Sea Salt Eatery

Sea Salt is a consternating force in the life of Twin Cities fish lovers. On the one hand, it's got the best fresh fish in town, like oysters shucked as you watch, which taste chilly, silky, fresh, and briny as ocean mornings. Like fried haddock baskets offering fish fillets so crisp they snap; like crab cakes as fresh and plump as the first spring tulip blossoms; like fresh lake Superior herring, grilled hard, hot, and fast until it's as roasty and delicious as a Spanish sardine grilled on the beach. All of this, and more, comes courtesy of two former Coastal Seafoods employees who know fish the way Picasso knows line, and know a good meal the way Michael Jordan knows hoops--which is why pitchers of local Summit beer and cheap Spanish bottles of wine are always on offer. So, what's there to be consternated about? Just that there's a two-hour wait to get in here every prime-time, sunshiney weekend night between April and October. (This restaurant in the park pavillion is, sigh, closed all winter.) Now true city seafood-lovers have been forced to think like real fishermen: The easiest catch is had when you head out early or late, or when the sky darkens with stormclouds and the faint of heart stay home.

• Cuisine(s): American, Seafood

  Price: $, $$

  Payment Types: All Major Credit Cards

• Features: Patio/Sidewalk Dining, Takeout

  Serving: Dinner, Lunch

  Alcohol: Beer/Wine

• Reservations: Not Accepted

  Parking: Street