SoCa (Restaurant Review)
As a homosexual I live for brunch. Some people go to church on Sunday but not me, brunch is practically my religion. Every Sunday I look forward to getting together with friends and bid adieu to another week. The Triangle is rapidly growing, especially downtown Raleigh, there are so many new restaurants opening up that it’s hard for me and my wallet to keep up with them. A restaurant that’s fairly new is So Ca. I frequent the Cameron Village area often to try to live my bourgeois fantasy, I can’t afford anything but that’s why it’s called a fantasy.
Like everywhere else in Raleigh a new apartment building went up and at the base were a few restaurants. There’s a pizza place, I think a steak house, and then the jewel that is So Ca. The restaurant’s tag line is “Cocina Latina” which to me was already a questionable choice but you can’t always judge a book by its cover, or restaurant by its tag line? I went on OpenTable to browse for reservations and found one for our Sunday brunch.
It was a nice day out so when we arrived for our reservation we chose to sit out on the patio. We sat down and were promptly greeted by our waiter who poured us glasses of water. He took our drink orders and we ordered coffee and mimosas because are you even having brunch if you are not having a mimosa? As we are looking over the menu we are informed the Platos pequeños are small plates arranged from least filling to most. Everything sounded pretty tasty and it was conveniently labeled to dietary restrictions such as gluten free and vegetarian.
I was torn between the huitlacoche empanadas and the churro waffles. I love sweets but I also love earthy flavors and not many places serve huitlacoche. I chose the empanadas and Chase split the churro waffles with me. Our friend Phil also got the waffles and Jorge decided on the crab avocado. We placed our orders and continued to talk about our week while sipping our drinks.
The waiter brought a small skillet with yucca bread, complimentary during brunch hours, so we immediately dug in. The breads were moist and filled with gooey cheese. They were topped with pickled red onions which gave them a nice tang. They were simply delicious. If this was what they gave for free, I was anxious to see what we paid for tasted like. Once our food arrived we all ooh and aah’d and started to eat. The churro waffles were great, the cinnamon sugar coating gave it a nice crunch and paired with the espresso whipped cream and dulce de Leche it was a party in my mouth. I love parties in my mouth but that’s a different story. My empanadas were everything I hoped they’d be. They were crispy, earthy and the salsa verde gave it a refreshing acidity that contrasted well. I could’ve eaten 10 of those if given the opporJUNIty. Jorge’s crab avocado looked appetizing, It had a mound of crab on top of this avocado. He ate the entire thing so I’m assuming it was good.
We finished our meals and were more than satisfied to have finished our week at So Ca. If you are looking for some delicious, unique food definitely check out this restaurant. You will not regret it.
On my scale of “No ma’am to Yass gawd” I give So Ca a -Yass Gawd- with probably a death drop.