Last night (a Sunday evening), a group of three of us dined at Salts, on Main Street in Cambridge (at the site of the much-missed Panache and 798 Main, late the site of Anago Bistro, which has now moved to the Lenox Hotel in Boston). I must admit that I chose the restaurant at least partially because of the free parking. We all found the food quite wonderful, if a bit whimsical. We started by splitting an appetizer called crab kugel. Those who know what kugel is will find that information irrelevant; this was really a crab cake with (perhaps) a bit of chopped noodles to help solidify it. Served in a sauce of saffron- and sorrel-flavored olive oil, the flavors were exquisite, though the price (something like eight dollars for one crab cake) was not low. I had the chance to taste three dinners. One of my companions had a dish of halibut with mussels (the halibut was a substitute for Dover sole, which was not available), and it was extraordinary; the fish was perfectly cooked and almost melted in my mouth. Another had the herbed chicken, almost a cliche by now: a large piece of perfectly cooked chicken, served with mashed potatoes and some baby string beans, with a good reduction sauce flavored perhaps with fennel. I had the vegetarian offering: bean cakes with greens in a vegetable broth, which was topped with gingered raisins. These ranged in price from $14 to $19, and were among the less expensive entrees. Desserts were more amusing than good. We tried strawberry kissel, which turned out to be pureed strawberries, thickened with some starch, served with a topping of orange cream; it was a bit like eating strawberry jam. We also tried fresh fruit with a camomile and vanilla sauce, which I liked but was perhaps a bit odd. Next time, we'll try the chocolate dessert or go across the street to Toscanini's. The coffee (both decaffeinated and regular) was excellent. The service was very fine. Total price (no alcohol) came to a bit under $75 for three of us.--Rob
Boston, MA
Salts (Central Square, Cambridge, MA)
Rob G. wrote: >Last night (a Sunday evening), a group of three of us dined at >Salts, on Main Street in Cambridge (at the site of the >much-missed Panache and 798 Main, late the site of Anago Bistro, >which has now moved to the Lenox Hotel in Boston). I must admit >that I chose the restaurant at least partially because of the >free parking. We all found the food quite wonderful, if a bit >whimsical. As it happens, I also went to Salts for the first time recently, having chosen it for my Special Birthday Dinner (and therefore I don't know what the bill came to :-)). I too miss Panache, and was attracted to Salts both because of fond associations with the location and because I had walked past it not long ago and been intrigued by the menu. I also found the food to be quite wonderful, and probably no more whimsical than most places in its class these days. This was last Thursday, and some of the details have faded a bit (I didn't take notes). >We started by splitting an appetizer called crab kugel. Those >who know what kugel is will find that information irrelevant; >this was really a crab cake with (perhaps) a bit of chopped >noodles to help solidify it. Served in a sauce of saffron- and >sorrel-flavored olive oil, the flavors were exquisite, though >the price (something like eight dollars for one crab cake) was >not low. My companion had the crab kugel, and was very pleased. I had the chive pierogi with a variety of wild and tame :-) mushrooms -- I'm a sucker for just about anything with wild mushrooms -- which was absolutely superb. >I had the chance to taste three dinners. One of my companions >had a dish of halibut with mussels (the halibut was a substitute >for Dover sole, which was not available), and it was >extraordinary; the fish was perfectly cooked and almost melted in >my mouth. Another had the herbed chicken, almost a cliche by >now: a large piece of perfectly cooked chicken, served with >mashed potatoes and some baby string beans, with a good reduction >sauce flavored perhaps with fennel. I had the vegetarian >offering: bean cakes with greens in a vegetable broth, which was >topped with gingered raisins. These ranged in price from $14 to >$19, and were among the less expensive entrees. I was slightly tempted by the latter two of these, but not enough to sway me from the tea-and-rosemary-smoked lamb loin, in a nice rich but not overwhelming reduction, and accompanied by a roasted garlic varniecke (sp?), which was perhaps a little too similar to my pierogi appetizer. John had the duck with cranberry(?) glaze [he can't remember either], which he said was good a but a little too sweet (a common failing of restaurant duck, in my experience). All this accompanied by a nice bottle of Stag's Leap cabernet, probably no bargain at $44, but it was a special occasion. >Desserts were more amusing than good. We tried strawberry >kissel, which turned out to be pureed strawberries, thickened >with some starch, served with a topping of orange cream; it was a >bit like eating strawberry jam. We also tried fresh fruit with a >camomile and vanilla sauce, which I liked but was perhaps a bit >odd. Next time, we'll try the chocolate dessert Indeed. The chocolate-almond cake was to die for, without being so dense that one felt one's arteries hardening after one bite. I asked what the strawberry kissel was, and decided from the description that it was a silly way to treat perfectly good strawberries. >The coffee (both decaffeinated and regular) was excellent. The >service was very fine. They did present us with the dessert menus a little sooner than we were ready to deal with them -- we had just finished our entrees, and we still had quite a bit of wine left -- but had no problem leaving them with us for a while when we said we couldn't think about it quite yet. The place was half full, if that, at 8 PM on a Thursday, which might be a bad sign (for them, I mean). On the other hand, it's small and the tables are rather close together; when it's full, I expect it's pretty noisy. I'd go there again. Even if I were paying for it. :-)