Social media star Salt Hank’s sandwich shop is great — not a gimmick

French dip is having its day.

The roast beef-and-jus sandwich, agelong an also-ran to pastrami-on-rye, is now nan toast of places from Minetta Tavern and Anton’s successful Manhattan to Brennan & Carr successful Sheepshead Bay. It’s agelong been a paper favourite astatine beloved chain Hillstone.

The buzziest of each is just-opened Salt Hank’s at 280 Bleecker St., nan first-ever eatery from societal media sensation and cookbook writer Henry Laporte, who has 2.6 cardinal follows connected TikTok and 1.6 cardinal connected Instagram arsenic @salt_hank.

Laporte’s caput chef, Daniel Rubenfeld, is an alum of Thomas Keller’s chophouse TAK Room. It shows successful really nan premier rib, from nutrient maestro Pat La Frieda, is cautiously sliced and shredded to tongue-tingling perfection.

The 10-inch-long baguettes are delivered caller each greeting from crazy-popular adjacent bistro Frenchette.

Those credentials, and Laporte societal media following, wouldn’t mean a point if Salt Hank’s French dip wasn’t truthful good. It’s nan only point connected nan paper — nary burgers aliases different sandwiches — prevention for remarkably crisp, matchstick-thin fries ($6), house-made limemade pinch just-right sweetness and a fewer canned sodas.

The $28 French dip is large capable to nutrient 2 group pinch large appetites. It delivers miraculous rima consciousness on pinch rich, multi-tiered flavor. The fine-cut beef is dipped successful jus earlier being layered pinch provolone cheese, caramelized onions and an aioli flavored pinch horseradish, chives and roasted garlic.

It emerges from nan oven warm, moist and begging to beryllium devoured. Some customers usage their hands only, but I preferred a fork to prime done layers of crunchy crust, fluffy sourdough, and yummy tangles of shredded beef and melted cheese.

The jus itself was a rich, analyzable revelation — I could almost person it arsenic a crockery each by itself. It’s generously served successful a ample cup, dissimilar immoderate different spots wherever you hardly get any. T

The edifice is simply a plain, comfortable room pinch formica-top tables, a antagonistic pinch a half-dozen seats and pictures of Laporte’s book, Salt Hank: A Five Napkin Situation. Customers statement up astatine a room antagonistic and hold for friends unit to bring them their orders, while grooving to a soundtrack that hops from Notorious B.I.G. to Cardi B.

Laporte himself useful connected nan line, putting nan finishing touches to combine nan sandwich. On my visit, he was wearing a headdress that said, “Lo Siento” – Spanish for “I’m sorry.”

But there’s thing to beryllium sorry about, unless you get location excessively precocious for nan 75 pounds of beef they spell done each day.

While Salt Hank’s purports to enactment unfastened until 5 p.m., they usually tally retired of beef by 3 p.m. Get location early — and hungry.