Sea Salt
A super successful chain restaurant in Berkeley?! Well not actually a chain, but the K2 Restaurant Group, started by Haig Krikorian and Cindy Lalime in 1985 runs five, no make that six, restaurants in the East Bay, well actually just Berkeley (and a little bit of Albany) – home of Lalime's, Fonda, T-Rex, Jimmy Beans, the wood oven pizzeria Paisan, and Sea Salt. This is part II of my review of the restaurants that make up the K2 Restaurant group. I already reviewed La Fonda – great place – and now I'd like to review Sea Salt.
I had something to celebrate and two friends to celebrate with, but not enough time for a full dinner so we decided to check out the happy hour menu (A.K.A. The Other Menu) at Sea Salt on a Saturday afternoon. The happy hour runs from 3-6pm & 10-12am daily (and from 3 straight through to midnight on Mondays). What are happy hour prices you ask? Almost half off – $3 draft beers instead of $5 or 6 and $6 cocktails instead of $10. I've been to Sea Salt three or four times since it opened in 2005. It's grown from 65 seats to over 200 in that time. It seems it took a awhile for the place to figure out what it was. I remember thinking in the past the attitude didn't match the lack of patrons and the food didn't match the price. I was ready to see if this visit would be different.
When we walked in, the place was pretty packed for 4:00 on a Saturday afternoon. They take reservations, which we didn't have. We asked for a table outside and were seated almost immediately. There is nice – not amazing – outside seating and we had our drinks ordered and water at our table in no time. Peoplewatching is interesting here, as Berkeley has all types, and it seems all types were eating at Sea Salt that day. From your hip Berkeley parents with beautiful, if slightly rambunctious kids, to Professor-so-and-so with his wife or her husband, to the ancient that seem to barely move but who are probably still more interesting than most of us.
For food, we started with 6 one dollar oysters from Tomales Bay – I don't love oysters but the other two do and did love these. From then on we sampled the 'Bites' offerings including the Fried Lake Huron Smelt ($6) – in honor of the Michigander in attendance – and the Hawaiian Tombo Tuna Slider ($6). The smelt – tiny fishies, dipped in batter and fried, still had the heads on and that was too much for my friend Nancy, but my boyfriend and I dipped them in the yummy white sauce and ate the whole bunch. The tuna slider – a little tuna burger – was very spiced and very tasty. We also ordered the squid (A.K.A. Calamari) with broad white beans that had an incredible red pesto sauce – que rico! But what truly made this visit to Sea Salt one to repeat, was the pan seared Baia Nicchia (a locally sourced produce farm in Sunol) with green peppers. What kind? I don't know – small like jalapenos but not hot and thinner skinned – some were hot! And all were so wonderfully fresh, crispy, and delicious.
Wait staff was attentive and courteous, but there's no time for small talk – this is a business. And a Berkeley business as well; the following is written on the menu: “All our fish is obtained through sustainable means / All of our meat is raised naturally, hormone-free, without antibiotics / All our baked goods come fresh daily from Artisan Foods Bakery”.
Details:
Sea Salt
2512 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley CA 94702
(510) 883-1720
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