These wings are amazing. The Szechuan sauce is sweet and hot and the wings are yada yada crispy on the outside yada, but the really revolutionary thing about the dish is they use only the second joint of the wing and they split the wing between the two bones so you have a wing that is very easy to eat and cooked perfectly because you don’t have to overcook it to finish the meat between the bones. It seems so simple, but I’ve never seen it done that way before, and that is the type of innovation that separates Soji from the crowd. So many of our ethnic foods seem mass produced. Some tamales are better than others by a matter of degree. All miso soup is exactly the same. Shawarma is either overcooked or not. Ditto eggrolls. And ditto. And ditto. You know what I’m talking about. To a large extent we, the American dining public, are guilty of enforcing this standardization of dishes and flavors and presentation. If you want to color outside the lines that is all well and good, but you need customers to keep the doors open. And every visit is a vote for either exploration and innovation or more of the same old, same old. Soji is making a bold attempt to do things their way from design to ingredients to presentation and are doing really well at it so far. And by the way, the wings are plenty for lunch by themselves. I ordered a side of yakisoba noodles to go with, and though they were delicious as well, I ended up taking most of it home with me.
