From The New Orleans Menu Daily By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published April 18, 2007 Sesame Inn 2$ Mandeville: 408 N. Causeway Blvd. 985-951-8888 Lunch and dinner continuously, seven days. AE DC DS MC V Chinese. The Sesame Inn is a block away from Trey Yuen, which is so dominant in the Chinese category on the North Shore that it wouldn't seem like the smartest place for a competitor to open. But the Sesame Inn is always pretty busy, and no small number of its customers say they think it's better than the big palace up the street. The owner and his staff are among the most welcoming people I've ever encountered in a Chinese restaurant. They will remember your first visit, even if your second is months later. They keep checking your table to make sure that everything is to your liking, and they don't hesitate to deliver if there's something special you want. The premises are a sparkling renovation to what started out as a doughnut shop. Windows replace walls on three sides, giving the place a bright, cheerful appearance. The menu is right up to date. It mixes Cantonese, Szechuan, and Hunan dishes, all of which are presented beautifully. The sauces are especially well made, and if you like shrimp you'll find that those are unusually large and fresh. Start with the hot and sour soup, with which they will bring--if you like--a little dish of pepper oil to zap the spice level up. (A little of that stuff goes a long way.) The best entrees are seafood: Hunan-style scallops, gigantic shrimp with an endless variety of sauces (I don't think I've had the same one twice), stir-fried salmon with black bean sauce. The beef and chicken entrees are less good; I've not been impressed by the quality of the central ingredients. (They reflect the very low menu prices pretty accurately.) But the vegetables and sauces are always first-class, fresh and cooked nicely crisp. Once they get to know you (which, as earlier noted, will only take a couple of meals), you might find yourself being offered dishes not on the menu. Most of these are more than decent, and you will want to like them, so eagerly are they proffered. Click here to return to today's edition. Click here for an index of all restaurant reviews. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com.