There are so many restaurants opening in Fort Wayne that we’re having a hard time keeping up – what an exciting problem to have. It’s a good time to love food!
Today we’re talking about Salud Tapas N Tequila, a new spinoff from the popular local Salsa Grille chain. In fact, it shares a location with the southwest Salsa Grille, former home of Carlos O’Kelly’s at Village at Coventry. Upon entering the shared vestibule, diners either turn right to enter Salsa Grille or angle left to be seated in Salud, but after that you’d never even know there was anything on the other side – the dining experiences are completely separate.
Salud’s menu features true tapas (small plate) offerings, designed to share. They also boast a menu of 70+ tequilas, along with a full bar. We asked our server for some guidance as to how many dishes we should order, and she recommended two to four, depending on how heavy or light the food items were – makes sense.
Margarita
While contemplating the menu, we each started with the Salud! Margarita ($7.50): their private label Salud! tequila, a splash of Cointreau, organic margarita mix and organic agave nectar, served on the rocks with a large lime wedge (in case the drink is too sweet for your liking and you want to add some tartness). We both thought it was delicious: smooth and refreshing.
Guacamole
For food, we started with the “Guac and Roll” ($9), guacamole made tableside on a brightly painted cart that tools around the dining room on demand. The friendly young woman preparing the guac gave us a rundown of all the available ingredients, including some special options not typically found in your run-of-the-mill guacamole, like crab. We started with the traditional ingredients, but had her add bacon (what the what?) and pepitas (seasoned toasted pumpkin seeds) for texture and awesomeness. The guacamole was served with an ample portion of tortilla chips.
Wendy: I’m not a huge fan of guacamole in life in general – I think avocados are weird. Normally when you find something green and mushy in your fridge, you say, “Ew!” and throw it away. You know what I am a huge fan of? THIS guacamole. It was so fresh, and delicious, and I enjoyed the crunch of the bacon and the pepitas. I might’ve licked the spoon.
Beth: I LOVE guacamole, and especially like it prepared table side. Sierra was our guide through the cart of tempting additions. Bacon? Bring it! So good.
We ordered all our food at once, and our heads-up/well-trained server explained that the cart had other stops to make before our table, and that she wouldn’t put in the rest of our order until she saw that we’d been the served the guac (and then she executed upon that). Thumbs up for getting that right.
Empanadas
Albondigas
For our other dishes we selected the Carnitas Empanadas ($10, 3 pieces), with braised pork, garlic ranchero beans, queso chihuahua, salsa de chile arbol and salsa verde, and the Chorizo Albondigas ($12, 5 pieces), composed of house-made chorizo and beef meatballs, chipotle and caramelized tomato sofrito, and crumbled queso fresco. (I’m [Wendy] looking up words as I’m writing and I’m reminded to share that there’s a glossary in the back of the menu, for those of us who might not be familiar with all the ingredients.)
Wendy: I think we did some great ordering. I liked the albondigas, but I didn’t love them, which means as my least favorite dish they were still really solid. There was just something about the flavor profile that didn’t match my personal palate. The empanadas, on the other hand, were effing amazing. The pork was so tender that it just fell apart, and the beans were light and smooth, and it was all wrapped up in the perfect little crispy, not at all greasy, yummy package. The two salsas on the side were completely unnecessary for my enjoyment – I had some of the salsa de chile arbol, but mostly I forgot to use it because the empanada was so delectable all on its own.
Beth: I have to agree with Wendy on the albondigas. There was nothing wrong with them — it’s just that the other choices were so excellent. Those doggone empanadas on the other hand were crazy good.
The service was great – our server checked in regularly, but someone (the owner? manager? He didn’t identify himself.) checked in with us twice too, to make sure we were enjoying our experience. The dining room was a little loud – too many hard surfaces – and it would be difficult to hear in a party of more than two. Hopefully they can find a way to tweak that.
You can make reservations either by calling the restaurant, or for parties of fewer than six, you can make them online. They use a Yelp service for online reservations, and it was seamless and easy to use; it even sent a confirmation text the day of our reservation.
The verdict:
Wendy: “I’ll have what she’s having.” I cannot wait to go back; crab tostadas, fish tacos, and shrimp ceviche are calling my name. There’s nothing else like this in Fort Wayne*, and the food was scrumptious. (*There is another new tapas place in town, and we’ll be heading there soon.)
Beth: “I’ll have what she’s having.” Yes. I felt a little sorry for the Salsa Grille side of the building. Salud is a refreshing change of pace, and hopefully indicative of what Fort Wayne diners can expect from these new offerings. ¡Salud!
5735 Falls Dr.
Fort Wayne, IN
260.209.5048
Beth & Wendy Like Food 