I got to try Soco last night a so-called "Southern Contemporary Cuisine" restaurant in Orlando's Thornton Park neighborhood. The food is promising, and I'll review it for Orlando Life soon, but meanwhile I want to share this vegetarian dish with you. It's an entree that looks so appealing, and tastes so fine, that meat-shunners will feel as if they're being treated with respect.
It's called chicken-fried cauliflower steak. Essentially, a huge, just-tender wedge of the white vegetable is coated in a nice crust. It sits atop garlic mashed potatoes. Little artichokes surround the potatoes, asparagus lies across the top, and a "vine ripe tomato gravy"--essentially a deeply flavored liquid--on the plate adds a rich dimension. The dish is $17 and worth every penny.
I'll be finishing my leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Eat enthusiastically, Rona
