Hey all, just wanted to do a quick post on the restaurant Jeannene and I got to on Saturday - SOHO Kitchen and Bar on W. 25th Street in Cleveland
We’ve been eying the place for some time but it seemed like we always found ourselves at one of the other great restaurants on that strip. But now we’re already planning a return stop.
SOHO specializes in upscale southern cuisine -- there’s fried chicken, grits, collard greens, BBQ pork and pecan pie but these plates are far from the stereotypical truck stop or diner food that us Northerners imagine.
Instead of greasy and fatty meat smothered in thick gravies SOHO’s food is all fresh and cooked to perfection and the seasoning shows boldness and creativity.
We started off with the pan-seared crawfish fritters, which were more of a crabcake but with crawfish. The crawfish was extremely fresh and the bread was light, at least as far as crabcakes go. And instead of something like bottled cocktail sauce you might find in a Southern diner, at SOHO it came with a mango chow chow and poblano pesto to add a tanginess.
I then went with the slow-roasted pork po’ boy with chips. The pork was very delicate and it had mostly soaked up the bbq sauce instead of swimming in it. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough flavor, it was topped of by a jalapeno-bacon jam and redeye cole slaw. And the thick bun never become too mushy from all those succulent juices.

I will definitely order it again... after I try the crispy catfish po’ boy. It looked huge and had a hot pepper remoulade dripping off it!
Jeannene went with the Evenin’-style fried chicken. She was especially happy to see the breast and thigh pieces were already removed from the bone so she didn’t have to “work.” It also came with mashed sweet potatoes that were quite creamy and collard greens that were kicked up a notch by being cooked in some kind of pepper broth or tobasco sauce.

And in case you're wondering, their Mornin’-style fried chicken is the traditional chicken and waffles with syrup.
Our dessert was a pecan pie with cinnamon ice cream, and as with the other dishes, it was greatly elevated above what you might get a store or diner.
Prices also were more than you would spend at a roadside truck stop but, really, not by that much. Appetizers were $9, po’ boys were $12, fried chicken meals were $16 and other meals were $17.
The inside of the restaurant gave off a comfy vibe but we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and sit out in the patio. That is off one of the side streets so we could enjoy the buzz of foot and auto traffic on W. 25th without being overwhelmed.