Salt Kitchen & Tasting Bar

Best for: Early or late-night tapas
Location: Kaimuki
Foodgasmic dish: Almond brittle flan with bourbon

Most dishes are about $5-10

Tapas are my favorite form of dinner because I prefer an assortment of small plates to one large dish. Plus, tapas pretty much require a glass of wine. Perfecto!




Salt reminds me of Portland, maybe because it's tiny, maybe because post-modern black-and-white photography cover the walls, maybe because the menus don't have decimals or dollar signs. Or maybe because some of the food seems to be obscure for the sake of being obscure. Whatever the reason, I do like Salt, and it has become one of my favorite places to go either for early night tapas or late night tapas - it's way too crowded during prime dinner time.

discussing the charcuterie

I've been here four times so far. On the first time, Mizuki, Matt and I arrived at 9 pm and sat at the bar. The crowd definitely made me feel like I was back in Portland, which, in this case, is a good thing. We had had dinner elsewhere, so I ordered one of the three desserts: chevre cheesecake with caramel popcorn. I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake (unless it's Japanese cheesecake) or popcorn, but this dish is one of Salt's specialty, and I thought the flavors were delicious together. However, halfway through the cheesecake I was sick of it.

chevre cheesecake and caramel popcorn ($7)

A few weeks later Carolyn and I came around 5:30 and were glad to see that it was almost completely empty. We sat at an upstairs table on the left, which has become my favorite place to sit. We each ordered a glass of white wine (try the savennières!) and shared about 4 dishes:

1. Fried egg
2. Pork-stuffed calamari
3. Grilled tako bruschetta
4. Empanadas

fried egg, calabrian chilean aioli, frisee, and grilled egg ($5)

grilled pork-stuffed calamari with frisee and smoked tomato creme fraiche ($8)

The first two were my favorites and the most interesting of the bunch. The grilled bread was perfect for sopping up the yolk from the fried egg. The tako bruschetta and empanadas were underwhelming, which is the case for about half of the menu at Salt.

grilled tako bruschetta, charred peppers, soft poached egg aioli, and fine herbs ($9)

empanadas

The last time I came to Salt, I was relieved to see that they updated and expanded their dessert selection. I can only eat so much popcorn cheesecake. I tried the almond brittle flan with bourbon, and it was the best flan I've ever had. Must be the bourbon.