ZERO IN ON THE TINS AT THIS SEAFOOD STUNNER
SALTIE GIRL ON THE SUNSET STRIP POPS THE SEAL ON CONSERVAS. AND DON’T MISS THE LOBSTER ROLLS
SMALL SQUID had been stuffed with rice and suspended in glossy tomatopepper sauce spiced with clove and bay leaf. Sardines in pepper olive oil were paired with piquillo peppers or prespritzed with lemon or hot sauce before canning. A few threads of seaweed among pickled mussels reinforced the flavors of the Galician coastline where the mollusks were harvested. In a simple brine, razor clams maintained their yielding chew and mild, distinct salinity.
A meal at Saltie Girl in Boston five years ago was a lightbulb moment in my appreciation of conservas, the tinned seafood traditions from Spain and Portugal preserved with a level of care that rockets their straightfrom-the-container pleasure far beyond Chicken of the Sea basicness.
Appetizer spreads highlighting one featured tin of fish or shellfish with good bread and butter had been showing up more on menus across the Unites States over the last decade. The choices at Saltie Girl, which opened in Boston’s moneyed Back Bay neighborhood in mid-2016, numbered in the dozens. I hadn’t grasped before how much variety existed among conservas. The restaurant also served a dizzying selection of seafood towers, New York-style smoked fish, crudo, pastas, fried clams and toasts covered in things like uni or snow crab. I stayed intent on the tins, veering away only for a warm, butterdrizzled lobster roll as a rich finale.
Conservas and lobster rolls are also the marquee draws at the small, impeccably designed outpost of Saltie Girl that arrived on the Sunset Strip in December. Though its menu zigzags as broadly as the one at the original location, zero in on the tins and the New England specialties to understand why primetime reservations are constantly booked — and how the restaurant instantly became a standout dining option around Sunset Plaza.
Quality tinned seafood isn’t as much of a novelty in Los Angeles these days. During the darkest days of the 2020 quarantines, fancier markets and restaurantsturned-grocers stocked up on beautifully packaged conservas as a pantry-stable shelf item; plenty of us took solace in yanking the metal tab on a tin — relishing the satisfying pop and scrape — and consuming the contents as a no-thoughtrequired solo lunch. (Tins are also excellent in earthquake-preparedness kits.) As the world reopened, cozy new hangouts like Bar Moruno in Silver Lake and Kippered near Grand Central Market downtown laid out beautiful conserva spreads alongside glasses of herbal vermouth or sparkling wine.
Saltie Girl charges into the arena with a collection of over
100 conservas divided into 17 categories of fish and shellfish. It’s a little overwhelming to absorb, and the per-tin prices stretch from the teens to a $63 splurge for delicate grilled branzino.
Beyond basic preferences — for example, does yellowfin tuna appeal over mackerel? — I tend to choose a couple tins that emphasize contrast. Something straightforward like sardines in olive oil, or silvery needlefish for a close variation, sets a benchmark. They have the classic mellowed fishiness, and they taste ideal slightly mashed into buttered bread with a sprinkle of salt and maybe a dollop of piquillo pepper relish, all of which are part of the presentation.
Juxtapose them with a more distinctly flavored option: smoked oysters, Norwegian mussels marinated in dill and fennel, hake in salsa verde, white anchovies in roasted garlic, or the brined razor clams that are as umami-packed as I remembered.
With a martini or a sochu-gin-cucumber cocktail at the bar, tins could comprise the whole meal. I mean, yes, you also want a lobster roll. The cold version, with the lobster meat lightly dressed in mayonnaise, arguably best evokes Maine’s fleeting summer, but I still prefer the warmed buttery version loaded into a toasted bun.
Saltie Girl feels calibrated for indulgence, which is one way it differentiates itself from Connie & Ted’s, the modern institution a mile away that also happens to be a West Hollywood restaurant specializing in East Coast-style seafood. Connie & Ted’s is rambling and rowdy and serves chowder samplers, fish and chips, herbcrusted Rhode Island monkfish and its own great lobster roll. Saltie Girl is compact and elegant. The wraparound patio’s languid appeal defies its location on a chaotic and ultra-sceney stretch of Sunset Boulevard. Inside the aesthetic oozes an Art Deco yacht vibe. Note the wooden statues of mermaids affixed to the bar; they’re reclaimed boat figureheads and a signature touch of owner Kathy Sidell, who also recently launched the third Saltie Girl in London.
With so much homegrown talent to cover in Los Angeles, I don’t often race to imported restaurant concepts. But the breadth of the restaurant’s tinned seafood program initially pulled me in, and several topnotch dishes overseen by executive chef Kyle McClelland keep me returning. Oysters and other starter seafood options — including shrimp cocktail and cold Jonah crab claws that match the mood of the place — have been pared down to a mercifully short list and prepared with minimal fuss. Spicy lobster spaghetti is a feel-good heap of tomato, basil and fried garlic that doesn’t overpower the star ingredient.
A pile of Parmesandusted
fries crowns a bowl full of mussels steamed in white wine and butter; it’s one of those timeless combinations into which I disappear until nothing is left. Same for the chewy-crisp fried clams that need nothing more than tartar sauce and a wedge of lemon.
The kitchen could honestly halve the menu without losing the soul of its premise. Escargots, steak tartare, whole fried black bass scented with ginger and soy and the $249 wagyu tomahawk ribeye push meals in Continental or steakhouse directions and strike me as overkill.