SALT

It seems that all of America is clamoring for people to cut their sodium intake, and Salt in Boulder is serving it up to customers in generously filled little trays.

My husband, my mother and I showed up at Salt looking for brunch at noon on Sunday of Labor Day weekend. The outdoor seating was filled but the inside was maybe only a third occupied. I was surprised at how much busier Salt's next door neighbor, The Kitchen, appeared.

We were soon seated indoors and presented with the salt selection shown above, which consisted of a pink Bolivian salt and a white Sicilian salt.

The brunch menu at Salt offers a variety of sweet and savory dishes, and we couldn't resist the allure of the Glazed & Cinnamon Doughnuts ($6) as an "appetizer".

Glazed and Cinnamon Doughnuts

These were incredible. They were served with a tangy lemon curd and a spiced chocolate sauce that had just a slight hint of heat. The warm doughnuts tasted freshly fried and had a perfectly soft and light texture.

For our main dishes, I ordered the Chilaquiles Negro ($12). Chilaquiles is a traditional Mexican dish, and I believe chilaquiles roughly translates into something like "intentionally soggy egg-covered nachos that are delicious and you eat them for breakfast".

Chilaquiles Negro

This came smothered in refried black beans, salsa verde, onions, roasted chicken, cilantro, two eggs over easy, and crème fraiche. I never really figured out how I was supposed to it eat (is it really messy finger food or really tricky fork food?), although it was served in its authentic form. The combination of ingredients was outstanding, especially the very fresh and perfectly cooked eggs. I ate as much as I could and then let my husband dig in to finish it off.

Speaking of my husband, he ordered the Roasted Long Farm Pork Loin Sandwich ($15).

Roasted Long Farm Pork Loin Sandwich

This monster of a sandwich included spinach, fontina mornay, bacon, scallion scrambled eggs, and polenta fries on the side. It amounted to an awful lot of protein in every bite.  The sandwich was good but very filling and lacked a punch of flavor. My husband only ate half of it before throwing in the towel (but he was then able to finish off my chilaquiles).

The polenta fries were well cooked and win novelty points, but I realized I wasn't enough of a polenta lover to eat more than just a few.

And for my mother, the House Smoked Wild Alaskan Salmon Melt ($15):

House Smoked Wild Alaskan Salmon Melt

The salmon came smothered in fontina cheese on a locally made Udi's bagel. I enjoyed the smoked salmon but the salmon coupled with the cheese made for a very salty meal.

Speaking of salty, considering the name of the restaurant and the copious amount of it sitting in front of us during our meal, I expected the food to be very lightly salted, thereby allowing customers to use the fancy foreign sodium chloride to their heart's desire on their meal. This was not the case. The food seemed to have typical restaurant sodium amounts in it, and I felt no need to add any additional salt. I tried a tiny bit of the two varieties just to see what they tasted like; I'm no gourmet but it was just normal salt to me.

The food was very good but generally didn't blow me away (ok, the doughnuts were awesome). Great service and atmosphere. I would definitely visit again, especially to try Salt for dinner.


Casual Dining

 (7 of 10)

Pros: Great food, local ingredients
Cons: Portions too large


Website:
http://www.saltboulderbistro.com/