Saltbox

What it is:  There's a new restaurant in town.  It has fantastic fresh food from North Carolina.  It has a chef trained at Culinary Institute of America that has traveled the world working in some of the best restaurants and competed on Iron Chef America.  Oh, and Durham Magazine just voted this new restaurant one of the six hottest new restaurants in Durham.  However, it is definitely not what you would expect.

Saltbox is a fish stand located just north of downtown on Mangum St.  It is owned by chef Ricky Moore and serves fresh, sustainable NC seafood everyday except Monday.  My husband and I were so intrigued, so this weekend we took the kiddos and checked it out.  There's a small parking lot that was almost full on the Saturday lunch that we headed on over.  However, looks like there's plenty of street parking.  You just walk on up to the window and order your meal.  The menu consists of delicious fresh seafood sandwiches and plates and a few sides.  They also offer bottled soda and water.

Once we ordered we sat on one of four picnic benches out front on a beautiful NC day and waited for the food.  Once the sandwiches arrived, they were fresh and delicious.  I had the shrimp sandwich with cornbread as a side.  My husband was not completely awed by his sandwich, but my shrimp one was absolutely wonderful.

What we liked:  It is such a great concept, and it's always wonderful to see talented chefs opening new great local restaurants in Durham.  The seafood was fresh and delicious and I would definitely go back.  They also had a great seashell path up to the window that the kiddos loved playing in while we waited and after we ate.

What we would change: The one problem was my picky little eaters.  Unless your little ones like seafood there's not much for them to eat.  There are the crispy potatoes and the cornbread as sides, but you basically come here for the great seafood.  So, what my husband and I did to really enjoy our meal was to bring a little food for the kiddos to eat while we ate our sandwiches.  You could also get your food to-go and eat it at a nearby park, like Duke park, while your kids eat a packed lunch.  The food also takes a while to arrive because it's so fresh, so expect more of a wait like you would get at a sit-down restaurant than at an over-the-counter place.

Our recommendation is to definitely check it out for yourself, and if your kids don't like seafood yet, maybe this will change their mind!

Website and other important information:

Website: http://www.saltboxseafoodjoint.com/

Address: 608 N. Mangum St, Durham, NC

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11am-7pm (or when the seafood is sold out)

Photos: 

(A view of Saltbox)

(Mmmm...shrimp)