Soho Cafe
2532 Hennepin Ave S.
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-377-7996

What a week.  On Thursday evening, I joined friends over ice cream celebrate my friend’s passage to seminary in Chicago this fall.  We will all miss M, my former “partner-of-mischief/pranks” when we worked at our previous job.  I, like everyone else, wish her well on her journey towards ordination.

I tumbled into Sebastian Joe’s on Hennepin, running straight from a day of babysitting without having had dinner.  As a salty-preferenced person, ice cream did not satisfy my quench for dinner, so I searched for dinner on the way home.  I remembered hearing something about a late-night joint that served pizza and gyros so I drove south on Hennepin until I saw Soho Cafe.

A very pleasant man who may be the owner took my order for a gyro and side of tabouli for $10.  Gyro slices from a gyrocone heated by an electric spit were griddled and added to my sandwich and I was on my way home after about five minutes.

Upon opening my package, I found pita bread containing a generous portion of griddled meat, thin slices of white onion, diced tomato, and romaine lettuce alongside a small cup of yogurt sauce.  The gyro meat was firm and chewy and tasted like your typical gyro meat, for lack of a better description.  The romaine lettuce was fresh (although soggy), the tomato tasted ripe and fresh, and the yogurt sauce was thick and tasty.  I don’t mind soggy or warm romaine, but I do find the smell of warm iceburg lettuce nauseating.  I love raw onion, so I appreciated the thin slices of abundant onion.

All in all, a decent gyro, especially for being available at late hours.  It was not as delicious or expertly constructed as Gyropolis, but it also wasn’t the greasy and overfilled monstrosity I bought at Holy Land Deli this past summer.  Bigger is not always better, and for me, overloading greasy gyro meat between thin layers of pocket pita is not my vision of an ideal gyro.

The tabouli was springy and fresh.  It had a higher ratio of parsley to bulgher and was made with curly parsley lending it a stronger, more bitter flavor.  Again, not my favorite version of tabouli, but it scored above my expectations and provided a bright contrast to the heavier gyro.

I also recieved a soft roll seasoned with garlic butter which I enjoyed the next day.
 
I would certainly return to Soho Cafe if I found myself hungry in the Uptown area during the evening hours that most restaurants are closed.