Times are completely different now, after all, and provide chains aren’t what they was and should by no means have been for butchers, corresponding to Soko, devoted to sustainable farms inside a comparatively tight radius of the D.C. metro space. And let’s not even get into the form of money demanded for high quality meats nowadays. But nonetheless, previous opinions die onerous, and I can’t assist however discover the restricted choices in Soko’s case: bulgogi meat, chuck eye roasts, bison rib-eyes and plenty of sausages, together with one made with pumpkin spice. (I used to be instructed it wasn’t a joke, however an honest breakfast link when dragged by way of slightly maple syrup.)
Fortunately, I’m not right here on this heat afternoon in September to purchase beef steaks for a yard cookout. I’m right here to eyeball the sandwich choices, and they’re ample. I feel it might be honest to say I’m overwhelmed by selections. The menu on the wall, the one that appears from a distance prefer it was jury-rigged from Scrabble tiles, lays out the riches accessible: I depend 18 sandwiches in all, and that doesn’t even embody those you’ll be able to order for breakfast.
The chef chargeable for this wealth of bread-based bites is Brad Feickert, a chef in all probability greatest identified for his stint at Oz, the Australian-themed restaurant that was as a lot a plot level for “The Real Housewives of Potomac” as a platform to carve out a culinary identification. Feickert’s curiosity in Oz was comprehensible: He had labored in kitchens Down Under, and he clearly put within the hours to verify the Arlington restaurant wasn’t some Crocodile Dundee cartoon, full with peel-and-eat witchetty grub roots. The chef appears to have survived Oz with no whiff of trash tradition clinging to him.
The factor is, Feickert’s résumé, previous to his work for the wizards of Oz, is stuffed with the form of eating places that traditionally have attracted cooks of nice ambition. He labored at Volt for Bryan Voltaggio. He labored within the kitchens at Brae and Attica in Australia, forward-thinking, fine-dining institutions which have sometimes, or continuously, made appearances on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, for no matter that’s price. This is the pathway of a chef with bigger aspirations than plating kangaroo sliders and emu wraps for “Real Housewives” cultists.
Chris Brown, the man behind Takoma Beverage Co. and Zinnia in Silver Spring, enticed Feickert to assist open Soko, which the chef accepted underneath one situation: that they also construct out a kitchen so he might craft a line of deli sandwiches, a call that, looking back, was prophetic. The sandwich has been one among our major sources of consolation these previous few years. It is an emblem of our survival — creatively, economically, emotionally — underneath crushing pandemic circumstances. Feickert couldn’t have picked a greater time to enter the sando enterprise.
As I assessment the paper menu that I hijacked from Soko, it appears to be like like, up to now, I’ve tried about 15 of Feickert’s sandwiches, which says one thing about my nature and one thing concerning the total deliciousness of the chef’s work. My favorites are typically those that depend on the meats Soko buys from Langenfelder Pork, Roseda Farm, Seven Hills Food or another purveyor. Folks love to speak concerning the primacy of bread with sandwiches, however don’t underestimate the significance of fine, dry-aged beef or the pork butchered from hogs raised on a gradual food regimen of candy corn.
You can’t go mistaken with any sandwich that begins with beef right here. The Philly, Feickert’s tackle a cheesesteak, mixes prime rib sliced each contemporary and frozen for contrasting textures, a wild pile of beef that’s smothered with caramelized onions and housemade cheese whiz. Call it treasured if you need, but it surely’s as slammable as something from Jim’s Steaks. The roast beef sandwich, dubbed the Roseda Roast and smeared with a horseradish aioli, is now formally my go-to model of this basic.
You can argue all you need over whether or not a burger is a sandwich — personally, I place it in a separate class, with its personal distinctive calls for and strategies — however regardless, I’m glad it’s accessible at Soko. Feickert and his staff grind their very own beef for the Smashed Soko, mixing trimmings with dry-aged chuck from Roseda. The twin patties ship a double-barrel blast of beefiness, it doesn’t matter what garnishes or condiments you apply. The bavette, or flank steak, offers the chew you need from the reduce and, when paired with a ramp chimichurri and horseradish aioli, also makes for an beautiful chunk known as the Butcher.
Feickert isn’t curing any meats in-house, at the least not but. So the Takoma (his tackle an Italian hoagie) and the Montreal (a Reuben-esque stack of pastrami on rye) lean on third-party merchandise. Don’t let this information dissuade you from feasting on the chef’s interpretations, particularly the Takoma, whose tower of meats and cheese is reduce with, amongst different issues, an acid-tongue trio of pickled onions, banana peppers and an olive-artichoke tapenade. I’d provide the identical recommendation for the Nashville, Feickert’s sizzling hen possibility, which is an sincere rendition even when it doesn’t make you need to stick your head in a bucket of ice.
I’ve encountered a few head-scratchers at Soko. The wings, for instance. They’re flabby and surprisingly comatose for finger meals slathered with such potent sauces as Buffalo or chipotle mango. (I’d also like to see Feickert develop his personal mumbo sauce, simply so as to add extra native shade.) The Duroc, a ham and smoked pork combo on ciabatta, was likewise lifeless on account of what struck me as a deadly lack of seasoning. I discovered much more to love with the Gobbles, a turkey sandwich with burrata, purple onion, pesto and roasted purple pepper mayo. I can’t keep in mind the final time I most popular turkey over pork.
You know what one of the best a part of this Brown-Feickert partnership is? That it might be simply getting began. “There was thought that, maybe down the road, there could be a Soko restaurant,” Feickert says. “There’s still that possibility on the table right now.”
7306 Carroll Ave., Takoma Park, Md., 240-588-3331; sokobutcher.com.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday by way of Thursday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m. to five p.m. Sunday.
Nearest Metro: Takoma, with a 0.7-mile stroll to the shop.
Prices: $2 to $17 for all gadgets on the menu.