tarragon and a hint of orange zest. My mind immedi- ately thought, “Peking duck without the bones! Utter genius.” A sweet orange, crushed red pepper, vinegar marmalade drizzled the crispy duck confit and frisee garnish. And what accompanied this heap of pure luxury?
Pure timeless comfort: classic double-fry russet S&C Fries. Even the table sauces are prepared in-house. The Spicy Horseradish Mustard and Brown Ale Mus- tard are both made with local craft beers and the S&C Sauce, “is our take on ketchup. Smokier and spicier, bright and flavorful.” “We want you to feel well-fed after coming here,”
what they like and what works for them. I think that’s so important because we want to give to Hillcrest. What we were when we started was more in-tune to [our own conceptions]. We’ve grown into something that Hillcrest can really appreciate. It comes from our customers every day. ‘What do you guys like? What’s working? What’s not working?’” Hungry as we were to start sampling the menu,
we were also curious about how the restaurant’s naming and concept came about. “What’s funny is, we were initially ‘Abe Froman’s’ [The Sausage King of Chicago from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off]. That was our style but Paramount Studios stopped us. When we were discussing what we wanted to change the name to, we realized Salt & Cleaver was who we were. It’s old butcher-speak to say that ‘all you need to make sausage is salt to cure the meat and a cleaver to cut it.’ Down to basics. Raw materials. I like it a lot more than ‘Abe Froman’s.’” We agreed. Any new business asserting itself as a
“sausage king” in Hillcrest is just asking for trouble. At last our dishes were taking their final delectable shapes. The fantastic Cucumber “Fries” were in- spired from Chef Carlos’ Hispanic heritage—not fried at all, planks of lemon-chile cucumber were presented with tzatziki. Being Hispanic myself, this is definitely a cooling appetizer and health-conscious alternative my mother would have prepared. The first sausage that came off the grill was the
succulent but smacking hot Chicken Mango. Bejeweled with both fresh and dried mango as well as dried ancho chile, a good portion of this delicious
MARCH 2014 | RAGE monthly 65
diablo’s heat comes from the charred Serrano purée dispersed throughout the inside the bun. “We want every bite to have the flavor,” said Chef Carlos. Our gaze on the freshly plated sandwich was un-
breakable...until the word “Bacon-aze” was thrown at us from across the prep table. The metaphorical glue that holds the Duck.Duck.Pig. sandwich together is the “bacon mayonnaise.” The sausage itself is com- posed of tender duck and bacon, jalapeno, parsley,
admitted Chef Carlos. “But I also come from the thought that you’ll also want something sweet at the end of your meal. Andrea’s Truffles are the perfect amount of sweet without being filling.” The first bite-size morsel of decadence was the Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle—a sinfully self-explanatory meltaway. And theOld-Fashioned Truffle, contain- ing the flavors of whiskey, luxardo cherry and orange, sent us smiling into the food coma ward. Not that we’d have it any other way. It is, after all, the job of this place to feed a diverse group such as ourselves to the limits of speechless bliss.
Salt & Cleaver is located at 3805 5th Avenue. For more information call 619.756.6677 or go
toenjoysausage.com.
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