The Salty Pig

The Facts

The successful duo behind the South End's Coda and Jamaica Plain hot spot Canary Square launched this charcuterie focused eatery in Back Bay in July of 2011. The space at 130 Dartmouth Street was formerly occupied by Firefly and then the short lived Six Burner which closed in October 2010.

The Space

An angular bar sprawls across a stainless steel open kitchen, where a wood-fired oven glows from its perch, fronted by reclaimed wood communal high tops bathed in warm lighting from oversized dome fixtures. The lofty interiors back wall resembles a classroom chalkboard, scrawled with a mash up of geometrical equations infused with nods to the pig.

The Beer

The Salty Pig features an eclectic selection of American Craft Beers such as a the quadruple Pretty Things Baby Tree ($6) and a refreshingly bitter Blatant IPA ($6).The Baby Tree combines vienna, chocolate and oat malts while the Blatant is a hoppy mash up of citrus and pine. I preferred the Baby Tree as I felt it complimented better the meats, but both represent the wide range of beer on tap from Craft (both happen to be Massachusetts based) breweries.

The Charcuterie

Perzonalize your own board from a selection of:

1) House cured salty pig parts ($3-$7). Pictured is the wood oven fired Porchetta, where thinly sliced juicy coils of the pork shoulder is heaven on a charcuterie board. 2) Local + European sourced stinky cheeses ($6-$9) Familiar favorites grace the menu like Great Hill Blue from Marion, MA and Moses Sleeper from Greensboro, VT. Intriguing European selections include Silton (cow, strong, blue) from Colton Basset Dairy in Nottinghamshire, England and Chevrot (goat, mold ripened, mild) from Poitou-Charentes, France3) Local + seasonal accoutrements ($1 each) To round out the palate choose from a selection including marinated olives, chianti jelly, clover honey, balsamic onion jam and more. Pictured are the zesty Basque Peppers.Each board comes with house made pickles, dijon mustard and crostini.

The Pizza

The Salty Pig Pizza ($14) features a daily selection of (what else) but salty pig parts sliced to a pristine thinness layered over parmigano oil, topped with fresh arugula and an inventive pale ale viniagrette. While certain bites delivered on the intensely salty front as advertised, the pizza is far from one note. In the next taste a fascinatingly sweet slice of meat, after that a pronounced spiciness charges the palate. Its not a bad idea to forgo the wooden board all together and have your charcuterie over a thin crust wood-fired pizza. It might seem much less exotic than its predecessor, but the Mushroom Pizza ($12) is still an enticing option with herbs, tomato, mozzarella and a farm egg.

The pizza crust is more soft than it is crispy, but still well baked. These are the kind of pies you can eat four or five pieces easily without feeling stuffed. I admired this quality about them.

The Bottom Line

With a fun concept that is well executed start to finish and attentive friendly service to match, I would definitely recommend indulging in some salty pig parts at this casual Back Bay establishment.