In the barroom at Salazar, three men sit three barstools apart from each other, scrolling on their phones while eating bowls of pasta. I assume they’re in town for business or attending a convention down the street. One of the highlights of traveling alone is eating alone, and these guys are taking full advantage.
Suddenly one of the men stops scrolling, catches the attention of his bartender and exclaims, “This is fantastic!” – unaware, it seems, that he’s eating at a restaurant operated by an seven-time James Beard Award nominee.
The bar at Salazar is sectioned off from the restaurant, giving it a feeling of privacy and exclusivity. One could imagine wasting away the early hours of an evening or the wee hours of a night here.
Behind my barstool is a seating area of mid-century modern chairs inviting patrons to sit and stay a while. It’s an enticing proposition. Head bartender Nick DeFilippo and his team make killer cocktails worth sitting back and savoring.
A highlight is the “Livin’ Abita Loca,” a bittersweet blend of smoky mezcal, funky gochujang (a fermented chili paste), umami-packed shochu and Louisiana’s famous Abita root beer. Those ingredients might seem confounding on paper, but they come together beautifully – a perfect balance of sweet, sour, savory and funky.
The same can be said about the menu at Salazar, where Spanish, Japanese, French and seasonal Appalachian flavors enliven ostensibly familiar favorites. Two mini Maine lobster rolls ($34) − the split bun made by head baker and pastry chef Clair McKinney − arrive with an ample amount of snowy white lobster tossed in citrussy yuzu kosho mayonnaise.
A tender cardamon-crusted quail ($22) hides beneath a tangle of garlicky charred ramps and sour shaved rhubarb. The tiny fowl rests in a slick of sweet kohlrabi puree, and knobby lardons add the warming flavors of a French cassoulet.
A revamped Salazar finds its footing
I’ve visited Salazar several times since it relocated from its tiny Over-the-Rhine space to the former Saks Fifth Avenue, Downtown, six months ago. The first visits left me scratching my head, trying to figure out what the new iteration was all about. What the menu stands for, and how I feel about it.
My most recent visits helped me figure things out. That with a few notable exceptions, I think it’s found its footing.
“Six months is how long it takes to get all the systems in place, get a team that starts to gel and figure out what menu items work,” Salazar told me. That team is a well-oiled machine. From the front desk, where you’re welcomed by two or three smiling faces, to the affable servers who are happy to guide you through the menu without making your eyes glaze over with too many details.
Some might feel compelled to compare the old Salazar with the new. My advice is to avoid doing that. This is an entirely new restaurant with an entirely new vibe. Traces of the old Salazar’s DNA remain (the Monday menu often features “Salazar Classics” such as the Everything Salmon and fried brussels sprouts), but it’s evolved into an new species with its own unique character traits.
One thing that makes me happy about this place is how it brought new life to the building and this part of Downtown. Its former occupant was a dying Saks Fifth Avenue that never looked quite right with its soiled Dickensian exterior and depressing lack of customers. Now outdoor patio plants sway in the urban breeze, and a rooftop garden, planted with herbs by a Salazar chef who previously worked on a small farm, have literally given the old building new life.
Salazar told me he wants visiting his restaurant feel like visiting someone’s home. Given all the sculptures and original artwork he and his wife and business partner, Ann Salazar, have placed throughout, it’s more like an artist’s home – one that could easily merit a photo shoot for Architectural Digest.
Decoding the menu
Don’t let this elegance be confused with pretention or inaccessibility. Compared to other Downtown, Over-the-Rhine (and even Madisonville) restaurants, Salazar is relatively affordable. Sure, you can go for broke with a seafood tower ($90) and Kaluga caviar ($85). But you will also find a juicy New York strip with potato boulangère and sauteed greens for $58, or a well-portioned bowl of pasta for $27 to $30.
Both Salazar and executive chef Tim McClane are adept with small plates. Chalk that up to the time they spent making them across the street at the tapas spot Mita’s, which is also owned by Salazar. Maybe that’s why the best dishes can be found on the “Nibbles” section of the menu.
Along with the aforementioned quail and mini lobster rolls, there’s also a sunchoke appetizer ($18), where the chokes are tossed with seasonal mushrooms, spicy horseradish, pickled shallots and sunflower seeds. And longtime Salazar fans will be happy to see the old restaurant’s oyster slider ($8) with kimchi still on the menu.
The only nibble that missed the mark was an asparagus salad where the fresh flavors of in-season asparagus were outdone by olive tapenade and house-made potato chips. Not terrible by any means, but not one of my favorites.
There are at least two outstanding pasta dishes. The first is the mezzi rigatoni ($33) with sweet shredded blue crab in rich sauce Américaine (a Parisian lobster sauce made with lobster stock, tomatoes and white wine) tossed with a seasonal vegetable (currently asparagus) and sprinkled with crispy herbed breadcrumbs. Another is the gemelli with braised rabbit ($30), tender fava beans and pickled ramps in an aromatic carrot and cardamon sauce.
I was excited to see my stuffed cannelloni ($27) on the menu. It’s coated in bechamel sauce then piled with sugar snap peas and crispy garlic. But despite the grassy pea puree and fruity heat of espelette oil, the ricotta needed something to hold my interest. Maybe fresh herbs? I’m not sure. But this is an outlier to an otherwise meticulous menu.
Execution is key at Salazar
See, the thing that impresses me most about Salazar is the technique and execution applied to each dish coming out of the kitchen. Pastas are perfectly cooked; steaks are juicy and tender; every bite of fish expertly prepared. Even when things don’t click, there is a degree of culinary perfection that shines through.
Take the striped bass. The snow-white meat is firm and flaky, the skin perfectly crisp, salted and seasoned. It’s served in a puddle of strawberry “mole,” a slightly odd emulsion of tart strawberries and peppers that’s sweet with a sharp punch of spice. A crowd of chopped and sliced vegetables, knobby or paper thin, provide a technicolor flourish, and earthenware plates serve as a circular canvas to this subtle work of art that all comes together once you take your first bite.
That New York strip I mentioned earlier is cut into three cubes resembling ruby red building blocks. The meat, beefy with the right amount of chew, is served on a slick of luxurious bordelaise sauce that will make you pause for a moment to give French cuisine a quick “merci beaucoup.”
That steak is now a perfect memory, as is the tandoori roasted cauliflower ($26), which I’m told is the sleeper hit here thanks to its extraordinary flavor and texture. The cauliflower is braised overnight in orange juice and salt, rubbed with a pantry-full of spices and roasted whole. It arrives on a mess of sweet onion jam, basmati rice, lentils and bright mint chutney that you can and should mash together to create a perfect bite. Corn nut-crunchy fried chickpeas tossed in turmeric take it over the top.
Like most of the dishes I’ve tried at Salazar, the cauliflower proves this restaurant is showing off a degree of culinary perfection that’s meant to not just satisfy but excite. It’s a restaurant that’s putting the work in to become one of our city’s finest. If it’s not there yet, I have every reason to believe it will be soon. Why? Because it’s called Salazar. And that name means something around here.
Salazar, 101 W. Fifth St., Downtown. 513-345-1500, salazarcincinnati.com. Hours: 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Closed Sunday.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: This restaurant has every ingredient to become one of the city’s finest
Reporting by Keith Pandolfi, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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