I'm actually reading Road of the Patriarch (2006) now!
I'm a really big fan of his, so there may be some bias on my part.
I like everything I've read so far, which is most of what he's written. I would say he's not like Tolkien at all. He's more like Terry Brooks.
The reading level is easy, which is good for me.
You could start with the Icewind Dale series, or The Dark Elf Trilogy, if you want to get Drizzt's back story.
Legacy of the Drow is another good series and I definitely recommend The Cleric Quintet. Cadderly is the main character in this series and there is some cross over of the two series in later books.
The Sellswords series are two good books, which revolves around Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle (another dark elf). Both are great characters.
Crimson Shadow is an entirely different series. I really enjoyed this one as well. It's lighter on the "magic" side, but not devoid of it.
I have the first book of the Saga of the First King series (The Highwayman (2004)). This book was excellent IMHO. A new book (The Ancient (2008)) was just released some months back and sounds very promising.
As you can see, I could go on!
As far as "where" to get them:
I always recommend the library first. Don't buy something you may not like. It should not be too hard to get one of the older books. Or, if you have flea markets, or used book stores, you may find some stuff there.
This site has all the books:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/r-a-salvatore/