The Captain's Daughter at Saltie

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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.

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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.

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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.
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