Fresh Salt is one of the few Seaport businesses that have been fortunate enough to re-open in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Despite the fact that they took on about 7 feet of seawater during the massive storm, they were able to get to work right away and re-build their restaurant. Since the owner of the building is also one of the partners in the business, the clean-up was facilitated much quicker than some of the other nearby local businesses.

The restaurant/bar opened in 2004 by Sara Williams and Jason Connolly, who both worked as bartenders at iconic New York hotspots Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom.

It was named for one of the previous tenants - an 1885 smokehouse named "Fresh, Salt, and Smoked Fish." A faded advertisement for the historic business can still be seen on the restaurant's facade.

When Fresh Salt first opened, the Fulton Fish Market was still located across the street and the majority of the bar's patrons were fish hawkers who were hungry and thirsty at the end of their shift - around 8am. So Fresh Salt offered an early morning Happy Hour to cater to the market workers.

The clientele has changed considerably as the neighborhood has, so don't expect the bar to open before 10am today. After the fish market moved to the Bronx in 2005, residential development in the Seaport area grew bringing many more residents to this neighborhood. Their menu of simple sandwiches, salads, and killer mac and cheese pair nicely with the craft beer selection and signature cocktails. And the personable staff has transformed Fresh Salt into a local hang-out for residents, European tourists, artists, and nearby business workers from the Financial District.

The restaurant has become such a hit that Sara has just recently opened a second restaurant in Brooklyn. The Saint Catherine debuted two weeks ago on Washington Avenue on the corner of Bergen Street in the Prospect Heights/Crown Heights neighborhood. The bar is officially open and you can look for a food menu in the coming weeks.

While Fresh Salt was lucky enough to re-open, many other businesses and residential buildings in this area have not. The neighborhood has definitely been quieter since the storm and what the Seaport area needs most right now is traffic and customers. It's still a beautiful, hidden little neighborhood that has a wealth of history, culture, and food to offer.

Our newest tour, the Neighborhood Eats New York Waterfront Tour, will explore the Seaport and get to sample some delicious offerings from Fresh Salt. Look for tickets to go on sale in mid April.

Here at Urban Oyster, we're constantly meeting people in the food and education industry that have the same goal as we do: support local businesses and preserve the history and culture of a neighborhood. Suzanne Wasserman is one such kindred spirit.

She is the Director of the Gotham Center, where she teaches and consults about NYC's rich history, but she is also a documentary filmmaker. Her most recent film really connects with Urban Oyster's ethic. In Meat Hooked!, she tells the story of meat in NYC and the rise, fall, and rise again of independent butchers. The story is remarkably similar to the historic path of small brewers, a story we delve into on our Brewed in Brooklyn tour.

In the award-winning film, Wasserman takes an in-depth look at the meat industry from the city's first immigrant butchers to a fifth generation master butcher at Essex Street Market to a new generation of craftsmen at places like Fleisher's and Dickson's. It's a fascinating look into this industry and a must-watch for anybody with an interest in NYC's culinary history. Check out the film's website for more information about where and how you can view it.

Post Written by Brian Hoffman - Urban Oyster Guide and Owner of Eat This NY

All Day Sandy Benefit at Book Court
Saturday, January 12th, 2013 10:30am – 9:00pm | FREE!

Join BookCourt and some of our favorite local writers to support the ongoing relief efforts associated with Hurricane Sandy. Multiple readings will be happening throughout the day, and 15% of the day's proceeds will be donated to relief efforts.

Appearing:
Tad Hills 10:30AM
Jennifer Cody Epstein 12PM
Nick Flynn 2PM
Arthur Phillips 3PM
Emma Straub 4PM
Todd Colby 7PM
Jonathan Ames 8PM

We are headed out to celebrate Christmas Eve tomorrow with our families and knowing that would be the case we saved our most dear cause until the last so that it would be the focus of the last two days of Sandy Christmas.  The organization we are supporting is Added Value.  This amazing organization operates two urban farms, one in Red Hook and one on Governor's Island, a farmer's market, is the primary supplier of fresh produce to many of Red Hook's residents and does all of this while staffing their work with local teens who learn agricultural, business and leadership skills amongst others.  Their value to that neighborhood and the impact they've no had on so many lives is beyond measure.  The farm was flooded with tons of polluted salt water from the bay and they have been cleaning up and replanting ever since.  You can learn more about their work and Sandy's impact on their web site.  You can also make a contribution to the organization directly through their web site which we will be doing.  We look forward to visiting a restored farm as it blooms in the spring and we hope you join us. 

This is the last entry in our 12 Days of Sandy Christmas series.  We hope that we've been able to help those in need a little and we hope that we've been able to help our readers find worthy destinations for their holiday generosity this year as well.  Certainly the work of recovery will go on well into 2013 so stay tuned to our blog for future updates.  Have a wonderful and safe holiday and new year!

It's the 10th Day of Sandy Christmas (and also my birthday!) and we are proud to support Cowgirl Seahorse.  A great local business in the Seaport that, like so many others, was inundated with flood waters when Sandy came to town.  With a delicious fusion of Tex-Mex, cajun and seafood this is a great place to eat and drink.  Not to mention their worship of all things Seahorse made the interior a little bit of a animated wonderland.  They need to funds to replace pretty much everything.  Floors, walls, kitchen equipment and so on.  They could also use your business as they have reopened with a limited menu so head on down and grab a drink.  You can also join us in contributing to the Go Fund Me Campaign. 

Seeing as the world didn't end today we are continuing our 12 days of Sandy Christmas.  For the 9th day we will be giving to Governor, a new restaurant in DUMBO that barely had a chance to work off the new restaurant smell before Sandy inundated it with tons of water.  The restaurant was a total loss.  Everything needs to be rebuilt and replaced to bring this fine dining establishment back to the DUMBO neighborhood.  You can give to them through their Go Fund Me Campaign.  We hope to see you there for dinner when they re-open. 

Steve Tarpin, a native of South Florida, loves Key Lime pies.  When he couldn't find a decent one in New York, he decided to take matters into his own hands and opened Steve's Key Lime Pies.  Originally he was making his pies out of a studio apartment kitchen but business grew along with the fame of his delicious pies and he eventually ended up in a much larger space in Pier 41 on the Red Hook Waterfront.  It's a beautiful location in an 1870s warehouse however that same location made them very vulnerable to Sandy's storm surge.  All their equipment and stock were lost in the storm and they missed out on Thanksgiving which is the biggest day of the year for a pie maker.  They are raising money to help cover the cost of replacing all that equipment and the losses incurred from lost business.  If you'd like to join us in supporting them you can contribute to their Go Fund Me Campaign.  Another delicious way to help them is to buy their pies.  If you haven't had one before you need to go right now and buy one.  Caution, they are addictive.  In fact, if you go to get one, please get us one as well.  It's been a day or two since we had one. 

Of the many small businesses hit by Sandy, few have such a difficult uphill road to recover from.  Not only did Sandy hit them with eight feet of water destroying everything in the restaurant including pots, pans, furniture, expensive restaurant and the entire inventory of cheese, wine and gourmet fresh foods, but they have also been unable to begin the rebuilding process until their landlord makes needed repairs to the structure.  Barbarini was a gourmet outpost in the South Street Seaport area that was flooded with mall like eateries.  The restaurant and gourmet food shop was a work of love by Stefano and Adriana Barbagallo and Claudio Marini.  Today it is a gutted mess and while many businesses have reopened post Sandy, they have been unable to rebuild at their current location.  In anticipation of either being able to rebuild there or at a new Financial District site they have established a Small Knot campaign.  We hope you have some room left in your holiday budget for these guys as they could really use it and the Seaport could really use them.  The campaign is being run under their proposed future name of Donagallo.  You can contribute at their campaign HERE

The South Street Seaport Museum is not a small business per se but it is a small museum and its efforts have contributed to their still being spaces for small businesses in the Seaport and definitely in the buildings and architecture which include some of the oldest in NYC.  This museum was already struggling before the storm and had recently been taken over by the Museum of the City of New York which was attempting to right the ship.  Forgive me, I couldn't let that pun pass.  ;)   Anyhow, they, along with so many other small businesses at the Seaport, suffered tremendous damage and were without power long after power had been restored to most of Manhattan.  Thankfully the larger part of their exhibits were on the second floor and so most historical artifacts survived, however they lost expensive equipment needed to run their building and the buildings themselves were heavily damaged.  Needless to say this has been a major setback for the Museum and, while they don't say this, we suspect that its future could be in jeopardy.  So join us in making a donation to ensure that this true treasure of NYC is around for generations to come and so our grandchildren may have the opportunity of stepping on board historic sailing ships and learning what life was like along the water in the age of sail.  To make a donation click HERE

Our Sunday was so crazy that we weren't able to get up our 4th Day of Sandy Xmas post so we're going to do two in one day.  The first featured business is One Girl Cookies whose new DUMBO location was badly damaged by Sandy's crushing tides.  Walls needed to be replaced and all the equipment in the shop needed to be replaced as well.  Plus, as is the common refrain with all of these small businesses, the damage was not covered by their insurance.  Dawn Casale and Dave Crofton had just expanded from their very successful location in Cobble Hill to the new location at Dumbo.  Thankfully their kitchen remained in Cobble Hill so they were able to get back in business relatively quickly and we were able to have access to their delicious tea cookies and whoopie pies!  So please help them cover the costs of their extensive repairs in Dumbo so that they can continue to grow and thrive and bring their tasty treats to these wonderful Brooklyn neighborhoods.  We are contributing to the Go Fund Me campaign and we invite you to join us.

For the 5th day of Sandy Christmas we are giving to Jack From Brooklyn.  Recently there has been a boom in the craft distilling movement and Brooklyn is ground zero for this national trend.  Hand crafted rum, vodka, whiskey, and liqueurs are now being produced at more than 10 micro distilleries.  Of those though, no one was hit worse by the storm than Jack From Brooklyn which produces a delicious Hibiscus liqueur called Sorel.  This kind of artisanal manufacturing is part of the new economic engine propelling NYC, creating jobs and investment in areas like Red Hook where Jack is based.  They are difficult businesses to start with high up front capital costs and and the return is a long time coming back. Tack on damage from a storm like this and you can imagine how difficult it can be.  So grab a bottle of Sorel for your holiday dinner and join us in contributing to Jack from Brooklyn's Go Fund Me campaign.