Wow - I was just thinking of this chicken salad this past week, and how it was popular back in the 1980s. It was so good. I also have not been able to recreate it.

OP here. Thanks so much for this lead!! I did see one recipe that mentioned sliced almonds - had forgotten that American Cafe version had that for crunch (and no celery - I don’t like celery). Sour cream or crème fraiche I would not have thought of. Weekend experiment coming up!

Anonymous wrote:The recipe out of Silver Palate is similar. At least that's my memory. The ratio for 3 lbs raw chicken breasts is 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 mayo, 1 Tbl dried tarragon. You can add celery, grapes, nuts.

Silver Palate recipe bakes the chicken in creme fraiche, but I've always just poached them.

One other note--it needs to be refrigerated for the flavors to work. Preferably overnight but at least a few hours.

The recipe out of Silver Palate is similar. At least that's my memory. The ratio for 3 lbs raw chicken breasts is 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 mayo, 1 Tbl dried tarragon. You can add celery, grapes, nuts.

Silver Palate recipe bakes the chicken in creme fraiche, but I've always just poached them.

Nope. I’ll be watching this post just in case someone adds a recipe.
I think Firehook bakery has tarragon chicken salad sandwiches. I haven’t been there in a while though, so you might want to check to see if they still have them. They were very good — but different flavor vs the American Cafe.

This sandwich (on a croissant) was a favorite back in the day, with big chunks of chicken, excellent herbs and the right amount of mayo. Sadly, I never got a recipe before American Cafe closed and have not experimented because it’s the only time I have ever liked tarragon.

Has anyone else reasonably recreated this masterpiece?