After going there a second time, I am finally writing a review for Salt of The Earth, one of the truly wonderful restaurants in Pittsburgh. We came in around 10 just for drinks so we sat the bar.
After sitting down, we looked up at the big chalk board which has NaCl's ever-rotating drink and food menu listings. We had a Rye and Vermouth. You can always tell when you get a well crafted cocktail where the ingredients that are used just complement each other so well and you know there is alcohol in it, yet calling it just "alcohol" would be too unpolished.
The highlight of the night by far was when we decided to order desserts. The after deliberating we decided on the Bergamot. It was a layer of crystallized sugar on top of a soup of freeze-dried goat's milk, pear, hazelnut, mint and other flavors. The bartender had said it will be something we have never tasted before and he was on the money! It had a perfect tartness that was cut by the sweetness of the crunchy sugar bits and the creaminess of the freeze-dried goat's milk. After we finished, we were so impressed that we also ordered the Chocolate. This was a wonderful combination of oak ice cream on top of a roasted marshmallow, with blocks of chocolate ganache surrounded by polenta and apple bits. Great taste of sweet and then salty from the polenta. What I think made me love both desserts was the fact that neither was "too sweet", something that happens far too often at the end of meals.
I will definitely be back again to try whatever other genius the chef comes up with next!