The World Cup has come and gone, but the memory of how New Yorkers surrendered itself to the tournament remains vivid on a quiet corner in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This June and July at Socceria, queues formed in punishing heat and humidity well before kickoff, with fans sweating through their clothes and looking as if they’d just completed a full ninety minutes themselves. During any other summer, these conditions would have sent people straight to the nearest air-conditioned bar, where they would accept whatever meager food and drink was provided. This summer, though, New Yorkers were willing to endure almost anything for a seat at Socceria.

The scenes there became emblematic of the city’s enthusiasm for both football and the importance of spaces that make watching the sport feel like a communal occasion. For a venue (Socceria calls itself a “CDMX inspired cantina with a soccer problem”) that officially opened on match day one of the tournament, Socceria etched itself into both the city’s sports and hospitality mythology in record time. It’s trendy without being gatekeepy, it’s authentic and aesthetic, it’s the best of both scran and soccer.

Socceria is located in a massive space; high ceilings and big windows in the front that fill the restaurant with light. Its design is intentional and a reminder of Socceria’s mission to be the antithesis of a typical dimly lit and dank American sports bar. The wrap-around bar is the focal point of the room, plush banquettes line the walls on either side and, of course, there are plenty of television screens. 

“These bars that I would go watch football here in New York City in, you would walk in and it was dark and it felt so divey. I always thought of football as something tropical, and beautiful, and pretty. I had this image of Bob Marley playing in Kingston, and he’s got his short shorts, and his Adidas, and he’s smiling. I wanted to create space to watch football that felt like that,” says co-owner Josh Borock. 

It’s trendy without being gatekeepy, it’s authentic and aesthetic, it’s the best of both scran and soccer.

Josh is no hospitality maven; in fact, he made his bones as a comedy writer and director, and of course, a hardcore football fan. “I didn’t even know what a pro forma was,” he jokes. He conceived the idea for Socceria four years ago while traveling to San Sebastian, Spain, with his son for a football tournament. 

“I’ve lived in New York since 1996, and I’ve watched football in lots of different bars and spaces across the last thirty years, but I never really found a home for myself,” Josh says. “When I was in Spain, I had this epiphany that I’m going to open up this third space here in New York City, a very simple football bar that doesn’t already exist here for whatever reason.”

“It ended up being a little bit more complicated than that,” he laughs. 

Food and football are two of humanity’s universal languages: one gathers people around a table, the other around a screen or a square of grass in a stadium, and both create an instant community out of strangers. That’s what makes Socceria feel so special. It does not treat food as an accessory to the match, or the match as background noise to a meal; instead, it gives each its own equal weight. 

In a city where bars usually force you to choose between atmosphere and sustenance, Socceria offers something rare. It is a place where the experience of watching football is elevated by the food, and the food is made richer by the football. The balance is novel because it understands that the rituals of eating and cheering are not separate pleasures, but deeply connected forms of gathering, identity, and celebration. Socceria is the intersection of what Josh Borock calls “foodball,” a new kind of social space that recognizes how powerful it is to build a home for two cultural touchstones that speak to almost everyone, everywhere, in the same breath. 

Socceria is the intersection of what Josh Borock calls “foodball,” a new kind of social space that recognizes how powerful it is to build a home for two cultural touchstones that speak to almost everyone, everywhere, in the same breath. 

Enter the current cast of Socceria; Co-Owners Tania Apolinar, Giovanni Cervantes, John Hilmes, and the late, great, Co-Founder Scott Anderson. While the cantina is now nothing short of a cohesive concept, in its conception, it’s easy to understand the players as such: without John, Scott and Josh, there is no “soccer.” Without Tania and Giovanni, there is no “ia.”

Gio and Tania are the force behind some of New York City’s most acclaimed Mexican joints, Taqueria Ramirez, Carnitas Ramirez, and the soon-to-open El Camaron Peludo.

“As far as [Gio and Tania] coming on board, it was sort of cosmic,” Josh says. “They just liked the concept, even though they’re not huge football fanatics. But they played soccer growing up, and love the Mexican national team, and saw a need for a space like this that really also uplifted Latin American leagues, national teams, and the sport from that perspective.” 

“In Mexico, you watch football in cantinas,” Tania says. “Bringing us onto the project, it made sense to bring the cantina culture to New York City. It feels so special to give the Mexican community, and the broader Latino community, a home here.”

To the untrained eye, Socceria’s rapid rise may have coincided perfectly with this past World Cup, but to the discerning viewer, the space clearly has ambitions that are much greater than any one tournament. The fervor surrounding the sport in New York City certainly helped elevate Socceria’s profile; Josh estimates that about 25,000 people stopped by between June 11th and July 19th. It was only right that Socceria officially opened its doors for Mexico’s first match against South Africa, a nod to what guests can expect year round in the space. The team is focused on spotlighting Liga MX, MLS, and the NWSL, with a deliberate tilt toward Spanish-language football. For a moment, they even threw around the idea of only showing one of Europe’s traditional top five leagues, La Liga, “just to keep it more Spanish focused” (they will, in fact, be showing select Premier League games, as Josh is a die-hard Arsenal fan). 

The menu that they’ve put together for Socceria is a little sliver of Mexico City in Greenpoint, executed to perfection as all of Gio and Tania’s culinary concepts are. They offer lunch, happy hour and dinner; think chilaquiles, sopes, quesadillas, the fabled Ramirez burger (made with beef and longaniza, habanero aioli, and cheddar), a house hot dog, and cocktails like a classic margarita, Micheladas, and mojitos. Much the summer afternoons that saw guests queuing outside to get in, the heat in every dish is no joke. 

Tania is particularly emphatic about the lunchtime garnachas that bring Mexico City’s street food culture to Greenpoint. Garnachas (not to be confused with the much maligned newly-minted Villa winger by the name of Garnacho) are traditional snacks made from masa (dough made from ground corn), cooked on a comal (flat top stove) and then filled with anything under the sun. Perhaps a garnacha can be emblematic of Socceria; accessible, delicious, and incredibly popular. 

Bringing Tania and Gio onto the project is how Socceria went from being Josh’s original vision of a “very simple football bar” to its current cantina state. Tania says that Josh’s passion for football in New York City made her believe in the concept, and her own experiences watching the beautiful game in Mexico are how they arrived from point A to point B.  

“In Mexico, you watch football in cantinas,” Tania says. “Bringing us onto the project, it made sense to bring the cantina culture to New York City. It feels so special to give the Mexican community, and the broader Latino community, a home here.” 

Tania explains that even though cantinas can be read as bar-like environments, they’re full of complex dishes. “We want Socceria to be a whole experience, where you come to see a game and eat delicious food. Both of these things can, and should, exist at the same time, as they’re so important to the way we connect as people.” 

For Tania, and the entire Socceria crew, food is serious, football is sacred, and that sense of welcome is the real point. Call it a cantina with a football problem, call it “foodball,” call it the place where your team’s loss can still feel like a win if there is a michelada and a Ramirez burger involved. Whatever the terminology, Socceria has given New York City something it did not quite have before: a bright, boisterous, and delicious home for the beautiful game.