Salute: a new urban treasure

I have never written a restaurant review but I felt the urge to after finally getting the pleasure of trying out downtown Hartford’s newest restaurant: Salute. This chic new urban hotspot has quickly become known as the new Hot Tomato’s. The restaurant is owned in part by Jimmy Cosgrove who is formerly of Hot Tomato’s. Despite the multiple references overheard by staff (including Cosgrove himself) comparing Hot Tomato’s to Salute this new venture is much different and that’s not a bad thing!

For starters Salute is much livelier then the Hot Tomato’s I was used to seeing. I had a 7:00pm reservation for last Friday night and arrived to see the restaurant bustling with every table filled and the bar packed. This happily defeats the notion of Hartford as a 9-5 type city. The clientele was definitely the young professional type with a few empty nesters mixed in as well as Jim Calhoun who I spotted leaving around 8:00. After a brief wait and a greeting from Cosgrove, a longtime family friend we were lead to our table.

Salute occupies every nook and cranny of the space formerly occupied by Dulce creating a very cozy atmosphere. There are tons of little spaces which is a nice reprieve from the huge open spaces many chain restaurants have. There is also still a great little outside seating area that overlooks Bushnell Park.

Despite the busy atmosphere the service was great. We started off with the garlic cheese bread, an old Hot Tomato’s favorite that is an extra $5.00 as opposed to regular (and free) bread rolls. They had a great wine selection most of which were very reasonably priced. Next up was salad. Mine had spinach, cheddar cheese, almonds, bacon and was covered in balsamic vinaigrette. For the main course I had the pasta Bolognese. There were so many great things I wanted to try that I had a hard time picking. There was a traditional gnocchi dish as well as the Pasta Rose that I believe were both carried over from Hot Tomato’s. Someone in the group next to us ordered the Chicken Parmesan which looked awesome. Topped it all off with dessert. I chose a cappuccino and a huge slice of cheesecake that was covered with fresh fruit. Everything was great.

Salute has become the new place to see and be seen in Hartford and I wish the restaurant the best of luck because it is a great place that I highly recommend everyone try! I know I will definitely be back very soon.