Salts adds pinch of perfection to dishes

By Mat Schaffer, Friday, May 21, 2004


Analia Verolo is sporting a diamond, but she and fiance Gabriel Bremer are too busy to tie the knot. Two months ago, the duo purchased Salts restaurant in Cambridge. With Bremer behind the stove and Verolo managing the front of the house, getting hitched must be the last thing on their minds.

And that's fantastic news for discerning diners, because Salts is the best new restaurant of the year. Once you've eaten there, you won't want Verolo and Bremer to take a honeymoon, not a single day.

The couple (they met at Fore Street in Portland, Maine; he then opened his own place in Portland and most recently worked at Rialto) make everything look so easy. It's the relaxed, countryside decor, with a pot of rosemary on every table, and candle chandeliers adorned with cut flowers. It's knowledgeable waiters who treat you as if you're a guest in their home. And it's the goodness-cum-graciousness of a gratis amuses-bouche such as a lobster profiterole, plus a pre-dessert amuse such as coffee-cardamom custard crowned with chocolate sorbet.

In Bremer's French-inspired kitchen, the seasons rule and fresh, local ingredients hold sway. This time of year that's an appetizer of rolled galantine of rabbit ($10), filled with chicken mousse and served with lightly dressed favas, walnuts and radishes and pickled chanterelles. Or warm fondue au fromage ($12) of melted fontina for dunking par-cooked miniature carrots and turnips and brioche croutons.

A cylinder of foie gras melts into velvety, verdant English pea soup ($10) replete with tiny peas and pea tendrils. Slices of lemon-sugar ``cured'' hamachi ($12) tuna are drizzled with coriander-seed vinaigrette and strewn with a greengrocer's garden of fresh herbs, radishes and preserved lemon. Toss together baby lettuces ($8), radishes, black truffle shavings, a poached quail egg and tarragon-scented vinaigrette for a Hollandaise-creamy, dreamy spring salad.

At Salts, less is always more and simple reigns supreme.

The meaty white flesh of braised loup de mer ($30) in delightfully basic buttery fumet needs little more than a scattering of morels, ramps and stalks of wild asparagus to fully satisfy. A classic ballotine ($26) of boned chicken leg, stuffed with chicken mousse, cepes and foie gras, is sliced and arranged over airy pureed potatoes with a ladle of butter-enriched chicken jus. It's delectable.

You'll revel in the tenderness of pan-roasted tenderloin ($32) with thyme-scented wild mushroom-potato pommes forestier gratin. Brussels sprouts, carrots, baby fingerlings and red pearl onions share the bowl with slow-simmered pot-au-feu ($28) of spring veal short rib, tongue and sweet bread. Accessorize the dish with coarse Dijon mustard, sea salt, cornichons and pickled ramps.

I can't wait to try the whole roasted boneless duck stuffed with brioche and apples ($55), dramatically carved tableside as they do in Paris. It looks amazing.

The only disappointment here is the overpriced wine list, which desperately needs bottles under $40. That said, the burnt-sugary richness of a 2001 Domaine Dauvissat Camus Chablis (La Forest) Premier Cru ($45) is stellar with the fish and chicken. Try the '01 Domaine de Piaugier Cotes du Rhone ($42) - redolent of figs and currants - with the tenderloin and veal.

Bremer's divine desserts are designed for adult palates. Chevre cheesecake ($9), on a round of roasted pineapple with green apple sorbet and Thai basil, is simultaneously sour and sweet. A stem of flowering lavender decorates lavender-scented creme brulee ($8). Warm chocolate cake ($9) comes with coffee-cardamom ice cream and a tiny shot glass of frothy chocolate-cardamom frappe. The lovage sprigs that garnish fresh-baked lemon souffle tart ($8) with frozen Meyer lemon curd and minted berries speak volumes about the chef's confidence and creativity.

On the back of the first page of the menu, you'll find this quote from Thomas Keller of the famed French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley, Calif.: ``When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear; to make people happy. That's what cooking is all about.''

Dining at Salts may not be perfection, but it's pretty darn close.