December 31, 2017

The Weekly Bite: Soda Pop’s in West Hollywood

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to West Hollywood’s Soda Pop’s.

We’d love to learn the story behind Soda Pop’s.

I was born and raised right outside of Boston in a city called Somerville. I grew up around some of the best East Coast food around. I come from an all Italian family and food was always a big deal growing up. I was lucky to be exposed to such a diverse culinary upbringing. My grandfather and his brother had a small local convenience store. They would not only carry imported Italian items, but they also cured their own meats and made homemade sausages amongst other things. I was very young when he had the market. What I remember most is the sense of community. My grandfather knew everyone by name. The shop was more than just a source of income for him, it was a sense of duty to the neighborhood. Even during the blizzard of 78′, he worked on getting food to people that could not leave their homes. I admired him and his work ethic

I always wanted a place where people felt safe, was warm and inviting. Moving from Boston, I noticed a real void of neighborhood establishments that offered a good sandwich. A place you could just post up and know you’re in good hands. Where I come from, people not only remember your name, but the fact that you want extra cherry peppers on your sub. This is why I wanted Soda Pop’s to exist in LA. At Pop’s we know our regulars by name. They are our people and we really give a shit.

There are a lot of sandwich shops out there. We definitely have a different approach. What makes us really stand out is the quality of our ingredients and the extra steps we take to prepare them. Almost everything we do is from scratch. We use nitrate free deli meats, we marinate fresh cuts over night, employ multiple techniques of cooking from braising to slow roasting. We’re constantly sourcing the best possible product for our people. We make homemade potato chips every day. We have such an extensive bread list that we purchase fresh from two bakeries daily. There is a heavy east coast presence at Pop’s. We also use great imported meats. Our menu has plenty of choices for whatever mood you’re in. If nothing in our line up works, then there is always the sandwich of the week that we work hard on to push the envelope. From a Korean Meatball Sub to an Argentinean Flank Steak… This is not your average sandwich shop..

I have been in the food industry my whole life. From washing dishes at Harvard university to working in hotels, country clubs, and high end restaurants. I studied at Newbury College and really began to work on fine tuning techniques. My experience has always been the freshest quality ingredients with proper technique. You apply those two rules with sandwiches and what you get is Soda Pop’s.

Successfully running a restaurant is extremely difficult. Tell us about some of the challenges you’ve had to overcome.
It was not easy to get to where I am today. Adapting to the LA customer base while taking dietary restrictions into consideration, high volume and ever changing trends is the number 1 reason we have outlasted similar small businesses in the area.

Is there something unique or interesting about Soda Pop’s that our readers should know about?
There are a lot of other sandwich shops out there. We definitely have a different approach. What makes us really stand out is the quality of our ingredients and the steps we take to prepare them. Almost everything we do is from scratch. We use nitrate free deli meats. We marinate fresh cuts over night. We employ multiple cooking techniques from braising to slow roasting. We’re constantly sourcing the best possible product for our people. We make homemade potato chips every day, which is one of the things that we are known for. We have such an extensive bread list that we purchase fresh from two bakery’s daily. There is a heavy east coast presence at Pops. There aren’t too many other places with a Bomb on their menu and a lot of people don’t even know what ‘hots’ are. We also use great imported meats. Our menu has plenty of choices for whatever mood you’re in. If nothing in our line up works, then there is always the sandwich of the week that we work hard on to push the envelope. From a crispy pork belly banh mi to an argentinean flank steak, there’s something for everyone.

Soda Pop’s has a rustic look with custom wood and steel furniture. Sports or a huge game will almost always be on the TV, or a fun episode of Family Guy (one of our loyal customers) along with upbeat music during the week and golden oldies or classic rock on Saturday. You can also find a wide variety of nostalgic sodas as soon as you walk in.

We have an open kitchen, allowing our customers to converse to the majority of the staff when the time is right. The can also see how hard we work for them as a team.