More Social

If you’d asked me six months ago what I thought of the new Social, I’d have said: needs time to get settled. Four months ago: still stumbling. And last December: improvement in the right areas but could still use steadier feet. Honestly, I mulled over the social for months, so ambivalent was I about the new location.

A half-mile from its old address, the restaurant/bar is a new deal, despite some reminders of the past. Exposed brick and beams are marks of the First and Pittsburgh warehouse neighborhood. Retro-shaped hanging ovals — a physical replication of the Social’s old logo — create a screen between the main dining area and the bar. The chrome tables, salvaged neon “S” and servers dressed like waitstaff from a diner are a nod to ’50s nostalgia. To the rear of the bar/main dining area is the open kitchen, a shiny, stainless-steel enormity. Partners Kevin Sloan and Carrie Torres built on, adding a 20-seat dining room facing the entrance.

The menu is plumper, too. Reminders of the old crib on Second Street echo in the goat cheese and roasted chicken mac and cheese ($13.95) and warm duck salad with cherries and roasted beets ($15.95). But a lot of it is new — pu pu platter ($8.95, $16.95), gougères (cheese puffs, $8.95), shellfish pot-au-feu ($22.95), braised rabbit ($16.95), pan-seared tilapia with crab tater tots ($17.95) and the duo of lamb ($22.95), as well as a raw bar. In the first months at the new location, my meals — especially intricate dishes like the grilled shrimp and oily risotto with tasso ham — were below the level they should have been ($17.95).

Things were on the upswing in mid-November, but then I went at the menu differently, focusing on less complicated fare — the sandwiches. The grilled yellowfin tuna filet was a little dry (more coarse mustard sauce would have helped, $8.95), but the ridiculously tender and juicy “Royall with cheese” showed why Kobe beef, which comes from grossly indulged Japanese cows, is revered. The sweet-savory burger slathered in caramelized onions and melted Stilton cheese reflected its pampered past ($13.95). The accompaniment: crisp, deliciously salty frites. The beef demanded (and got) an equally decadent follow-up — The Social’s version of s’mores. An elegant tower unlike the campfire confection, these s’mores seemed, well, not messy enough. Imagine eating s’mores with a knife and fork! There we were with this tiered thing, fudgy chocolate bottom followed by thick bronzed marshmallow and crisp graham cracker jabbed in the side ($5.95). It and I bonded when I dropped my fork and went in with my hands.

Warmth for The Social came over time, and by my last visit in December, the food was far better, with a few exceptions. The matzo ball soup’s broth was weak on flavor, whereas the French onion brought on sweet onion, beef and salt like a steam engine under a hood of Swiss cheese and bread (both $5.95). Of two entrées that night, the braised rabbit ($16.95) was hops above the roast monkfish ($19.95). But it wasn’t the fish’s fault — it was the sides’. The heavy, firm white monkfish was pleasingly creamy, mild flavored and lighter than monkfish I’ve eaten elsewhere. Red cabbage and peppercorn spaetzle could have done the fish proud with more tang, but the cabbage’s sweet/sour flavor was a mere wisp — I like subtle, but this was too subtle — and the spaetzle was cooked to a dry crunchy brown. The rabbit was a revelation. This bunny was all tender meat, dominating the crock with red potatoes and baby carrots in a tangy, drumroll-worthy mustard broth.

Some Social-ites I’ve talked to yearn for the comfortable old place, and that’s normal. It takes time for diners to adjust to something new, especially when it’s an embodiment of something old and dear. (Remember, in the early ’90s, when Mimma’s went from simple one-room café to glam, 190-seat production?) Ambivalence aside, The Social finally seems to be coming into its own.

The Social
170 S. First St.
270-0438

Hours: L Mon-Fri 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (late lunch from separate menu, 3-5 p.m.) D Sun-Thurs 5-11 p.m., Fri-Sat 5 p.m.-12 a.m. Brunch Sun 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Prices: appetizers, social plates $6.95-$18.95; soups, sandwiches, salads $5.95-$15.95; pasta $13.95-$22.95; entrées $13.95-$23.95; “bleu plates” $11.95; desserts $5.95-$10.95
Service: friendly and assiduous
Dress: comfortable but stylish
Handicap access: yes
Nonsmoking section: dining room
Credit cards: M V A
Reservations: accepted