The Spirit of the City—MississaugaLife team had a chance recently to check out the new Ontario location of west-coast chain Browns Socialhouse, and boy, did we ever. Folks, this was a marathon performance of eating and drinking, the likes of which might shame some in an aftermath of guilt. We had no such aftermath.
Let’s set the scene first: it’s a trendy looking place, upscale-ish, but comfortable. The tables are roomy enough. It’s like they’re going for the Jack Astor’s vibe, but without the noise and big flashy screens, which, while OK, can sometimes be annoying. There’s music, but it’s at a level where you can hear it if you concentrate; it’s there more to provide some white noise. The whole point of this place is, as the name implies, to be social; you can hear each other here without having to yell. That’s a good thing.
We started off with a sampling of drinks and appetizers. First, the Social Lager and Social White and Red wines. These are drinks specifically made for the restaurant; a house beer and two house wines. I’m a fan of stouts when it comes to beer, but this lager was light and crisp; it matched well with our upcoming food choices. The white wine had an odd coconut smell to it, but was nice. The red had a much drier bite than I was anticipating, but it was good too. I guess. I don’t yet know enough about wines to really tell.
After that were martinis: the Cucumber Martini (which I hated; sorry guys, it did nothing for me) and the cleverly Reservoir Dogs named “The New Mr. Pink” martini, which was much better. It was a raspberry martini, sweet and tangy. Bellinis followed, which were even sweeter, heavy on the peach. Those are all well and good, but that’s Hangover City just waiting to happen, isn’t it? I’m glad I stuck to my beer.
Then, the food. Here’s where it gets really good.
First up, four appetizers: chicken tacos, fish tacos, a dynamite roll, and General Tao’s chicken. The dynamite roll would be much better if they used less rice, but the General Tao chicken was amazing. You know how some places make this dish with fatty bits of chicken, and some pieces are good and crispy and others make you question what you’re eating? This was nothing like that: every piece was lean chicken breast, and it was crisp with just a touch of heat, nothing crazy. I could’ve devoured that plate and a second one like it in no time, but UGH, sharing. I mean, er, go team!
But then there are the tacos. Holy crap in a hat, the tacos. Now those were fantastic. Just an explosion of flavour: chipotle chicken, pickled onions, a cilantro cabbage slaw with lime sour cream, plus a small bit of pico de gallo (which was as sweet as if they’d grown the tomatoes in their backyard; and for all I know, they did). The fish was largely the same, but replace the meat with a lime pepper grilled halibut. I would go back for those in a heartbeat.
Next was the second round of appetizers, which were really entrée samples that we all split (pictured above, L–R): the Tahitian tuna salad, the blackened chicken kale Caesar, and the roast beef French dip sandwich. The tuna was quite good, with its lemongrass crust—and I generally don’t like tuna. But it was the beef dip sandwich that stole the show this round. Wow. Lots of thin slices of beef, a generous portion of grilled onions, and a great thin gravy to go with it. One thing I don’t like is soggy bread, or sandwich bread that can’t stand up to the ingredients it houses. I like my bread crunchy or crusty, and this bread was nicely toasted and held its own, even when you dipped it. It was a hell of a sandwich.
Sounds like a lot so far, huh? Well, there’s more.
The mains. (Pictured above, L–R): Jay got the steak sandwich, Jordan ordered the chicken and shrimp pad thai, Sarah grabbed the #28 Dragon Bowl, Alicja got the fettuccine carbonara, and I ordered the Hickory Burger. I always try a similar burger when I visit a new place, for the sake of comparison. Everyone’s dishes were great, but this is my review, so let’s get to that burger.
According to Gary, the general manager (whom we met along with head chef Chris), they have very little freezer space in the restaurant, so, for example, the burger meat is always fresh-ground chuck. That’s one checkmark for me. It’s seasoned only with salt. Another checkmark (because if the beef is good, you really don’t need any other seasoning). They also griddle-smash the beef, which is huge: it sears the meat, gives it a nice char/crust, and locks the juices inside. Three for three so far. Lastly, the meat-to-bun ratio. The patty was a bit smaller than other places, but its size helped balance the flavour of the sandwich. Nothing was overpowering; it all worked together.
Next, the bun is brioche, which is good because a brioche bun can take on beef juices or other condiments (like the great BBQ relish they added to it) and it won’t fall apart; that’s a big deal for me. As much as I love places like The Stockyards (still my #1 burger in the GTA) and The Burger’s Priest and the like, they could both be better served by having stronger or denser bread. By that same token, this burger wasn’t as juicy as the other two places I just mentioned, but it was very good, tasty, and a lot cleaner, i.e., I didn’t have grease running down my elbows.
The Hickory Burger comes with cheddar, bacon and barbecue sauce, and I think there was also a house-made mayo, too. It would’ve been better with some crispy onions, but I had no complaints. In fact, I ate that burger like the appetizers didn’t even happen.
While the rest of my colleagues were happily complaining that they were way too full, my Italian genes kicked in and said, “Pfft, you call that eating? This is an afternoon snack! You’re all weak! BWAHAHAA!” (Don’t worry folks, I paid for my hubris the following morning.) But then came dessert and suddenly no one was full anymore. How could you be? It was an Oreo Jar, i.e., a small mason jar filled with Oreo cheesecake, whipped cream and topped with an Oreo cookie. I mean… I just… I can’t even… oh good lord. You know how in a cartoons, you might see a school of piranhas skeletonize a tasty morsel in a feeding frenzy? I want to say we weren’t that bad… but we kind of were. Maybe I’m exaggerating.
All in all, it was a spectacular meal. Give this place a try, dear readers. We loved it, and we think you will too.
Browns Socialhouse
2525 Hampshire Gates, Unit #2B, Oakville
905-829-2727
(Originally posted on urbaneats.ca.)