Discover ‘World Peace Cuisine’ at SOCO Restaurant in the Grove

By David Pines, Community Online Newspapers,

Chef-owner Alfredo Alvarez presents a sample of SOCO’s international cuisine, a delicacy he calls Pandora’s Box.

The new Pan-Asian restaurant SOCO offers cuisine from around the globe to patrons in search of a unique dining experience.

Featuring Latino, Asian, Mediterranean, Portuguese and Irish offerings, chef-owners Alfredo Alvarez and Luis Contreras believe they are on the verge of a new world order with their inventive culinary offerings.

“We like to say we have World Peace Cuisine,” said Contreras. “We can please anybody. If you come here with a party of five, two can have sushi, another Latino or Italian, we can satisfy all tastes.”

Contreras says the SOCO staff specializes in creating palate-pleasing selections that are equal to delicacies cooked up by the finest chefs in the various countries around the world.

“We make the best risotto in town, better than any Italian restaurant,” said Contreras. “One of our best sellers is the banana black cod fresh from the icy waters of Alaska that we prepare in a special Mandarin style. It’s smothered in a ginger coconut sauce with caramelized bananas and crowned with a binato nest, like a white sweet potato.”

This hidden Grove eatery, nestled in the same Bird Avenue location that formerly housed the Il Tulipano bistro, has a dark brick and wood interior resembling a cutting edge eatery from New York’s Soho. The atmosphere is highlighted with cylindrical lighting; modern tables and chairs, dramatic metal sculptures, and features the astonishing work of Grove artist Neith Nevelson.

The real booty to be found at SOCO is presented in the unique dessert offerings, like a coconut crème Brule inside a real coconut, a pyramid of nuggets from Spain, and there’s the traditional chocolate soufflé.

Contreras is disappointed the restaurant has not yet unearthed a local following for what he considers an unreal deal for lunch. “The lunch is incredible, served in a Japanese style I call the Pandora’s Box, and it’s only $8.95 with salad or soup,” he said. “It has chicken teriyaki, shrimp tempura, rice, sushi, a little of everything, with dumplings, orange and Carambola, we should be having lines out the door to come to eat here. All our prices are reasonable.

“The Grove is not great for lunch, it’s not commercial like the North or downtown Grove or the Gables, but for dinner it’s perfect. We have complementary valet parking during lunchtime, besides if you look at a menu our meals are generally $11 and with that you get a nice piece of Angus beef, fish, potatoes, rice, soup, salad, dessert, everything.” For the dinner crowd, SOCO takes service to another level, sometimes even experimenting with their cooking to see if inspiration strikes.

“Dinner is more serious and we want you to come here and dine with us, sit here and have a nice chateaubriand,” said Contreras. “Veal chops, rack of lamb, and one time I made a whole pheasant that I rolled, tied, cooked half way and put puffed pastry around like a Wellington, with nothing but seasoning inside and foie grass on top. I don’t know if I can repeat that.

“We do some new stuff and classical by request, such as a Wellington for a party of 30, a Tonodor Rossini with a piece of filet mignon, different bouillabaisses with pate featuring Italian tomato sauce, French saffron pernod, Latin cilantro grove or a spicy Thai dish with oyster sauce. We also have something I call Swiss sushi with a touch of rolled rice pudding with banana tempura inside, figs and dolce de leche and boom, boom, boom see you later. We are still working on perfecting floating islands.”

Alvarez and Contreras are lifelong friends from Venezuela. Alvarez came up with the diverse menu while working as a consultant on Celebrity Cruise Lines preparing about 13,000 meals each day and traveling all around the world. A decade ago, they opened Giacosa in the Gables and the Dominican Republic.

Contreras learned about the different ingredients used in seafood in Spain at Diego’s in the Gables and he served a short term as the chef at Yuca on South Beach before reuniting with Alvarez at SOCO. “It was there I came up with a Latin Third World fusion that is really different,” said Contreras. “Now, a lot of restaurants are copying this ‘Nuevo Latino’ experimental cuisine.”

SOCO is located at 2833 Bird Avenue. The hours are 12-3 p.m. Monday through Friday for lunch and 6-11 p.m. Monday through Saturday for dinner. Reservations are suggested. For more information, please call 305-446-8400.