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Salts

798 Main St.
Cambridge, MA 02139

Phone: 617-876-8444

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Website: saltsrestaurant.com

At 20-year-old Salts, the Cambridge bistro just off Central Square, owner Gabriel Bremer whips up food that is decidedly French. Dishes are carefully conceived, cleanly executed, and prettily presented, and all showcase superb ingredients. Foie gras comes in triangular chunks, with a ruby-beet-and-Bing-cherry sorbet; the chicken, with black summer truffles and “creamless cream corn,” has a pure flavor that sings. The desserts may seem a bit too studied, but try the apricot tarte Tatin with a delicately tinged lemon-thyme pot de crème (that’s custard to you), and the homemade sorbets, served with chewy almond financiers, have clear fruit flavors. The only hitch is the space: a plain, semiawkward square with tables so close together that it makes them hard to walk between. Still, a few Provence touches that give the restaurant a summerhouse feel and the earnest servers negotiate the tight space with patient grace.