Review Roundup: Salt Cellar and Red Stag Deliver Next Generation Supperclub Dining

After the pounding Salt Cellar took from Heavy Table and City Pages, one might think the new Cathedral Hill restaurant was doomed from the start. Not so fast says James Beard Award winning critic Grumdahl in the latest issue of the magazine. She delighted in the table side service of bananas foster and celebrates the return of prime rib to the dinner menu rotation. She goes on to write, "Buttery house-made Parker House rolls are the softest, lushest, best rolls in town."

Although, her visits weren't without a few stumbles. She notes that service could be better educated about the wine list and one server erroneously described the sauce choron as hollendaise with ketchup (a classic Escoffier sauce that is more akin to bernaise sauce with tomato paste.)

She groups her review of Salt Cellar with the established Red Stag Supperclub in Northeast. The Kim Bartmann owned restaurant recently added chef J.P. Samuelson to their staff as the top consulting chef.

After several visits she declares, " I found it not only the best the restaurant has ever been, but also nothing short of terrific." The grilled flatbread floored her, the chicharron had her weak in the knees and her table mates swooning, "“Are we hallucinating, it can’t be this good, can it?” Apparently, it can.

A beef stroganoff, duck cassoulet and warm financier dessert had her equally enraptured.

Perhaps a few more weeks of hearty winter eating around town aren't such a bad thing.