Soda Club in NYC Pairs Plant-Based Italian and Natural Wine

Chef Amira Gharib's earliest childhood pasta memory conjures up a penne dish with beef and béchamel sauce. Gharib, who was born in New Jersey and lived there until she was 12 years old, spent her high school years in Cairo, Egypt. While there, she heard the word "béchamel" for the first time when her auntie made her an all-white sauce that was an Egyptian riff on Bolognese ("I thought it was an Arabic word!"). These days, Gharib, the executive chef of Soda Club, a new East Village wine bar that opened in May, is doing all the riffing. She is taking some of Italy's most iconic fresh pasta dishes, such as Lasagna Bolognese and Raviolo al Uovo, and turning out vegan versions.

Soda Club is part of Overthrow Hospitality, a plant-based restaurant and bar group founded by vegan restaurateur Ravi DeRossi (among his other 10 plant-based venues in the East Village are Cadence, Proletariat, and Ladybird). Soda Club takes its name from Italy's tradition of hand-crafted sodas and its spirit from the sensuous, raucous era of 1920s Prohibition in The United States. Soda Club dedicates its wine offerings to 200 natural and organic wines from around the globe curated by Drew Brady, Overthrow Hospitality's wine director. And true to its name, you'll find non-alcoholic fountain sodas on their list as well. Complementing Soda Club's array of wines is an all-Italian menu showcasing Gharib's vegan pasta, like Gigli with Truffle Cream Sauce and Crispy Leeks. This dish, she says, "takes inspiration from classic French truffle butter, which I reworked in a vegan vein with lily-shaped pasta."

Gharib points out, "When most people hear pasta, they correlate it with cheese or dairy." But for this vegan chef, pasta is a perfect canvas. "The pasta itself can be made vegan. And like bread or rice, pasta carries the flavor to the mouth. Some vegetables roast wonderfully, and their purée can be interpreted as a sauce on its own. For example, celery root, sunchokes, and fava beans all have robust flavor profiles and puree easily for smooth sauces," Gharib explains.

Gharib bases her pasta dishes on family recipes, such as her mom's carrot top pesto that dresses her gnocchi. They also draw from culinary luminaries Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Daniel Boulud, who trained her at Matador Room in Miami and Boulud Sud on the Upper West Side, respectively.

When Gharib set out to create Soda Club’s lineup of pasta, she thought about tapping into an audience's emotional connection with a dish. For example, she says, "We wanted something on the menu that was old school and can make you feel like you're eating at your grandma's — lasagna tastes familiar and is known for the tenderized meat and the fat that oozes out into the sauce. Most times, the tomato sauce gets faded into the background. Our lasagna lets the sauce shine through."

Ironically, Amira, who generally eats a plant-based diet but is open to eating humanely raised meat and dairy, traces her joy of making fresh, handmade pasta to learning to make burrata. "My first memory of really working with my hands was at Jean-Georges’ Matador Room," she remembers. "I was stretching out burrata. I would heat mozzarella curds in hot water, stretch my arms above my head, and spread them out into a large rectangle. After a bit of practice, I intuitively knew what to do and not do. Don't rip it, don't boil it, don't let it cool too quickly. After that, I started gravitating towards bread making, butchery, and pasta. Kitchen tasks that require heart and feel are the best ones."