Salinas is anything but flat

Coles y Coliflor
Pimentos del Padron

Paella Negra

We hit the town last night with the intent of scoping out Chelsea speakeasy newcomer Bathtub Gin, but when we arrived, it was reservation only. We started to walk home and as we were discussing what our replacement plan should be we walked by Salinas. I've been hearing great things about them since they opened in June, so we popped inside.

It was a bit fancier than we were dressed for, but they weren't too snooty about it. This is definitely a swank place. The best part is definitely the back patio with the retractable roof- if you go try to get a table back there. We were seated in the main dining room, which was side-by-side seating. Normally this is just taken in stride as par for the course in NYC, but we had an obnoxious Italian Long Island* guy sitting next to us.

The miraculous thing is that we really enjoyed our meal despite the opinionated loud-mouth a foot away from us. For starters we had the Pimientos del Padron (fried shishito peppers & sea salt) and Coles y Coliflor (fried brussel sprouts, green cauliflower, citrus zest, mint yogurt & pimenton de la vera). I know, I know, the shishito pepper thing is so trendy- whatever, we love them and are happy to be seeing them on menus all over the place.

For our main we got the Paella Negra (calasparra rice, sepia, monk fish, clams, mussels, haricots verts & lemon zest alioli). The seafood flavor of the squid ink balanced by the lemon zest alioli that they mix in was absolutely perfect. Even though this restaurant isn't our usual scene, I definitely see us donning some chic clothes to come back for this dish.

The problem came when we were finished with our meal and our waiter was completely MIA while we had to sit and listen to more blustering from mega-annoying dude. We were desperate to get out of there and he left us high and dry. Usually, places like this have very attentive waitstaffs, so I'm hoping this particular guy was an exception to the rule.

* I am also a Long Islander of Italian-American descent, no one write in angry letters