Restaurateur Kathy Sidell grew up around food and restaurants. Her banker father's passion for dining and his nose for business financed a new wave of chefs around Boston in the 1970s.
Later in life, Sidell found herself in Barcelona, on a scouting trip for a restaurant she owned in Nantucket. There, she encountered tinned fish that was entirely different from the sort she had eaten as a child. "The depth and the scope of what was offered really blew the back of my head off," Sidell says.
With locations in Boston and London, Saltie Girl opened in Los Angeles in December. Photo by Wonho Frank Lee.
At Saltie Girl, her new seafood spot on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, Sidell offers more than 130 varieties of tinned fish. With seductive packaging, her recent favorites include La Curiosa curried mackerel, Ramon Peña cockles, and Conservas Braseadas Güeyu Mar grilled tuna neck, which she compares to a fatty ribeye steak that melts in one's mouth.
The patio of Saltie Girl faces the bustling activity along Sunset Plaza. Photo by Mike Cotrone.