Social Eatz, Midtown East - He says...

We decided to try Social Eatz on a whim; it isn't uncommon for us to make spontaneous decisions about our dinner. We're big fans of the TV show Top Chef so we were excited to eat food at Angelo Sosa's new restaurant.

The food at Social Eatz was described to us as 'comfort food with Asian flavors', which isn't surprising for anyone who's watched the show or eaten at his late restaurant Xie Xie. Being the ambitious eaters we are, we decided to start with the menu's 3 appetizers: the ribs, the wings, and the egg rolls. The ribs and wings were perfectly cooked with juicy meat. The one odd thing about them was the sauce. My palate may not have been refined enough to notice, but their sauces tasted relatively the same to me. Not that it's a bad thing. The sauce was really tasty - sweet with a slightly sour and spicy finish. But it would have been nice if the 2 of the 3 appetizers had distinctly different flavors. The egg roll was also good. I really liked the crunch and the salty filling, especially when dipped in the sweet sauce, which we thought was some sort of guava puree.

For my entree, I ordered the tilapia taco. The pieces of fish were so nicely cooked with a perfect even browning and a flaky inside. It also had a sort of finely chopped 'pico de gallo' with a sweet and sour taste like a relish. The taco as a whole would have been perfect except for one element I didn't notice when I ate the first of two tacos...it had guacamole and I'm allergic to avocados! As soon as I noticed, we had to switch (something we probably would have done anyway to share). She ordered the bulgogi burger, which I thought was just as great. The burger was tender and topped with thinly sliced cucumbers, which gave it a nice sour contrast and some crunch. The sauce added a nice richness but also made the burger kind of messy. I think the bread could have been toasted more to add to the texture and hold up the burger with the filling.

Finally, we ordered the yuzu cream puffs. For someone who loves key lime pie, this was the perfect dessert for me. The bread was almost like a freshly fried doughnut but much lighter and fluffier. The filling was perfectly tart and sweet. I loved it and would come back regularly just for that.

There were definitely other dishes I wanted to try, like the bibimbop burger, so we'll definitely be visiting Social Eatz again. Still, I wish Angelo would do a restaurant with more refined food, like he does on Top Chef.