Saltbox is excited and honored to be recognized in the press. Here is a collection of all the buzz!
People are talking about Saltbox. Others are inspired to write about us. Here's a sample of what they've put into words:
"Expect bold flavors from Chef Simon Dolinky for Restaurant Week at Saltbox."
"The three-course dinner from Chef Dolinky rejuvenates the romance in a downtown hotspot."
"They've quite ceremoniously added some new daily specials, like all-you-can-eat mussels on Wednesdays for $19, and Whole Bass Taco Tuesdays."
"Chef, Simon Dolinky, just launched his version of Taco Tuesday, a whole fish dinner that feeds two; it comes with all the fixings (handmade tortillas, beans, orange-cumin slaw, avocado, and two salsas) for just $15."
"Orgeat! It's an amazing substitute for simple syrup and gives a hint of nuttiness in the aftertaste. I love a great Mai Tai!"
"Chef Simon whips up some pancakes for National Pancake Day."
"We've been playing around with Spanish Coffees after seeing Rob Roy in Seattle use it in their advent calendar. I modified it a little bit, adding brandy, espresso, Kahlua, amaretto and Frangelico topped with homemade whipped cream."
"I've recently been playing around with Campari... it's a bold, well-rounded flavor and great for 'Smashes' or 'Sour' cocktails. I love that it's so bitter because it works really well with tart. It gives cocktails another layer, another element."
The Midwest-born chef is putting together an over-the-top five course meal with some of his ultimate food favorites — fried chicken, potatoes, pork belly, sea urchin.
“Chef Simon Dolinky’s delightful menu only looks to the past when there’s a chance to reinterpret classics. The newish concept of “social dining” is prompted by such shareable, transnational appetizers."
"Don’t miss the Saltbox Bar, where hot-shot bartender Erin Williams makes killer cocktails.”
“San Diego’s rooftop scene just got tastier thanks to Saltbox at the Hotel Palomar. This spring, it’s launching a new, Baja-inspired menu, Tacos by Chido Man, on its pool deck. Adult beverages from the hotel’s all-star mixologists include the Faint of Heart and the Indian Summer. Meet your new watering hole.”
“The Palomar Hotel’s signature restaurant, Saltbox isn’t messing around with its menu of craft cocktails. With the dieting party people in mind, Mixologist Erin Williams offers three low-cal cocktails that still pack a punch."
“The Palomar Hotel recently introduced the renovated pool deck, SummerSalt, complete with a new menu of casual bites from Chef Simon Dolinky and spirits from Mixologist Erin Williams.”
Our latest review- From San Diego Downtown News!!
"Williams draws inspiration from fresh, locally grown ingredients; standouts on the Saltbar menu showcase this inspiration as well as her love of classic cocktails with offerings such as the Pimientos Dulces"
Check out Chef Simon and Mixologist Erin Williams cooking and shaking!
"Stellar cocktails. Sexy crowd. And truly fun food — house-cured salmon pastrami reuben and addictive brown-butter popcorn — from chef Simon Dolinky."
"Favorite flavors of the moment: Anything spicy!
Signature dish: Kalbe Beef Cheek Tacos With Snap Pea Kim Chee
Where you like to eat around town: Rubio's fish tacos!"
They love our Blushing Fizz!
"The time-honored French lemon-and-brown-butter sauce known as beurre meunièreoften dresses steamed vegetables and sautéed fish. At San Diego's Saltbox Dining & Drinking, chef Simon Dolinky uses it to transform the cinema-house favorite: popcorn. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and herb-laden finish of thyme and parsley to offset the rich sauce. Have the popcorn star in an upcoming movie marathon, award-show screening or sports final."
"Like ravenous Amazonian piranhas, you and a friend attack a whole fried bass using fork prongs to rake down crackly skin and white meat and oily cheek and raisin-chewy salty eyeballs"
"Saltbox, you saucy devils, you’re already on my good side"
"Our forks dueled over every bite of Potato Dumpling Gratin—though it wasn’t very gratin-like at all."
I've had it in a glass and it's so nectar-satisfying I'd drink it out of a motorcyclist's boot.
"Sharing plates at Hotel Palomar's new restaurant is like a gastro-tour from the Big Easy to the California coast"
"this space has been given something far better than a facelift. Now it has heart...and hope"
Suite & Tender is out of the former Se' Hotel (now Hotel Palomar) and Saltbox is in. Chef Simon Dolinky's menu of New American "social plates" can be made large or small, depending on the size of your party and are all less than $25.
Erin Williams is the new savant behind the bar, and she's managed to initiate a cocktail program that's both accessible and inventive.
Sorry L.A., but you didn't appreciate the seasonal stewardship of chef Simon Dolinky while you had him and now he's run off to San Diego.
The long and winding road for the troubled Se San Diego has come to an...on-ramp to a very happy future with Kimpton Hotels. The hotel has been rebranded as The Palomar San Diego, making it the second Kimpton property in town (after the Solamar.)
What is new is the hotel's restaurant, Saltbox, led by chef Simon Dolinky (who came from Palomar in LA). The restaurant replaces the old Suite and Tender space and the new menu features a "gastro-lounge" menu with all shared plates under $25. Plus there's a strong (heh) cocktail program led by mixologist Erin Williams of Hush Cocktails and Pegu Club fame.
Former BLVD 16 cookster Simon Dolinky has accepted the executive chef role at newbie Saltbox Dining & Drinking in San Dieg's Se Hotel. Cocktail are run by Erin Williams who once worked at Aubrey Saunders' Pegu Club in NYC.
After recetly acquiring The Se, Kimpton Hotels is ousting Suite & Tender in favor of Saltbox: a 175-seat, bi-level resto/"gastro-lounge" with the upstairs acting as the grubbin' space, and the base level housing the classily appointed "Saltbar" with a marble-topped boozed dispensary and meandering lounge interspersed with tiled pillars that look like the bodies fo emaciated diamondbacks, which are all but extincct since the Big Unit departed in'04.
Hospitality: Style, Culture and Cuisine Are Key Elements for Property
San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group LLC has followed up on its $49 million purchase of the former Se` San Diego hotel by renaming it Hotel Palomar San Diego, updating its interior designs and rebooting its in-house restaurant, among other changes.
Saltbox just debuted as a New American gastro-lounge under the helm of executive chef Simon Dolinky. Located in the spot previously occupied by Suite & Tender, the restaurant's de'cor is the same for now, while Dolinky's new menu offers ingredient driven 'social plates.
Sorry L.A., but you didn't appreciate the seasonal stewardship of chef Simon Dolinky while you had him and now he's run off to San Diego. Dolinky helmed Blvd 16 at Westwood's Kimpton Palomar with a serious devotion to local product (growing herbs on the Kimpton's roof before the trend swept up the city) on a bright, minimal menu that flaunted natural essence, organic seafood and meats, responsible purveyors, and the chef's own resourceful imagination.
The tony Sè hotel, which was purchased out of bankruptcy earlier this year by Kimpton Hotels, has a new name: the Hotel Palomar. As part of its effort to re-launch the hotel, which had a rocky history even before it opened in late 2008, the San Francisco-based hotel group is announcing today its plan for re-branding the 183-room property.
Former BLVD 16 cookster Simon Dolinky has accepted the executive chef role at newbie Saltbox Dining & Drinking in San Diego's Se Hotel. Cocktails are run by Erin Williams who once worked at Audrey Saunders' Pegu Club in NYC.