Meg Goes Nom Nom

Late this past summer, before J was born, when I was still pregnant, I visited one of Saline’s newest restaurants: Salt Springs Brewery.

I’m not sure if I mentioned it here on the blog, but I actually moved just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Ann Arbor to Saline in late June. (I will never move when I am 30 weeks pregnant again! In fact I really don’t want to move again for a looong time! The older you get, the more things you acquire, and the more of a hassle it becomes! But that’s another story.) As a result, we’ve been trying out all of Saline’s restaurants.

Salt Springs Brewery is located in downtown Saline and is housed in a unique location – a historical church that was renovated over the course of several months.

The owners did a great job transforming the space.

We went about a week after the grand opening and it was still very busy on a Wednesday evening. I heard they had lines down the block during their grand opening weekend.

Fresh flowers and hops decorated the tables. Nice touch.

Salt Springs features several hand-crafted beers, brewed onsite, and also has a beer garden which looks like a fantastic spot to chill during Michigan’s warmer months.

Since I was pregnant when we visited I didn’t get a chance to try the beers but I look forward to doing so in the future.

Outdoor beer garden:

Though I didn’t get to try the beer, I was still quite excited to try the food! Head Chef head chef Justin Dalenberg was previously the head chef of Zingerman’s Roadhouse in Ann Arbor, so I had high expectations for the cuisine, and the menu looked quite fun.

My dining companion – the huz – and I shared a few dishes.

• 
  

  Sautéed Wild Maine Mussels – beer . mustard . garlic . housemade bacon; served with levain

• Smoked Chicken Legs with Blue Cheese

These were really delicious and huge. The sauce needed… something. Maybe a little sweetness? The flavor was a little one note (smokiness), but overall I really enjoyed these succulent drumsticks.

• Lamb Meatballs – with pine nuts, rosemary, and Michigan blueberries.

These were just fine but didn’t blow me away – and a bit pricy for what you got.

Despite being covered in wretched arugula (blech!), the Stone-Fired Pizza we had, featuring three different types of spicy charcuterie, was fabulous and my favorite dish of the day. (The arugula tasted really fresh, for the record, and as a result I didn’t mind it. I mostly hate it when it is not fresh and then it tastes like rotten soap to me! Not the case here.)

Overall we really enjoyed the food at Salt Springs but found it to be rather pricy for dinner at a brewery – and that was even without beer! I was hoping this would be my new go-to spot in Saline but with the prices where they are at currently, we would limit visits here to special occasions, I think.