Some of your may remember this site as the former location for the short lived Roseville Cozinha...
Unlike the other location of S&S, there is a TON of parking all around you. No need to parallel park in a crappy space or deal with meters or park on sketchy side streets. There are two entrances, one in the photo above and another by the side patio. S&S has been open for a little over than a week now. While I was waiting in the patio for Kirbie to arrive, I watched curious passers by come in and ask for the menu and heard others talk about the other location (which I assume they have been there before).
They also have red stools like at the North Park location. The outside patio is beautiful and spacious but you do have to contend with the constant noise of overhead planes taking off from nearby Lindbergh Field.
Tile detail from the counter above.
A peek inside reveals their extensive bar and in a corner, a little baking station featuring pies. Not pictured is a giant foosball table (seen later in this post) where people can actually sit (and play?).
Their menu is the same as the Adams Ave location.
I originally wasn't going to get anything to drink (I usually stick with water) but when I saw coffee soda on the menu, I couldn't resist. Later, I found out online that this brand, Manhattan Special from Brooklyn, is more than a century old and is considered a cult classic.
When ice cold, it tastes really good then becomes overly sweet once at room temperature. I didn't think of asking for ice cubes (and I couldn't find any near the water/glasses station inside) but that would have helped keep this drink chilled. It's no fun to drink warm soda. I liked the soda as well as Kirbie. We could probably make our own versions. Although I've had better versions of coffee soda from Andytown in SF's Outer Sunset District (their specialty is the Snowy Plover) and James Coffee in Little Italy, I'm glad I got to try this hard to find soda.
Our lunch - Two sliders ($3.50 each) + Dirty Fries ($7).
Banh Mi Slider plus a custom meatball slider (chosen by Kirbie) consisting of a chicken meatball with pesto and mozzarella cheese, along with Dirty Fries.
This was considered a "half portion". It would have been a meal in itself actually. The fries were handcut and smothered with gravy and topped with mushrooms, chopped peppers and parmesan cheese as well as bits of thick crispy pork belly and a crumbled meatball of your choice (I chose beef since we already had pork and chicken represented in our sliders). As if the goopiness wasn' enough, there additional sauces in case you wanted to add even more flavor to your fries. I kind of thought that was overkill but oh well.
Banh Mi - In name only but not in taste. The red sauce was supposed to be Sriracha aioli. It looked off seeing it in a wanna be Banh Mi. By the way, Kirbie later expertly cut these in half. If I would have done it, it would have been mangled beyond recognition.
The Hen custom slider with Pesto and Mozzarella:
Of the two, I preferred the Hen. The pesto flavor was quite strong. Both were tasty little bites.
Their pie counter...as good as it looked, we passed on dessert that day..
Here it is...the super long foosball table.
Two dogs waiting patiently for their master...The bigger one had such a lovely grayish blue coat.
Awww, this dog seemed so anxious to see his master again while his bigger buddy took a more relaxed approach.
Hot off the press is Kirbie's post on our lunch!
Reviews from that four lettered site and tripadvisor plus a recent article:
"Soda & Swine set sights on Liberty Station for meatball expansion" SDEater, Feb 3, 2015
Previous visit to Soda & Swine (original location on Adams Ave):
April 2013 when they first opened...
Soda & Swine (Liberty Station)
2750 Dewey Rd, Suite 104
San Diego, CA 92106
(619) 501-9989
sodaandswine.com
Because the trivia hound in me can't help it, here are some interesting articles about the history of the Manhattan Special Espresso Coffee Soda. It definitely has "cult status":
"A Modern Comeback for a taste of Brooklyn" NY Times, July 2008 - this was the year they started selling their sodas online. Prior to that, it was pretty difficult to find outside of New York City.
Plus a few from Serious Eats:
"Manhattan Special Espresso Coffee Soda" Serious Eats, February 2012
"5 Things to do with Manhattan Special Espresso Coffee Soda" Serious Eats, April 2012
This dude samples the soda like fine wine. Check out his spit bucket!
I could see how he came up with his low rating. The soda probably wouldn't be a favorite for most people but it was worth at least one try for me. I wouldn't mind drinking it again but with ICE CUBES this time, dammit!
All this mention of old fashioned soda makes me want to make a special trip up to LA's Galco's Soda Pop Stop and stock up!
Manhattan Special appears at the 1:34 mark. Mr. Nese even talks about the history of the soda.
But you know, I'm just going to try to make it the ghetto way with our espresso maker and seltzer water!
Previous visits to Galco Soda Pop Stop:
March 2014 - first visit plus my revisit with Cathy a few months later...
The Manhattan Special website:
www.manhattanspecial.com
Would I go to Soda & Swine again? Maybe not for the food but for the cocktails! Next time, with Bert!
4 comments:
It was great having lunch with you =) And I'm so glad you got that soda; what a really cool history. I made my homemade version the next day. haha!
Thanks Kirbie. The food was secondary to the great company. I will have to link your coffee soda post! Glad that you used the beans too and that they were good.
Ooo nice to know they opened a new location. It's always annoying to try and park around Adams. Those pies look good...
Parking galore there. The pies did look good but we had no room for dessert, sadly.
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