A Small Plate Date in Sunnyside: Salt & Fat

A small plates restaurant on Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside, Salt & Fat is a great little gem perfect for a Saturday night date for when you feel adventurous enough to explore the boroughs like we did.

The restaurant was nicely packed but had just two seats waiting for us that night when we ducked in between the rain that swept through the city a while ago.

MD could tell that I was eyeing up the menu up and down hungrily and so wisely reminded me that my eyes tend to be so much bigger than my stomach.  After a few moments of verbal editing, we placed our orders and dove fingers into the bag of truffle popcorn that started the meal.

BLT salad may sound too simple but the one at Salt & Fat was studded with chunks of buttery poached lobster.  The herbal ranch was a nice compliment to the salty bacon and sweet tomatoes.

The yellowtail tartare surprised us both with the flavors and the texture.   The cassava chips (who knew these were so delicious?) made for the perfect vehicle for the fresh tartare.  A smear of the yuzu gel, scattering of scallions and sprinkle of seaweed salt made this taste like yellowtail scallion roll, one of my favorites.

The kani pizza might have been MD’s favorite thing on the menu.  A crispy round of scallion pancakes is topped with a generous pile of lightly creamy kani and lettuce.  Red onions, tomatoes and jalapeno slices finish off this crunchy bite.  This was definitely much more filling than the first two dishes.

The PEI mussels with bacon and Thai oyster dashi was a fine plate.  The broth was a touch too salty to drink but gave the mussels a good flavor.

Their take on Korean BBQ wraps was relatively simple, a Boston bibb lettuce with pieces of juicy hanger steak and jalapeno, fried garlic and onion.  The lettuce was a little too thin and broke as soon as we lifted each wrap to our mouths, letting the juices from the steak drip down our fingers.

Lastly, our last small plate of the night was their pork belly buns.  That night, they chose to use thick slices of bacon for a twist on a BLT.  A thick cut of bacon was nestled in between tomatoes, onions and lettuce with a smear of mayo.  Unfortunately, this was the one disappointing dish for the night, much to MD’s dismay.  The bacon was far too salty and the cherry tomato halves slid right out as we struggled with biting down on the bacon.

We had no room for dessert thanks to our careful planning.  Two little bottles of yogurt drinks came with the check was the perfect sweet tangy finish.  Tossing these back, we began our long walk back to LIC, happily content with our meal and glad that we decided to venture further into Queens to discover this neighborhood gem.

Salt & Fat | 41-16 Queens Boulevard, Sunnyside, NY | 11104 | http://saltandfatny.com