When it comes to seafood restaurants, Marylanders are spoiled for choice. With crab as one of the state’s most popular exports, seafood is common, and can be found everywhere from large touristy restaurants to small, hidden-away crab shacks. In a market this crowded, seafood restaurants have to get creative with how they stand out from the crowd.
The Salt Line does just that by taking its inspiration from outside of the Chesapeake Bay area, offering New England-style seafood. And that approach has netted them considerable success — since its 2017 opening in Washington, D.C.’s Navy Yard neighborhood, The Salt Line locations have cropped up in Ballston, Va. and Bethesda, Md., with a fourth restaurant in Nashville scheduled to open later this year.
The Salt Line was the first restaurant opened by Long Shot Hospitality, a restaurant group that has gone on to open and operate DMV staples like Dauphine’s and The Dubliner.
For Long Shot partner Jeremy Carman, the restaurant’s New England inspiration comes from a personal place. Originally born in Massachusetts, Carman spent much of his early life in Maine, where his parents operated The Home Port Inn and Restaurant — a bed and breakfast that also served up New England seafood staples like lobster rolls.
“I’ve always been around restaurants,” Carman recalls. “I was working in our family restaurant when I was young. I moved to Washington, D.C., as an adult, but I never really got a conventional job. I was always working as a waiter or bartender until I opened up my first business.”
Carman had opened eight restaurants before The Salt Line, but the seafood restaurant was the first one he opened with his partners at Long Shot, along with the group’s chef, Kyle Bailey.
“We were all front-of-the-house guys, and we really wanted to strike out and find a chef partner,” Carman says. “I had a relationship with Kyle and knew he was looking to broaden his horizons. I thought this was a good opportunity to bring him in, and he liked the idea.”
Bailey was an early adopter of culinary trends that have grown considerably in popularity over the years, including the farm-to-table approach and the “smash burger” technique of making thin, flavorful burgers. He brought these practices over to The Salt Line, which uses a “dock-to-dish” model to source its seafood.
Many of the fisheries that The Salt Line has partnered with are Community Supported Fisheries, which operate with workers’ rights and environmental sustainability in mind.
These include the original Dock to Dish in Montauk, New York, and the Annapolis-based Old Line Fish Company. The Salt Line even co-owns its own oyster farm, Dancing Molly, in partnership with Harris Creek Oyster Company.
“Knowing your fishermen has led to us becoming partners with our favorite oyster farmers,” Carman says. “A lot of the oysters from Dancing Molly were in the water 12 hours earlier, and they’re in our cases the next day.”
Bailey notes that these partnerships are essential not only for procuring high-quality ingredients, but for supporting local small businesses that promote sustainable practices.
“It’s not as difficult as it used to be to get really great local products,” he says. “One reason we want to buy our seafood locally is that a lot of fishing boats in the rest of the world pay their fishermen slave wages. We try to stay away from those parts of the world.”
The Salt Line also hosts an annual “Oyster Wars” event, an oyster festival that promotes local oyster farms and chefs.
“Kyle’s always been at the forefront of sourcing carefully and thoughtfully, sometimes even using cuts that other chefs aren’t using as frequently,” Carman says. “It all ties into a larger sustainability model, and I’ve learned a lot from being around him. That’s something we’re proud of at The Salt Line.”
Aside from oysters, some of The Salt Line’s most popular items include its classic lobster roll and “Stuffies,” top neck clams stuffed with smoked linguiça sausage. The New England Smash Burger is another popular staple, and was declared “the Best New Burger in D.C.” by Washingtonian in 2017.
With their spring menu coming soon, one of The Salt Line’s fan-favorite dishes will also be returning: the Nashville Hot Soft-Shell Crab.
“It was on our opening menu, and Kyle really hit it out of the park, so it comes back every year in every location,” Carman notes. “The love for soft-shells in this region has made that dish a staple of our menu when it’s in season.”
Currently, Long Shot Hospitality has no plans to open more Salt Line locations in the DMV, since they have the area covered well already with its three existing restaurants. But they still see great potential in the brand, which is why they’re expanding to Nashville — a landlocked city without easy access to seafood.
Still, big things are coming for The Salt Line’s existing locations, particularly their Navy Yard restaurant. Since it’s located right near Nationals Park, baseball season is a busy time for The Salt Line, as baseball fans like to pop in to enjoy a burger or a lobster roll after a game.
Carman and Bailey add that The Salt Line continues to fill many different roles: it’s a destination restaurant for baseball fans and tourists; an elevated spot to celebrate special occasions and savor high-quality ingredients; and a place serving up simple, classic New England staples that’s casual enough for people to bring their family.
“When we’re talking about New England-style seafood, we can use the word ‘authentic,’ but I think what we really mean is sincere,” Bailey says. “We always want to be sincere with our menu.”
