Maybe it’s date night. Or maybe you’re out with a few friends. Whatever the evening scenario, you need a good place for dinner. No doubt, Salem has lots to offer in that arena, but you’re wanting to try something new. Something adventurous.
Lucky for you and your companions, something new just opened at The Forge in downtown Salem. It’s called Clink, a French-American restaurant that launched in July, and it’s ready to host you.
It’s a beautifully curated space that evokes Paris in the spring. Airy and bright. Pink blossoms frame your view in every direction. The tables and chairs look like they belong on the set of a 1950s French film. Yes, this was the right place to come tonight.
But one question is still unanswered—what should you eat?
Who better to answer that for you than Clink’s executive chef, Brittni Armenta.
Chef Brittni Armenta
She has an easy and quick response: “The foie gras toast.” Adding, “If you’re adventurous.”
For those unfamiliar with French cuisine, foie gras is duck liver. At Clink, “we turn it into a mousse and top it with seasonal stone fruit jam,” Brittni said. “And it’s served with brioche that’s made in-house.”
It pairs beautifully with a crisp chardonnay.
So you and your companions start with that. Luckily, the menu is designed for shared plates, fitting seamlessly into the thoughtful, elevated experience that Brittni and the rest of the team behind Clink are striving to provide to all their guests.
“People can expect an experience. We do our best every day to create memories,” she said.
For Brittni, being a chef was always the direction she wanted to go. Originally from Fresno, California, Brittni learned to cook while working at her grandma’s Mexican restaurant when she was just three.
“I always helped her out in the kitchen. I’d pull up a milk crate and mash up avocados for her to make guacamole.”
She wound up in Salem after a variety of restaurant experiences and going to culinary school twice. She made her way to Portland in 2015. Her accolades include working as a chef at Salem’s Cozy Taberna when it first opened in 2021, and then as a sous chef at Kann when the restaurant was awarded Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Award in 2023. She also worked as a chef for the Sesame Collective restaurant group before the Clink team reached out to her. She has been with Clink since April.
Carlee Wright
Crepe Cake at Clink
With such varied experience in the restaurant industry, Brittni has learned about the risks of burnout, particularly as an executive chef. Hobbies, she said, are crucial. She practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and currently has a blue belt. She is also almost five years sober. While she intentionally keeps her work and hobbies separate, discipline is a theme that applies to multiple areas of her life.
When it comes to Clink, Brittni saw it as an opportunity to bring back a slower and more technical type of restaurant, despite much of the industry going the other direction.
“People design restaurants for speed and less for technique,” she said. “I was hoping to create an atmosphere where people enjoy what they do. It shows through the food.”
As you and your companions enjoy your evening out, with a pink blossom backdrop, the “clink” of wine glasses, and perhaps the foie gras appetizer, you taste exactly what she’s talking about.
This story originally ran in Press Play Salem issue 25 (Fall 2025)
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Carlee Wright