SALT

We tried a new restaurant, SALT a few weeks ago.  It has been open for about 12 weeks now.  I was nervous looking at the menu online because it seems like there were lots of items with pork and I am just not a huge pork fan.  Don't let that stop you, this is by far one of the best restaurants we have eaten at in St. Louis in a while.  It is located at 4356 Lindell in the Central West End.  There have been other restaurants in this location (it is an old big two story house off of Lindell, the restaurant Savor used to be in its location), but I have a feeling SALT will be here for a really long time.  It better not go anywhere because it is absolutely delicious.

Since it is located in an old house, there are different rooms with seating, but it flows really well.  The restrooms are located upstairs, but there is an elevator for those who need it to get upstairs.  It is a very comfortable ambiance.  Although it is very upscale food the prices and the atmosphere don't reflect that snotty attitude.  Some people came in jeans and others were dressed up and it didn't matter.

The wait staff was extremely knowledgeable about the menu, wine list and drink list.  You could ask them any question and they gave very detailed descriptions and offered wonderful opinions about the food and drinks.  The only thing our waitress wasn't sure about was which cheeses on the list were pasteurized and which weren't.  Since I am pregnant I can't eat any unpasteurized cheeses and she quickly went to the back asked and had an answer for every cheese on the list.

My husband and I love to go to dinners where we feel relaxed and not pressured to hurry up and eat our food and leave.  This was such a slow relaxing dinner.  I think we were there for almost three hours.

A plus is the corking fee.  It is only $10 if you bring your own bottle of wine.  That is such a great deal at such a nice restaurant.

The chef also likes to use as much local produce as possible.  You can taste the freshness in the food.

I can't say enough about how wonderfully delicious the food was and what a great dining experience we had.  We will go back many more times.

Here is a peak at the amazing food and drink:

 Since I am not drinking right now I usually ask the bartender to mix me up something refreshing and summery that is non-alcoholic.  This was my drink and it was delicious with giant square ice cubes which kept the drink super cold which I loved.  

I want to talk about each of the items above.  They were beyond flavorful.

Cheese Platter - We got two different types of cheeses (A goat cheese and a some other kind of cheese).  It came with almonds, crostinis and a homemade strawberry preserve.  The strawberry preserve and cheese together were a mouthwatering combination.  It was fresh, sweet and savory.

Pear Salad - This salad was full of surprises.  I didn't know what to expect when I ordered it and I was blown away.  There were julienne sliced pears, blueberries, mint leaves and smoked jowl bacon.  I wasn't sure about the combination when saw the salad, but the dressing that was used was spectacular.  It was a combination of bacon fat, vinaigrette and red pepper flakes.  The salty, spicy, tangy flavors with the sweetness of the fruit and freshness of the mint was like a party in my mouth.

Duck Fat Frites - I was nervous about trying these but it was so worth it.  The best part of this dish was the housemade mayo.  It also came with housemade ketchup, but the mayo was so delicious I wanted to lick the little container clean.  The mayo was full of garlic and salt and absolutely finger licking.  If I could change anything about this dish it would be that the frites needed to be a little bit thicker.  They were almost too thin and fried up a little too much.  I couldn't get as much mayo on each frite as I wanted.

I loved the dish that these meatballs were served in.  I am not really a pork fan, so things have to be really tasty for me to like them if they have pork.  These were pork and fennel meatballs with a blackberry jam.  Wow! There were layers of flavor in these meatballs.  You could definitely taste the fennel, but the blackberry jam was such a compliment to the pork.  I love eating food that the combinations are so unexpected, but so perfectly matched.

My main dish was a special that evening.  It was a  tart with caramelized onions, thyme, Gorgonzola cheese (and a few other things, but I can't remember) all wrapped in a pastry.  I could have used more balsamic vinegar over the top because I just love it, but it didn't stop me from eating this entire dish.  I wasn't a huge fan of the Italian parsley on the side and I didn't really eat any of it, but the presentation was beautiful.  

Although we were extremely full and could have gone without this dish,  my husband and I couldn't pass it up when we saw other people ordering it.  This is duck fat fried chicken.  It looked and smelled delicious.  It was two chicken thighs with mashed potatoes.  Everything tasted amazing.  If you like fried chicken you would love this.  It was salty and perfectly fried.  We were so full when we got this so we didn't fully enjoy it.  We took more then half of it home.  Also with all the other food this was at the bottom of our favorite list.  Not that it wasn't delicious, but all the other food exceeded our expectations.

They also have a brunch, which we haven't tried, but I can't imagine that would disappoint either.