Socceria

Guest review by Aiden Herrod, taco enthusiast.

This issue of One More Bite is brought to you by Aiden Herrod, my dear friend who has a habit of going to fantastic restaurants without me. He’s also a talented writer who usually spends his time waxing poetic about movies over on his Substack profile.

To call my recent behavior a “big taco kick” would be the undersell of the century. I’ve been on an absolute tear through the city of New York in search of the best tacos out there. Mexican food is my favorite cuisine there is, plain and simple, and I’ve even gone so far as to document my thoughts about NYC’s taco scene in a hastily vibe-coded website.

This mission of mine has delightfully coincided with an astounding dining phenomenon across the five boroughs. A couple of years ago, really high-quality taco spots began cropping up across the city. What was once a veritable blind spot in an otherwise bustling food scene has been completely reversed, with incredible tacos on offer anywhere and everywhere.

Leading the pack for this taco renaissance is a name many New York residents will be familiar with: Taqueria Ramirez. This powerhouse in Mexican meats stormed onto the scene in my own neighborhood of Greenpoint, rapidly cementing themselves as an appointment dining destination and the gold standard for tacos in the city that never sleeps. It’s an easy to defend take shared by myself, Mayor Mamdani, and countless other New Yorkers.

So consider my joy to find, at the beginning of summer, a vibrant mural going up on the side of the old NURA space. Muted intrigue quickly gave way to full-blown excitement when I learned it was the group behind Taqueria Ramirez responsible for the space’s refurbishing. They were opening a sit-down restaurant, one that would boast everything from chilaquiles to quesadillas and of course, those exact same iconic tacos. It was all wrapped up in the shiny finish of a gorgeous, soccer-enthused space titled Socceria.

As a lover of Ramirez, sports bars, and awesome restaurants three minutes from my house, I immediately set to work finding any possible way to get through those doors.

My chance arrived quickly. I signed up for their email list and was blessed 48 hours later with a perfectly-timed drop of Resy timeslots. At a speed I usually reserve for snapping up hot IMAX tickets, I nabbed a Sunday brunch slot for 3. My proudest reservation moment in New York, one that I would soon be rewarded for in spades.

I’ll caveat this review in a couple of ways. One, they are in soft opening, and I would not be surprised to see the menu and the experience continue to grow and change before the broader masses make it in. Two, this is a bar with a heavy emphasis on the soccer-viewing experience, with a massive projector screen dominating the back of the airy space. I expect a different energy for actual World Cup games than the vibe I encountered while a Denmark v. Ukraine friendly was on. Even with that in mind, the whole space was exceedingly lively in spite of the low-stakes game on display.

But you know what doesn’t need to be caveated in the slightest? The food. In the same way I walked into “Dune: Part Two” pre-meditating a masterpiece, my expectations were through the roof for this place. And the experience of seeing those expectations not just met but exceeded is a rare and remarkable thing. Let’s break it down:

Chilaquiles

We showed up at a brunch-designated timeslot of 12:30. This closed us off to much-hyped menu items like their Ramirez burger, but opened us up to a myriad of egg-centric dishes in exchange. To share, we got the chilaquiles rojo, which our entire group designated a sublime, clear highlight for the day. Each chip was soaked thoroughly in a divine red sauce that I’d willfully eat like a soup with a spoon, impressively maintaining their crunch for the meal’s entire runtime. The fried egg mostly stuck around to dispense its beautifully runny yolk over the affair, but I was nonetheless impressed with its well-crisped edges.

Sope Campechano

Simply a beautiful experience from start to finish. The campechano option afforded me not one but two standout meat options adorning the thick, well-dressed and chewy blue corn tortilla base. The carne asada was bursting with juicy flavor and was surprisingly, yet pleasantly tender, almost closer to smoked BBQ texture rather than seared steak bites. The green chorizo was lovely, everything you want breakfast-y chorizo to be, if a bit subtler than expected amidst the absolute symphony of sauces and textures battling for my attention. The sope was an excellent entry point and exemplification of what Ramirez does best, giving me a brilliant vehicle through which to indulge in the two iconic Ramirez salsas that fans will recognize from the taqueria.

Quesadilla

The first bite I took of the quesadilla will haunt me for the rest of my days. Following the theme of the day, the meat inside was an absolute clinic in texture and flavor. The meat was chewy and toothsome in a way I’d normally only associate with salted caramel and taffy, but the porky punch and depth of flavor basically made the experience akin to eating meat candy. Some readers may dispute that this sounds appetizing, and to them I say this; expand your mind.

Cocktails

I indulged in a bloody mary that was disappointingly the lowlight of the meal. It wasn’t doing anything in particular that other bloodys haven’t already done for me, and I was distracted by its skinny highball form factor that denied my efforts to further mix and actually attempt to drink the concoction. While it’s not a choice I’ll order again, my sips of Viraj’s paloma left me jealous in the present and eager for the future. My intention is to work my way through the entirety of their intriguing cocktail menu

I will be returning to Socceria whenever I can. I have a whole lotta menu left to get through, and there’s a whole lotta soccer happening this summer. I implore you to go here as soon as you are able, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this will be NYC’s hit new restaurant of the summer and beyond.

Watch more movies… and eat more tacos!