Socca Restaurant
To celebrate my elevation to Senior Architect at Duo Consulting, my girlfriend took me to dinner at a new restaurant here in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Socca opened 14 nights ago so we were pretty suprised to see it so busy already. I thought I'd offer a review for any locals.
The waiter was enthusiastic to begin with and reminded me of Dustin Hoffman but after he brought us our first drink and more people were arriving he seemed to forget where we were. When he returned he was really helpful and was able to make a good wine recommendation (BearBoat Pinot Noir) and commended us on our choices.
The appetizers were both really tasty: Melissa had the Lamb Socca (the restaurants namesake) and I had the Halloumi. The Socca was a crepe with shredded lamb and according to our waiter is one of many available in the Italian Countryside as an appetizer. Halloumi is a Cypriot cheese and I remember it from a summer holiday there as a teenager where it made an incredible alternative to cheese on toast. It's a little rubbery in it's texture and not unlike Saganaki in texture.
As an entree I had the Striped Sea Bass with Gnocchi and a "Crazy" red sauce while Melissa had a Pork Tenderloin. Mine was fantastic but the Pork was definitely over priced and lacking in flavor. The entrees were about 18 dollars each so the Pork was disappointing in that regard. The wine was perfect to accompany both the Sea Bass and the Pork with raspberry and strawberry flavors holding up well to the Crazy red sauce.
Desert brought on a short menu and we picked the Gelato to share. The rich vanilla bean flavor was phenomenal when combined with the honey and cinammon powder.
Overall, the meal was a little expensive and the entrees could probably all be 5 dollars cheaper. The environment needs some rework with tables inconveniently scattered around the large dining area such that our table was at one of two entrance points where many diners squeezed between the tables to find their seats, making for a less intimate experience. The large space also needs some white noise or something to take the edge of the acoustics as we found it hard to hear each other across the table.