New Era Underway at Salt Wood Kitchen and Oysterette

June 6, 2023 – Place is so central to our identity that we don’t often think about it. 

We just ask, “Where are you from?” or “What kind of restaurant is it?” automatically expecting an answer that likely refers to a city, a region, a country—a place. 

With that in mind, there are currently a lot of new and intriguing things happening at a place called Salt Wood Kitchen & Oysterette in the dunes of Marina, on the grounds of The Sanctuary Beach Resort. 

Note the special event seafood boils that may soon go public; the bespoke s’mores program; “BONDfires” with seasonal cocktails and chocolate fondue; and the twice-weekly whole hog roasts. 

But the most interesting plot at work is more abstract and overarching than those special items. 

It’s the pursuit of place, and the identity that comes with it.

Salt Wood has long flirted with fabulousness. 

It brought in name-check chefs. It lit up a wood-fired program starring the live oak logs artfully stacked by the entrance and the live grill at the heart of the restaurant. 

It presented special dinners and engineered live-fired seafood before it got trendy. 

It built out a dining room-bar area that’s as open and arty as any in the area.

But something hasn’t quite clicked long term. The chefs came and went, the grill went dark, the resort changed leadership. Salt Wood did a lot of things well, even very well, but lacked a lasting spark.

The location it occupies presents part of the challenge. Isolated on its own little sand-surrounded island, the spot doesn’t get spontaneous foot traffic. A drive from Carmel or Pacific Grove takes 20 minutes or more. Wind can wreak havoc on outdoor activities.  

All that said, after a media invite to try brunch last month—and to meet new chef Rodriguez (yes, one name flex)—I observe real reason for hope. 

Make that several reasons, beyond a space that remains aesthetically sleek. 

Here appear a few: 

• Fun foods. Rodriguez and company know how to play contemporary hits with clever zing. House specialties like a “BLT” with two over easy eggs and green goddess dressing is both messy and fun. The oyster options are eye-catching, if spendy ($16 for three), grilled four ways, including with truffle butter and fried sunchoke or harissa butter and lime yogurt. The Llano Seco suckling pig roasts might be the SW’s most festive thing, happening 2-5:30pm Sundays and Mondays, flanked by seasonal sides including jalapeño mac and cheese, pork and bean chili, cabbage slaw and more.  

• A focus on fuego. Salt Wood’s DNA has long centered around the giant Santa Maria-style grill at the bar, but for awhile it wasn’t getting much use. Chef Rodriguez is committed to reestablishing the “Live Fire Kitchen”—with viewer-seducing grilled steaks and smoked chicken along the way. 

• Abiding ambition. This team isn’t sitting complacent. Rodriguez presents a potent addition there. He spent extended time in Michelin kitchens from New York to San Francisco before working with friend and colleague Jonny Black at Sierra Mar and is eager to have the reins. “This project is going to take a lot of time and patience…but it’s finally my opportunity to take higher standard cuisine and put it in a beach setting and see what we can do,” says Rodriguez.  

• Key personnel. Danny Reyes is a level-two sommelier who has worked at heavy hitters like Aubergine and Monterey Plaza Hotel’s Coastal Kitchen for two decades. To have him helping manage the floor and serve tables provides the connective professionalism that great spots depend on. 

• Dynamic drinks. The strong cocktail roster, which will be remixed seasonally, traces a local map with entries like the Memory Garden with Kettle One, St. Germain elderberry liqueur, Chambord black raspberry liqueur and lemon. And the Fern Falls, with Union Uno mezcal, lemon, rosemary, elderberry shrub and Chandon sparkling, another refreshing brunch blessing. Among those we tried, the Monarch Sanctuary with Nolet’s gin, spiced pear, Chartreuse herbal liqueur, lemon juice and charcoal—the latter giving it the shade of midnight—is the most interesting on the eye, but most understated on the palate.

• That aspiration for more place. The highlights of our meal included a fresh salmon poke, smoky charred beet and farmers market escarole salad, and hefty local rockfish tacos (a Rodriguez recommendation), most of it sourced locally. That reflects the #1 thing that stood out: the effort at finding, you guessed it, that element of being somewhere special, from re-emphasizing the grill to the workshopped drinks to the spirited roasts and boils. It may be marketing—and I was there on a planned media visit—but fortunately the overall experience proves promising.

Bartender Ryan Wayhouse describes a collaborative creative process around the new drinks that elevates their character in multiple dimensions.

“We bounce ideas off historic monuments, sand dunes, the historical effect of Steinbeck,” he says. “We’re trying to keep things as local as possible.”

Some final thoughts belong to Rodriguez. 

On his favorite type of firewood: “I love using live oak. That’s what I worked with at [San Francisco spot] Lazy Bear and I like to work with what I know. One of the reasons to use it is that it burns so hot, which helps mostly with our large format steaks. The live oak also has a beautiful effect on the duck, which I love.

On what makes Salt Wood a great place for him: “I was really confident in the space and locale, being beachside, and the opportunity to build on coastal cuisine and a seafood-dominant menu. There was so much I could work with—the wood fire, the [Japanese] takujo konro grill for oysters—while slowly and very thoughtfully putting together strategic touches that will ultimately create a unique dining experience: With oysters off the Binchotan and trout over live oak, you get a total contrast of flavors.”

On his approach to food: “For me it’s so many different components: being resourceful, being thoughtful, being true to simple craft of procedures and being consistent with that. Ultimately it will showcase itself in the food. If I take a few steps back, Salt Wood finally has the presence of a chef, and in this area we don’t have chefs who are there every single day working with the team, putting in what they know, being present with the craft. Finally that’s what Salt Wood has, again.” 

More at saltwoodkitchenandoysterette.com.