soho park

I was eyeing Soho Park ever since I saw the green picnic table out back for what is now their beer garden. Soho Park sells basic grill and street foods with a menu consisting mainly of burgers, salads, and sandwiches in an “airy garage-garden” type setting.  Think: indoor park – that’s what the decor reminds me of.  Some of the seats are actually benches, the walls are exposed brick, and there’s the picnic table. 

 

Soho Park is known for their variety of drinks, especially beers [they have a lot of locally brewed options], but what I found surprisingly good was the vanilla milk shake.  It tastes like vanilla bean ice cream in shake form- but better.  It was so rich, creamy, smooth, and vanilla-y.  I think it may be too overwhelming for those who aren’t huge vanilla fans like me though.  The person who made mine got it at the right consistency; not too thick that I couldn’t drink it with a straw, but it wasn’t like vanilla juice either.

Usually, I would never order a burger that isn’t either turkey or veggie, but they don’t have either of those choices here.  All they serve are thin patty beef burgers.  Since I was craving for a burger, I decided to suck it up and try it regardless of the meat content.  I got the park cheddar cheese burger; it came, finely shredded iceberg lettuce, Gus’ sliced pickles, the house special sauce, and tomato on a warm potato bun.  One can also opt for a combo with fries on the side (which I’m sure you can see I did).  For a non-frequent meat eating person like me, the thin patty is sizeable for me but I can see this could be a cause for complaints.  When I first saw it, a picture of Wendy’s cheeseburger came to mind, but trust me when I say that the looks are the only thing similar – the quality here is so much better.  I did not like their overly potato-y, non crunchy fries, but I like that they used the sea salt to make them extra salty.  Also, these fries are handcut.

We also ordered some homemade herbed buttermilk red onion rings with a homemade garlic aioli sauce.  The red onions are fried in a light batter that didn’t seem to coat each onion ring thoroughly.  The batter was a thin crispy layer that separated easily from the onion.  What stood out from this dish is the fact that they used red onions instead of white; it made the onion sweeter and more flavorful.  I did not taste any herbs though.  Also, the actual onion pieces still had their crispness in tact, as opposed to some oil soaked onion rings where the onion was just a string of sogginess.

A friend of mine tried the hungarian spiced kielbasa.  It came with sweet caramelized onions, which I stole, sourdough toast points, and a smoked paprika mustard as a dipping sauce.  My palate can’t exactly tolerate any sausage-type foods so I can’t comment on this dish.  My friend did give me a thumbs up and said the level of spiciness was good for her. 

Several weeks later, I made a second visit to have yet another burger (gah! Could it be?  Miss Beancurd is a carnivore in the making?!) and my friend had the Caesar salad which came in a big metal tub. 

So, I’ve concluded that Soho Park offers some no frills fare in a very subdued environment.  The atmosphere reminds me of a hipster version of a dive bar- if that makes any sense.  If you’re in the neighborhood and have the munchies, or you’re done with a day of shopping and want to sit down with an ice cold beer- this is the place for you.  It’s a good alternative to the Mercer Kitchen and Zoe a few blocks away.  I do not believe that this is something one needs to travel out of their way for though.