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Southport's Sopo offers cheap eats and more-for-less martinis on Thursdays.

Monday Nov 24, 2008.     By Erin Brereton

Lifestyle Feed

Years ago (well, three), I lived on Southport Avenue in Lakeview. It was an exciting time for the area. New stores had sprung up; condos were replacing vacant lots; and seemingly overnight, the restaurant and bar quotient appeared to double. It was an exciting time for me, too, because I like eating and shopping. But by the time I moved, I'd only been to some of the new restaurants once. I remember them being fairly low-key.

So when I recently met two friends at Sopo, I was startled to find the restaurant/bar was a touch clubby. Loud music was blaring; the lights were lower than I'd remembered; and for 6 p.m. on a Thursday night, the place was packed. That may have been due to the evening special ($5 food) or the Thursday drink special, $4 chocolate martinis and caramel apple martinis.

The food special wasn't quite as expansive as I'd hoped when I first heard about it. Yes, the majority of the menu is $5 on Thursday nights. But entrees aren't included—so that pretty much limits you to salads, appetizers and sandwiches, which are regularly priced around $6 to $9.

We started off by ordering martinis—chocolate for Jan and Lisa, caramel apple for me. For the record, my martini couldn't quite qualify as a liquefied taffy apple; the caramel part basically consisted of a drizzle around the glass. Yet it was tasty, and at just $4, a great price. It was also, however, like drinking a dessert, and we hadn’t even ordered dinner yet. So, after the first martini, I switched to wine.

For around $8, you can get a big glass of vino at Sopo—although you may not get it quickly. When we asked for a wine list, it took nearly 20 minutes for the waitress to come back and apologize for not having brought it. It took even longer to order and receive the wine. (Joke's on you, Sopo: I had planned to keep the orders comin' that night.)

Intrigued by the appetizer list, we asked the waitress which was better: The spinach artichoke dip or the blue cheese fondue? She emphatically recommended the fondue. She also agreed to bring some pita along with it because I don't eat meat, and the fondue is typically served with steak pinwheels. I didn't mind that those came with it, too—at first. However, once the steak pinwheels began having their way with the dip, it all sort of tasted oddly like barbecued cheese. (Which I did not mention to my friends because of the constant guilt I feel about making them order shared appetizers that are often severely lacking in protein.)

My dinner was much better. The veggie panini I ordered was packed with zucchini and peppers and came with sweet potato fries that were perfectly crispy and light. It appears Jan and Lisa are healthier than me, meaning they prefer to eat vegetables that are not surrounded by bread and pesto. Their salads also got a thumbs-up: Jan was very pleased with her Ahi Sushi Salad (apparently, the dressing was delicious). Because we realized our appetizer and dinners had only cost us about $6 each, we decided to splurge on dessert. Sopo doesn't have many options—but the chocolate cake with raspberry sauce did not disappoint.

Served with a tiny scoop of ice cream, it's rich, sweet and creamy all at once—so much so that we didn't even finish it. (And we are talking about a trio of women who have done some decidedly unholy things to the profiteroles at Emilio's, even after eating a mind-boggling amount of tapas).

Before leaving, I headed to the bathroom to freshen up. Surprisingly, for a restaurant that seems to be trying very hard to be chic (seriously, the menu was heavier than the last book I read) the bathroom is anything but. Excessively cold and adorned with a toilet missing its tank cover, it felt more like an aiport facility than one at a trendy eatery.

But hey, the food and drink deals are still worth trying. With $5 sandwiches and appetizers, who cares if parts of Sopo aren't Soperfect? Not me.

Check out Sopo at 3418 N. Southport Ave, (773) 348-0100, or at sopochicago.com.

Erin Brereton is our resident urban cowgirl on a bi-weekly search for life on the cheap. If you know of the mythic happy hour that she missed, do clue her in.