Restaurant Review: So & So’s

Our car pulled up to this bar/restaurant (that, until recently, housed Primo’s) just as the Texas-OU game started. The patio was a sea of humanity dressed in a blur of orange and red. Instead of turning around, I decided to see how the promised chef-driven cuisine performed during chaos. Too many bars are touting upscale noshes, but few really deliver. Despite the rowdy, shot-tossing crowd, six of us managed to enjoy a lovely brunch from the egg-laden menu. The standout dish was a light rendition of chilaquiles, a traditional Mexican dish built on slices of (sometimes day-old) corn tortillas. Chef Nick Amoriello’s not-your-average-bar-food version is a pile of tender braised pork, avocado slices, bits of queso fresco, and a mild peach-rosemary-jalapeño salsa mixed with thin chips made from fried malanga root. Break the sunny-side eggs on top and the yolk floods the plate, creating a rich, tasty mess. The eggs on a pizza made with sausage gravy, cheddar, bacon, and green onions merely contributed to the already soggy dough. The decent chicken-fried chicken with thick bacon gravy was unnecessarily topped with poached eggs. I’ll go back to try the dinner menu, which includes items such as hamachi crudo, chicken liver pâté, and red snapper with English peas. But I’ll check the calendar first.