Saltie Sets Sail

The Captain's Daughter at Saltie

Saltie is open for business: Caroline Fidanza's diminutive sandwich counter cum bakery cum ice cream parlor is now serving its full menu. The Captain's Daughter, pictured above, is sardines, pickled eggs, capers, and a garden's worth of parsley and scallions on focaccia. Aside from inventive sandwiches such as this one, there's a full line of baked goods that are pictured on the next page.

Below is the salty caramel ice cream sandwich. The guy behind the counter described the cookies as "some kind of delicious homemade chocolate thing," which was accurate.

The ginger cake (below) is shot through with chunks of crystallized ginger. Like the other baked goods on Saltie's menu, it's heavy on substance and light on sugar: Saltie may be the first New York bakery to explicitly offer sweets that don't pander to the sweet tooth. Which is not to say they're not delicious; they are. But nothing that Fork in the Road tasted came close to inducing a sugar coma; the buckwheat squares (not pictured) are actually studded with black olives, a gutsy choice for a dessert that looks like a blondie and possesses the same dense crumb. Fidanza and her partners, Rebecca Collerton and Elizabeth Schula, are obviously not afraid to take risks. And in a city where frosting shots are dispensed like methadone, that's a welcome stance indeed. 378 Metropolitan Avenue, near Havemeyer Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (718) 387-4777.