Recently my wife and I celebrated our anniversary with a trip to Salazar Restaurant & Bar. This Over-the-Rhine spot has been on my list of places to try for some time and we finally found time to get there without the kids.

Inside

The inside of the space is pretty small, with no more than ten tables available, none of which were available upon our arrival. We put our name on the list and grabbed a couple of drinks at the bar. The Jalisco Spice ($11), blanco tequila mixed with lime juice, agave, chili simple syrup, on the rocks and topped with Royal Jamaican ginger beer and a Peychaud’s bitters float, was a spicy yet refreshing drink.

Farm Greens Salad

For starters I went with the farm greens salad with carrot-coconut milk vinaigrette, salted cashews, peas, and pickled cucumber ($10). The portion was plenty for two to split and it was packed with fresh ingredients. Overall a solid starter and I thought the dressing was top-notch.

Heirloom Tomato Salad

My wife ordered the heirloom tomato salad with burrata, cucumber, pickled sweet onions, tomato focaccia, and petite lettuces ($11). This was a much smaller serving size and not really enough to share. However what was there was incredibly fresh and delicious.

Amish Chicken

For dinner I had the Amish chicken breast with braised kale, smoked chicken sausage, garbanzo beans, peas, and preserved cherries ($23). The chicken was cooked to perfection but I felt it could have used some extra seasoning. The rest of the dish was also fairly bland aside from the chicken sausage and cherries, which I could have used a lot more of.

Barley “Risotto”

The real surprise of the night was the barley “risotto” with tomatoes, fennel, rainbow Swiss chard, and Pecorino Romano ($19). The serving size was large and the sauce was exquisite! I didn’t taste much fennel, which was not very upsetting to me, but the chard was plentiful. A true vegetarian delight.

For the most part we had a good dining experience at Salazar, though I do wish I enjoyed the chicken more than I did. I would definitely go back for more of the risotto, though the prices are a little more than we typically like to spent. Salazar will be reserved for special occasions, and with so many competing restaurants we haven’t been to, it will be hard to justify a return trip in the near future.