Salt + Smoke: BBQ Bourbon and Beer is a Southern style restaurant located in the heart of the Delmar loop. The restaurant’s urban surroundings starkly contrast it’s calm, smoky atmosphere that makes itself apparent as soon as you walk in the door.

Although the walls are painted a textured purple that doesn’t quite seem to go with the rest of the decor, the wooden boxes containing different kinds of bourbon as well as worn pairs of cowboy boots and the checkered napkins give a distinctly western feel.  Even the small pails that hold the lovingly-used crayons for the children’s menu makes you feel a bit nostalgic and have  strange urge to watch an old cowboy movie.

The food matches the atmosphere of the restaurant with a smoky flavor deep in every dish.

The appetizers, like the Fried House Pickles with Flax Seed Mayo, have the flavor that you would expect from such a dish but with a twist. With the fried pickles it was the cornmeal batter slathered over assorted types of pickles (dill, bread and butter, and sweet midgets).  The menu is surprisingly short consisting of a few spiced up staples like the Brisket Sandwich with Burnt End mayo and Tobacco Onions which I had the pleasure of trying.

The tobacco onions adding the perfect amount of charcoal crunch to the thick mayo and brisket. The compact main dish list is countered by the multitude of sides. Most restaurants that I have been to have around two or three types of sides but Salt + Smoke has nine.

These dishes compliment the main meals and, consistent with every other aspect of the restaurant, have a deep smokiness about them.

One of the unique aspects to this restaurant is that they have three BBQ sauces (with the entertaining names Mustarolina, Hotangy, and My Sweet Besty) on your table which, along with one other (White BBQ) you can ask for, are the only condiments they have available.

The service was attentive and were willing to change the food any way that you wished as well as bringing your food and drinks out fairly promptly. Overall Salt + Smoke was great restaurant that I would reccomend to anyone looking for relaxed, southern meal