When Fresh Salt opened in 2004, "it was a bit of the Wild West out here," said Williams, who runs the bar, and she found herself making morning margaritas for market workers getting off the night shift1. The building at 146 Beekman Street dates to 1885 and was once a smokehouse; the bar, as we noted in 2009, took its name from the faded advertisement painted on its façade1.
Hurricane Sandy put seven or eight feet of water into the bar, which closed for about three months while Williams and her team replaced most of the bar equipment and the interior1. In June 2020 she reopened it for to-go drinks and outdoor dining1.
In 2009 we said it had quickly become a local favorite, and it's still a locals' bar: low-key, with a well-made cocktail and a bite to eat at a fair price on the sidewalk café1. It's on Beekman between Front and South Streets, and it opens at 4 pm every day2.
Researched October 2026.