We had lunch at Saltaire Oyster Bar in Port Chester today. It was our first visit, and I’d say it was pretty good overall. I ordered the salmon entree and was impressed when the server asked how I wanted it cooked. I can’t remember the last time I was asked that and most places look at you like you’re speaking a foreign language when you ask for salmon cooked medium rare (which was how I ordered it here).
I had the salmon poke to start, and my wife had the chopped salad. The poke was very good. Not a huge portion but it was enough. The salad portion also was not huge, but my wife liked it. Interestingly, someone at the table next to us must have complained about the salad, because at one point the manager took the salad away and brought it back, he announced that he had added a bunch of lentils and sunflower seeds, which had been mixed in (and which the customer apparently didn’t think there were enough of).
For entrees, my wife ordered the shrimp provencal linguine and I had the grilled salmon. The shrimp was excellent, 5 large shrimp and a big bowl of pasta. When I got my salmon, i was impressed with the portion size, and it was on a plate of various squashes with a ring of balsamic vinegar around the plate (the menu said it came with Roasted Organic Orzo & Crunchy Vegetables Salad and Pomegranate Aioli, so maybe it was pomegranite – it definitely wasn’t orzo). Unfortunately, the salmon was cooked medium. At most places I would just eat it but I figured that since the server had asked how I wanted it, and this was a seafood place that (in theory) knows how to cook it properly, I decided to send it back. The server came over after a few minutes and I told him it was overcooked. Rather than immediately apologizing and taking it back, he actually went to a terminal to check how it was ordered. Only after verifying that I had indeed ordered it medium-rare did he acknowledge that it was wrong and take it back. I got a new one within 5 minutes and the good news was that it was cooked properly, in fact is was closer to rare but that was fine with me. I thought the portion size was smaller, but in looking at the pictures, they may have been the same (the replacement piece was thicker). The replacement plating wasn’t as nice. For dessert we both got the rum raisin bread pudding since I’d read in an online review that it was very good. I wasn’t really impressed, I didn’t taste any rum, I had barely and raisins, and the caramel swirl on the plate was grainy. I probably should have gotten the vanilla gelato instead.
A couple of things annoyed me. Our table had bread plates but we never got bread. When I asked the server about it, he told me that they don’t usually give out bread at lunch (then why put out bread plates?) Amusingly, those bread plates stayed on the table for the entire meal, even after my wife had used hers for the shrimp tails. And when we got dessert, my wife had a knife and spoon and I had a fork and spoon, with the knife and fork left over from our entrees.
Anyway, for $23 it was a very good value, and the food tasted very good.
Salmon Poke
Chopped Salad
Original salmon
Replacement salmon
Shrimp Provencal Linguine
Rum Raisin Bread Pudding
