Salt
Swimster and I had been meaning to get together with his two friends from college for months. The two are engaged and set to marry right here in the Big Apple in June, and Swimster actually had a hand in introducing them to each other. The couple, without ever having met them, was nice enough to invite me to their engagement party at Megu back in December. And since meeting them that night, the four of us have been trying to schedule a dinner. Three months later it actually happened. Funny how this city works...
The two chose a restaurant in the village called Salt. I had never heard of it, but after a quick glance at their website (go see for yourself) I was intrigued.
I met Swimster after work and was really excited to try this place. I walked in and slipped past the host as I spotted Swimster sitting by his lonesome at the bar straight ahead. I cozied up to him and finished his wine (I know I'm terrible) while we waited for our friends to join us.
The restaurant is tucked away in a small room, with a bar counter facing the open kitchen (that is, there's a huge square cut out of the wall so you can more or less see what's going on in the kitchen). I noticed a girl in her whites came out from the kitchen to chitchat with her friends at the bar. I liked the warm feeling of this place already. I turned around briefly to check out the scene and noticed the dining room only had three long white tables and everyone was seated at them community-style. Community dining can go either way, depending on the occasion, but for this night it worked out perfectly.
LandRover and CambridgeDame met us and we were seated at our table, next to a group of four girls celebrating a girls' night. I had my own girls' night last night and forget how fun it is. We immediately were engrossed in conversation, Swimster with LandRover and me with CambridgeDame. LandRover took an amazing trip from Lisbon all the way to Tibet earlier this year-driving the whole way-and we were awed at the stories he told us. He did it solo and said it was one of the most rewarding experiences of his life. Perhaps we should all take part in something of this magnitude, a personal pilgrimage of discovery and adventure sounded like it was excellent for the soul.
Our adventure at the table began with an excellent choice of wine on LandRover's part, followed by appetizers and entrees for all. My appetizer was the slow roasted eggplant, beet tartare and blue cheese fondue. Did you get all that? While Swimster tried the venison tartare. The eggplant dish came out in a mountain of different layers. On top was the gooey cheese, below that the beet tartare, and below, waiting to be discovered, was the eggplant. The eggplant and beet combination worked really well and the blue cheese gobs meshed it all together. The eggplant was perfectly cooked and maintained a soft but not soggy texture. I think I left a squeaky clean plate because I dipped some bread in the juices. My entree was the grilled Newport steak with mashed potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts. Both dishes were excellent. The steak was tender and I barely needed my steak knife to cut it. The mashed potatoes were heavily mashed, no chunks, and silky smooth and buttery. Somehow my Brussels sprouts were given away to another table so I had to wait until I was practically stuffed to try them. That was the only hiccup the whole night. I can't complain though, because the ones I did manage to get down were well worth the wait. Swimster tried the whole grilled Dorade Royale in a balsamic reduction. He didn't like the bones in it, but what would you expect when the menu says whole fish, right? I tasted the Dorade and it was good to me!
A glass of port for all ended our dinner. I can't really rate this restaurant as I was abnormally polite that night, and did not insist on trying everything that came to the table (as you can see I could only write about the few dishes I tried). What I can say is Salt was a refreshing break from the usual New York City dining experience. A small, simple restaurant that is comfortable enough in its own skin, that they trust you will enjoy the food so much, the community seating and small space will not prevent you from oft' returning.
58 Macdougal Street, between Prince and Houston
212-674-4968
The two chose a restaurant in the village called Salt. I had never heard of it, but after a quick glance at their website (go see for yourself) I was intrigued.
I met Swimster after work and was really excited to try this place. I walked in and slipped past the host as I spotted Swimster sitting by his lonesome at the bar straight ahead. I cozied up to him and finished his wine (I know I'm terrible) while we waited for our friends to join us.
The restaurant is tucked away in a small room, with a bar counter facing the open kitchen (that is, there's a huge square cut out of the wall so you can more or less see what's going on in the kitchen). I noticed a girl in her whites came out from the kitchen to chitchat with her friends at the bar. I liked the warm feeling of this place already. I turned around briefly to check out the scene and noticed the dining room only had three long white tables and everyone was seated at them community-style. Community dining can go either way, depending on the occasion, but for this night it worked out perfectly.
LandRover and CambridgeDame met us and we were seated at our table, next to a group of four girls celebrating a girls' night. I had my own girls' night last night and forget how fun it is. We immediately were engrossed in conversation, Swimster with LandRover and me with CambridgeDame. LandRover took an amazing trip from Lisbon all the way to Tibet earlier this year-driving the whole way-and we were awed at the stories he told us. He did it solo and said it was one of the most rewarding experiences of his life. Perhaps we should all take part in something of this magnitude, a personal pilgrimage of discovery and adventure sounded like it was excellent for the soul.
Our adventure at the table began with an excellent choice of wine on LandRover's part, followed by appetizers and entrees for all. My appetizer was the slow roasted eggplant, beet tartare and blue cheese fondue. Did you get all that? While Swimster tried the venison tartare. The eggplant dish came out in a mountain of different layers. On top was the gooey cheese, below that the beet tartare, and below, waiting to be discovered, was the eggplant. The eggplant and beet combination worked really well and the blue cheese gobs meshed it all together. The eggplant was perfectly cooked and maintained a soft but not soggy texture. I think I left a squeaky clean plate because I dipped some bread in the juices. My entree was the grilled Newport steak with mashed potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts. Both dishes were excellent. The steak was tender and I barely needed my steak knife to cut it. The mashed potatoes were heavily mashed, no chunks, and silky smooth and buttery. Somehow my Brussels sprouts were given away to another table so I had to wait until I was practically stuffed to try them. That was the only hiccup the whole night. I can't complain though, because the ones I did manage to get down were well worth the wait. Swimster tried the whole grilled Dorade Royale in a balsamic reduction. He didn't like the bones in it, but what would you expect when the menu says whole fish, right? I tasted the Dorade and it was good to me!
A glass of port for all ended our dinner. I can't really rate this restaurant as I was abnormally polite that night, and did not insist on trying everything that came to the table (as you can see I could only write about the few dishes I tried). What I can say is Salt was a refreshing break from the usual New York City dining experience. A small, simple restaurant that is comfortable enough in its own skin, that they trust you will enjoy the food so much, the community seating and small space will not prevent you from oft' returning.
58 Macdougal Street, between Prince and Houston
212-674-4968
posted by Mona at 12:23 PM
7 Comments:
That fondue sounds fabulous - I'll eat anything with melted blue cheese.
Love Salt's web site. The food sounds wonderful and the prices reasonable.
Mebeth, I know, right? My favorite I think is melted over a hamburger..mmm!!
Greg, yah, very cool website. They could teach me a few things...And you're right, I didn't really note that but the prices are VERY reasonable.
the steak sounds good... what kind of cut is a newport steak? salt's website is interesting.
AG, I did some research and found out the following: the "Newport steak" was created by the late Jack Ubaldi of the Florence Meat Market. Newport Steak is cut from the triangle, and is roughly the size of a filet mignon. The flavor as well as the texture of this steak is incomparable, so much so that people order these steaks from the Florence meat Market and have them shipped to them overnight. Funny eh?
fondue! is there anything more wonderful than fondue? methinks not :)
every girl needs a girls night from time to time ;)
catesa, girls night and fondue-what could be better. might have to get planning that one :)
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