Last night four of us headed to Ballston to try out the second SALT LINE that has opened in the DC area (first one is in SE near the Stadium) and we had a ball. We were worried about parking near the shopping mall, but there were plenty of street spaces and we only had to plug the meter from 630pm to 8pm as it's free after that!
The menus here are pretty simple but there are so many starter options from the shucked oysters(7 kinds) to seafood platters and more. Will & I split the SEAFOOD CHARCUTERIE which was a great deal and had a ton of options served with grilled bread: Nori-warpped Shrimp & Scallop Terrine, Marinated (in agua chile and cucumber) Mussels, Cold Smoked Salmon, Rockfish & Shrimp Merguez Sausages, some jardiniere(pickled fennel), and Monkfish Liver Pate. The highlights were the superb yet so simple salmon, the sausages and the pate---DIVINE and rich and creamy.
Crispy Octopus comes with super spicy fingerling potatoes, zhoug, garlic aioli, pomegranate, almonds and orange and is a big winner while the Smoked Whitefish Salad with Fried Capers and Pickled Onions that comes on Sourdough is a tad tiny yet tasty.
We were lucky enough to have an extra starter sent out and it was one of my favorites(that I would have chosen next) called the NASHVILLE HOT Soft Shell served on grilled bread with Pickled green Tomatoes and a magnificent drizzle of Black Garlic Honey. These battered darlings were cooked to perfection with an amazing crunch and that balsamic drizzle to die for. (fotos on FB).
While I did not taste them there was a Fish House Punch(rum based) and a sweet frozen orange crush drink with alcohol as well. We went right to the wine and while a tad pricey (almost every bottle is over $60) the 2020 Greco di Tuffo from Terradova was a super white that stood up to everything. We moved on to a Cantina del Taburno Falanghina from Sannio in Campania next which was more acidic, a tad more expensive and not as much to our liking, so for the last bottle we moved back to the Greco!
Main courses were all superb, but the Lobster Rools at $35 are a tad chintzy with meat. They come either warm with melted butter or cold dressed with aioli.
My Olive Oil Poached Halibut was sublime with Summer Beans, Oyster Mushrooms, Chili Crisp and a Dashi-Wine broth.
Sides of salads, fries and Broccolini(with crispy garlic and anchovy aioli) were delish as well.
We settled on three desserts and our excellent server Jack brought out a 4th just in case!
The fourth extra was the Black Tea Panna Cotta with Lemon Curd, Strawberry Sorbet, Grilled Peaches and Nilla Wafers. It was light, but easily the best of the bunch.
Almond & Rhubarb Parfait had olive oil cake with almond creme legere, rhubarb compote and a topping of almond and coconut granola. We basically said it was an overly creamy trifle and Jack agreed less cream more fruit would be great.
Ultimate Banana Split has everything from vanilla, chocolate & strawberry ice cream to fudge, caramel, blueberry compote(although we could not find that) and peanuts, while the most insane dessert of all was the
COOKIES & CREAM "Over the Top" milkshake which is scary enough when it appears at almost a foot tall!! Vanilla, Ice cream, Coffee Syrup, Cream Cheese buttercream(!!), Chocolate Espresso Streusel (which is attached to the outside of the glass), Marble pound cake with toasted marshmallow!! The cake itself is piled on top and was a tad on the dry side, but it was a marvel to look at(foto on FB).
Another nice treat was the bowl of dozens of flavors of taffy at the door on the way out--irresistible!! I wanted to stuff my pockets, but refrained.
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