Houston's Smoked Salmon Appetizer

I loved the Houston's chain. The past tense of that statement is intentional.  Since 1977 and until this past decade, they seemed to be the only restaurant chain that had stayed true to themselves.  Their menu wasn't exhaustive and they didn't try to be everything to everybody.  I was convinced they were able to maintain their quality because they remained privately held.  Turn a restaurant concept public like, say Friday's or Chili's, and the focus is on earnings per share and beating the analyst's predictions every quarter.  Neither of the latter two restaurants resemble anything like the original concept of their creators. 

Alas, Houston's is sadly on the skids, too.  Since 2009, their parent company has either been re-concepting and rebranding their Houston's restaurants, or outright closing them.  Most recently, their Dallas location shut its doors after over thirty years.

Among Houston's outstanding fare was a cold-smoked salmon appetizer, served with a tarragon aioli.  When they first came out with this item in the early 1990s, it was kept out of print and off menus in part because many local municipalities' health codes required salmon to be cooked to a certain temperature. "Cold smoking" means that the internal temperature of the smoking box does not exceed 110 degrees, so this dish was often marketed verbally by Houston's servers as a "chef's special." Houston's ultimately changed the recipe and prepared the salmon with a hot smoke, around 170 degrees, which passed muster with local Health Department ordinances, and put it on their menu.

My recipe isn't for the salmon itself.  These days, you can buy perfectly good smoked salmon at the neighborhood grocer.  But the Houston's aioli recipe is priceless, and after several attempts and considerable internet research, I've come up with a reasonable facsimile. Houston's served the salmon along side a stack of Melba toast.

Ingredients

6 heaping tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp anchovy paste
1 tsp finely minced fresh garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp dried tarragon
2 tbsp dried chives
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp black pepper

The Recipe

Combine all ingredients together well.  Refrigerate at least one hour before serving along side a hunk of smoked salmon.  Get the kind of salmon that is a chunk of salmon filet, not the "lox" variety of salmon that is thinly sliced. Serve with Melba Toast or your favorite cracker.