"Salazar"

Jose Salazar has opened a small, 45 seats, new restaurant at 14th and Republic, behind Zula on 14th heading East. Obviously, the name of the place is the name of the chef-owner.
Monday night, with another couple, we tried it out. The results where terrific.
The table split an order of fried Brussels Sprouts with a side of excellent Aioli, great compliment to the sprouts, and one of the special "cured and potted' offerings, duck leg rillette with picked onions and jalapeno jam( sweet not hot). This comes with buttered rye bread toast so each could make an open faced sandwich to their liking.
I choose, for my next morsels, accompanied by a dark Rouge beer; "little fried oyster sandwich" ( operative word "little" about the size of a slider) with kimchi radish sprouts and garlic mayo. There must have been left over Aioli, and a separate plate of "Veal tongue a la plancha" with radish slices, hard boiled egg, frisee and salsa verde. The tongue came as three medallions, roasted and possibly slightly pickled. For dessert I had a small ramekin of hot, walnut, fig bread pudding with a scoop of Vanilla Gelato. Chefs have to stay up all night to come up with these dishes and ingredients.
Marilyn had "chicken thighs a plancha, broccolini, mustard spaetzle( she thought they were not firm enough), riesling soaked figs and tarragon" while the others has hand rolled cavatelli, braised rabbit, carrots, celery, pearl onions with cardamon-mascarpone cream( hardly rich, but very tasty) and a strictly vegetarian dish of wheatberries and several vegetables including swiss chard, napa cabbage, mushrooms, carrots and preserved meyer lemon.
I am anxious to return as the menu will change with availability and Jose is an interesting chef.


An interesting lunch spot, run by 2 women on Woodburn Ave. is the 452 Kitchen. They have a website and have been open for about a year. Their stress is healthy and vegetarian dishes. The other day I had a grilled Pimento Cheese sandwich, on Shadeau white bread, while Marilyn has a wonderful tomato soup and a Quinoa salad. It reminds me of a woman's tea room brought into the 21st century. The food is well prepared, the atmosphere pleasant and the great advantage is that it is quiet and no one rushes you if you want to linger and chat.