resist taking a little nibble of what Leslie and Dawn ordered.

The Dark Chocolate Cake was fantastic. It came with cardamon ice cream (yum) and a dollop of whipped cream that was covered in dark chocolate syrup. Talk about decadent. I'm really glad I didn't order it and even happier to have gotten to taste a bit.

All in all it was a good time. And I learned a lot about everyone around the table, as well as about Chef Ming Tsai, who unfortunately was not there other wise I would have taken a picture with him and sent it to my cousin, Loreen. I'm not sure if she would have been glad to receive it or angry that she wasn't in it. 

Leslie, Alyssa, Sue, Tamiyo, Steph, me, and Dawn after polishing off the dessert. Thanks, ladies, for a very fun "great life" adventure.