◊ Reviews ◊

The Wall Street Journal

Beer Snob's Paradise
AUGUST 11, 2010
By S. MITRA KALITA

Don't judge this restaurant by the signs flapping outside advertising beer specials. Salt is hardly a typical Jersey dive.

Opened two years ago, the restaurant calls itself a "gastro pub" and sources as much as it can locally for creative dishes, from curry-infused risotto to beer-marinated chicken.

Owner Brad Boyle and his wife, Laurie, are also members of a cooperative farm and grow peppers, Swiss chard and zucchini. Another farmer up the road supplies asparagus.

The most popular lunchtime dish, Mr. Boyle says, is the balbriggan salmon, served atop sweet potatoes and spinach in a sweet malt vinegar sauce.

Décor is notably eclectic, from a metallic subway door and a sign for the E train to a Buddha statue and old license plates. Live music is played on the weekends; the drinks menu is a beer snob's paradise.

Minutes off I-80, the Sussex County restaurant is the perfect stop on the way to a weekend in the Poconos or a hike off the Delaware Water Gap.

The restaurant is running a summer special with all beers half off at lunchtime. That, however, does not apply to the Guinness crème brulee.

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NY Times

""gastropub" ... The term is British, a mashup of gastronomy and public house, and the idea is that the food that goes with the drinks will be serious, custom-designed and cooked to order. One would expect nothing less from Mr. Boyle, a 41-year-old graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who apprenticed with Daniel Boulud at Le Cirque before returning to his home turf in Sussex County to open Bula. He has turned the kitchen over to Mr. Mandeville, 26, and their menu is well designed and consistently executed." link

NY Times For Tighter Times, the 10 Best Values for Your Tastebuds

"At Salt, as in salt of the earth, the vibe is distinctly populist. Bradley Boyle’s new "gastropub," in an endearingly ramshackle 1920s roadhouse, offers 60 kinds of beer, live music on weekends and dishes that are fun and comforting. In chicken paprikash ($18), chunks of white meat are submerged in a thick orange bath of paprika-infused sour cream, with homemade dumplings called holushki. Seared sea scallops ($22) come with a garnish of bacon and chopped sweet potato. Desserts ($5) are first-rate, especially chocolate-layered peanut-butter pie and apple-cranberry cobbler with oatmeal stout ice cream. D.C. " link

Artful Diner Top Ten Restaurants of 2008: Postscript

"The owners have switched gastronomic gears, trading in Bula's "World Cuisine" for the joyous challenges of an unabashedly Americanized version of the British-inspired "Gastropub." And, judging by the crowds, their decision was a wise one. The kitchen reins have been completely taken over by Tony Mandeville, the former second-in-command at Bula, and the results are impressive .... if you're in the market for reasonably priced, first-rate, innovatively prepared casual cuisine served up in an equally casual, pub-like setting - the quintessential definition of "Gastropub" - you will surely be more than satisfied." link

Township Journal Something is brewing in Byram

It’s a new idea! Salt Gastropub is leading the way for new-style eateries link

Strewth! #24: The Best Little Pour House Infectious

I’m from New Jersey, as you have surmised by now, and anyone in such an awkward area as New Jersey like Ottawa or Florida, will know very well that bands and musicians often skip over us when touring. While it’s often because some places are completely devoid of life, with NJ it’s because bands assume that we can just as easily skip over to NY for the show, but NY is like Delaware, just because I’m in close proximity to it doesn’t mean I want to go there.

Part of the problem is that NJ just doesn’t have any great venues anymore. As I’ve said before, the Stone Pony has gone to the wayside, complete with 8-year old guitar “prodigies,” but if there is any hope at all it is the brainchild of Brad and Laurie Boyle: Salt Gastropub, the first gastropub in New Jersey.

By definition a gastropub is: “A public house that serves high-quality food.” Located up north in Byram, they’ve created one of the most innovative restaurants in New Jersey, brilliantly mixing delicious artisan food with a low key atmosphere, so much so that it automatically feels like home as soon as you step in.

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Salt ◊ 109 US Highway 206 ◊ Byram ◊ NJ ◊ 07874 ◊ (973) 347 7258 ◊ salt@saltgastropub.com