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BlackSalt, MacArthur Boulevard in Palisades - with Executive Chef and Fishmonger Jeff Gaetjen


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The stew reminded me of a deconstructed paella, and was good except for one note that kept hitting me as exceedingly bitter. Porcupine couldn't taste any bitter, so whatever it was just didn't hit my tastebuds right.

Y'know, there was a lot of thyme in that stew. It was good, but dominant. I could imagine someone experiencing that as bitter. The dish was fantastic, though - fish, clams, mussels, pork belly, tomato, saffron, chickpeas, olives. Wow. Blacksalt doesn't get the attention it deserves, but even so it was plenty full of people on a Wednesday night.

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Is the lunch menu available Saturday and Sunday? Are reservations needed for a Saturday or Sunday lunch?

Yes* and depends. My last Saturday lunch you could have walked in, but I have been in the Black Salt Market on Saturdays when it has been packed for lunch.

* This only pertains to Saturdays, I have no idea about Sundays.

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Stopped in to pick up some shrimp today for dinner and found that they have the highly prized (by some) Ruby Reds in stock. Also I coveted the whole Dorade and scallops with roe. Everything was sparkley fresh looking.

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Stopped in to pick up some shrimp today for dinner and found that they have the highly prized (by some) Ruby Reds in stock. Also I coveted the whole Dorade and scallops with roe. Everything was sparkley fresh looking.

Zora had mentioned that she picked some Reds up shortly after the WaPo article ran, and the price was quite good (apparently they didn't want to raise it right away with the large increase in demand). How are the prices for the shrimp now?

Thanks.

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Zora had mentioned that she picked some Reds up shortly after the WaPo article ran, and the price was quite good (apparently they didn't want to raise it right away with the large increase in demand). How are the prices for the shrimp now?

Thanks.

I believe in Pensacola a few months ago I could pick them up for about $5-6/lb at Joe Patti's and I think they were charging $11/lb at BS, that seems resonable to me, if I were in the mood for that particular flavor I would have jumped on them. The XXL reg wild caught shrimp were about 16/lb and that's what I purchased to totally be stepped on by the mole negro that I intend to pair them with tonight. The shrimp at Balducci's were in the same price range but I could not tell the difference b/t the L & XL and they were farmed (please don't ever buy these :lol: ) and looked flabby.
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Lunch today was a treat - cooling drinks and beautifully fresh seafood. We split the watercress salad, fried clams, calamari, and the fish stew. Salad and fried creatures were good, stew was excellent with a complex, properly salted broth.

I picked up 2 pounds of mussels, and a pound of Ruby reds for dinner.

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Is the lunch menu available Saturday and Sunday? Are reservations needed for a Saturday or Sunday lunch?

Just returned from brunch at Black Salt and have to shout out the Louisiana poached eggs - a mildly spicy benedict-like concoction with crayfish and tasso ham - the best breakfast dish I have had in a while.

The Sunday brunch menu is different than the lunch menu served M-Sat. That lunch menu has a great starter in the homemade hummus, served with housemade pita and a wonderful Mediterranean salad.

I love Black Salt.

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I'd given my friend a list of candidate restaurants for last night. Given that it was Sunday, there were limited options.

"BlackSalt or Commonwealth," he wrote me back.

"Why not Et Voila!?" I answered.

An hour later, I walked into Et Voila, took a seat, and looked at the menu. Right away, I knew we were the wrong people for this neighborhood restaurant - the menu was old-school, take-no-chances conservative, and we were coming cross-town and feeling more experimental.

My friend arrived, opened the menu, and said, simply, "ouch."

"Blood sausage phyllo?" I asked.

"It's purchased blood sausage, and purchased phyllo," he said.

"How do you know?"

"I can't imagine otherwise."

"Yeah, but you never know..."

A server walked by with a plate of french fries. "The fries look frozen," I remarked.

My friend looked at me, smiled, and replied, "Okay, so, if they're serving frozen french fries, do you think they're making their own phyllo?"

We paid for our drinks, left a 50% tip, and I'll look forward to returning to Et Voila! another day on my own.

BlackSalt was humming at 8:30 PM. We got seated, and our server turned out to be an old wine buddy, so we turned the dinner over to her, opting for a four-course tasting menu. Danny Wells was off last night, but Rick Cook was very much in charge of the kitchen. Rick and Russell assembled a little parade of bites that surpassed our Sunday-night expectations, one of the highlights being a plate of Cook's impressive house-cured meats: gravlox, duck breast, and spalla. These two gentlemen are doing some interesting work in the kitchen.

The talented Pastry Chef Susan Wallace often works dinner service, and last night she was in top form, with an amuse-dessert of coconut sorbet, followed by a trio consisting of the best Key Lime Pie in town, a Chocolate-Peanut Evil Cake, and a Pot de Creme. Wallace's desserts are sometimes rich, but always elegant, and never out of balance.

Cheers,

Rocks.

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We were in the mood for seafood this Columbus day and headed over. Really an excellent lunch. Entree was the rockfish in a really good light cream sauce with artichokes and mushrooms. But the highlight was the Addie's mussels appetizer, which was the best sauce I've ever had with mussels. In fact, this would go great with any seafood. We asked for the recipe and the chef would not reveal it. However, we were told that the ingredients were a combination of saffron, garlic, shallots, lemon, tomatoes, chili flakes and lots of butter.

If anyone has adapted the recipe or somehow knows it, would greatly appreciate if you'd share.

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Friday night- Blacksalt. It was a special occaision so we both had the tasting menu with the wine pairings. Seven seafood courses witha trio of desserts and 10 different wines. Our waitress asked "Are there any food, wine or preparations we need to avoid?" "We like to try everything, whatever the chef thinks is best" we replied. "Your going to love it" she said smiling. We did. Caution: quite expensive for such a casual place.

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Friday night- Blacksalt. It was a special occaision so we both had the tasting menu with the wine pairings. Seven seafood courses witha trio of desserts and 10 different wines. Our waitress asked "Are there any food, wine or preparations we need to avoid?" "We like to try everything, whatever the chef thinks is best" we replied. "Your going to love it" she said smiling. We did. Caution: quite expensive for such a casual place.

How expensive is expensive?

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How expensive is expensive?

I'm looking at the receipt... For two it was $297.77 before tip. We had the tasting menu, wine pairing (10 wines) desert and bottled water. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal, service. However, If we were entertaining my parents or I was taking out clients who may or may not be into food and wine, Blacksalt would not be the place to impress.

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The tasting menu is $85, and I don't think that's a bad price for the food or the decor. I don't find it to be such a "casual" atmosphere - most people dress up at least a little.

Daniel, I like the place... I think walking through a fish market is pretty casual. Other diners were in work/business clothes, like us, or sweats and jeans on Friday night.

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Daniel, I like the place... I think walking through a fish market is pretty casual. Other diners were in work/business clothes, like us, or sweats and jeans on Friday night.

Sweats and jeans was not what I saw when I dined there, and I thought the recent reboot of the interior upped the decor a couple of notches. That said, it's certainly not a "jacket required" kind of place.

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I'm looking at the receipt... For two it was $297.77 before tip. We had the tasting menu, wine pairing (10 wines) desert and bottled water. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal, service. However, If we were entertaining my parents or I was taking out clients who may or may not be into food and wine, Blacksalt would not be the place to impress.

So if my calculations are correct, and the tasting menu was $85 as Daniel pointed out, the wine pairing was $50 each? That is certainly not on the expensive side.

I recently received a gift certificate to BS so I will be making a return at some point in the near future. I cannot say that I particularly enjoyed my past trips, but all these positive reviews have me eager to return.

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I recently received a gift certificate to BS so I will be making a return at some point in the near future. I cannot say that I particularly enjoyed my past trips, but all these positive reviews have me eager to return.
I went twice not long after they opened and found that the dishes were over seasoned and in the case of the crab cake more cake than crab. I gone back twice this year and have to say that the improvement in quality of the food has been significant, there maybe individual seafood dishes being served in the city that exceed anything coming out of Black Salt's kitchen, but I don't know of any seafood restaurant that is out performing them as a whole.
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So if my calculations are correct, and the tasting menu was $85 as Daniel pointed out, the wine pairing was $50 each? That is certainly not on the expensive side.

I recently received a gift certificate to BS so I will be making a return at some point in the near future. I cannot say that I particularly enjoyed my past trips, but all these positive reviews have me eager to return.

I think your calculations are correct. This was a special evening and not how we regularly "roll" when it's just the two of us and , more importantly, not on expense acct. Was it worth it? Yes.

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I'm not sure how this restaurant climbed to the top of the DC seafood scene.

Anchovy white pizza - couldn't taste the hummus, in fact, I couldn't see the hummus. The flatbread itself had a diameter of 2 inches, but the plate did come with 4 anchovies. Not bad, but not necessarily good.

Braised baby octopus - this dish needs to be taken off the menu. No flavor and tough. They've been doing this for years now. Why don't they realize this dish sucks.

Fried clams - nicely breaded but there's no seasoning in the breading. I hate fried food that has no flavor. What's the point of breading it then?

Grilled sardines - nicely grilled. I liked the flavor. This is the only dish I truly liked.

I also had a caribbean cobia that's supposedly to come with foie gras ravioli. I didn't taste any foie gras in the ravioli (which was disappointing) but the ravioli itself was okay. The cobia was visibly raw in the center. I asked our server whether that was intentional and she said yes, it's supposed to be medium rare. The cooked part of the fish was light and flakey but the raw part was incredibly tough and chewy (probably barely thawed out). The mixed texture was distasteful.

My wife had no complaints on the nantucket scallops or her steak. On our way out, I wanted to buy some clams. The only person behind the counter was on the phone on a personal call with his back to us. Since he couldn't ackowledge our presence, we left.

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I walked up to BlackSalt and had a "while the cat's away with the car" meal at the bar last night. My bowl of mussels with Belgian beer was even better than the other preparations of mussels that I've tasted there, even Addie's mussels which I love. The mussels were plump and juicy and the broth had wonderful flavor, with several fresh bay leaves in the bowl. A generous helping, too. What with sopping up the broth with the crunchy toast provided, I probably didn't need a second dish, but I had already ordered one. And I was glad that I had--a large monkfish cheek was pan crisped on the outside and tender-chewy inside, with fresh, sweet, lobster-like flavor and texture (I know, I know--"poor man's lobster"...In this case, it was true.) Also on the plate, a pierog with duck sausage filling, a slice of cooked fennel, some frisee and a dark savory-sweet sauce. The crust on the pierog was thin but still slightly doughy, as if it could have spent a couple of more minutes in a slightly hotter oven, but the filling was bursting with flavor. I rounded out the treating-myself meal with butterscotch pot-de-creme, which I am still feeling guilty about. It was SO rich and delicious, incorporating all of my favorite sweets -- butterscotch custard, dark chocolate, whipped sweet cream and crunchy sweet shortbread cookies with a touch of salt in them, on the side. With my meal, I had a glass of a high acid, minerally white Bordeaux which was quite good. And excellent coffee with dessert.

I found out that Joey Z. who went from executive chef to general manager, is no longer at BlackSalt. He is now the human resources person for the Black Restaurant Group. I hope that he is doing that to learn more about running a business so that he can go on to open his own place. He's quite a talented chef.

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I want to thank the Black Restaurant group for providing non-chefs like myself with access to pristine seafood via their fish market upfront :P

I absolutely love seafood, and I enjoy preparing fish/shellfish/mollusk dishes in the comforts of home and to my discriminating taste buds :P The quality of the seafood they sell is impeccably fresh, making cooking (not to mention the tasty results) a breeze. Since their ingredients are dry, it makes sauteing and frying so easy.

Scott Weinstein and his team, very friendly and welcoming, do a terrific job of bringing a nice variety and impeccable cleaning/prepping our fish. Going there is like a kid with a sweet-tooth walking into a candy store. Call seafood dork, but I get so excited to see what they have available and which seafood items beckon me for dinner :D I particularly love their variety of fish and non-fish items like cockels, shrimp (never-frozen Gulf), and soft-shell crabs. The best soft-shell crabs I ever had (even ahead of those at Maestro or 2Amys) were the beauties from the market that my mom prepared simply and purely (as recommended by Scott) with EVOO and butter. The best Nantucket Bay Scallops I ever had were also purchased at the market and exquisitely prepared by my mom... that recipe is a secret :o

In terms of the restaurant, I have dined their for dinner and at the bar. The quality of ingredients is obviously pristine, but I concur with the sentiments of others that the saucing/preparations tend to intrude upon the natural flavors of the seafood ingredients. I go to BlackSalt exclusively for their seafood market. However, after BlackSalt market, I no longer have any remote interest in going to seafood places like Kinkead's. Of course, we're still regulars to DC-Baltimore area's best seafood restaurant, Sushi Sono!

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I don't know why Blacksalt does not get a lot of action on this board. Wnt lats night, July 4th and it was spot on.

Wine List-Very nice-Had a great Pinot from Willamette Valley..The list does tend to the expensive side but there are quite a few nice bottles around $50

Addies Mussels-Great as always..Broth is divine

Celeste had Halibut and I had a curry stew-Both great..

Key Lime Pie-Whomever the pastry chef is at Blacksalt nailed it.

Blacksalt isnt cheap but it delivers..

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I think the Arctic Char they're serving at Blacksalt ranks close to Proof's Sablefish as one of the area's best seafood dishes, IMO. Five of us had a really nice meal here Thursday night, but the Arctic Char was the highlight, served with a piquant green sauce, pork belly, toasted pumpkin (I think) seeds and fried plantains. Delicious. Sardines were great, as others have mentioned. My wife said her whole grilled red snapper was underseasoned, but I didn't try it.

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My wife said her whole grilled red snapper was underseasoned, but I didn't try it.

That's very interesting--the complaint about BlackSalt that I have heard more often is that they overseason the food. Intense flavor is Jeff Black's signature. Although, for people who don't like a lot of garlic, herbs or spices, they will simply grill fish, on request.
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I think the Arctic Char they're serving at Blacksalt ranks close to Proof's Sablefish as one of the area's best seafood dishes, IMO. Five of us had a really nice meal here Thursday night, but the Arctic Char was the highlight, served with a piquant green sauce, pork belly, toasted pumpkin (I think) seeds and fried plantains. Delicious. Sardines were great, as others have mentioned. My wife said her whole grilled red snapper was underseasoned, but I didn't try it.

Just saw this blog entry about wild Arctic Char at area restaurants, including apparently the version I had at BlackSalt the other day. Thought folks would be interested...

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You know what's really good at BlackSalt? Dessert. None of this namby-pamby, precious, deconstructed "pie" or "napoleon" (always in quotes on the menu) nonsense. Nope. When they have apple pie, like they did last night, you don't get a cookie with three paper-thin slices of apple and caramel "foam" and three drops of crème anglais. Ann Amernick could pull off that shit, but not anyone else, and it's gotten way too common in this town. Anyway, at BlackSalt what you get is a big wedge of crumb-topped deep-dish apple pie with a respectable scoop of vanilla ice cream and a generous drizzle of caramel sauce.

The rest of the food - like arctic char with turnips and maitake mushrooms, or sea bream with rosemary, celeriac, and chanterelles, or a salad of escarole with bacon, apple, candied almonds, and sherry vinaigrette - is effin' amazing, too.

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I picked up a few fresh shrimp, littlenecks, cockles, and some amazingly sweet tiny sea scallops at Black Salt on Sunday. Took it all home, sauteed some leeks, garlic, fresh thyme, and diced tomato, and then tossed in the seafood and let it steam in their own juices for a bit. Tossed it all over fettucine. Fuckin' A...

Bonus: being the insensitive prick I am, I forgot my pregnant wife won't touch the shellfish. More for me.

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You know what's really good at BlackSalt? Dessert. None of this namby-pamby, precious, deconstructed "pie" or "napoleon" (always in quotes on the menu) nonsense. Nope. When they have apple pie, like they did last night, you don't get a cookie with three paper-thin slices of apple and caramel "foam" and three drops of crème anglais. Ann Amernick could pull off that shit, but not anyone else, and it's gotten way too common in this town. Anyway, at BlackSalt what you get is a big wedge of crumb-topped deep-dish apple pie with a respectable scoop of vanilla ice cream and a generous drizzle of caramel sauce.

Susan Wallace's pies are amazing. Try banana cream if it is on the menu.
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You know what's really good at BlackSalt? Dessert. None of this namby-pamby, precious, deconstructed "pie" or "napoleon" (always in quotes on the menu) nonsense. Nope. When they have apple pie, like they did last night, you don't get a cookie with three paper-thin slices of apple and caramel "foam" and three drops of créme anglais.

My curiosity has gotten the better of me, so I'll ask you to elaborate. Are you saying that the only desserts worth serving are the ones that have been around for 50 years? Is there no place for innovation? What about, say, the desserts at Volt?

(Sorry, Don, for the tangent. If this needs to be moved, go for it.)

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My curiosity has gotten the better of me, so I'll ask you to elaborate. Are you saying that the only desserts worth serving are the ones that have been around for 50 years? Is there no place for innovation? What about, say, the desserts at Volt?

Never get near a porcupine when it's having a passionate moment. To a lesser degree, Elizabeth's post reminded me of this blast from the past written by Mark Slater over six years ago.

And if you think about where Mark works now ...

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My curiosity has gotten the better of me, so I'll ask you to elaborate. Are you saying that the only desserts worth serving are the ones that have been around for 50 years? Is there no place for innovation? What about, say, the desserts at Volt?

(Sorry, Don, for the tangent. If this needs to be moved, go for it.)

There’s room for both.**

But when you're craving one and the other arrives, h8 happens.

**Vote “No” For False Dichotomies!

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What KMango said.

My curiosity has gotten the better of me, so I'll ask you to elaborate. Are you saying that the only desserts worth serving are the ones that have been around for 50 years? Is there no place for innovation?

Not at all. I'm saying that tiny little tastings of de-constructed dishes - sweet or savory - have gotten trite. That sort of thing was innovative maybe, oh, six years ago? In another few years it'll join squiggles-of-raspberry-coulis-with-a-knife-drawn-through-it-presentations in the hall of culinary shame.

Never get near a porcupine when it's having a passionate moment.

:( Don knows not to take me too seriously.

Arcturus, I welcome a good discussion, but the previous post was meant tongue in cheek. I spent four ten hour days packing my house, one full day chasing movers around with a vacuum cleaner, a night on the bedroom floor of the new house and the next night on a sofa in the new house, because the bedroom is uninhabitable now, and have been walking around zombie-like saying "I know it's in a box somewhere" for the past two days, and only this morning was I able to cook something (a mug of chai, if you call that cooking; I found the teakettle) in the new kitchen, so when we went to BlackSalt for dinner, woefully underdressed ("I can't find any shoes!"), it was a little oasis of calm in the dessert of red sawdust that still coats the new place from the floor refinishing (completed on moving day, two weeks behind schedule), despite MrP's vacuuming the walls all day before the movers arrived. All of which is to say that the apple pie really hit the spot so I wanted to praise it, and that I'm feeling kinda punchy just now and need to stop typing and log the f***off the computer and hit the sofa again.

Also I need to decide where to chow tomorrow night.

yeah, Don, tmi, off-topic, go ahead and delete...

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. I spent four ten hour days packing my house, one full day chasing movers around with a vacuum cleaner, a night on the bedroom floor of the new house and the next night on a sofa in the new house, because the bedroom is uninhabitable now, and have been walking around zombie-like saying "I know it's in a box somewhere" for the past two days, and only this morning was I able to cook something (a mug of chai, if you call that cooking; I found the teakettle) in the new kitchen, so when we went to BlackSalt for dinner, woefully underdressed ("I can't find any shoes!"), it was a little oasis of calm in the dessert of red sawdust that still coats the new place from the floor refinishing (completed on moving day, two weeks behind schedule), despite MrP's vacuuming the walls all day before the movers arrived. All of which is to say that the apple pie really hit the spot so I wanted to praise it, and that I'm feeling kinda punchy just now and need to stop typing and log the f***off the computer and hit the sofa again.

Spent ten days in my old place w/out furniture b/c of a moving snafu. But I had one pot, one bowl, and two picnic plates. That was enough.

There are times you NEED g-d m-f'ing good apple pie. This is one of them. Glad you found it. :(

P.S. I love punchy. :P

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Spent ten days in my old place w/out furniture b/c of a moving snafu. But I had one pot, one bowl, and two picnic plates. That was enough.

There are times you NEED g-d m-f'ing good apple pie. This is one of them. Glad you found it. :(

P.S. I love punchy. :P

I had to buy a new can opener and a new colander 2 weeks after we moved. It was 18 months before we found them--in a box that totally shouldn't have kitchen stuff in it.

Good apple pie is important. But to keep this slightly on topic-- does anyone know where Danny Wells went in NY and who is in the kitchen at Black Salt now?

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What KMango said.

Not at all. I'm saying that tiny little tastings of de-constructed dishes - sweet or savory - have gotten trite. That sort of thing was innovative maybe, oh, six years ago? In another few years it'll join squiggles-of-raspberry-coulis-with-a-knife-drawn-through-it-presentations in the hall of culinary shame.

:( Don knows not to take me too seriously.

Arcturus, I welcome a good discussion, but the previous post was meant tongue in cheek. I spent four ten hour days packing my house, one full day chasing movers around with a vacuum cleaner, a night on the bedroom floor of the new house and the next night on a sofa in the new house, because the bedroom is uninhabitable now, and have been walking around zombie-like saying "I know it's in a box somewhere" for the past two days, and only this morning was I able to cook something (a mug of chai, if you call that cooking; I found the teakettle) in the new kitchen, so when we went to BlackSalt for dinner, woefully underdressed ("I can't find any shoes!"), it was a little oasis of calm in the dessert of red sawdust that still coats the new place from the floor refinishing (completed on moving day, two weeks behind schedule), despite MrP's vacuuming the walls all day before the movers arrived. All of which is to say that the apple pie really hit the spot so I wanted to praise it, and that I'm feeling kinda punchy just now and need to stop typing and log the f***off the computer and hit the sofa again.

Also I need to decide where to chow tomorrow night.

yeah, Don, tmi, off-topic, go ahead and delete...

Sounds hectic! I'm glad you enjoyed the pie. Allow me to explore a little further...

:P

The "little" aspect of that I would tend to agree with, but with the caveat that I think that desserts have to run a fine line in the size department, especially outside the context of a tasting menu. I think that in a fine dining, or at least upscale context, the "gigantic piece of well-recognized dessert" is every bit as trite and pointless as selling a dessert that consists of no more than three bites. With the former, there's the issue of beating a dead horse in that a big part of dining is sating an appetite, and doing anything past that, again in a fine dining context, is pointless. With the latter, there's the issue of leaving the guest unsatisfied in that they were done eating the dish before the sensation of taste started diminishing, and they could also possibly be hungry.

Inside of a tasting menu, it's a totally different ballgame, obviously.

Personally, I don't care how the dessert is made, as long as it tastes good. But I also like to push boundaries. As for where to chow, see my sig!

KMango: Agreed! There is room for both. It's all about context.

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the "gigantic piece of well-recognized dessert" is every bit as trite and pointless as selling a dessert that consists of no more than three bites.

I totally agree with that, and in a more sober moment I'd say that the desserts at BlackSalt do tend to be a bit large. What I like is menus that offer both.

...and to keep this slightly on topic, I don't know where Danny Wells ended up, but the kitchen at BlackSalt seems to be doing just fine without him.

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Our first experience at BS was Rest. Week - terrific. Return visit was ok. Third visit yesterday B-.

Yup, Susan Wallace's deserts are ginmormous and delicious with a most excellent macchiato and capuccini.

But our fish dishes were, well, uninspiring. Sea bream atop pasta and wall-eye pike were nondescript, overcooked and disappointing. Clam chowder was overly sweetened by a prevalence of leeks which made for one strange brew.

Oddly, the HVAC system cranked alternating waves of frigid AC blasts, followed by Tucson furnace heat. The wild fluctuations may mean mechanical problems which BS should remedy before the cold weather really sets in.

I believe PassionFish in Reston is doing a far more accomplished and inventive job with fish - at 1/3 the price. That said, I smacked my forehead when leaving. Should have simply ordered one of the many beautiful specimens displayed on ice in the market to be cooked/grilled by the kitchen. I plan to do that if (big if) we return.

On the way out, purchased lovely pieces of salmon, sashimi-grade tuna and very tasty shrimp spring rolls.

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We had a wonderful brunch at Black Salt yesterday. Susan's quiche was very good as was the omelette. The greens may have been from a bag, however.. But the highlight was the fish counter. We looked for sole but decided on the Spanish mackeral. We cooked it tonight, and it was melt in your mouth delicious.

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Had a very nice lunch (again) during Restaurant Week - service was great, food was also very good. Skate wings atop pasta, the creamy clam chowder with some heat and a first rate key lime pie were all very nicely done. Bought a spectacular piece of Irish organic salmon and scallops at the market on the way out.

The only knock I have is the hostess/host. Every time we have gone, the reception is chillier than the ice neath the fish on display at the market. Geesh. Could you please lighten up or, more specifically, warm up? Greeting customers as if they are in Siberia is not the best way to make a favorable first impression.

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