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Home > 365 days of dinner: May 23, 2009

365 days of dinner: May 23, 2009

May 31st, 2009 at 08:06 pm

Whoops, got sidetracked painting and didn't get back to this yesterday! I'll just do one more day of dinner for now.

So the dinner we had for Saturday, May 23, has a bit of a backstory. There was a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant called Lotus on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis. (It was part of a mini-chain and there are still several Lotus restaurants, but each one had its own spin, and this one was the only Lotus whose food we went crazy for.) We hadn't been back for awhile because of not wanting to eat out as much, and wanting variety, but there had been times a decade ago when AS and I would go there once a week.

Anyway, a couple months ago we wanted to go there for a special occasion, but we called ahead and it was gone. Not just closed, actually; next time we went that far down Hennepin, we saw that the building had been bulldozed. (Here's hoping the genius owner is enjoying a comfortable retirement somewhere!)

They made mock duck entrees (the first mock duck I ever tasted, actually!) with thick, spicy, slightly sweet sauces that just hit the spot. But the big deal was their spring rolls. No other Thai or Vietnamese restaurants in Minneapolis make them quite the same, with quite the same sauce. I remembered long ago asking one of the waitresses what was in the sauce, and making her repeat the ingredients a couple times so I'd remember them. I actually still remember the ingredients, I think. So I decided to make Tofu Spring Rolls a la Hennepin Lotus and an entree that was an homage to them as well.

I found a recipe for Lemongrass Mock Duck on the Internet that sounded a bit like the Imperial Mock Duck I used to get at Lotus, so NT made that recipe. I didn't find a spring roll recipe that sounded similar to what I wanted, so I sort of winged it. I'm proud of that because I'm big on following recipes and not much of an improvisational cook. But the spring rolls turned out almost exactly as we remembered them, and the dipping sauce was quite close!



NT's mock duck dish also turned out really, really tasty:



It was almost like having Lotus back again, for a day, on our balcony. Sigh...

Posted in 365 Days of Dinner | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “365 days of dinner: May 23, 2009”

  1. Colleen Says:
    June 5th, 2009 at 04:50 am 1244177415
    1244177415

    Hi,
    I happened upon your blog searching for the recipe to Lotus' Imperial Mock Duck.
    I just want to make sure that you know that there's a To-Go Lotus restaurant right by Loring park, in the plaza on the corner of...LaSalle, and...oh, goodness. Another street right there. There's Greenway Liquors, Rainbow Road and an SA.
    I had the Imperial Mock Duck for dinner tonight! Very good!
    Enjoy!

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    June 5th, 2009 at 03:07 pm 1244214452
    1244214452

    Thanks Colleen! I should give them another try, at least for their entrees. Tried them once and it didn't have the zing of the Hennepin Lotus. No one has the tofu spring rolls, but now I don't mind as much because I can make them for myself. Smile
    Let me know if you ever stumble upon a recipe for Imperial Mock Duck--the lemongrass stuff above was pretty great, but it still wasn't the same.

  3. jane Says:
    June 25th, 2009 at 03:16 pm 1245942969
    1245942969

    It's odd how different each Lotus is. The one in Uptown was the best. The one at the U was 2nd best. The one in Edina was the worst, and Lotus to-go I can't say, as I've been there like twice, both times at the very end of a lunch rush, so not at their peak performance.

  4. Amy Says:
    February 5th, 2013 at 05:29 pm 1360085353
    1360085353

    I love the Lotus Imperial mock duck! Or was it the curry mock duck? I ordered both but liked the deep red one best. My fav Lotus was near the U because I lived at Territorial Hall. I too was looking for a recipe for something similar. Any luck?

  5. Amy Says:
    June 8th, 2020 at 06:38 pm 1591641529
    1591641529

    I need your recipe for lemongrass mock duck that is like the Lotus! Please provide link!

    I made seitan rendang last night (so good) and it reminded me of the Lotus mock duck but I don't think the Lotus mock duck had (as much) coconut milk.

    https://operationgoodfood.wordpress.com/2017/06/25/seitan-rendang-vegan/

  6. ceejay74 Says:
    June 8th, 2020 at 09:55 pm 1591653327
    1591653327

    Wow, I have no idea what recipe I used! That was over 10 years ago. I've made the spring rolls numerous times since then, but never that lemongrass mock duck...

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