Soho House Austin quietly did the thing every private club needs to do eventually and rarely does well. It fixed the food. The new menu features the Che Fico residency, the San Francisco restaurant helmed by David Nayfeld, a James Beard semi-finalist who came up through Eleven Madison Park, Nobu, and Joël Robuchon before landing on Roman-Jewish cooking filtered through California produce. That’s the kind of resume that usually signals a menu built to impress critics. This one is built to feed people well, which is rarer than it should be.
The antipasti section sets the tone early. Focaccia comes with whipped mascarpone and Sicilian olive oil, simple enough that it exposes any kitchen faking competence, and this one isn’t faking anything. The giardiniera, carrot, cauliflower, radish, oregano, chili flake, has enough restraint to wake up your palate instead of assaulting it. The mozzarella course pairs fresh pulled cheese with tsar nicolai golden osetra caviar, a combination that shouldn’t work on paper and does exactly that in practice. Round it out with the insalata tritata, baby gem, radicchio, salami, peperoncini, herbed ricotta salata, and dill, a chopped salad built with actual intention.
Secondi is where the menu earns its reputation. The spaghetti arrabiata, Fresno chili, pomodoro, pecorino sardo, is the dish every Italian kitchen thinks it can pull off and most can’t. The agnello arrosto, wood oven roasted lamb loin with lamb fat potato, watercress, and salsa verde, uses fat as flavor instead of an afterthought, which tells you everything about the kitchen’s priorities. And the parmigiana, chicken breast, marinara, Che Fico mozzarella, basil, 24 month parmigiano reggiano, takes a dish most places phone in and reminds you it’s actually technical when done right.
Contorni keeps things grounded with oven roasted potatoes prepared with confit garlic, and oregano. The corn pudding, sweet corn, demi sec, early girl tomato, basil, might be the quiet standout, as a savory custard working as both a side dish and a solid culinary flex.
Dolci closes strong. Tiramisu with coffee, mascarpone, and shaved chocolate is textbook and unbothered about it. Panna cotta with vanilla bean and aceto balsamico extravecchio proves Italians figured out restraint long before anyone turned it into a marketing term.
This whole lineup got its proper introduction at a one night only dinner we attended, where Nayfeld and his team prepared the menu for members and media guests, giving everyone a preview of what’s now being offer at the house. It was a tasty night. The menu has now become a mainstay at SoHo House, making it the new baseline for what the culinary team is putting on the table, and it’s a real step up from what came before.
If you’re a member, this is your sign to dine there more often, instead of just working from the lounge. And if you’ve got a friend on the inside, tell them you want an invite to get a taste of the new menu.