I remember seeing it happen and thinking how awful — and then quietly deciding I’d watch the story unfold and get out there to help when the time was right.
As it turns out, that restaurant was Salt in Fairport, and they ended up joining us for Eat Local New York Restaurant Week, which gave me the perfect reason to finally get out there, meet the owners, and hear the full story firsthand.
Here’s what happened.
One evening, someone was driving erratically, jumped the curb, and drove their car straight through the kitchen at Salt. The kind of thing that would put most businesses down for the count — and honestly, I know plenty of restaurant owners, plenty of business owners in general, who would have folded right then and there. Nobody would have blamed them.
Instead, the people at Salt pulled up their bootstraps, got to work, and had the place rebuilt and back open in two weeks. Two weeks. I don’t know many people with that kind of resolve, and I have a lot of respect for it.
The night before my visit I sent them a DM asking what they were planning to put in front of me. As I’ve gotten further into making food content, I’ve started doing a little more homework before I walk in the door — understanding what I’m going to eat, what I should be looking for, so I can speak more accurately about the flavors and the food. Their response was great.
They told me their staff — who apparently watches all of my videos — had a unanimous opinion on what I was going to want. And that turned out to be their roast pork sandwich with broccoli rabe, banana pepper mayonnaise, and provolone cheese on toasted, salty bread, served with a side of their lemon feta french fries.
I have to say, in all the years I’ve been doing this, I don’t think anyone has ever known me quite that well. That sandwich is exactly what I would have ordered on my own.
And it delivered. The pork was flavorful and well-seasoned, the bread was buttery and salty and perfectly toasted — exactly what you want as the foundation of a sandwich like this. The broccoli rabe and provolone brought just enough funk and sharpness to keep things interesting, and then the banana pepper mayonnaise came in with this bright, acidic kick that tied everything together. If I had one note it would be this: triple the banana pepper mayo. It was that good and I wanted more of it in every single bite.
Then there were the lemon feta french fries, and I want to talk about these for a second. We live in a world completely dominated by garlic parmesan fries. Every restaurant, every bar, every food truck has some version of garlic parm fries on the menu right now.
The people at Salt looked at that trend and went the complete opposite direction. Crispy fries topped with salty, briny feta cheese and a bright pop of lemon. It’s a totally different flavor profile — lighter, acidic, almost refreshing — and it pairs beautifully with the richness of that pork sandwich. It’s a bold move and it works.
Salt is joining us for Eat Local New York Restaurant Week, running April 13th through the 26th and presented by Summit Federal Credit Union. But honestly, don’t wait for Restaurant Week. When I posted the video about Salt I said get out there as soon as you can, and I meant it.
Two weeks of being shut down, plus the cost of rebuilding after something like that, is the kind of hit that can cripple a small business even after they reopen. The best thing you can do is show up, eat great food, and support the people who refused to quit.
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