Cheap Eats - So-Ba
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Taking the word of my sister-in-law, who is very reliable for information concerning good restaurants (not so much other things: she thinks Syfy Original Movies are genius), my spouse and I went to So-Ba in East Atlanta (http://soba-eav.com).
So-Ba is quite a find; but you really have to want to go there to find it. Located on Gresham Avenue, you’ll turn on to what looks (at first glance) like an alley, but is, in fact, a street. It’s off of Glenwood, just before you get to Mary’s. There is a parking lot behind the strip of shops that houses Mary’s, but your best bet is street parking.
So-Ba just got their liquor license, so they have a limited selection of alcohol. But that is not why you go there in the first place. The food is INCREDIBLE.
So-Ba specializes in pho (pronounced fuh, not faux), which is a Vietnamese noodle soup, and they do it up well. Traditionally, pho is served with beef or chicken, but So-Ba also offers brisket, round-eye steak, tripe (TRIPE!), chicken, and shrimp. The medium sized bowl is enough to feed a platoon, but my spouse always goes for the large. It is the size of a small moon, or Pluto. The pho comes with basil, lime, bean sprouts, and peppers on the side, so you can spice to your desire.
I have good word that the pho is excellent, but I can never seem to get past the one dish that caught my eye the first time I went. I’m embarassed to say I can’t spell it, I can’t say it, but it is the dish of diced fillet mignon served over jasmine rice with a vegetable confetti on the side. Now, I don’t know what they marinate the steak in, or if they made a deal with the devil, but that steak is better than any earthly steak has any right to be.
The service is great, and so are the prices. The pho comes in three sizes, the most expensive of which is still under $10, and the fillet mignon dish is the most expensive thing at the menu, at $11. The restaurant itself still almost seems to be a work in progress with sparse decorations, and minimal lighting, but that lends it an air of a new business just getting off the ground. So-Ba 560 Gresham Avenue, SE Atlanta, GA 30316
- Jacob Gallman
Posted in: Intown Living