Clean lines, Cream City brick, large picture windows, and sleek artwork greet you as you enter Soche, 2213 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., an upscale, unpretentious restaurant-meets-club in Milwaukee's slowly revitalizing Bronzeville neighborhood.

The space, which holds a large bar and seating area downstairs for nightly live music, and a smaller bar area and dining tables upstairs, is open and airy, and pleasantly decorated with banquettes, beautiful woodwork and fresh flowers.

Everything about Soche from the moment you walk in the door is well-planned and laid out, including the menu, which offers simple selections which are successfully executed and reasonably priced. We were also pleased to see some satisfying soul-food influenced items on the menu, including a very good catfish and spaghetti ($12) with flaky catfish and a healthy serving of spaghetti, cole slaw, and herb garlic bread.

Diners can expect to find standard appetizer selections including mozzarella sticks ($8), artichoke dip ($7), and wings ($10 plate, $18 platter). Catfish hushpuppies ($9) were a nice change of pace from the typical cornmeal version and came with mixed greens and a Cajun mayonnaise dipping sauce. Tempura shrimp ($8) was a meal in itself, with six plump, lightly battered jumbo shrimp and a serving of Soche's black pepper fries, and was a wonderful way to start a meal. We also enjoyed the Southern crab cakes ($10) which came with a red pepper vinaigrette and more Cajun mayo.

Past the large appetizer selection, the rest of the menu is broken down into soups and salads, burgers, sandwiches, entrees, and seafood and pastas. The roots of Soche's menu rely heavily on shrimp and catfish, both of which they do wonderfully in multiple iterations, but we were also pleased that the Soche Burger ($8) was something to note, with rich gorgonzola cheese, onion rings and red wine sauce. An 8-oz. filet mignon ($23) was tender, juicy, and cooked to temperature in a rich red wine reduction, garlic mashed potatoes and portobello and onion confit; and teriyaki-glazed salmon ($14) delivered a flaky, comforting portion of salmon filet over a bed of vegetable lo mein.

The true standouts of Soche's menu, however, are the aforementioned catfish and spaghetti, and a shrimp trio ($15) which delivered an outstanding assembly of grilled and fried shrimp over linguine with red wine sauce, lemon and garlic.

Soche's service is attentive, and with their welcoming atmosphere, generous portion sizes and inexpensive pricing structure, this restaurant is one to keep a watch on as the Bronzeville neighborhood continues to develop. We felt immediately put at ease on both of our visits, as though we were being welcomed into someone's home, and the attitudes of patrons and staff here alike are light, upbeat and fun, making it an excellent location for a quick afternoon lunch, a cocktail after work or dinner before a show.

The neighborhood itself, too, is becoming more welcoming; Martin Luther King Drive has always maintained its classic aura and novelty with the existence of Crown Plumbing and Fein Brothers, even when the street was terribly plagued with crime. The short drive to Soche from Downtown on MLK Drive can quickly draw you back into the magic of the building structures and the beauty of what this area can truly be. And once the Manpower construction is completed, Soche will be even more accessible to the Downtown crowd, but in the interim, the short drive is well worth it for the food and the mood that Soche provides.