I’ve been looking forward to this place opening ever since I saw the constructions signs go up half a year ago on this SOMA establishment. TAGCK just opened up Friday, so just like an new hip food place that just opened, there was a line. The line wasn’t that long, and the staff was super nice about it, apologizing for the wait, and offering water, and complementary house sodas to the people in line.
Here is a run down of what I had:
Reubenesque
gruyére, jarlsberg, David’s Old World pastrami, local ‘kraut, Lusty B’s bread ’n butter pickles, deli mustard on rye $10Smoky Tomato Soup
house made with crème fraîche, croutons $4House made New York deli-style pickle $1.5
House made sodas served from our vintage tap. Flavor: Vanilla Gingermint free!
The Grilled Cheese
The Tomato Soup
The house soda was great, its really similar to an Italian soda in how its made, a couple pumps of syrup and some soda water. The flavor, Vanilla Gingermint was great, a more refined version of ginger ale. The flavors were distinct, the Vanilla is the first flavor you taste and it transitions beautifully into the ginger component as it does the two intermingle again. At the end the mint comes in and as you swallow it refreshes the pallet. They had another soda flavor available called spiced pomegranate, which I will have to try on my next visit. If its as good as the Vanilla Gingermint I can’t wait to see what other flavors they will come out with.
The pickle was another surprise I got. Its not too vinegary or salty, what comes out most is the pickling spices they used. Crisp and refreshing with a hint of heat, what a tasty treat.
The sandwich was fantastic. The ingredients were in perfect proportion with each other, all the flavors came together and nothing overpowered each other. I enjoyed the taste of the rye bread, the caraway taste was stronger then I usually see in rye breads, but that just added to the depth of flavor of the sandwich. Sauerkraut, which actually still resembled the cabbage it was created from, had a nice mild sour/tart taste to it which went well with the pickles that were more on the sweeter side. The pastrami was thinly sliced moist and delicious, it had good flavor and my only complaint would be that I wanted more of it. The cheeses were still gooey and it felt like a blanket of deliciousness wrapping around all the other ingredients. Usually when I have a reuben style sandwich in the city something is always out of balance, either there is just way to much mustard that it kills my pallet or the sauerkraut is some weird consistency or just too sour, the pastrami is dry, too cold, or doesn’t even taste like pastrami, none of those problems were present here. Each component of the sandwich were some of the best versions of the individual item I have tasted recently, all combined with a skillful hand.
The tomato soup was pleasing and I could see why its always used in combination with a grilled cheese, very comforting. There was a nice spice to the soup, which I couldn’t determine if it came from peppers that were added or perhaps some seasoning used. There were a few things that detracted from it though. First I couldn’t really get that smokey flavor, I don’t think it tasted bad without it, but I would like to have seen what it would taste like had the smokey flavor been a stronger part of the dish. Secondly, this is more a personal preference type of thing, I would have liked to have a more crunchy crouton, something that could hold up better to soup and still stay crispy for a longer period. Lastly, I felt the tomato flavor of the soup was being lost in the mix, all the flavors were melded will together, but in this instance I think it would have been better if the tomato rose above the rest, with the others just complementing it. None of these are a deal breaker for the soup though, which was still delicious.
Final Rating:
Vanilla Gingermint House Soda: 10/10
More, more, I want more! This is some amazing stuff.
Deli Style Pickle: 9/10
Great Pickle nuff said.
Reubenesque: 9/10
A great sandwich with all components perfectly combined.
‘Smokey’ Tomato Soup: 8/10
A great soup, would have like it had more of the smokey flavor, also a strong tomato taste would have been good too. Needs crispier croutons
Overall: 9/10
I will definitely comeback to this place again and try the other sandwiches out. There are currently no breakfast items on the menu, but I can’t wait to try those too. Looking forward to seeing where this place is going, but hopefully the line wont be too long next time.
