Red Salt by David Burke
20 oz Bone-In Dry Aged Ribeye
I love hitting up a new restaurant on opening weekend. For a friend’s birthday, we went to Red Salt by David Burke. We made reservations to ensure we could get in (I’m not sure if you would need one on a typical night?). We previewed the menu before heading over, and it looked GREAT! Quite frankly, it was hard to decide what we were going to order.
Arrival, atmosphere, and drinks to start
Valet was, unfortunately, not available. We survived, though — self-parking is available closeby (and the restaurant validates). As soon as we walked in, the atmosphere was great — very much a scene. It reminded me of something you’d see in Miami or Las Vegas. The service was equally impressive, especially on opening weekend. We didn’t feel rushed, and our server frequently checked in on us — no complaints at all there. There wasn’t a drink menu available for opening weekend (hopefully they have one now), so; as a result, I stuck with a classic: A Grey Goose martini, extra dirty with three olives. It was fantastic! One of the top 10 dirties I’ve had.
Apps, entrees, and dessert
While sipping our drinks, we decided what to order. In my usual style, we picked out lots of food.
Clothesline Bacon. Black pepper maple glazed bacon on a clothesline. SO GOOD! It was sweet. It was sticky. It had an awesome peppery finish. The grease from the bacon drips down onto a pickle, giving the pickle a salty/sweet/acidic flavor. Heck yeah — super tasty. Oh, and you cut the bacon with scissors to serve it, which was kind of fun.
Lobster Dumplings. In miso tomato broth. Probably my favorite dish. It started tomato-forward, which quickly melds into basil and then citrus. There was a slight chili pepper flavor too, but not overwhelming by any means. Finally, you really taste the lobster in the finish. And there were generous chunks of meat in the dumplings — it wasn’t all shredded up; they certainly didn’t skimp on the portions. It was a rich yet light and bright dish. 10/10: I’d order it again.
Pretzel Crusted Crab Cake. Tomato-orange jam and spicy pesto. What an awesome and inventive crab cake. There was so much meat in this thing, and very little, if any, filler. It was nice and flavorful, and I loved the tomato jam. It wasn’t at all greasy, as some crab cakes can be. I’d definitely order this again too.
DB Gruyere Popovers. Served with sweet cream butter. They were your typical fluffy, eggy, gruyere popover — nothing to write home about here.
Octopus and Chorizo Kabobs. With shishitos, radish, garlic, and olives. Overall, this dish was delicious. The peppers had a nice blister. The octopus was tender. You got a pleasant heat in the finish. Very visually appealing too.
Hipster Hushpuppies. Shishitos, parmesan, chili honey butter. These were AWESOME. Some of the best hushpuppies I’ve ever eaten. They were moist and creamy/cheesy. They were sweet; however, the jalapeno added a nice peppery roundness to the dish.
Crispy Brussels Sprouts. With bacon onion jam. These were great brussels sprouts. There was nothing super unique or inventive about them, but the execution was perfect. They had a perfect roast on them, making them both tender and slightly crispy. The bacon jam added a nice salty flavor. They were excellent.
Bloody Mary Onion Rings. These had a sharp flavor to them. It was very similar to a sour cream and onion dip or “funyun” flavor. They were just OK. I would’ve expected a better presentation too, given the presentation of everything else. They just came thrown in a bowl — I was kind of expecting the rings to be stacked in a tower.
20 oz Bone-In Dry Aged Ribeye. I was disappointed that this was just OK. The first one they brought out was a big, thick, juicy ribeye. Unfortunately, it was still raw. Not rare, but raw. They quickly replaced our steak with a new one, cooked to a medium, but it was a much thinner steak. In terms of flavor, it was nothing special, merely a standard ribeye. No unique seasoning. No amazing crust. Just ok. Which at $68, should have been a great steak.
Crackling Pork Shank. Vegetable fried rice, Red Salt plum sauce. Despite the name, there wasn’t anything crackling about this dish. It wasn’t crispy, but it also wasn’t a mouthwateringly juicy roasted pork. It had nice seasoning, but you definitely needed to use the sauce with it. The fried rice that was served underneath had a great flavor, but it was cold when we got it. It made me wonder if our dish had been sitting under a heat lamp…
Chicken Fried Lobster. Herbed johnnycakes, corn chow chow, candied lemon. Thank God this dish was taken off the menu and replaced by a different lobster dish. This one was a complete miss, and at $45… enough said. It tasted like fried bleh. The lobster coating of batter was far too thick. It was extremely oily (it tasted like they used dirty oil). And then it was served on top of johnnycakes — which were hard. It was abysmal. I spit it out in my napkin — and I NEVER do that.
Given the few hiccups we had during the meal, they comped our dessert and took 20% off the bill — only furthering the excellent service.
Cheesecake Lollipops. Served as a tree. The top of the tree was a puff of cotton candy. The branches were the cheesecake lollipops, consisting of three flavors: peanut butter, strawberry, and chocolate, with a side of bubblegum whipped cream. I thought the lollipops were all great. As for the whipped cream — it seemed like a misfit. Don’t get me wrong; they nailed the bubblegum flavor; it’s just that bubblegum doesn’t really go with any of the cheesecake flavors. It would’ve been much better if they stuck with a plain or vanilla whipped cream.
Final verdict
Overall, I’d give Red Salt a 7/10. The apps were excellent. Alone, they were a 9/10. So was the service. The entrees were, unfortunately, a 5/10. Dessert was maybe a 7? But then again, we only tried one dessert — I can’t speak for the others. At the end of the day, I’d say it’s a cool vibe with some good food. My recommendation is to go for cocktails and appetizers, or even order the apps as your meal because they are excellent. Skip the entrees, though; there are better places in Charlotte for those.
