If you are looking for an elegant atmosphere, fine Canadian cuisine and live jazz music, Salt is where you want to be. From the imported marble tabletops to their on-site herb and spice garden, Salt offers a refined, casual experience. They offer a bread, cheese and salt charcuterie board, which includes house-made pork terrine, house-made chicken liver mousse, dry-cured sausage and chorizo, chef’s choice of cheese, pickles, crostini and chutney.
With its high-backed leather armchairs, deeply tufted banquettes and sparkling chandeliers, Salt is the sort of place a modern-day Don Draper would take his coolest advertising clients. Small plates such as chili-glazed octopus and mains like dry-aged strip loin are the perfect foils for the boozy craft cocktails on offer. Try a refreshing cucumber collins or a sazerac made with Absinthe and Woodford Reserve bourbon. You’ll also find a small but good selection of local craft beers on tap.
This recent, upscale, much-heralded arrival on Ottawa’s dining scene offers both small plates and large. The patio, wrapping around two sides of the government building in which Salt is housed, is upscale by local standards: large sectional couches are grouped around fire pits, which warm chilly nights and extend the season. The charcuterie plate features house-made terrine and mousse. A salad might combine local strawberries and peas. Roasted bone marrow and chili-glazed octopus are among the appies, steaks among the mains. The well-dressed crowd is there to be seen. The old fashioned, your bartender says, is Ottawa’s best.