Sailor’s Delight: Salt Cellar Restaurant
By Lori Pfeiffer
Seafood lovers will find smooth sailing at the Salt Cellar Restaurant on Hayden Road. A Scottsdale institution for decades, this restaurant is the port of choice for special occasions from first dates to anniversary celebrations. Rich and Cindy Huie, owners since 1981, run a tight ship; they trawl the phones daily to order a fresh selection of seafood and captain a loyal crew of workers, some of whom have been with the restaurant since it opened. The result is classic seafood, elegantly served.The first time you go, keep a look out; except for the entrance, the restaurant lies entirely underground. Descend the stairs and you’ll feel like you’ve escaped the Sonoran desert and moved closer to 20,000 leagues under the sea. Amber lights in old-fashioned oil lamps cast a warm hue in the intimate space, complemented by dark wood accents, flickering candles and white table linens. A mermaid peeping from one interior porthole and a smattering of brass nautical items complete the transformation.Variety abounds on the menu’s market board, a list of specials that changes with the season. On our visit, the board featured fish from Hawaii, Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, British Columbia, Chesapeake Bay, Idaho, Boston and the Georges Bank. One could go overboard with the Salt Cellar’s array of appetizers alone, especially since the restaurant offers two happy hours daily--from 4 to 7 p.m. and again from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.—where succulent starters and well drinks are offered at cut rates. Wine by the glass also hits the spot any time during the evening.While the table behind us debated the merits of New England versus Manhattan clam chowder (both are on the menu), my husband and I headed straight for an appetizer we could agree on: Maryland crab cakes. We weren’t disappointed. Slightly crunchy on the outside and flakey on the inside, the moist cakes were redolent of sweet crab, with just enough spice for interest. We were even more smitten with the sautéed shrimp San Remo, which can be ordered as an appetizer or as an entrée served with freshly made garlic-basil fettuccine. The appetizer features eight good-sized shrimp sautéed in a bath of garlic and butter, with portabella mushrooms, gourmet artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes thrown in for good measure. When the shrimp were finished, we competed for the dunking rights for the leftover sauce. Its slight bite pairs perfectly with the trio of fresh-baked breads from the Willow Bread Company.Other appetizers include clams, escargot and oysters, but we thought the best catch of the day was a bucket of steamed clams. We felt like we were having our own New England seashore picnic, as we speared the morsels from their black shells and dunked them in either drawn butter or a wine sauce. When choosing an entrée, your head may well swim with all the options, which includes beef and chicken. For our main course, we finally settled on the salmon Wellington, a new menu item, and the Georges Bank monkfish with lemon caper butter. As its name implies, the Wellington is a substantial dish. The salmon fillet is coated with a portabella mushroom ragout and fresh spinach before being wrapped in pastry and baked. It is served with a side of hollandaise sauce. I thought the monkfish deserved its moniker, “poor man’s lobster.” A dollop of briny capers in a buoyant lemon sauce highlighted the fish’s mild flavor.You might also find a whopping five-pound lobster to your liking among the crustaceans that crowd the 400-gallon tank in the entrance. These beauties are flown in directly from Maine. They’re prepared in the traditional manner or stuffed and baked with a mixture of scallops and crabmeat. Shellfish lovers will also be delighted to find a choice of either a whole Dungeness crab or Alaska crab legs. Best of all, you can savor these delicacies without the trouble of extricating the meat yourself—your server will be happy to do it for you at the table.If all the Salt Cellar’s desserts are as light and airy as the two we sampled, you can eat fish to your heart’s content and still have room for a sweet finish. The hazelnut-chocolate cake melts in your mouth and the tart-sweet Key Lime pie compared well with any I’ve had in Florida. So, if seafood’s your passion and you’re dry-docked in the desert, you’d best set a course for the Salt Cellar Restaurant. 550 North Hayden Rd.
(480) 947-1963
Dinner daily
Major credit cards
Reservation recommended
Published in Scottsdale Magazine, January/February 2002, pp 88.
